Boondocking at Sacred Mountain, Rimrock, AZ

We left our boondocking site at the base of Sacred Mountain. I give this spot ◑◑◑ (half-moon cookies). It has a great view (Sacred Mountain), and is within walking distance of some really excellent petroglyphs (V-V Ranch), and the river.

There is a little too much traffic on the road (maybe twenty cars a day), and a fair amount of traffic right past the campsite toward the trailhead. On the other hand, for $24/night, you can park in the campground half a mile away, thirty feet from all your neighbors, and have no hook-ups. I like to provide options.

34.661094,-111.712961

Another boondocker got in touch with us by email, and we all ended up with some new ideas for camping in this area. Thanks, A!

I was napping in the grocery store parking lot and I dreamed a stranger wanted to trade his double-wide trailer for the Duck. When I woke up I was headed south with an old man. Annie, you kidder! Seriously, send me bus fare.

I like to clean up a little around our sites, and so Annie bought me a tiny rake for just that. Now I just need to find the "on" button, and a tiny person to run it.

I be bloggin', they workin'.

Thanks again for Phil's birthday wishes. He enjoyed them, and so did we. I think he enjoyed them with more alcohol than we did; just a guess.

For your pleasure:

It's a duck on a fence

I laughed myself incontinent over this.  I mean, when do you see a duck on a fence?  Plus, it was just after dawn, so quack-a-doodle-doo!

No one noticed the incontinence because of the lake.  Water, water everywhere.

We've been talking about our sitting situation for a long time.

No need to be so dramatic.  Get up, let's talk about it again.

I sat so long one day I crippled myself.  This couch is fourteen years old (108 in our years), and you don't get comfortable sitting on Great-Great-Great-Aunt Esther.  

Slow-forward a few days.  The couch is gone and we're sitting on camp chairs.  Better!  We need a semi-permanent solution, and we're willing to think outside the Broyhill.  Give us ideas, please.

We've considered:

• a reclining loveseat - we have one in mind
• comfy office chairs with storage footrests (first used in the Footrest Empire) - we have one in mind
• lawn chaises - we have one in mind
• YOUR IDEA HERE - you have one in mind

Annie is already dressed and ready to do Stuff.  I have more sitting to do.

It's not what she said, it's the way she said it.

 The _______ today is ______, but that's better than_____, especially after the ______ we've had.  Headed out to Live Oak to have some _____ ______ done, and afterwards went to _____ _____ for ____, which I prefer to ______, even though it contains more than 1/3 of my daily _________ and ___.    Later I'll take a vigorous ____ to burn some _________ and tone my _____.  That sort of thing lowers my _______ and _______, as well as raising my _______.   Had my first _____ there Wednesday, and the _____ told me to ____ some ____, but everything else is _____.  Have an appointment Monday for my __________, and you know what that means!

Emptied our composting ______ this week, which was no big deal because Annie did it.

Although I want to leave Lake City, we are staying to take care of _______, _____, and ___________ (me), and to _____________ ________ ___ ____________ _ ___________ __________ (Annie).  THEN we're totally leaving.

I dreamed I was ______, but it wasn't really my _____ I was ______.  I had gotten used to the cats ______ intermittently from ___ to ___, but in my dream they were ________ all day long.  Lazy bastards.

Maybe I should say more about the RV.  Annie got on the roof this week and proclaimed it filthy, and lousy with cat (1).  She left the dirt and removed the cat, or vice versa.

Welcome to the Macy's Ducksgiving Day Parade, the official start of the holiday season!  Here comes my favorite and yours, Scary Growth Duck - he's 40 feet high - straight from his hit TV series, Whose Duck is it, Anyway? and the blockbuster movie, What's Up, Duck? with Elliot Gourd.

You know, this is reminiscent of the free-range chicken I used to prey upon in the wild.

Annie just did an impression of Joanna Cassidy doing an impression of Paul Lynde. It sounded like Charles Nelson Reilly.

+ =

Photography most fowl

Read this: How to Walk Across a Parking Lot.  If you're too busy to read it, read it twice.

You're gonna walk away, see?  And you're gonna forget you was here, see?  You never saw me, see?

This stuff felt true today:  Ten Scams You Encounter Every Day.  You'll be a better person for having read it, or else you'll be mad that I wasted your time.  If you feel like it wasted your time, read it twice.

Heron Now

Pekin-ese

Egrets, I've had a few ...

ACK!  A whole flock!  

Duckpile

No birds were harmed in the filming of this post, but some children may have been badly photographed.

It got me where I am today.

I'm in there on the sofa.

Still there, but closer.

Another cat.  Please.  Make yourself at home.  Tell your friends.

We went to the flea market this morning instead of sleeping.  That's cool, because sleeping wouldn't have bagged me the best possible hat (no pictures) and a used hack saw (still no pictures).

Annie did a project that she wants to talk about.  It's solar, and it's a fan.  It's not what you think. It's a solar fan.  The surprise is the application.

A grab-bag of cute and not-cute. Your standards apply.

"Oh, just a little ducky, eh?"  Step away from the bug or he will CUT YOU.

I am looking fine today!

Eyes front, mister.  This blog is rated Duck-13.

These are the Muscovy ducks I showed you in the Spring.  They loiter in the park, trash-talking and hitting people up for spare bread.  I say bravo ducks! for living life on your own terms.

I wanted to call this post The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but who's to say?  Urban decay is bad, and ugly, but I dig it.  Muscovy ducks are "hegemonically unattractive," but whose hegemony are you going to believe?  They are possibly an ancestral duck species, and hanging in is beautiful.  

La Tour CN, La Tour Eiffel, La Tour Canard ("The Duck Tower")

Thank you for your input on full-timer's insurance.  We're checking on a few options now.

Our friends Alphonse and Bruno (you know them as Carolyn and Annie K.), and Melissa (you know her as Melissa) threw us a wonderful party, and now I can't imagine that we're thinking of leaving.  But, once you have the party, you gots to go!  We really do - we signed a contract, to wit:  Once the party is complete, you must vacate the county within 21 days or forfeit your cool gifts.  And you KNOW I am NOT giving back the WD-40 pen, John - I love that stuff.  I'll post pictures and droll commentary as soon as I can do it without violins.

Alarming True Fact:  If we break down on the road and settle in Elmira, NY, our friends will not visit.  There's a reason Mark Twain died there.

Now, relax while your lovely docent, Annie, leads you on a 3 minute review of The Duck.  

No Ma'am, i'm not kidding. (Roxi)

We found our truck today and bought it. It is so huge I'm embarrassed; I'm obviously compensating. Ford F-350 dually Power Punch, or Diesel Pusher or some hardcore butch name. It came with a duck.

A very sweet retired couple - Ken and Kathy - sold us the truck. Ken showed us how to do basic things with the diesel engine (how could it be that clean? Unnatural). Drain the water separator, check the air filter status. If your mirrors fit, you'll fit. Use the CB for road information. Watch out for Trucker Mouth, which I guess is not a fictional condition. [Stay tuned for new jokes.] They asked us to keep in touch along the way, so we swapped email addresses. They were almost as excited for us as we are for ourselves.

Tuesday we bought our trailer, a 27' fifth-wheel, from Val.

Annie will be posting and editing here, too. Bring it, Babe!

I think we're going.