Monday, January 9, 2006
Painted Rock BLM Petroglyph Site and Campground, Gila Bend, AZ - Jan 8-9
The name refers to the petroglyphs chipped into the black basalt intrusion of rocks by the Hohokam people over a thousand years ago, so "painted" is inaccurate. The campground is vast with the spaces far apart. There are no hook-ups. We had planned on staying at least three nights and maybe as many as five, but when Doug checked the batteries the day before our move, the water level was down on a number of the cells even though he had checked them three weeks earlier.
We managed to stick it out for two nights, but worry over the batteries dying completely before we were able to put in the slide-outs and hook up made us decide to leave a day early.We drove into Gila Bend one day since we had heard it was the latest "Boomtown", with 40,000 houses planned. The reasons land is so cheap there are 1) temps regularly get in to 120-degree range during the summer, and 2) there isn't much to do there.
You know you're in trouble when the woman at the Tourist Bureau says "there's not much here". She first suggested Painted Rock (sound familiar?), then Organ Pipe NM 100 miles away. We're not investing in any Gila Bend real estate any time soon.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 9:37 PM 
