I woke up cozy, warm and comfortable this moring. I had a hot shower and sat on a toilet without the cold morning air blustering through an open door. Where did all this luxury come from?  I checked into a little cabin last night. Just one room but heat, TV, frig and microwave WOW!

I had stopped by city hall yesterday too see if they though the park would flood. The very friendly receptionist said it was not predicted but she had seen it flood under just such circumstances. I took her advice and checked into the little cottage. Went to the  campsite and loaded up the cooler and a few other things I needed.  At about seven I went back to camp to check on things  and decided at the last minute to  grab Boss's doggy bed and my sleeping bag, even though we didn't need them in the cabin. I placed the camp chairs on top of the table and left my chuck box on table; the tent stayed anchored where I had pitched it the day before.

This morning I drove to the camp. As I turned down the road that goes across the bridge and leads to the turnoff I could see flashing lights and people wearing police vest lined up along the road. Traffic was moving  slowly both directions. I drew abreast of the flashing lights, I  saw sandbags piled along the road and dirty brown water trying it's best to find a path onto the roadway. I asked "can I get into the campground "? "No it is under water" "You can turn around at the entrance".

At top of the hill I could see into camp, there sat my lonely tent. My carefully prepared firewood was under water. The chairs and other things on table were still there in a sea of mud and water. I don't know if they will be tommorrow the river is still rising and it's guess what? RAINING     

Where Will Paths Lead

My now former thrift store is going co-op. The staff will be running the store. That means I am out of a job. Sooo don't want to  leave Montana just when spring is arriving. I survived the cold only to go back to Arizona's hot summer. NOT !!
So I am going camping. Maybe it will lead to a new adventure. LOL.  History repeats itself.

Roughing It to Luxury

I sit here at a cherry wood desk, mug of herb tea in hand, typing on my computer. The bed I just crawled out of has 400 thread count sheets and the frig offers three choices; water, crushed or cubes. There are two 32" televisions, one in bedroom and one in living room. I can choose my own programs and not listen to sports noise, the choice of the man of the house.

This sure beats the bed of leaves I slept in on previous nites. Not to mention the hot shower I had this morning required no quarters pumped into slots. A hot breakfast of bacon, eggs, and hashed browns did not include smoke stinging eyes and no scrubbing of pans with cold water from a mountain stream.

How did we come by such luxury? I used to have a good job that required travel and I racked up reward points. Yesterday,the man of the house insisted he had to see game seven of the NHL. I called my rewards programs till I found a free night.

Don't get me wrong. I love camping. It is wonderful to wake up to birds singing, blue skies and a beautiful sun dawning to greet a new day. I take great pleasure in sitting in the outdoors and sipping tea or hot chocolate, and nothing beats the smell of bacon and pine trees mingling. Boss loves being able to run around and chase or look for creatures. Time takes on new meaning as you sit and just watch nature happen. Living in the outdoors you get away from the bombardment of mayhem we call news. These are the joys of camping.

It's a good thing I feel this way because it's back to camping tonight.

Intimate Camping

There was a time when camping meant throwing on a backpack and setting out for the quiet and serenity of the great outdoors. A pack of matches, some canned or dried food and a sleeping bag was all that was needed to keep you comfortable. You were out to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature.

Times have changed. People now take not only the kitchen sink but everything else they have at home. It's difficult to enjoy nature's quiet and serenity when the guy next to you is blaring Law and Order on his satellite TV

The parks of course want to make as much money as possible so the RV spaces are right side by side, closer than the houses in your neighborhood. You can experience voyeurism without even trying. Your camping neighbor's every activity and conversation is available for your listening pleasure. I know because I just experienced this. A large rental RV parked next to our tent at a state park. The couple got out and we exchanged greetings. They were all lovey-dovey. Holding hands as they sat side by side on the picnic bench. They fixed their dinner and sat close to one another feeding each other bites and laughing at each others comments. Now I was not trying to watch but they were on a picnic bench right in front of me.

Later, I was treated to more intimate moment's, but those took place in the RV so thankfully I was not witness to the event but only heard it. A few hours later I awoke to loud arguing. Seems as if the loving had sparked a disagreement. I put the pillow over my ears and drifted back to sleep.

The next morning the lovey couple were back sipping coffee while holding hands. They left soon after, so the situation was not as awkward as what I once experienced on a cruise ship. The couple next to us would be standing on their balcony holding hands and playing kissy face. Then laughing they would go into their cabin and let's just say we did not need to tune into the porn channel. After some silent time we began to hear shouting and then the front cabin door would bang shut, the man would open the sliding glass door, come out, light a cigarette and sheepishly say hi. To which we pretending we had not heard a thing would respond hi. This was repeated frequently for the whole five day cruise.

So why when we want to get away from it all do we go to such close quarters where we can here our neighbors sexual activity and maybe even their morning constitution. Maybe it's because we are by nature pack animals and feel safer when we are part of a community.

The RV lifestyle is diffently a community. There are websites devoted to it. There are magazines about RVing and in the parks there are community buildings. It is fun getting to meet the people from all parts of the world. The people we met were friendly and having a good time. Camping in parks is something I plan to keep doing even if I have to pretend I didn't hear you screaming more, more, more last night.

Spring Break

For the first time I am going on a Spring Break vacation. In college there were no sandy beaches, jello shots or string bikinis in my breaks. I was pushing motor oil at my local K-Mart. That's right the girl who's only knowledge of the car was to turn the key was hired to work in the automotive department.

My experience there went something like this. A greasy man would come in the store and look around and turn to me and say " is anyone working in here"? I would look down at my blue smock and name tag and think does this give you a clue as I politely said. " I can help you sir". He would give me the once over from my blond hair to my rather large boobs which he would continue to ogle as he replied, " are you sure"? " Yes it's my job." "I need a spark plug for a 1969 GMC truck". I would walk over to the spark plug aisle pull out the chart look down the list and hand him a box. He looks at the box reads the label and stares at me with surprise I can see his thoughts drifting across his face your a girl, a bimbo, how did you do that? He replies "thank you." I'm thinking yeah it takes a lot of mechanical knowledge to learn to read a chart as I replied "your welcome". That was my my wonderful experience in the world of automotive supplies.


As the lucky headed out to Rocky Point I picked up extra hours at work. Rocky Point for those of you who don't live in the Desert is our closes tropical paradise. It's a small town in Mexico on the Sea of Cortez. The sandy beaches are gleaming white and the water is sparkling turquoise. The seafood is wonderful and the fiesta goes on all the time I have been there just not during college or spring break. I don't remember in my younger years spring break being the big deal it is today but maybe I was to busy putting myself through college.


I didn't have enough time or money to wantonly squander it on such frivolities. My wages went for more mundane thing like tuition, books and food. Well I still don't have much money since the recession (depression) cut into state funds and I lost my teaching job. But who needs money anyway. Well a little for gas and maybe for food. You have to eat at home or away so you really can't count food as an expense. Our budget vacation is to go camping.


I have taken the camping gear out of storage and checked for missing necessities. Flashlight batteries had to be replaced but most thing were still ready to go. We plan to travel not to Rocky Point, to old for that kind of partying, plus all that beer, margaritas and seafood can get expensive. We will go to a lake nearby where we can enjoy nature and wildlife the animal kind not the fiesta kind.

Adios amigos! Hello Spring break!