Blooms and bugs

I got a picture of one last cactus flower that was different from the rest.  These are large blooms that are good 8 inches across -- so pretty.  The brick wall in the background is made of Mexican brick.  I thought Mexican brick was an Arizona thing but I guess its only found around Yuma and Quartzsite.   The bricks are very colorful but I don't know how they are made.

The other picture is an Arizona blister beetle as best I can tell from looking it up on the internet.  They were all over the desert these past few weeks.  One lady had her dog out in the desert while she was metal detecting and she was worried the dog would try to eat one.  Not sure what would happen but with a name like blister it probably wouldn't be good.

We are staying in Quartzsite an extra day or two waiting out some rain and wind.  If we don't have to travel in it why would we.

More Cactus Blooms

I got another picture of the huge cactus blooming across from our RV site.  There are yellow and orangeous blooms because it is two different cacti growing so close together you really have to look but one cactus has very round pads and the other looks more like rabbit ears.  The fuscia colored bloom was one I found way out in the desert.  Right in the center where the yellow pollen is I saw a bee just rolling around in it.  He looked like he was taking a bath in the pollen. 

We have been taking rides out in the desert everyday.  We have been on some trails that were kinda of scary with very steep slopes that were full of humps and bumps.  We never really intended to take rides like that but once you are on a trail and there is no place to turn around you just do it.  You think it will just be one bad hill and you will be done but that just doesn't seem to be the case.  It is really starting to get too hot here.  We will be glad to be leaving soon and start getting closer to our destination in Colorado. 

Beautiful Cactus Blooms

I've been taking pictures of blooming cactus on our rides out in the desert.   We started gold prospecting on some claims around Quartzsite.  It was fun because we could take the 4wheeler right out from the campground and go out and dig.   Of course the rain found us again.  Now we are done trying to look for gold in the area because we need dry ground.  All the rain this winter and spring is bad for us but good for the cactus. 

We saw the sad news coming out of Yuma.  The city has declared a state of emergency because the migrants coming across the border are overloading the services available.  All the charity organizations that help the migrants are being overwhelmed.  The border authorities catch them but then have no where to hold them so they are just dumping them in town.   The federal government really needs to fix the immigration problem. 

Its getting warm

One last beautiful sunrise in Yuma.   We left Yuma just has it was really heating up into the high 90's.  The businesses in Yuma were starting to get ready for the heat to come.  They tape hotpads to their outside door handles.  The laundromats close at noon because it just gets too hot to run dryers.   They don't even do much road work come summertime so they have to do it during the heavy traffic time of winter.

We didn't travel very far when we left Yuma just 90 miles north to Quartzsite so we didn't escape the heat.  Our first ride out into the desert and we met mister rattlesnake.  We stopped and went around the snake.  The snake was just out doing snaky things and not bothering anyone way out in the desert. 

We are going to stay here for a couple weeks and do some trail riding and hopefully some gold prospecting.   We will just have to be very careful of snakes and other creepy crawlers.  I guess we have spent so much time in the desert that we have gotten used to the critters that live here.    Everywhere we look the cactus are getting ready to bloom.  Can't wait to get some pictures!