Ajo

We left Yuma and headed east back toward home.  Our vacation wasn't done yet though, when we got to Gila Bend, we turned south to head toward Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  As we got near Ajo, we decided to find a campsite and let the kids run around.  They'd been in the car enough already, and besides, another hour of driving wouldn't really put us that far ahead of what we intended to do.  

 

 

So, we found a decent little campsite off of a road just south of the big mine.  We chose a site pretty close to the road because a few other sites further off of the road had an accumulation of debris from immigrants heading north.  60 miles from the border and still seeing stuff.  We set up the tent, then made a small fire to cook our dutch oven pizza. It turned out perfect!

In the morning, we packed up, then drove back to Ajo.  We drove through the historic district to the mine overlook.  It's an impressive pit!  It seems like a lot of the old mining towns have nice historic areas , and Ajo was no exception.  We enjoyed driving through and looking at the town.

The town plaza reminded us of a town you'd see in Mexico or further south.  The town plaza model of city development lends a lot to the sense of place whenever we've seen it.  We like the public park, surrounded by churches, libraries, and businesses. 

We stopped by a gas station to top off our gas tank then headed south.  Ajo had the most expensive gas we saw on our trip, but if you're in the middle of nowhere I guess you can charge middle of nowhere prices.  We pulled onto the highway right behind a truck that was headed to Mexico.  This truck was absolutely loaded down with appliances, bicycles, desks, and other items that could be sold for a small profit in Mexico.  I was amazed at how high it was piled.  They even piled stuff inside of the dryer, as the door swung back and forth as the road and wind shifted the load. 

Nearest City: Ajo, AZ
Location: N° W°
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