Sunny and hot, temperature up into the 80's !
This morning I removed one of the Aloe Vera plants I had planted in my cactus garden in the dog park behind our back yard fence. Something ate it ... from the roots upward ... from underground ! When it fell over a day or two ago, I thought a dog had run over it. But NOOOOO ... the roots had been eaten ... from underneath.
This afternoon we headed to the Humane Society of Yuma, for the first of seven weekly agility classes Bo and I are attending. HA HA HA ... well done, Bo, good dog ! What a lot of fun we had. As did all the other dogs and their owners. Bo was the star performer today. Well ... of course ! He's the only one of the seven dogs in attendance that has done agility before. And it showed. Today's agility class was limited to hurdles and a big tunnel, both of which Bo has much experience with. One of the other dogs in the class was Zona, one of Bo's "pack members" from Kofa Ko-op. That worked out well for Zona. Since she knows Bo well, she learned a lot by following his example. Hey, Bo, you're a mentor !
The hot weather made the hour long class seem a few minutes too long. With a few minutes to go, Bo faded, physically and mentally. Of course, he is the oldest dog in the group, so it's not surprising that an hour of really enthusiastic agility work under the hot desert sun would wear him right out.
When the agility class ended at 4 PM we drove back to Kofa Ko-op to pick up something Joanne had forgotten to pack ... < fume > ... then we headed east to The Foothills. I bought a birthday card at the 99¢ Only Store, then refilled with diesel at Fry's Fuel Bar. We went inside Fry's for a couple of grocery items. I bought some sushi Summer Rolls for supper tonight.
We headed east on Interstate 8, not getting out of Yuma until 5:30 PM, only an hour of daylight left. We stopped at Dateland where we bought a large date shake to be dessert for tonight's supper. We stopped for the night at Gila Bend, where we boondocked overnight in the large parking lot of the Shell service station. Bo slept a lot while we drove. HA HA HA ... poor, tired out, little agility dog !
Yes, yes ... the Summer Rolls and date shake were good !
Monday ; Gila Bend to Benson, Arizona
Sunny and warm. We had a comfortable night in Elsie.
This morning we refilled our fresh water holding tank and dumped our grey waste holding tank at the Shell station's free sani-dump. Thank you, Gila Bend Shell. As we were leaving the Shell station to get back onto Interstate 8 ... there it was ! HA HA HA ... the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile was parked at the front of the Shell station. We've seen it before, many years ago, and I don't remember where. Today ... HA HA HA ... I took a photo of Lanoire & Elsie parked beside the Wienermobile.
From Gila Bend Shell we continued east on Interstate 8 and then Interstate 10 to Tucson. Our initial plan was to stop for one day at Picacho Peak State Park before Tucson, but ... we changed our plan as we drove. We stopped at a Wal-Mart in Tucson to have lunch in the parking lot, and then buy a couple of items in the store.
We continued east on I-10 to Benson where we stopped for the night at Saguaro Co-op SKP RV Park. We stayed in their unserviced / boondocking area. While Joanne took Bo for a walk in their dog park I took a nap with Sully. Before it got dark we opened the awning on the side of the truck camper for the first time. It's in good condition, although it needs a thorough cleaning. As RV awnings always seem to need ! That's why we didn't shed any tears when we lost the awning on the fifth wheel trailer in 2007. All we ever did with the trailer's awning was open it twice a year for cleaning. We never got in the habit of using it on a regular basis. It will probably be the same with the truck camper.
After supper we went to the park's large clubhouse to use Wi-Fi ... and recharge the computer's battery at the same time. EEEUUUWWW ... ugly looking rockslide extremely close to our summer home at Riverside RV Park Resort near Keremeos, BC.
Tuesday ; Happy 60th Birthday to Joanne
Benson to Roper Lake State Park, Arizona
Sully is ill ... and may be dying. He has neither eaten nor defecated for two days, and by supper time tonight we realized how ill he seems. < sigh > We hope he will survive and recover, but ... at his age ... we expect the end is near.
Today was sunny and warm. This morning, before leaving Saguaro Co-op SKP RV Park we dumped our waste holding tanks, refilled the fresh water holding tank, and reinflated a rear tire that had gone flat. Hopefully, it's just a valve extender problem.
I had installed a new valve extender on that tire recently.
We left the RV park and drove into Benson. We refilled the truck with diesel at Scott Fuel. At Ace Hardware I bought a propane fitting that I needed. I bought a birthday cake and candles at Safeway. And some cat food for Sully, since he refused to eat his regular food for the last couple of days. We thought he was stressed and "pouting" about being back on the road again. Tonight we realized it's more that that.
We continued east on Interstate 10. At Wilcox we stopped in a Safeway parking lot to have lunch. Shortly after Wilcox we turned north onto Hwy. 191 and shortly before reaching the city of Safford we reached our objective, Roper Lake State Park. Joanne's request for her sixtieth birthday was to spend a few days at Roper Lake State Park, rest and soak in the mineral hot springs hot tub , and have some meals at restaurants on the Salsa Trail, a series of Mexican and / or New Mexican restaurants in Safford and other nearby towns.
After getting set up in our campsite, I napped briefly with Sully, then we went to soak in the mineral hot springs hot tub. As the sun set we took Bo ... and Sully ... for a walk in the small dog park. That's when we realized how ill Sully really was. < sigh >
We drove into Safford and had a wonderful meal at Casa Mañana. Wonderful name in Spanish, sounds a bit goofy when translated into English ... Tomorrow House. We returned to Roper Lake State Park for birthday cake and gift opening. Joanne spent the remainder of the evening cuddling with Sully in bed. < sigh >
Wednesday ; Sunny and warm ... intense sunlight creating radiant heat, but cooling off a lot after sunset due to 3000 foot altitude.
Sully seems to have decided not to die today ! He seemed near death overnight. He spent most of the night cuddled into Joanne's armpit, his favourite "comfort zone". His breathing was shallow and very slow. This morning he slowly became a bit more alert and active. We took him outside a few times for walks to stimulate a bowel movement. It didn't work, but ... he walked around slowly, exploring the campsite, enjoying the warm sunlight. He continued to refuse food, but ... late this afternoon he accepted Joanne's offer of cat treats. His willingness to eat a bit was a good sign.
This afternoon we did what we could to stimulate a bowel movement. With me holding him, Joanne very slowly and carefully inserted a lubricated, gloved pinky finger about an inch into his rectum. I learned that from a veterinarian. Sully screamed in protest, but ... no bowel movement. She massaged his abdomen a few times this afternoon. That seemed to comfort him, but ... still no bowel movement. At last he didn't seem to be near death as he was yesterday.
C'mon, Sully ... take a shit already ! ! !
We had a slow day today. I attempted a minor repair on Elsie, but couldn't complete the job because I didn't have a tool I needed. We walked around the campground with Bo. We did an obedience session with Bo. We drove over to the day use area and explored the day use "island" / peninsula jutting out into Roper Lake. We soaked in the hot tub.
Thursday ; Roper Lake State Park to Duncan to San Carlos, Arizona
Sunny and warm. Sully still has not had a bowel movement, but ... it's now apparent that his constipation is a result of being ill, not the cause. We don't know what the cause of his illness was, but he has improved a lot, was alert and active and hungry today. As soon as he has a bowel movement, we think he'll be okay.
This morning we dumped ( waste ) and refilled ( water ) and left Roper Lake State Park. We drove north a short distance on Hwy. 191 to Safford. We drove around looking for ... and finding ... some of the restaurants listed in the Salsa Trail handbook, including Mi Casa Tortilla Factory, which isn't really a restaurant but is listed anyway. We bought fresh flour ( as opposed to corn ) tortillas, made with vegetable oil ( as opposed to lard ), whole wheat tortillas, also made with vegetable oil instead of lard, and "custom ordered" a bag of tortilla chips made with the flour / vegetable oil tortillas. That "custom order" would be ready in an hour. As I discovered later in the afternoon, that was a "Mexican hour". HA HA HA !
Before leaving Safford I stopped at a drapery business to buy some mini-blind hold down clips. Joanne broke one yesterday. With the assistance of the owner of the shop, and her installation serviceman, we fabricated "custom" metal replacements for the plastic hold down clips in Elsie. Don't you just love small town independent businesses ? ! ?
We headed east out of Safford on Hwy. 70, about 80 km. / 50 miles to Duncan, just to have lunch at one of the restaurants listed in the Salsa Trail handbook. I was thinking ... lunch at Hilda's Kitchen better be pretty spectacular to justify driving that far just for lunch. And ... it was ! Hilda's Kitchen is a butcher / convenience store / take out restaurant, with sit down restaurant under construction next door. And while the sit down restaurant under construction cannot be entered from outside due to it being under construction, it can be entered from the inside after ordering at the take out window. HA HA HA ... how Mexican is that ? ! ? My lunch, today's special, was a green chile & meat burro, enchilada style. Green chile / chile verde is a specialty of this area / the Salsa Trail. And my green chile & meat ( seasoned ground beef ) burro, enchilada style, was ... < deep breath > ... pretty damn good ! ! !
After lunch we drove west on Hwy. 70 back to Safford to pick up my "custom" tortilla chips at Mi Casa Tortilla Factory. Four hours after placing an order that was supposed to be ready in an hour ... it wasn't ready, but ... they were "working on it" immediately upon my arrival. HA HA HA ... how Mexican is that ? ? ?
After my "custom" tortilla chips were ready we headed out of town, continuing west on Hwy. 70. I stopped at Big "O" Tires on the edge of town to adjust the air pressure in one of the truck tires that has been losing air slowly the last few days. We drove west and northwest on Hwy. 70 to the Apache Gold Casino Resort at San Carlos where we stopped for the night. We refilled with diesel at their Chevron station, found a place to park overnight, then went into the casino to check things out before having supper. We contemplated having supper in the casino's buffet restaurant, but decided against it.
I renewed my casino player's club free membership. My new card included $10 in "free play". After having supper in the camper, we returned to the casino. I tried ... very unsuccessfully ... to get some online work done using the casino's Wi-Fi while Joanne went to play slot machines with my free / imaginary $10. I was unable to get Wi-Fi to work properly, while Joanne ... won $7.78 real money before the "free play" $10 was used up ! Oh, well ... ya win some, ya lose some. HA HA HA ! No Wi-Fi, but $7.78 in the pocket !
Friday ;San Carlos to Sells, Arizona
Cloudy and warm today, a bit windy at times.
Well ... despite not having had a bowel movement in the last six days, Sully seems surprisingly healthy ! He's alert and active, eating and drinking. I suppose nature will take its course. We hope ! Soon ! ! !
This morning I turned on the radio in the truck camper and while searching available radio stations I found an Apache radio station broadcasting from right here on the Apache Reservation. It was enjoyable listening to a mix of classic rock and traditional Apache music and ... they made an announcement about a PowWow this weekend on the Tohono O'odham Reservation south of Tucson. HEY ... let's go ! For a long time Joanne has wanted to visit the Tohono O'odham Nation. AND ... one of the reasons for getting a truck camper was to increase our ability to be spontaneous / impulsive while travelling.
We departed Apache Gold Casino and headed west on Hwy. 70 to Globe, only about eight miles away. I bought an item I need for truck maintenance at Napa Auto Parts then we went to Fry's to buy some advertised grocery specials. Quite a bit of advertised specials actually. Our receipt showed that we bought $67 worth of groceries ... and paid $32 !
From Globe we headed west on Hwy. 60, then south on Hwy. 79. South of Florence we stopped for lunch by just pulling off the highway into the lush desert. The desert between Phoenix and Tucson is lush and lovely, filled with Saguaro Cacti, Palo Verde trees, and lots of Teddy Bear Cholla Cacti. We were far enough off the highway that while Joanne prepared lunch I allowed Bo to wander around off leash, and I allowed Sully to wander around, hoping that some activity / exercise would encourage nature to take its course ! I neglected to allow for Sully's poor vision.
Well ... this is only the second time in the four and a half years that we've had Sully that I've seen him actually run. HA HA HA ... poor Sully. He brushed ... very lightly ... up against a Teddy Bear Cholla, and a segment broke off and impaled itself on his leg. The myth that Teddy Bear Cholla can "jump" onto you is a well deserved fallacy. But the lightest of touch against a Teddy Bear Cholla, and ... BAM ... you're "stuck" ! I grabbed Sully as he ran away from the cactus, and while he howled and squirmed, I hollered for Joanne to come outside and help me remove the cactus segment from Sully's leg. OOOPS ... too late ! Sully squirmed, his leg hit my hand, and the Cholla segment detached from his leg ... where it was very lightly embedded ... and embedded itself deeply into my finger. HA HA HA ... OUCH ! ! !
We reached Tucson ... < sigh > ... right at rush hour. It took about an hour of "stop and go" on the congested freeway to get across Tucson. We entered Tucson from the north heading south on Hwy. 79, a few miles southeast on Interstate 10, a few miles south on Interstate 19, then west on Hwy. 86 onto the Tohono O'odham Nation, and the village of Sells. In Sells we found out that the PowWow tomorrow is at the Fairgrounds, two miles west of town on Hwy. 86. When we arrived at the Fairgrounds ... HEY ! Not only is there a PowWow tomorrow, there is a rodeo and fair today, tomorrow and Sunday.
It was after 6 PM, and dusk when we arrived at the Fairgrounds. The rodeo was finished for the day. We wandered around the fairgrounds, filled with carnival rides and games, and food vendors. Many of the food vendors were Native, and some were offering rather unusual fare. On impulse, we purchased two Navajo dishes to share for supper ; Steamed Corn Stew ( with mutton ) and Green Chile Mutton, barbecued mutton served on Indian Fry Bread with a scrumptious barbecued Green Chile. I'm certain that my ulcerative colitis will be unhappy about it tomorrow, but I ate about a quarter of the large Green Chile. It was SOOOO good ! And not to be confused with Mexican style chile verde / “green chile”, made with tomatillos.
Saturday ; Sells to Gila Bend, Arizona
We had a late start to the day. Mostly because the PowWow didn't start until noon. We had planned to stay at the PowWow for the preliminary Goard Dancing from noon until 1 PM, then the Grand Entry ceremonies at 1 PM. Before today we didn't know what Goard Dancing was. And ... after sitting through more than an hour of it ... we're still not sure what Goard Dancing is ! And ... in the worst case of "Indian time" that we've ever experienced, at 12:45 the 1 PM Grand Entry was rescheduled to 1:15 PM, then at 1:10 PM it was rescheduled to 1:30 PM, and it eventually got underway about 1:40 PM ! HA HA HA !
We watched the Grand Entry until about 2 PM then went back to Elsie to have lunch. We left the fairgrounds about 3 PM, heading west on Hwy. 86. Twice this afternoon, as we drove, we saw a very rare "inverted" or "crested" Saguaro Cactus. Both times
I stopped to take a picture. These were the third and fourth times we've seen an example of the mutant "inverted" or "crested" Saguaro. And considering their rarity, we're very fortunate ! Once was way down the Baja California peninsula, and the rest of the times were all within 100 miles or so of Tucson.
We continued west on Hwy. 86 to Why, then north on Hwy. 85. Near Ajo we stopped to investigate a popular boondocking "campground" out in the desert. The Escapees Boondockers BOF ( Birds Of a Feather ... special interest group ) were having a rally there. We didn't know that until we came upon them there. A short time later we stopped again, pulling off the road into the desert to have a rest break. After a short rest and snack break we were preparing to depart, and both Bo and Sully acted like ... "HEY, aren't we staying here tonight ?" Apparently they both like boondocking out in the desert. HA HA HA !
We continued north on Hwy. 85. Because Hwy. 85 leads directly into Mexico south of Why, there was a Customs & Border Patrol checkpoint a bit north of Ajo. What a waste of American tax dollars ! A bunch of men standing around with their thumbs up their asses, at least one sniffer dog, and a very rambunctious and unfocussed one at that, many vehicles, lots of tax dollars at work accomplishing ... ? ! ? I stopped and rolled down my window, and the agent made a silly remark about Bo. His humour didn't particularly appeal to me so I remained silent. He became stern and wanted to know if
I was not going to answer his question. What question ? There was no question in that remark ! Joanne thinks it's a bad idea for me to show my contempt like that. < shrug >
We reached Gila Bend at Interstate 8. We turned east on I-8 for two miles where we once again spent the night boondocked at Gila Bend Shell.
And no, no ... Sully still hasn't had a bowel movement ! ! !
DSK
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