Arizona, Jan – March, 2018

Yuma

I keep returning to a boondocking area just 17 miles west of Yuma, technically in Winterhaven, California. The BLM area is near the Ogilby exit off Interstate 8 on Sidewinder Road.  This was my fourth time camping on Sidewinder.  Sometimes alone and sometimes with friends.  Ralph, Mick and Deb were with me as we killed time before heading up to Quartzsite to meet up with other friends and attend the big RV rally.  Deb and I visited the Imperial Sand Dunes and took a few photos.  I LOVE sand dunes.  I don’t know why…I just do.

 

 

My nephew and his family, Kevin, Mariya, Mason and Kyle, came to visit and roast weenies.

Quartzsite

When we arrived in Quartzsite we found a fairly flat area in the Dome Rock section about five miles west of Quartzsite.  I like to camp here because it is elevated and has great views of the Quartzsite lights at night.  You can see the sunrise and sunset right from this location and it is much quieter than camping in Quartzsite.   

Eventually there were five rigs: Deb and Mick, Cheryl and Jesse, John and Bill, Ralph and I, and one of my bookies, Lynn, who was on her maiden voyage with her new rig.  John brought a LOT of firewood and we had a campfire every night and even some mornings.  We all spent money at the RV Big Tent, went to the Desert Bar, looked for unique rocks and had a great time with wonderful friends. 

The frosting on the cake was the Blue Moon/Red Moon and total lunar eclipse. We got up at 5 am to catch the eclipse and also had a campfire and watched the sunrise.  What a unique experience!  Deb took some wonderful pictures.

We stayed two weeks and it went so quickly. Ralph hitched a ride back to Sacramento with Cheryl and Jesse, while Lynn and I headed to Martinez Lake to join a few of the Escapee’s Solos for the week.

Martinez Lake

Martinez Lake is about 10 miles north of Yuma on the Colorado River. Being near water in Southern Arizona is a rare treat.  Several Escapee Solos were also camped there, so we had a built-in social group.  Lynn did some work on her rig and Fred and I just hung out and visited.

 

 

I had visitors every evening right after dusk.  Fred just watched them through the window.  I doubt he’d ever seen anything like this before.

 

I also crowned another Road Queen; my friend Lynn.

 

 

I was just getting ready to head to Tucson and spend a couple weeks with my friend Malia (Malia’s Miles blog) when I came down with the Shingles!  UGHHHHHH! What a nightmare!  First I had a lot of pain that I couldn’t explain and then the blisters broke out.  That’s when I realized what was happening. I went to a walk-in clinic and started the anti-viral meds, which worked to stop the virus in its tracks.  However, what was already there was bad enough. As of the date of writing this, I’ve had shingles for seven weeks. The blisters are gone, but,  I still have a lot of nerve pain.  I sure hope it goes away soon!

Instead of heading to Tucson, I went to my nephew Kevin’s house and parked in front of his house for another week. I stayed until I felt like I could handle the 240-mile drive to Tucson.  Kevin and Mariya took good care of me and I had a chance to spend more time with the little ones. Baby Kyle is one year old already. 

While in Yuma I took Fred to the vet for vaccinations, where they discovered that Fred needed a couple of teeth surgically removed. Little did I know that this would be the beginning of the end for our little buddy, Freddy the Freeloader.

Tucson

My original plan was to spend two weeks in Tucson with my friend Malia and then fly out of Phoenix to Florida to visit family.  However, after making the drive to Tucson it was clear that I was in no condition to travel to Florida, so I canceled my trip.  On top of feeling terrible, Fred was going to need surgery for his teeth.  Ralph decided to fly to Tucson to help Fred and me.  I was soooo grateful.  I had no idea what lie ahead for Fred.

We found a vet in Tucson and went in to have the pre-surgery blood tests complete.  This would tell us if Fred was healthy enough to survive the surgery.  When the vet opened the door he said, “I don’t have good news for you.”, my heart sank.  He informed us that Fred’s kidneys were failing and he could not perform the surgery.  He advised us to administer sub-cutaneous fluids for 14 days and return for another blood test.  Maybe this time he would be healthy enough to survive the surgery. After a few days of the fluids, Fred was a new cat!  He wasn’t sleeping the entire day, was very playful and wanted to go outside all the time.  I was so hopeful. 

When Ralph and Fred met up with me in Oregon, I noticed how much weight Fred had lost.  He was also drinking much more water and peeing a lot.  After Ralph left at the end of January, it was just Fred and me.  I could tell he just wasn’t himself.  He was hiding in the back of the rig, sleeping all the time and even vomited.  I now believe that his body was full of toxins because his kidneys were not working and he was close to death.

The vet told us that 65% of old cats die from kidney failure.  It was a surprise to us that Fred was an “old cat”.  Since he adopted us, we didn’t know how old he was.  We thought 7-8 years old.  The vet told us he was 11-12.  We lost 5 years with Fred overnight!  We also learned there is nothing that can be done to reverse or even stop the kidney failure.  Fred only had about 6 months to live and that’s if I gave him the sub-q fluids every day.  Ralph was leaving for Oregon to continue his house hunt and there was no way I could handle that by myself.  I couldn’t watch Fred die over the next six months, so we had to let our little Freddy go.  It broke our hearts and I cried for two days straight.  I cry every time I see his ghost in the spots where he always slept and on the back of the dinette next to the frig where he would perch and wait to be fed.  I miss his little face when he woke me up in the morning by touching his cold nose to my nose.

 

 

Fred was a wonderful travelling buddy and a friendly, adaptable cat that everyone loved.  Ralph said that Fred changed his mind about cats. I miss him so much.

After losing Fred we had to do something different. 

Our friends Mick and Deb we were at the Escapees Park in Benson so we decided to join them for a week.  It was only 51 miles and I knew Ralph would enjoy having someone to play with because all I was doing was lying around hurting and grieving.  The Escapees Park in Benson is a great park.  The sites are huge, the people are friendly and there are many activities.  They even have a workshop with equipment for the men.  Ralph was a hit with the ping-pong guys and shot pool in a couple of tournaments.  Deb and I went to a beading class.  Ralph and I even did some sightseeing and drove to Tombstone, Sierra Vista and Bisbee one day.  It was nice to finally get out and do something. 

Then it was time for Ralph to fly home.  We drove back to Tucson and I parked at the Diamond J RV Park.  I was finally going to get to spend a couple weeks with Malia.

As of this writing, I’m still in Tucson and at some point I’ll head to Deming, New Mexico and begin my tour of the Land of Enchantment. I have Johnson relatives in Albuquerque and I am looking forward to spending some time with them.

Until next time…