# camping out in arizona



## thunderson5 (Aug 8, 2009)

hey back in the early 80s sometime maybe 80-81 somwere around there,it was the first time i hitched to cali. from galveston tx. to find my mom i was about 14 at the time.anyways i remember there was a truck stop somwhere out side of either phoenix or tuscon i think it was called mothertruckers but i could be mistaken,across the highway was a garage for fixing semi trucks and on the other side of this like county road from that in an empty field full of those small trees or whatever that you see growing all over arizona there was like a hometown bum or hobo camp itwas so cool,they had a what i think looked to me to be a long term squat going on.they had a big ass tarp either thrown over these small trees or tied off i the middle of a bunch of them whichever way it was totally cool, even had a little bit of old furniture if i remember right,and the tarp was like an old army tarp or somthing real heavy duty and the camp could not be seen from the road at all or it sure wasnt that noticable.a couple of the people that were staying there invited me over there,i guess them seeing how young i was felt sorry for me since i was so young and stuck in virtualy the middle of knowwhere since as far as i know the truck stop has always been one of those no hitchhikers allowed type places with sign posted.but enough with the story i was wondering how arizona was about camping out in the desert like that these days will the cops make you pull camp or give you so many days to camp there.i know theres a time limit in state and fed parks but what about other areas kind of in the middle of nowhere like what i discribed.also would like to hear from anybody who might have also been to this camp or could tell me if that was the right name of that truck stop or does anybody know which one im talking about,thanks


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## bote (Aug 8, 2009)

sorry, don`t know the spot, but that`s a cool story, you described it well and I can imagine it... Camping in AZ is fine in my experience, if you`re not near anything where there`s money being made or people to fell possessive over the land. Cops are relatively okay there, better than say, california


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## thunderson5 (Aug 8, 2009)

i should have mentioned that it was on interstate 10 and im almost positive the truck stop was south of pheonix but cannot remember how far out


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