Friday, February 7, 2014

Agua Fria National Monument - a (public) land toilets forgot

I've had my heart set on camping in Agua Fria for a while. A popular site told me there were toilets, and I like toilets, so I went to see them.

This is NOT a toilet.

It was fine.

I got discouraged by the no-toilets at either exit (259 or 256, Route 17). The day was cloudy, my mood was cloudy, the river was cloudy.

I SOSed on Facebook, and got several ideas for overnighting. I chose Sunset Point Rest Area. I know, but let me tell you about it. It's not skeevy. It's pretty busy, so it's not scary, but somehow it's quiet. Maybe because it's off the highway. Anyway, I put up my blackout curtains, put on my hat, and snuggled down happily for the night. There are signs indicating overnight parking is permitted, and other signs encouraging you to rest until you're rested.

Once you're that rested, go to Rock Springs for pie. 

The next day I met my cousin at her hotel. Yay Cousin! She had to go do work stuff, which left me to do hotel stuff on her behalf. That gave me time to figure out stuff. To create a plan. To take over the world.

Go, little tree! We're ROOTING for you! No one LEAVES without an orange. 

I'm camping in a spot not mentioned on the above popular site, and I'll change that later. Lots of you know about it already. It's quiet, except for occasional low-flying jets, whatever. It also has toilets. It's west of Phoenix. 

Brainstorm with me: I want a solar solution to charging my Mac (which uses a weirdo charge connection, the SmartMag). My two solar panels each have a 12v adapter, but neither panel produces enough oomph to charge my computer, and I can't link the two. I'm thinking I need about a 60 watt panel to charge it - does that sound right?

On the other hand, my Poweradd solar charger/battery pack might have what it takes to give it a boost, but I'd need a super-weird USB-to-12v adapter, or an even weirder super-weird USB-to-Magsafe adapter.

Any ideas?

Otherwise, I'm hooked up pretty well. I'm surfing along comfortably with my Millenicom Jetpack and my Wilson Sleek 4G-V, being powered by my Goal Zero solar panel (a Woot impulse purchase).



10 comments:

Shadowmoss said...

Hmmm. I was hoping for a picture tour of the the place as it is also on my list of places to check out. You are doing a lot of my work for me in this regard. However, I'm thinking that my Jeep may be the better vehicle to get to this particular spot. Didn't make it up that way this past week since I'm waiting on warmer weather. I'm using my Mom as the excuse for avoiding the cooler weather.

Shadowmoss said...

I meant to add a thumbs up for both Sunset Point Rest Area and Rock Springs and their pies. I did check out the pies after your earlier review. The Jack Daniels Pecan Pie is wonderful...

The Good Luck Duck said...

Shadow, a Jeep is almost always he better vehicle for getting somewhere. This road is honestly fine, though. I made it to the river without concern. And, YES! I loved that pie.

Donna said...

If you are driving around each day you can charge your computer battery using the cigarette holder. You just need one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/PowerFlex-Power-Inverter-Cellphones-Portable/dp/B00144KS6W/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1391901718&sr=8-6&keywords=cigarette+plug+adapter+for+regular+plug

JO said...

OK I still don't know where you are on this trip. :( and the bird banding of course it doesn't matter since it's over.

But the solar issue is something I need to look into also. I really will need some kind of set up before I head out to NM this summer. I have purchased the computer battery charger for the truck cigarette lighter.

Karen and Tony said...

Roxi - I'm not getting all of your posts on my blog list. This one didn't show up. The last one is a week old. Is anyone else having this problem? As far as can tell all of the other blogs updates on my list are working right. Don't want to miss any of your great posts and photos!

The Good Luck Duck said...

Karen, it's definitely happening all over. I've messed with Feedburner, and thought I had it sussed, but it's messed up again. :o( If anyone has any feed-type expertise and can talk me through it, I'm open.

Jo, I think the 12v computer charger is the backbone of a mobile situation. When I'm traveling, it does the job. I also have a small solar charger, which would be really useful IF it connected to my Mac. It charges everything else, including my credit card, but won't connect to the Macbook.

Donna, my 12v charger saves my bacon every day, and I couldn't be without it. I'm also thinking of times when I'd like to stay put (maybe a cabin in the mountains ... ?) where solar would be perfect.

Anonymous said...

I have a nifty, tiny, portable iPhone charger sold under the brand name of Romoss. It holds 10,400 mAh of power and will recharge by iPhone four times (or so I am told). Maybe there is a gadget like this for the computer???

I Googled Romoss + recharger mac computer and got this:

http://www.meritline.com/romoss-powerr-14k-mah---p-90632.aspx

pricey! But this company may have something that will fill your need. Meritline distributes them, and is a company from whom I have purchased a number of items with no difficulties, but their things usually ship from China (free, but slow to arrive), so not easy to pinpoint your exact location to give a shipping address.

Virtual hugs,

Judie

The Good Luck Duck said...

Thanks, Judie. That looks useful. Slap a solar panel on that puppy, and look out! Not trusting Apple to use the same charging cable, I checked. Nope! Why would they use a charger that was compatible with last year's model?

The Good Luck Duck said...

[Or six years ago. Whatever.]