what i did on my march vacation

heh. i like the sound of that!!!

i must admit, i am a completely spoiled woman, rotten and to the core. i couldn't be more delighted.

we left on saturday, march 14 and headed south. our little band of misfits included w, myself and 3 dogs. yes, we even took shelby, our 17.5 year old lab mix that is deaf and incontinent.

the plan was to locate and stay at a resevoir that i located on a map. well, we found it. it was totally unacceptable. nothing more than a dusty dirt road in the middle of flat lands with a barb wire fenced in area that used to hold water. i felt stupid.

we changed plans and headed south once again to hook up with i10 in search of picacho peak state park. they had rv spots and we had wanted to give an rv park a try. we spent saturday night there, taking advantage of their clean, modern bathrooms and shower facilities. it was worth w's $20 nightly fee. :-)

the problem was that we had 3 dogs. shelby stays outside all of the time, but the pug and bug (boston terrier/pug mix) are so pampered, they wanted to be in all the time. we took them for several walks, but they were a pain in the neck. so we decided to go to another spot we knew of out in the desert.

we had been tent camping at 96 ranch road several times. it is a bit rugged for the rv and w had to travel at a snails pace to get it back in to the campspot. it was perfect.

we took off each morning after sleeping in and a leisurely breakfast to a new trail, a new adventure on our dirt bikes. we hit some trails that were really gnarly and technical. i felt like an accomplished dirt biker after each of those rides. my little yamaha tt230 was perfect for the deep sand and steep rocky hills. i was perfectly comfortable sticking it in 2nd gear for the technical stuff and leaving it until we were clear of it. i spent a lot of time in 2nd. :-)

i saw my first honest to goodness poisonous wild animal. on one particularly tough goat trail i came around the corner through a rocky sand wash and in the middle of the trail was this black lizard with bright yellowish-orange lightning bolt type stripes. my first gila monster.

i instinctively pulled my right foot up as i tried to avoid it by going towards it's tail. i don't know what it did as i put as many miles between it and myself as quickly as i could. brave is not one of the qualities in my genetic makeup. :-D

we would then retire to casa de beast for an afternoon nap followed by some reading time and sunset observation. i had brought an assortment of movies (vhs since the rv does not yet sport a dvd player). it has all the latest technology of circa 1995. :-)

we repeated this particular scenario several nights in a row. . .until we got victoria. then the peace was shattered. she was recovering from being sick for a week. she had developed quite an advanced case of whining during that time. it was like nails on a chalkboard and set us on edge in short order. she was so excited to see her "papa" we just had to let her live.

she loves the rv (she still calls it the "choo-choo") and insisted that we put her carseat in the front seat so she could ride with her papa. christopher joined us on saturday. the poor boy had to spend an entire week on lake havasu on a boat with his grandfather and uncle. uncle kyle is 2 years younger than chris. what a life, then he returns to go camping with his other grandparents. my life should have been so full.

the kid knows how to build a fire ring and keep the fire going. it's a little special something that he and his papa share, a pyro thing that i think is indigenous to the male species. victoria made her first fire ring. it was made with a stick and drawn in the dust, but the shape was there. she'll get it soon enough.

we spent a lot of time throwing rocks at jumping cholla. they are a particularly nasty variation of cacti that when struck explode and throw their spiny bombs everywhere. one of our favorite games was to stand on the road above and throw rocks at bulging cholla below. unfortunately, the bug, who is dumber than the dirt she walks on, would chase the rocks once we threw them. straight into the path of freshly released cactus grenades. w pulled the spines out so many times that we finally just left them in. the other dogs would limp to him and let him pull them out with the leatherman, but the bug fought to keep hers. she even went in to the unlit firepit to retrieve a spiny prize that she obviously valued so highly.

our issues with the rv had all finally been resolved. the drains had been snaked and were working well. the hot water was hot and reached the faucet and a new toilet was installed. victoria and i really appreciated that later.

it was really nice to have the wide variety of comforts at your fingertips. the propane fridge worked like a charm and kept everything cool and safe to eat. we used the microwave sparingly since it required firing up the generator.

it was a great vacation! i'm working on the pictures, but w got some wonderful sunset pics that i want him to view before i post. will post the link later.