When full-time RVing is just life with a great view

I feel that I should tour great sites and post mediocre reviews. Instead, I tour the Duck in my pajamas and post mediocre reviews. Food was good, but too many animals. Offers outdoor dining. Plenty of wine, but it's all from the same box.

Jake the Dog is doing well. He seems to know what we're asking him to do, so he does it. He wants to be friends with the cats beyond them running under him on the way to the toilet, but one day at a time. He seems more comfortable here as time goes on, and he loves to run in the deep sand of the washes and chase sticks. 

FYI, do not walk barefoot in a wash. A wash is Nature's litter box.

Annie went to Mexico again for a tooth follow-up. The dentist thinks there is still some nerve inflammation, and gave her stuff for that. 

I found a fascinating house in Bisbee where we can all live. It makes me happy just to watch the slideshow. Be happy, too:

The Cave House

Here's today's dose of Zen, Rubberband Man. I like this blog. I think I'll follow it a while.

Here's a picture that made me feel really good. It's a small gift, but at least it's not a turd.

I did a podcast interview. I know.

My friends are saying yeah, we notice you can't talk on the phone to us, but you'll talk about poop with strangers. It's not something I can explain. Please forgive me.

Quacking begins at around 16:00 and just goes on until you fall asleep. I was interviewed by Kimberly and Margie from Road Rebelles Radio.

This is a magical place. In this campsite, we've seen our first:

1. scorpion
2. rattlesnake, and
3. TARANTULA!

He's a baby, maybe. But, he's big and he has hair = tarantula. He was not as scary as talking on the phone.

Podcasts and Annie's lipid profile

Annie wants to know why I didn't publish her numbers. I say "did you forget how to post, dear?" But, the real reason is that her numbers are always good, whether she's eating poke salad or pork chops.

Total:   139
HDL:     73
LDL:      56
tri:         48

However, I won the glucose wars this time! Annie's:  98    Ho hum, she replies.

If you think there's no genetic component to cholesterol and lipoprotein levels, we're here to disagree unpleasantly and argue loudly. Annie and I eat the same foods, and have the same levels of exercise. As the clinician told us, life ain't fair!

Penny Lane asked me if we would consider doing a podcast like other RVers, where we talk for an hour about some aspect of our fulltime RV life. I thought we could, but then I realized Talk for an hour? How is that possible?

A: Well, Roxi, it's that time again.

R: What time is that, Annie?

A: Roxi, it's time to talk about stuff for an hour.

R: Annie, what is our topic this week?

A: Roxi, this was your week to decide.

R: We're fulltiming boondockers (Time?)

A: That's 20 seconds.

R: (sigh) Boondocking is camping without hookups. We do that all the time. (Time?)

A: Roxi, that's 23 seconds.

R: Tell them about that time.

A: Ha! Ha! That was funny.


Seriously, do you know how many interesting blogs you could read in an hour? A lot. Do you guys listen to RVing podcasts?

Holy Dove! Chapel, Flagstaff

Annie and I decided to do a mini-reboot, which requires more organic produce than is available at the General Store in Grand Canyon Village (none). So, we toddled back to Flagstaff, that toddling town. We also stocked up on the most crucial personal hygiene product: clumping litter. Even got some for the cats.

I am naturally clumpy.

Up 180, just out of Flagstaff, is a little building called Chapel of the Holy Dove.

Cute, no? And, how 'bout that church!

Check out the gap under the door. When we arrived, Bibles and literature were scattered around like a bad day at the Kingdom Hall. Annie started picking them up, which made me feel guilty, so I helped.

What's one more sermon from Annie?

All over the walls are inscribed sacred graffiti, like PRAY FOR UNCLE JIMMY. I guess that makes them prayer walls. I wish they were updated more often. For example: THANKS EVERYONE. UNCLE JIMMY RECOVERED! so we could stop getting filtered to God's spam folder.

Can't you feel the snark? Place Prayer Requests HERE, not the walls, you Philistines.

It was the Holy Dove's day off. Meet Sacred Raven.

Department of What Passes for Excitement: we had neighbors last night, for real. These people asked if we minded, told us they would only stay for one night, and wouldn't make noise. Plus, they were European, so we felt like ambassadors. See how friendly we can be, when provoked? I didn't even consider using my ocarina, which is classified by the ATF as an assault weapon.

I'm getting itchy to see the North Rim. What say you?

Grand Canyon: elken magic

If you're wondering where all the elk are around here, they're posing for photographs alongside the road into the Park. There are more elk than you can shake a stick at. Clint tried shaking a stick at all of them, such was his disdain for their velvety goodness.

A gorgeous bull was strutting his rack this morning, cruising the salad bar, and cars threw themselves into park in traffic. I acted cool and nonchalant - oh yes, an elk; how quaint - like I was an old timer, but really I was just mad that I left my camera at home.

From the Desert View Watchtower:

From an egg:

Tips for boondockers at the Grand Canyon, South Rim:

• If you haven't bought your Interagency Pass, you may decide to do that now. $25 for a week is worth it, but then there's the second week. Then there's the Grand Circle, now that you're so close. When you head back to Sedona for the Fall, you'll use it at any Red Rock Pass area.
• Inside the Park you can recycle, dump garbage, do your laundry, and take a long, hot shower while your dainties are tumbling.
• You can also get (free) potable water here, although you'll need your Water Bandit if your water intake requires a threaded connection. 
• (Free) RV dumping station is adjacent.
• There is a general store in Grand Canyon Village that has a surprising selection. It has a surprising selection of price tags, too, but your option is an hour into Williams.
• There is a post office (86023). I forgot to ask if they accept General Delivery.

Tusayan is very close, but without many amenities. You can get fast food there, and there are a couple of sit-down restaurants. Gasoline. Motels. No groceries. 

Forest Service roads run all around the area. Once we're outta here I'll be giving you this location, perfect for a big rig. There are nice spots for smaller rigs nearby. We tagged four sites for potential parking places, and settled on our favorite here.

Grand Canyon: stuck in a rut

I have a preposterous number of pictures of the Grand Canyon, and I think you should see them all. Look away while I park you all in and start the projector.

"Clint" and "Handel"

If you know them by other names, just play along for now. Everyone is entitled to a nom de canard.

These are our very good friends from New York who tracked us down in the forest and brought us cat litter. It's a good friend indeed who can sense when you're running low.

Julie Handel is my better self, without ever making me feel like my lesser self. She is my role model for building a life outside the box.

Clint's first time at the Canyon

Clint is from New Zealand. He likes to practice Americanisms, and has a good ear for accents.

I appreciate your condor. Please carrion.

It's the right-hand side of the photo.

Bright Angel Trail snakes from the lower right corner until it drops out of sight at the end of the plateau in the first quadrant.

Desert View Watchtower. It's a Mary E. Jane Colter design, like several buildings in the Grand Canyon area.

Very involved in gravity studies.

We're on a rock. We're on an island.

Cosmetic surgery on the blog. BlogHer, Blogger, Blog-GRR

Hey! Guess what we got? A new URL!

TheGoodLuckDuck.com

FAQs:

• If I don't reset my link, will something bad happen?

We don't know.

• What else should I ask?

We don't know.

If you go to the URL with .blogspot in it, it seems that some widgets won't work. You may or may not see the Leaders' faces. This may or may not be factual.

You all raised important objections to shipping our blog posts in their entirety to a network, and so we are disconnecting from RVThereYet. I have no animosity toward them; they have a clever set-up. 

Just remember that there's no reason for a reader to come to your site if you're set up to feed your entire blog to a network like this. Jim and Robin raised a further concern that Google doesn't like to see two or more identical pieces of writing "out there." That's where my comprehension dissolves, but maybe you can fill in the missing words and ideas here.

We've also separated ourselves from BlogHer publishing. If a blog audience fits its ad customers, BlogHer is a fine advertising outfit to hook up with. Real people address questions. Ad revenue shows up whether your readers click through or not. I have nothing against them. 

We left because their ad chunks were getting aggressive. If your mouse strayed past a mousetrap, you would be caught in a big, ole ad video against your will. Sound and all. Mmm, I ♥ SURPRISE SOUND coming from my computer. Especially a voice late at night after Annie has gone to bed. Who wouldn't?

What else?

Oh, you guys. I lost the Duckroll again. It wasn't my fault (this time), I swear. Wordpress bloggers are loster than Bloggers. Either way, if you're not there and it seems like you oughta be, just remind me of the oughta. Please. I use that roll to keep up with you all.

What might happen to the next campers to get too close. Cougary moves is what I'm talking about.

Boondocking tip #33 - How to have the forest to yourself

Did I show you our road?

It's just as isolated as it looks.

So, why were two young men putting up their tents in our campsite? They had vewwy quietwy pulled their car in around our car, and were setting up by 7AM. Not boisterous. They looked like serious campers, chatting only about the mechanics of setting up camp fifty feet from the Duck.

I woke Annie up gently to prevent her flying into an adrenaline-fueled rage and diving for the shillelagh. I like to meet new people, but not in my bedroom. Then I remembered I haven't practiced my ocarina in forever.



All we have is now, people, and I carpe diemed.

Annie remembered that she needed to turn on a fan and run the water pump. Don't think of this as aggression - these are defensive, every day, musical facts of life in an RV.

With tea in mugs, we got down to strategizing. Annie mimed some cougary moves we could use to discourage neighboring. You're going to have to imagine those, or else come set up your camp fifty feet from the Duck.

By the time we had toast in our hands, the young men were decamped and leaving. Was it something we said?

We decided that they might be total camping newbs, and were looking around for a spot that was obviously legal. Maybe they hadn't considered the delicate issues of forest toileting within whistle-distance from a big rig. Maybe our sleeping noise level left them unprepared for Ducks AWAKE. Maybe they were still ignorant of the immense versatility of tent camping: boldly go where bulky RVs cannot. Live it up, guys! We're the dinosaurs, you're the mammals.

At any rate, dudes, don't be that creepy guy who sits next to you in an empty theater.

I had thought earlier that I wouldn't mind sharing our site for a weekend with another RV, if dispersed camping really got that scarce. In a tent, the forest is your oyster, or some other surf 'n' turf metaphor.

I could have taken them hiking, and Embarrassment would have left the trail, broken camp, and loaded the car for them.

Back up just a little more. One more step...

A boondocking blogger polled his readers and discovered that "other people parking too close" was the biggest boondocking peeve. What do you think? Are we curmudgeons?

Grand Canyon tails.

We've been spending our time on the South Rim, trying to get sick of the Grand Canyon. If at first you don't succeed, hike, hike again.

The first time I saw the Canyon (February 2009) I wept. Racking sobs. I know I am not the only one. You other Canyon Criers, 'fess up.

We stopped here for lunch, and I wondered "Am I really living this life?"

My favorite hike so far (Merikay and Craig would call it a stroll, but would say it kindly) is the unpaved rim trail between Mojave Point and Monument Creek Vista. The unpaved part is the only section that seems like a true hike, insofar as you might expect a hike to include raw terror and clinging to trees.



In my defense, that edge you see just below me is THE edge, and it really does bank downward. I was clammy most of the day.

I got clammy later trying to decide what pictures to show you. I took 200 yesterday, and 150 this morning before 8 AM. Sit back, and say goodbye to your bandwidth.

Does this elk make my butt look big?

After this encounter, we imagined Gaelyn, a Parks Service ranger, shaking her head and saying "You guys." Honest, we did NOT approach the elk, although it's possible the very act of observing him changed everything. Schrödinger's Elk.

 

This pdf will help you plan a trip. I had no idea there were so many options for getting here! Your interagency pass will get you in. Once inside, ride the shuttle as much as you want. Or, $25 for seven days. Come in before hours and you get in free.

We've done a combination of walking and bus-riding to get where we want to go. After hugging the rim, watching lightning, and counting the Mississippis until we heard the thunder (and the answering echo from the Canyon), we finally opted for the safety of the bus and a stroll around Hermit's Rest.

This morning we were both awake and restless at the same time (4:13 AM). We considered it an opportunity to see the sunrise.

And this is the hindquarters of my story. The tail end.