Dentist in Los Algodones, Baja California

Not me! Annie has gone out-of-town, out-of-state, and out-of-country to take care of a few things in her mouth. She was researching Nogales, Sonora (thank you for your suggestions), then realized she would feel better in Los Algodones. 

After she left me (what year was that? Yesterday?!?) the sky put on a show to distract me. Thanks, Sky.

There were three separate rainbows that day, and two of them were doubles. They don't call this joint the Good Luck Duck for no reason, you know.

 
Also here to distract me: dogs.

Whitey

Cookie

Whitey and Cookie

Whitey and Cookie

Whitey and ...HEY! CUT THAT OUT!

This is awkward.

I like having the dogs around outside, especially at night. Every owl, javelina, and cow is a new chance for me to soil myself.

I took the Tracker to the post office yesterday, and before I could walk away, it beat me to it. I threw my Jaime Sommers moves on it and jumped in to stop it before it could crash into a pre-school field trip, two seniors with walkers, a dog in a wheelchair, and a stroller; a little car can't stand up to abuse like that.

Our Arizona is wet, windy, and cold. Tell me about somewhere warm.

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Sonoran Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ

I promise we are not flaunting our summer clothes on November 28. There is no way that's why I took this photo.

Thanks, Dwayne, for recommending the Sonoran Desert Museum. I'm conflicted about zoological gardens, but this one was certainly nice. However I feel about them, I enjoyed this one a lot.

Prairie dogs try to look scary.

"Alan! Al! Alan!"

We were made. We ran out in terror and disgrace.

This prairie dog is not a dog, and is not on the prairie. Discuss.

Through no planning of our own, we happened to catch one of the two raptor demonstrations of the day. These birds flew through the crowd like Blue Angels.

Gray hawk at the Raptor Free-flight

Harris hawk on saguaro

Barn owl

Odd duck at the walk-in aviary

The elusive "Whachu talkin' 'bout, Willis" hummingbird

Bee house. Free rent to solitary bees (pollinator area)

Butterfly garden (pollinator area some more)

This cactus is new to us. We call it the Lethal SparkleStar cactus.

I got my eye on you.

Hypomelanistic Western diamondback rattlesnake. Don't call him "albino." That really honks him off.

We stayed all afternoon.

You know Judy would say...

"The End!" or...

"Really The End!"

...but, it's not.

If you have zoo-ro tolerance for animals in captivity, I can't recommend this place. Even the hummingbird house and walk-in aviary will bother you. There are bears and big cats and otters and beavers and deer and javelinas. I'm just telling you how it is, so you know ahead of time. 

However, the animals who live there are indigenous to the area - no giraffes or elephants - and their habitats are extremely clean and fairly spacious; they are appropriate to the animal. The residents have "enrichment" activities to stimulate them and pique their interest. One could argue that they are safe.  

We liked it very much, but we're also willing to imprison six cats, so you know what kind of people we are.

Tucson dispersed camping

There's an unexpected boondocking area in the Tucson area, and we're there. This is not our usual habitat; there is some road noise, and some air noise. We find it completely satisfactory, though. We have a tree for under-sitting. The site we chose is pretty level, and the area is convenient to places we want to be.  And, there's something relaxing about road noise when you expect road noise.

I'm gonna confess: it's a relief to be out of National Forests and back to BLM for a while. [BLM rangers, no "famous last words," please.] We haven't had any unpleasant NFS encounters at all; that's not what I'm saying. But, the arbitrary 300 foot rule that overrides obviously perfect campsites that are 400 feet from the road stinks. And, the miles and miles of ravine and completely inaccessible roadside that are labeled "permitted," followed by lovely, level, accessible sites that are off-limits can make me lose my religion. What religion? Exactly.

I just needed to work that past my crop.

NFS rangers say we can write to suggest recommissioning campsites we especially like. So far, in the Prescott region I find only snail mail addresses. They probably aren't funded enough to handle email traffic, so if you want to contribute you have to be willing to work a little harder at it.

The clouds of dust are made by weekend ATVers. It has been suggested that strict NFS rules were aimed at destructive off-road travel, but may impact RVers more.
These guys are on a permitted road, and this is Bureau of Land Management anyway.

I don't begrudge ATVers their fun. I'm having fun every day, and these folks mostly have to save their dust-kicking for weekends. It seems to me that most of them are staying on-road.

Sonoran face-off

This distance is pretty close in the boondocking world. We figured maybe he didn't feel like being alone that night. We've all been there. The gas stations have all closed down. We've stayed past last call, and we just can't bear to head back to the RV park. We just needed companionship. Don't judge him. At that hour, the Duck looked like a 10.

Also great to see again: saguaros. Love those pointing guys.

Saguaro you headed? 

That way.

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