Thursday May 7 – Dead Horse State Park

Hanging flower pot to hold the awning in place, instead of bottled water!

Blue in the morning

Well, today was interesting… There was a pancake breakfast provided by the Travelling Elks…

they had their meeting, then had an auction of wrapped bottles, with the proceeds going to the Yavaipi Food Bank. Some of the bottles were water, some were wine or other liquor, some were in pretty packages, and one was wrapped in duct tape. We each bought a “paddle” for a can of food, the name on my paddle was “Bugs Bunny”.
So when the auctioneer, Bob, brought me my “purchase”, Smudge darted out from under the table and nipped his leg. I was absolutely mortified!!!

He was very gracious about the whole thing. We tidied up his leg, put Neosporin on it and bandaged him up. I always carry Smudge and Rico’s vaccination records with me, so was able to give him that and my insurance info. All this was after he finished with the auction. They ended up donating $400 in cash and the various canned food collected to the food bank. Bob’s wife wasn’t mad at Smudge, she was upset with me for having her in the group area if I wasn’t sure of her behavior. And the reason I had her at the ramada instead of at the rig, Smudge was barking!! And I forgot her bark collar!! I feel like a turd.

After the auction, I took the dogs for a walk along the road. Mike and Gracie drove by and Mike yelled out “Hey, do those dogs bite??” Thanks, Mike. When we got to the bridge over the Verde River, I decided that 1) It was too far to walk to the main road, and 2) The river looked inviting under the trees. As both dogs were pretty hyped up chasing baby lizards along the edge of the sidewalk, and Smudge kept jumping up to peak over the ledge, I decided to find a trail down to the waters edge. Smudge and Rico BOTH went in. Rico went up to his elbows.

and Smudge went in to lie down. So much for giving them both a bath the other day! We did walk a little farther towards town, then went back along the river where we ALL went in for a bit. It was very nice and cool under the trees. It’s in the mid-90s up here, which is very high for this area this time of year.
After my lunch of left over soup, we all took a nice nap. All that walking and sun can make one awfully sleepy, not to mention just a little sunburned.

There was another pot luck tonight, bring your choice of meat to BBQ and a side dish. I brought shrimp and Cool Whip fruit. The food is always good at these gatherings, and some is quite elaborate. One lady made a pineapple dish that looked fantastic, but unfortunately I didn’t have my camera to snap a shot.

Another little issue today. The town of Cottonwood is sponsoring a motorcycle rally starting tomorrow. Our group camp area is booked after noon tomorrow by some of the cyclists. So, the volunteers at the gate are telling the early birds they can come on in to the group area that we’ve reserved. Our camp hosts are NOT happy with that. Two riders came in and set up camp between a couple of the rigs, and eventually enough noise was made to the rangers’ office that a ranger in full uniform, on a bicycle, came and asked the bikers to leave. Tonight, just as I was leaving the campfire to go take a shower, a bunch of riders came in, along with a truck, trailer and bus looking rig. They were told the group area was EMPTY!! Ha!! It’s almost full, except for two sites east of me. The lead rider was the only one that came all the way in, and even though they had ridden in from Colorado, he was understanding about the mis-communication. So, after a brief potty stop at the bathroom, the riders went further in to the State Park (there are 5 campgrounds here, I think) to snag a spot for tonight.

Those folks in the group here that were worried about the grungy, noisy, rude bikers have seen the nicer side of motorcyclists.

After my shower I returned to the rig to discover Smudge had knocked the dog food container off the overhead and dog food was everywhere. ARGGGHHHH!!