I am not Spoiled!

 I utter those words almost every morning as Barb hands me a tray containing my breakfast as I lay in bed. I've talked about it before, but living in 70 square feet with your spouse and two dogs does come with it's challenges. Especially when your spouse believes that there is a place for everything and everything must be in its place. And for me, that place is on the bed with Zoey. 

I am not allowed off the bed unless it is to go to the bathroom or getting ready to go out and do something. And if I do get down, Barb has to be seated at the dinette or out of the camper altogether. It is for this reason. I get breakfast in bed many mornings. A typical morning will go something like this; she will get up and take the dogs out. This is my cue to get up while they are gone and get ready for the day. By the time she gets back I am back up on the bed watching news on my phone. If we have internet, I will read a few blogs, but that is tough on my phone. 

She will then feed the dogs, make her coffee and drink it while looking at her phone. When she is done, she will say something like, "What are you thinking for breakfast?" Travel days are usually something simple like a bagel, English muffin or snack biscuits, but on non-travel days it could be bacon, eggs and toast, or even blueberry pancakes! She then makes breakfast, puts it on a cookie sheet and hands it to me in while I am on the bed. I take it from her, many times saying the 4 words in the title. "I am not spoiled. She usually says, "No, honey, you are not spoiled" and sits down to have her breakfast.

It's a rough life and the struggle is real, but I get by day by day.

Dakota's place is under the dinette. Most of the time. We find evidence of her being up on the bed while we are gone and have caught her up there a time or two. She will even make her presence known at night if I happen to be having a snack in bed at night. I will bear her rustling around down there, the camper will shake, the dinette will bounce and soon enough her head will pop up over the top of the bench seat with a look that says. "Wha'tcha got pappa?". I will either throw her something or invite her up on the bed. Believe me, it gets a little crowded up here with two dogs and two humans in bed!

Speaking of struggles. Poor Dakota. She is getting along pretty well with me helping her in and out of the camper and truck, but she had an incident this week that was just horrible. She was getting out of the camper and I had a hold of her collar to assist her. I don't really do to much except keep her from hitting the ground too hard when she takes that last jump off the stairs. We have done this dozens of times on this trip without incident....until.... Until she was jumping down and one of her hind legs got caught in the stairs and she was splayed out hind leg outstretched on top of the stairs and head in the dirt. I quickly released her hind legs and got her down on the ground. She seemed fine, She did not yelp (she never does) but she was limping. It was then that I noticed this on the stairs. 

An entire claw had been removed. I cannot even begin to imagine how bad that must have hurt, or was still hurting. Imagine getting your entire toenail ripped totally off!. We got her in the truck and drove to Tractor Supply where we bought some antibiotic cream, gauze and vet wrap. 5 minutes later she was all doctored up. Oh, and we gave her a doggie pain pill. 

She had gotten her claw stuck in one of the holes in the stair treads and then she jumped. The treads have since been covered.

I do not know how she is doing it, but she now walks around like nothing happened despite having the entire flesh on one claw totally exposed. I would be curled up in the fetal position (on the bed) crying like a baby. 

This happened on the day we met up with our friend Dale and Ruth. Quartzsite friends from back in the day. They bought a house in Tucson and travel during the summer. We spent a couple hours with them hiking a trail in the Saguaro National Park before heading to lunch and then happy hour at their house. 

Maybe it was because it was Saturday. Maybe it was because it was Valentine's Day. Maybe it was because it was Zoey's 5th birthday, but the parking lot at the park was absolutely packed! The trail was not as bad though and we had a great hike. The flora, although not in full bloom, there were enough to keep our cameras busy.

It was a great day (except for the Dakota incident).

Our first two days in Tucson we used our Harvest Host membership to stay at breweries. First Catalina Brewing Company and then Button Brew House. They were less than a 1/4 mile apart and both were roadside parking. 

The cool thing about Catalina is the fact that the brewery is filled old time pinball machines. How cool is that?!?! We put a few dollars in the machines and a couple of beers in our bellies before calling it a night. 

The next day and the two after that we got to hang out with Dan and Bonnie! They flew down from Custer to see Bonnie's brother (Bruce) and sister-in-law (Becky) who also live in Tucson during the winter. Dan had found us a place to park our camper for a few days at a horse facility about 15 minutes from Bruce and Becky's place. 

Some of you may find this weird, others of you will relate, but there is just something about the smell of a horse barn that triggers a sense of calm and ease. At least it does for us. It brought back memories of all the years we had horses. If they could bottle or make a candle with that scent, we would be customers for life. 

Horse Haven might not be the best facility in Tucson, but it was perfect for us, it was clean and you could tell the horses were well cared for. 

Over the next three days we got together with Dan, Bonnie, Bruce and Becky each day. Going out to eat, exploring the area breweries/distilleries and going to the top of Mount Lemmon which was snow covered and colder than it was back in South Dakota! Del Bac was the only distillery we could find in the area. They mainly distilled Single Malt Whiskeys. not my favorite. 

The views going up Mount Lemmon were incredible. 

When we got back down to the bottom we went to Guadalajara's, one of Barb's favorite restaurants in the area.  

Dan and Bonnie have been coming to this area for years and showed us some of their favorite places. One of which is the Tanque Verde Ranch which offers rooms, tours, horseback rides and a restaurant/saloon.  They must have over 100 head of horses on this ranch!

All too soon, it was time to hit the road again and head east. As we were traveling east along Interstate 10 in New Mexico, the wind started picking up and this warning came across our phones.

And sure enough, soon we started to see clouds of dust ahead of us. A few miles later, it enveloped us, but it was not too bad. 

We made it all the way across New Mexico that first day, spending the night at Camping World in Anthony, Texas. We have a special meet up/event planned. I am not sure if it is going to work out yet, but we are headed east in the hopes it will!

Meanwhile, while all that is happening, we get this email from back home. All of our mail is scanned and the images emailed to us each day.  One day this image is included as one of thing pieces of mail we are getting. The postmark is from Fargo North Dakota, the return address from JL Beer. We have been there, they provide free postcards for drunk patrons to write and send postcards to people across the country.  The address was right, the sender got our last name right, but that is all that make sense. The sender must have had one too many beers as we definitely do not know Jethro and Bambi!

The Big 4-0!

 Can you believe it? Sometimes it seems like yesterday, sometimes it seems like f  o  r  e  v  e  r. ago. And I mean that in a good way. Meaning Barb and I have always been together and there was no such thing as "A life before Barb". When I look at the picture below, I do not even recognize the person marrying that beautiful woman. Nor do I know why she married him. A moment of weakness that changed my life (and hers) forever. 

But it's true, 40 years ago this week, Barb and I got married! I was 23-year-old. Young by today's standards. I dare not mention Barb's age. After the leg picture from the other week, I think my one faux pau per month has already been used up. Let's just say she robbed the cradle. But if that is the case, why is all my hair grey and hers her natural color? Must have something to do with who is driving the other to their grave with their craziness. 

40 years ago, on that night we were honeymooning in an ice shack on Mille Lacs Lake while ice fishing. I know that many of you are wooing with jealousy right now but wait until you hear where we spent the night of our 40th. In the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant! Does it get any better than that? I think not! We did spend the day having fun though as we visited our good friends Red and Pam in Casa Grande. We first met them in 2014, our first year on the road. It had been several years since we've seen them and it was nice to meet up again. We also got to see Sadie and Cooper. Cooper is a chocolate lab that was very tempted to steal and call my own. 

After a few hour visit, it was off to Cracker Barrel where we had a restless night's sleep. I don't think I have ever been anywhere where the birds called all night long. Doves and some other bird were squawking literally all night long!

From Casa Grande it was off to Apache Junction for more visiting. That first night we found a nice bar to watch the super bowl, a so so game. It was after the game where the excitement started. After leaving the bar, we went to the camper to let the dogs out of the camper and put them in the truck. As I was saying in our last post, I have to give Dakota a little boost into the truck and this time was no different. Except my hand was wet after I push her up. It was dark, so I did not see anything. My next step was to smell what whatever was on my hand. (insert puking sounds...blech, gackh). That is when Barb came out and announced that Zoey had diarrhea "all over the camper". She told me to get in the truck while she assessed the situation. You don't have to tell me twice! I rolled down the windows as whatever happened in there was all over Dakota as well. 20 minutes later she returned saying it was all taken care of, but it was on the floor, walls, seat cushions. It was almost like she was an automatic sprinkler and rotated around the camper making sure not to miss a spot. The only saving grace was that she did not get any on the bed. 

Needless to say, we spent the next morning at the laundry mat. A couple hours later, things were back to normal. 

Then it was off to Silly Mountain for a hike! A shortish 2-mile loop up to a viewpoint.  The red circle is our truck. 

 We had a site that night in Lost Dutchman State Park and after getting setup, we were ready to meet up with our friends Harry and Vicki. Most of you know them as Harry the Dog Hater and his lovely wife Vicki. They were nice enough to pick us up from our site in the park. This is our first time at this park and let me tell you, it will not be our last. The views are incredible! 

After picking us up, they drove us to their place in Canyon Vista's RV Resort, about a 15-minute drive. They have a very nice house? Park Model? I really do not know what to call it. Whatever you want to call it, it is very nice. Roomy and comfortable. After hanging out a bit we walked down to the community area for margaritas and beers! They also had live music which was nice. 

The next day we were back at their park to watch Harry play softball. They have a 55 and over league with several levels. Harry plays on two teams, this particular one consisted of men mostly in their mid to upper 60's and even one guy over 80! I have to give these guys a lot of credit, they were out there hustling!

Harry has been a pitcher all his life and this has not changed now that he is in his 70's. I just hope I have half the energy and ambition as most of these guys when I am their age. 

We left them after the game and got some much-needed rest for a big hike we planned for the next morning. Flatiron. Those of you who have been to Lost Dutchman know Flat Iron. Touted as "Arizona's most challenging non-rope hike" with class 3 and class 4 scrambling we were determined to conquer the mountain! 

At just under 6 miles, it is said that this hike should take 4-5 hours. Historically we can get hikes done in the lower part of those timetables, so we planned on 2.5 hours up and 2 hours back. We set off at 8am from our campsite and started walking. The sun was hidden behind the mountain, so we were in the shade almost all the way up. 

Our destination? The little red circle below. 

It started out at a gradual slope for the first mile or so and then it became increasingly difficult. Breaks were frequent and our water supply was diminishing fast. There were parts where you were basically on your hands and knees as you climbed vertically up the rock walls. 

There were a handful of other people on the trail, almost all of them were much younger than us and of course passing us. At the two-hour mark I looked up and began to realize that I had seriously underestimated the time it was going to take us. We were about 2/3rds of the way to the top and still had the hardest section ahead of us. 

At the 2 1/2 hour mark I told Barb that I thought we needed to tap out. According to my device we had gone 2.5 miles since leaving the campsite and climbed 0ver 3,500ft and we still had at least an hour left. Plus, my left arch was giving out of me. So, at the 3/4 point, we turned tail and started back down the trail. I think this is the first trail where going back down was as hard, if not harder in spots than coming up. Remember those spots where we were crawling up the rock wall? It is much easier to up a wall than down! 

On the way down, I asked Barb "How often do you think people get hurt on this trail and need rescuing?" My guess is that it is pretty frequent as there were several times where we slide and had to catch our footing. Luckily for us, we were not the victims on this day and two hours, 5 miles, up and down over 3,500' each way, we made it back to the camper. Totally exhausted. 

This is the first time I think we have ever failed making it to the top of one of our hikes. But we did pretty good for a couple in their mid 60's! There were people half our age who turned around well before us. But then again, there were people older than us who made it all the way to the top as well. Another day Flatiron, we shall meet again. 

After resting up (and showering) we were ready for our next meet up! Fellow RVers Dale and Chloe came out to the camp ground for a visit.  We first met them in Quartszite in February of 2018 and have kept in contact since. While we were sitting at the picnic table at our campsite visiting, we noticed a helicopter approaching the Flatiron summit. Then it began lowering itself below the summit near the trail we were on earlier. 

Not good. We watched as the helicopter touched down and we are assuming someone got out before the helicopter went up again and hovered over the area. Soon enough fire trucks and an ambulance came through the campground and staged themselves at the trailhead. 15 minutes later the helicopter dropped back down, picked up the injured hiker and brought them to the ambulance. As if that was not bad enough, once they dropped them off they went back up to get another injured person! Not a good day on the mountain. 

Thursday was checkout day for us, time to move on. But, before that, it was time for one more meet up! Doug and Janell were blog readers who first visited us in South Dakota during the spring of 2019. They just so happened to be from the same area of Wisconsin as us. We had not seen them since then, but here our paths crossed again in Apache Junction Arizona! We had lunch with them after we checked out of Lost Dutchman. I forgot to take a picture, so I stole this off their Facebook page from last week.

Sore, tired and bellies full we are now off to Tucson!