Snowbirding 2022: In Historic Downtown Ajo, AZ

A quick stop in an historic mining town.

After two nights boondocking out in the desert south of Ajo, AZ (see my previous video), I decided to stop at Ajo Plaza on my way out of town. Due to poor planning on my part, everything was closed. And, of course, since I didn’t really expect to stop along the way, I didn’t do any research beforehand, so the audio includes me babbling about the area.

Ajo is a small mining town with a year-round population of about 3000 people (per the 2020 census). You can learn more in its Wikipedia entry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajo,_Arizona) or on its Chamber of Commerce website (http://www.ajochamber.com/).

I’ve love your feedback about this style of video. Short, narrated views are easy for me to shoot but lack the polish you might find in more produced videos.

Snowbirding 2022: In the Desert South of Ajo, AZ

A look at some Sonoran desert vegetation.

I’m camped out in the desert south of Ajo, AZ for two nights. This video takes you on a tour of the Sonoran desert vegetation around my camper.

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Snowbirding 2022: My Travels To Date

A map of where I’ve traveled so far.

I’m in Tucson now, in the Ringtail dry camping lot of Catalina State Park. I love this park, which is nestled into a little canyon where I can easily fool myself into thinking that the nearest Walmart isn’t less than 2 miles from my camper door. I’m not terribly fond of the campground, though, since the sites are tiny slots and, for some reason, my picnic table and fire ring seem to be located more conveniently for the slot next door. I will admit that it’s a lot nicer than the gravel parking lot I stayed 5 nights in in Quartzsite last week. At least there’s desert out my back yard — instead of a yahoo with a toy hauler and dogs that won’t quit barking.


Here’s where I stayed last night: at a dispersed forest service camping area southeast of Apache Junction, AZ. It was wonderfully quiet — until the shooters camped about a half mile away woke up and started shooting again.

I was trying to visualize where I’d been so far on this trip and decided to enlist the help of GoogleMaps. I took a screen shot of the map covering the area I’m in and drew in lines for the roads I’d traveled, then red dots for where I’ve stayed and blue numbers to indicate how many days at each place. The numbers don’t add up — there’s about 4 days unaccounted for — so I likely spent a few more days at certain locations than I think I did.

Anywhere, here’s the map: