The Mission

March 26, 2020

Last Monday (3/23) we made our first sorte into town after 10 days in the desert.

We had 4 objectives ...

1. Propane
2. Water
3. Food
4. Laundry

Laundry and Groceries

I established a rear guard at the laundromat while Joan proceeded to the grocery store to gather supplies. Pickn's was slim! The store restricted purchases to only 1 of any 1 item, except bread, 3 per customer. Joan tried to buy 1 red and 1 green bell pepper but she was only allowed 1. No Almond milk! We keep a small supply of pasteurized Almond milk in the closet in case we can't find any in the small out of the way places we frequent.

A lady in the store commented to Joan she was lucky to have a mask to which she replied "we already had some". Living in such a small space, we use them when one of us gets sick. I got a double take from a lady at the laundromat when she saw my mask.  I smiled at her but then it dawned on me, she couldn't see it.

Do we think Ajo is a hot bed of Coronavires? No, I think this is one of the last places to find it. But after our 10 days of isolation, we wanted to maintain that feeling of security as long as possible.

Water

There are several kiosks in town that dispense R/O (Reverse Osmosis) drinking water, $1 for 5 gal. We have the capability to carry about 11 gallons of drinking water plus our onboard 40 gallon tank which we use for any nonconsumable purposes.  To preserve the onboard supply, we've assigned 4 drinking water gallon jugs to tap water used for washing.  That worked well for the first 10 days so we kept the same ratio.  The onboard tank is still reading 2/3 full.

Propane

The Shell gas station has diesel fuel, propane,  a R/O water kiosk and a tap to fill the non-drinking water jugs.  Oh, and did I mention the liquor store.  A one stop shop.

Our mission completed, we retreated to basecamp in the desert.