Quartzite

Today we did some shopping and some sightseeing.

But first the wash beside our campsite.

Other campsites at the BLM land.

Then Blue helps me tighten a few loose bolts.

Then Blue talks me into a ball throw.

Then off to be tourist.

Way back in the day, before he was the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis had the hot idea to import camels from the Middle East and use them as beasts of burden for the army in the American Southwest.

A Syrian trainer by the name of Hadji Ali accompanied the first caravan of camels. Like many immigrants in Arizona, it seems (SEE: The Lost Dutchman of Superstition or Chink Smiley of Tombstone), he was given a different handle and instead called "Hi Jolly."

Hi Jolly went on to lead camels through the Mojave Desert, even saving people from attacking Native Americans. Apparently he drew his scimitar and cried, "Bismillah!" (or "In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful!"), to which the Natives quickly retreated. 

When the camel project was inevitably left forgotten following the eruption of the Civil War (it was also determined that camels and U.S. soldiers or their horses didn't get along very well), Hi Jolly continued living in the area until his death in 1902.

He is buried beneath a pyramid of various kinds of local stone, topped with a camel's silhouette (that looks much like the one imprinted on the cigarette packages) in Quartzsite off the 10 Freeway, and down a short dirt road.

Hi Jolly was actually one of two Middle Eastern caretakers imported for the project - the other being Greek George (you see what I mean about the name changes?) - however, GG was hanged for supposedly aiding a criminal and was not granted a grave marker as grand

End of the day. ( Blue MUST bury his bone)

Then the sunset.