Painted Rock Petroglyph Site

Early Saturday morning we were packed up and were ready to roll out of Kofa to a new home. We were not really sure where that was going to be, to be honest, but time would eventually lead us somewhere. First, we had to run into town to resupply for the next week in the boondocks. Yuma supplied it all – fresh water, trash disposal, laundry, gasoline, and groceries. The one item we could not get accomplished was a shower. The local RV parks were not much of a help, and I had just recently canceled my gym memberships after going almost all of 2018 without using a gym a single day. There were two truck stops in town, but the reviews on them were horrible and I really did not want Kerri’s first time truck-stop-showering to be like that. So, after a long and hot day in town running errands, we rolled East out of town, still as stinky and sticky as we ever were. Now that is true van-life folks, entering our 8th day without a full-body cleaning – Psh, no worries, we have both been here many times.

I had a hopeful eye on a small campground an hour or so up the Interstate for an overnight stay – Painted Rock Petroglyph Site & Campground. Since it was a BLM campground, far enough off the main route and only a minor attraction of some rocks with engravings, I figured it would be a quite place for us. Surprisingly, there were a lot more rigs out here than I first figured. Not crowded per-se, but not solitude either. No worries, we camped like common folk, even BBQ’ing for the first time in who knows how long.

We tried our best to stay up late enough to watch the lunar eclipse, staying awake well past our normal in-bed-time, only to find out that Kerri misread the schedule. It was not happening this night, but the next. I poked a little fun at her while we made the bed and climbed in. It was still a pretty spectacular moon that night.

The next morning we packed up again, ready to roll a little further to our planned weekend exploration location, but first we had to go see the petroglyphs. The pile of rocks directly adjacent to the campground were where they are, and although petroglyphs don’t do much for me, I was amazed on just how thoroughly covered each and every rock was. These natives, way back, had a heck of a lot to say… lots and lots to say. Eventually getting our fill, we piled back into Big Blue and set out for new adventures in the desert.