City of Rocks: Part I

This was a great trip where so many things were learned and experienced in too short a time for me. The best part were the epiphanies which helped me to see my way clear again, but I'll get to that later in Part II.

The drive out was long and uneventful, but it was great just being out on the road again. I arrived close to 9pm and was greeted by Robin (http://tumbleweedsandlemonade.blogspot.com/), Susan (http://minnieminerva.blogspot.com/), and Brian (http://manywheelsbrian.blogspot.com/). It was the absolute best to finally get to meet them all in person. I really enjoyed their company on this trip and look forward to doing anything with them again. First I gave them a quick tour of my rig, and then we went over to Susan's where she had made us all a tasty dinner of Au Jus. Thank you again Susan! After dinner we a had fun getting to know each other type convo until everyone dropped out to crash for the night.

The next day started out sunny and warm but got cold, gusty, and rainy by lunchtime. We did manage to get a nice hike in and met and mingled with some of the neighbors before the weather turned. We wound up back at Susan's for some more good convo before everyone retreated to their rigs for the night. The temps unexpectedly dropped to the low 30°'s. Even though I was sharing the bunk with the beagle and had extra blankets, it wasn't anywhere near warm enough and I had to use the furnace before we froze. Luckily this wound up being the worst thing that happened on the trip.

I slept in this morning and sadly learned that I missed Brian's early departure. He was having some battery issues and didn't want to risk it getting worse. I really meant to hang out with and get to know him better, but it didn't work out this trip. I really hope to sit down and swap stories with him on our next encounter.

And now for a few pictures ...

My site number and name.
All the sites are named after constellations.

Fourteenth thing I saw that morning

Bridgette geared up for a hike and yells
"Let's Goooooooooo!!!!!"

A dirt road

There were more RV people than tent campers

On our walk, Bridgette and I invented
a game called "Find Moammar Gadhafi".
She didn't find him behind the big rock :-(

A very quick tour of the inside of my rig. 

The multi-purpose room.
As you can see it took us no time to settled in.

The kitchen, bar, and tea station.

The bedroom & adjoining bathroom

just can't wait to ...

I'm sitting at my desk sipping some earl grey creme tea listening to Willie Nelson's "On the road again" while going over my trip checklist. In about hour or less I'll be making my way across Texas to New Mexico for a long overdue vacation. I'm very excited because I'm going to meet up with several full timers and spend a little time with them on my trip. Two days earlier I was in overdrive and stressing because I was trying to get a few work projects done before I left. Yesterday was the same and I was planning on leaving after work to maximize my vacation time. I even started packing like a madman when I got home and realized that I should be taking some advice I'd given a friend. Rather than continue packing at my breakneck pace, then drive as far as I could before stopping someplace random to crash for the night, I slowed down and slept at home instead. The revelation hit me that if I'm really to make my future full timing life work, the first thing I have to do is to end a few bad habits from my current life. Sometimes we get so caught up in our day to day lives in this rat race that we forget the simplest of things.

I don't have to live this way!

Yelp!

She hates going to the vet!

Earlier this week, the beagle and I were horsing around as we always do. Things got too rough, she yelped loudly, and this ended playtime for us. Over the next few days there was more yelping, but only when she moved in a way she didn't know that would hurt. She was normal otherwise, but I did give her a thorough body check. Nothing was broken anywhere and it wasn't a back issue. She didn't cry out in pain as I poked and prodded her. I figured it was a pulled or strained muscle and that she would self regulate her motion until she was 100% again. I had given her some k9 aspirin which helped. It wasn't until this afternoon when she came to lay down beside me on the couch and let out a really loud one that I took her to the vet. $55 later we were sent home with a weeks worth of Rimadyl and asked to return in two weeks. The vet performed pretty much the same exam and came to the same conclusion I did. She suffered some tissue damage, but the main difference is that he's licensed to prescribe the good stuff. My little girl is feeling much better and recreating a beagle version of the peyote scene from Young Guns on my couch for me.