Arizona 2024: Day 20: Eloy, AZ: Gazelle
The 2 foot walk to the washroom for those middle of the night visits seem just as inconvenient as the 25 foot walk at home. We have been watching an episode of Murder in Paradise most evenings as we try and get through as many as possible before our Britbox subscription runs out. Spoiler alert: They are in paradise, and someone gets murdered. Mrs Milddogs and I have “discussions” on Camille vs Florence. I’m on team Florence. Mrs Milddogs has the opposing view.
Walk was great. One day I will get a bike or a lightweight e-bike so I can ride to the trail head and walk more of the trail. Today I set about to do some of the Sunset Vista trail. I know, the sun does not set in the morning. But, the walk just to the trailhead was well over a km. I got about 1km into the trail when I hit the 50% level on my water supply. Turn around and go back. It’s a rule I have in these warm areas. The trail is well maintained and beautiful (even the small part I did). Look, some pictures.
I was able to get a fair amount of trail running done on the way back, one lady hiker said I looked like a gazelle coming down. I shall take that as a compliment. Unless she said I looked like Giselle, which I guess is also a compliment. A bit further down I came upon a a group of about 20 older (I know) hikers trying to get a group picture. I was able to pop back up the trail and get a few pics for them. They were part of a trail hiking group. Good for them. Why relive the glory years when you can make new glory?
Before lunch we went for a family hike down the gravel road.
Afternoon was chill time with some reading, a bit of van maintenance (I updated the firmware in the awning) and some observing of the other campers. We did deploy the awning for a bit and I attached Amy’s lease to it so I could hold it and prevent it from damaging itself in the light breeze. I did break out the Beaver Bites, aka Buc-ee’s balls for a snack. (Note that Buckey Balls are the banned small magnet toys, named after Buckminster Fuller for the shapes that they can make, and banned cause kids ate them and screwed up their intestines).
We had new neighbours arrive. Two in A-liners and one in a van. They are older than us and louder than us. But hey, you know what kind of people have A-Liners (but not Greg). If you would like to know anything about Brad, let me know. Maybe the time he hit the home run? Or how he fried the battery in the A-Liner?
Amy really enjoys chasing after the little lizards that dart across in front of her. Here she is trying to find one that “just” got away. She also likes the bunnies.
Don’t hate: It got to be 35C in the van today and I was running out of useable shade outside so I turned on the air conditioning for the first time this trip. The added benefit is that we could no longer hear Brad.
Dinner was a lovely collection of pulled pork in BBQ sauce we brought frozen from home, served on naan with a side salad. We ate inside cause of the sun.
Post dinner sunset walk followed along some of the trails. Mandatory pictures of sunset.
It’s shower rating time. Let’s go with 8/10. I managed to get the one with the lock and the water pressure today.
I seem to be sunburnt. Mrs Milddogs says there is some stuff I can use to prevent that. I’ll try that tomorrow. I currently regret removing the Solarcaine from the van. We have to move tomorrow to our next destination, perhaps we will stop at a pharmacy along the way. We may also scout out some BLM land we might stay on next week.
Our planning for the trip home has been challenging as everything within the eclipse totality path is pretty much booked. We think we have a plan. We even have some campground reservations at some places and have put some Campnab alerts on others. We shall see, or not see.
This is a pretty good campground. Let’s hope Brad learns he has a quiet voice.
