Such Busy Days!

This is the road to Sidewinder and the New Year's Boomerang (a Boomer get together). We gather very near to the mountain on the far right of this photo.

If you don't live this lifestyle, I'm sure you look at this road, and the surrounding desert, and wonder what the heck we find to do here all day???
Before we can do anything, Luna gets her roll in the dirt. What a great way to start any day! At 9 am MST (we stay on Arizona time even though we are in CA), anyone who wants exercise (about half the group) takes off on what was supposed to be a 3 mile walk - though we ended up walking about 5 miles this morning. Talk, talk, talk as we walk, walk, walk. It is a great time to get to know Boomers we haven't met before, or learn about what other Boomers have done in the past year.

After the walk, Odel and I went into Yuma to the "Marketplace", a huge, permanent flea market. There are several vendors there who specialize in RV needs, and we had a list of specifics we knew we could pick up there: a drinking water filter, a "pigtail" to connect our cell phones to our "trucker's antenna" to improve the signal in remote places, a special kind of tape that can repair ANYTHING, and our favorite Red Chili Jam.

When we got back to Sidewinder around 2:30, excitement was afoot! Padraic and Willie were stuck in a wash!

A missed turn and a missed cue had resulted in some unplanned off-roading. This is Padraic and Willie's huge truck, pulling their 40' 5th wheel, sinking in the sand. In no time, the place was swarming with Boomers, shovels, 4 wheel drive trucks, and expertise.

This is our friend Barry, ready to pull the truck loose. This is so typical of the attitude and humor that we always enjoy when we get together with the Boomers - it is all about helping, and having fun doing it. There were no frayed tempers, and no frustration; lots of laughs and goodwill.

Within an hour and a half, the big red truck was free, the 5th wheel was turned around and pulled back to our gathering at Sidewinder, and we had all adjourned to the usual - but late today - 4 pm happy hour. It is a time for travel tales and making new friends...

and then home for dinner. I'm hoping tomorrow will have a little less excitement!