whose shoes?

we are headed back to brawley after a stay at the slabs. got to visit with tom and charlene and bob. bob and i took two hikes in the desert with the dogs, and mutt leapt with joy at his freedom, and the chance to hang out with his buddy homer. he also got to trade sniffs with Sheriff Victoria and Squirrel, but Bus Dingo was no where to be found. he is passed out on the bed in the rondyvan now, luxuriating in the relaxation a good romp in the desert can bring, and twitching with jackrabbit dreams.

i happened upon a pair of footwear in the desert, abandoned in the midst of an untold story. can you guess which pair is mine?

Waiting for brakes

on monday one of the extended family had an accident, and I drove them to san diego to see a specialist. On that trip I discovered I needed a brake job.

Here is mutt at the Pep Boys in El Centro.....you guessed it.....waiting.

Mutt needs a day off from the sometimes stressful job of being a loyal companion, and is going to the slabs for a day of being a carefree dog with his buddy Homer, and maybe trade some sniffing with Squirrel, Bus Dingo, and Sheriff Victoria.

Waiting for mike

I haven't blogged for awhile. We are all in Brawley, Ca, south of slab city where we have been camping in the desert. I met up with mike and heidi (of "love is blind") and several other vandwellers at the slabs and will have several posts about slab city and our adventures.

last friday, though, sweet mike was admitted to the hospital in brawley with a serious case of pneumonia. We very nearly lost him, and he is still in ICU as of this morning. We are hoping for a transfer to a regular room on a med-surg floor in the near future.

Needless to say, it has been a stressful week.there has been fear, and a lot of tears. But there has also been a lot of laughter and courage, and the reminder that love thrives, even in the darkest places.

sometimes in our human dramas, we can forget our silent companions, who wait faithfully in the wings......a lesson in acceptance and living in the moment. Mutt understands the least of where we are and why we are here, but accepts implicitly that we are not waiting for life to begin again, after this is over.......but that this is our life, our moment here and now.....the waiting.

and if biscuits and fetch and walks are fewer and farther between he is absolutely okay with that because life is what it is, regardless of what it gives you, and that alone is enough.

kayak rack part 2

last week, I posted a picture of a sprinter van with an unusual kayak rack that I parked next to in a truckstop in texas. I only got 1 photo that night, and was disappointed when the van drove off early in the morning before I could get more photos.

a couple days ago, I returned to the slabs from a trip to town, and there smack dab in the middle of camp was the sprinter van with the green kayak attached. you'd think I would cease to be surprised at the funky happenings in my life. but I was pretty blown away. the guy remembered me by the "hilltopmusicstore.com" sticker on the side of my van. oh, and yeah, the orange kayak, too!

turns out, he and bob had met at a gathering in tuscon last year, and when he bicycled into camp here at the slabs, bob invited him to join us. he has a really cool rig, and spent a lot of time showing us the modifications he made. bob will be doing an article about it at his
website cheaprvliving.com

I think we convinced reed to join vandwellers, and hope we'll be hooking up with him down the road.

the new van interior!

while here at the slabs, i was fortunate to benefit from the skills and knowledge of bob wells, fellow vandweller and owner of cheaperRVliving.com. If you click on the title of this post, it will take you there. bob has posted a more indepth article about how he did the build.
this is the frame of the bed, which he sized to fit my drawers stacked 2 high. this automatically doubles my storage space.
this is the frame before he added the shelving behind the drivers seat.
this is the completed shelving unit. i finally have a space for my 2 gal. igloo water jug, so i don't have to haul it out from under the cot and hold it in the air while i fill my nalgene. the jug holds 1 bag of ice and 1 gallon of water and keeps it cold for days.
this is the pull-out shelf for my butane stove. this alone has revolutionized vandwelling for me. with easy access to stove and water, making soup or ramen or tea is effortless. see the 2 spray bottles hanging on the bungee? one is water and one is 50/50 water and dr. bronners peppermint soap. i use these for easy clean-up of dishes, or face and hands, using paper towels.
another view of the underbed storage drawers. the small action-packer is a great little table, footstool or extra seat. i store extra food in there.
another rear shot, showing a little curtain on a rod that hides the portapottie.
home sweet home! thank-you, Bob, from the bottom of my heart. life is so much easier in my new set-up. you have my undying devotion!

Impromptu jam at the slabs!

on our first day at the slabs, people stopped by our camp to welcome us to the neighborhood. some of the first were alan and tony, who strolled into camp with guitars over their shoulders, like legends of the desert. they chatted a bit, then treated us to an impromptu jam.

alan playing tony's ovation. i need to get a picture of alan's guitar. it is a year old, but looks like it survived WWIII. he coaxes the most amazing sounds out of it though.....like he was born with it in his hands :-)

after awhile, alan lay down in the desert and played slide guitar with a stolen cigarette lighter.

only at the slabs.

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