A Cold Night at a Great Site

A cold night at a great site

        First, to catch up:

        I forgot to mention, in Tucson, we saw a huge, tornado like dust devil.

        We had a scare with our transmission, mainly that, while in Flagstaff, it refused to engage reverse, forcing us to push the RV out of its parking spot. As it was Saturday, when this happened, we stayed in the local KOA, testing out that experience, until Monday. The KOA was awesome, and we were at the AAMCO bright and early on Monday, at which time the rv decided to behave perfectly, and the AAMCO people seemed to think we were crazy. (I swear; it was broken! Yeah…I’m sure it was…transmissions fix themselves all the time.) Sigh.

        That brings us to yesterday, which was the day of AAMCO. We headed West, to Williams and the ranger station there, to get information on dispersed camping, in the area. After meeting with an affable ranger, getting many, gigantic maps, and swinging through Safeway to stock up on food for the next week or so, we headed north towards the Grand Canyon, talking and having a grand old time.

        We decided to stop short of earth’s biggest above water crack, so we pulled out one of the handy maps and decided that fire road 688 was our lucky spot.

        Sure enough, roughly half a mile in, on road 688D, we found this wonderful campsite.

        Nearby is a large section of turned up earth with many fallen trees, so we decided to walk there to gather our firewood. Cal and Naga chased a rabbit and were, in general, ecstatic to be off leash.

        After much playing, wood gathering, and general settling in, Morgan and I were sitting out by our fire pit, the little pup having wandered off, when said little one comes gallivanting back, following his genetic programming to a tee, a cow leg griped tightly in his jaws.

        Did Cal kill the cow? Most likely, no. Did he let that keep him from the biggest stick of meaty goodness he had ever found? Absolutely not. And, most importantly, did we let him keep it? HECK NO! Who knows how long that thing had been dead, flesh and fur not withstanding.

        So, Cal’s unexpected find behind us, we settled into our evening, enjoying surprisingly tasty white cheddar pasta with beef. Eventually, after a beautiful sunset, jumbo marshmallows, and a roaring fire, we let the night wind down and were left with a stunning array of coals that, to me, looked like a continent, viewed from space.

        Thus our evening came to a close and, as the low last night was to be 27F, we revved up our furnace.

        It took much longer than it should have for us to realize that the furnace wasn’t heating…

        We were out of propane!!! :-O That’s right, we had a freakishly cold night ahead, and nothing with which to heat the RV. Now, you may be thinking: “I’ve camped in colder than that, you’ll be fine.” Yeah? Well I’ll bet you had a sleeping bag, and other such niceties to keep warm with. Our accoutrements were meant to keep us comfortable in a cool RV, not keep us warm on their own.

        Thus, I slept in many layers, disliking every compound wrinkle, and Morgan wore heavy pajamas as well, keeping close to multiply our heat.

        This morning we woke bright and early to drive back, away from the Grand Canyon, to a KOA that told us they couldn’t, legally, fill our propane tanks…

        They directed us back up the road to a gas station where the kind woman filled our tank and we, once again, had the liquid of life: that which heats our home, cooks our food, keeps our ingredients cold, and warms our water. It’s important stuff.

        So, fair reader, we have had yet more hiccups which left us with funny stories to tell, and a renewed realization that stuff happens.

        On a side note, I have, for the last six months or so, been trying various protein bars and rating them, for my own use. I have decided to share such! So, if you see a flurry of posts, here, fear not, I have not gone insane, I have just decided to share a little of what I have learned. Don’t worry, there are only 14 so far. ;) I may, also, do reviews on other things from time to tim.

        Thanks for reading, yet again, and may you be safe and warm, unless it would be better for your personal growth to be otherwise.