Chapter six-Dry Camping in the Desert-Part One

Our next destination, somewhere in the desert, outside of Whickenburg, Arizona.  Our friends, John and Marie Steele, spent last winter here and loved it so much came back and invited us to join them, now to find them.  We phoned and got driving directions to the turn-off and GPS co-ordinates to where they were camped. The directions to the turn-off were great, but the GPS co-ordinates were of where they were before moving a few days earlier.  So, we pulled over on the dirt road, unloaded the car, and Larry continued onward looking for them, leaving me standing in the middle of nowhere, next to a bunch of cactus.  He returned 10 minutes later with John, jumped back into the semi and I followed in the car to our new home for the next while.  After getting the trailer levelled Marie fed us chilli and we sat around the camp fire catching up.

We woke up to a cloudy cool morning and after coffee Marie and I drove into town so she could show me around, pick up some last minute Christmas decoration and presents, and a few groceries.  Once back at camp we put a roast on our BBQ and sat in the motor home playing cards 'til after supper, when we listened to the rain while watching a movie and then very carefully walked home-it's very muddy!  We spent the next few days setting up the satellite, hanging Christmas lights, and other decorations, playing cards, and adjusting to living in the desert.  On December 24th we went into town to pick up the turkey for tomorrow, then home to Christmas Eve dinner of BBQ steaks, weird to be doing Christmas when it's 27c out!  We were able to get a good connection with  the boys on Skype, do our traditional opening of gifts and enjoyed a really nice visit with both of them together at home for the holidays.

Christmas day Larry and I had a quiet morning, enjoying our morning coffee and opening the gifts we brought with us from home before walking over to John & Marie's to exchange gifts with them.  Marie gave me a walking stick made from a Yucca plant that Ben handcrafted.  After, the boys got the the fire pit ready for the garbage can turkey. With the mesquite coals hot, they added the turkey on the metal paper towel holder in the inverted garbage can, topped off with more mesquite coals (quite the production), and within a few hours the odors coming from the garbage can were awesome.  We turned on all the Christmas lights and Ben and Trueman joined us for a wonderful Christmas dinner around the campfire, where, of course, we all ate way too much!  Here, in the USA, they don't have boxing day sales, so I can't go and get all next years gifts really cheap, hide them away, not remember where I put them when I need to get them back out to wrap them, so we just hung around for the next few days, eating left over turkey, playing cards, and I'm guessing, saving not only money, but a lot of aggravation for me next year at this time, when I can't find all my boxing day deals!