A new view.
When I finished shopping in town I decided that instead of driving back out to the boondocking trust lands, I would stay in town at the rodeo arena boondocking area, that's the place I stayed last week for 10 bucks a night, figuring that would be a change of pace and give me a new view, since some official hiking trails are wide and clear enough that I don't have to worry about sneaky snakes sneaking up on me. There are also dumpsters at the campground, so I was able to quickly and easily get rid of a week's worth of trash.
I have never seen this boondocking area so empty before. I think there are twenty-something boondocking sites here, but there were only three RVs camped here when I arrived. I don't know if it was the heat that drove folks away, or if most full-time RVers leave Arizona in the Spring and head north to their Summer homes.
The most surprising thing about this campground being so empty is that starting tomorrow, there's a rodeo at the arena. It's not a regular rodeo, but it is a professional rodeo, and it's for the rodeo old-timers. And being a professional rodeo, I can't bring my real camera in, so I would have to use my cell phone or a pocket camera if I wanted to attend.... Which I don't.
Now, when I say rodeo old-timers, that sounds like the Cowboys are going to have gray hair and long gray beards, but that's not the case. These rodeo riders get so beat up competing in this sport that by the time they're in their late 30s or early 40s, the number and severity of their past injuries keep them from competing at a professional level anymore, so they retire and participate in these old geezer rodeos where the bulls and bucking horses are as old as the Cowboys..... As they say, "Rodeo gets in your blood, and you have to keep doing it until you have no blood left."
Theboondork