We left Slab City in a hurry when we heard of impending high winds weather. Our next destination was the Imperial sand dunes and we intended to be on the other side of the dunes before winds going at 24 mph hit. Imperial sand dunes are humongous sand dunes located in Glamis, Southern California. Its a kids haven, and for adults too! The day we arrived the weather was perfect. Armed with their ham radios the kids ran from dune to dune. I got the chickens out. As usual we had some curious bystanders asking us about our chickens. Most people are very intrigued by the idea of travelling with chickens. This is, of course, not surprising. We would have been too, before we decided to do it. But they make us very happy.

We slept by the dunes overnight. Around 1 am, Johan, Tanya and Kylo went for a moonlit hike in the dunes. They had a great time and flashed their flashlight from the top of a high dune to signal to us. The next day we left quickly after breakfast. This was a good thing, because the wind started picking up soon after. We stopped by smaller dunes by the highway. They were fun too!

Our next stop was Yuma, AZ. We didn’t do much here at all. The last time we were here we toured their famous prison. It didn’t seem interesting enough to take another tour of it. We were mainly in Yuma to replenish our food supplies and buy some extra shoes. In the past, we went through many pairs of shoes from all our hiking. They would invariably break down. It may not happen this time because we aren’t able to make it to many places due to cold weather and time constraints.

From Yuma we went to Ajo, AZ. There’s no particular reason to go to Ajo. We wouldn’t have known of its existence if it hadn’t been for Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument located beyond Ajo. This national monument is on the US Mexico border, and we had very fond memories of both the visit to the border and the town Ajo. This time round, we were disappointed on various fronts.

Firstly, Ajo used to have a nice native American breakfast place. Last time we had a long conversation with a lady there who told us that they were involved in groups that left water in the desert for illegal immigrants. Without getting into any politics, I think we can agree that it is a normal thing to do to leave water for dehydrating people in the harsh desert, or for dogs or birds for that matter. Unfortunately the entire breakfast joint disappeared and was replaced by a farmer’s pick up location. How very disappointing.

I had had my own special experiences at the native American restaurant. They talked about how the native Americans harvest Saguaro cacti fruits and make jam out of it. But they refused to sell any to me saying that it was earmarked for them only! I asked for a sample but they didn’t want to share that either. Finally we had to satisfy ourselves with prickly pear jam. Prickly Pear is another cactus around here. A blog on various cacti, especially the Saguaro is coming soon. I was sad to not find the Prickly Pear jam.

The library which had enchanted us last time had also lost its character. Finally, the breakfast joint we found had nothing of a Mexican character to it at all. We could have eaten the same food in State College!

We found camping at the BLM lands outside Ajo. This was a good spot and our chickens got to free range again. We made fire, cooked and even made popcorn on the campfire. So that was fun. We took some bike rides and the kids went crazy about Cholla cactus stems which are excellent for art pieces. We collected a few of them. We also visited the Ajo Copper mines and went to a museum that gave information on the mines.

The next day we went back to Organ Pipe Cactus National monument. Our big attraction was to go to the Quitobaquito oasis by the US Mexican border. The oasis has pupfish and is very lovely. We went there, and alas! The big new wall separating US and Mexico was installed here. Last time it was a fence you could jump over. Again, without going into the politics, it was a painful reminder of all the divisions in the world. The last time we were here, we saw some Mexican buildings and waved at Mexican truckers who waved back. None of that was possible. Averting our eyes and shutting our minds, we went to the lovely Quitobaquito oasis which looked tranquil as ever, blissfully unaware of all the politics around it! We saw pupfish, turtles, hummingbirds and worked on Junior ranger books. It was lovely. We got our Junior ranger badges the same day and drove back to Ajo. I was sad to leave that place, without knowing why. It is very lovely to me.

The next day we planned on leaving Ajo, but went for a Sunday breakfast. Finally our faith in Ajo was restored. They had live Spanish music playing (including my favorite, La Llorona), and we made friends. What a great time!! So yeah, I still love Ajo!

We drove northwards to a place called Bouse, AZ. Coincidentally (or maybe not such a coincidence!), Bouse had a camper bus that Johan was interested in buying. He had mentioned it a few times and I didn’t pay attention because we already have plenty of buses. But here we were, so we toured the bus. It was glamorous and all, but I like my Dory. After a test drive and carefully looking over the bus, thankfully Johan was not too keen on it.

We are parked by Lake Mead at a somewhat remote location called Telephone Cove in Laughlin NV. This was another place we visited last time and loved. Here we miss our friends from four years ago, an old couple named Roger and Rudie. Unfortunately they no longer travel and have sold their camper, but we stay in touch. Oh, the animals look upset. They think I have been at it for too long.

Kylo Ren the dog: I am an opportunist. I know how to subtly push Rosie while looking like I am being good natured. So I got to blog today by nudging my way in. I want to talk about someone very special and very important. It is Tanya, my master. Tanya is 16 years old. So she is pretty much my age and we get along like a house on fire. I was brought into this household by Rosie’s master Johan. But as soon as I saw Tanya, I knew I was hers. Plus it helped that she put me on leash with her for 3 days straight!

Tanya is absolutely the most beautiful and interesting human ever. When she comes into a room, my mind boggles. I go nuts, so much so that she has to yell at me. But she loves it (I hope). Tanya is my playmate but I have to be careful with her. She turns into a master at the drop of a hat and then I gotta listen. But she is so lovely that I love all human girls of her age, wherever I see them. Don’t get me wrong, I love Leena too. Leena is 11, but is very patient with me and trains me. But the one that walks me most is Tanya and I give her plenty of hugs. She is mine forever! Ooh the Chicken has arrived. Over to the chicken.

Crazy Cookie the chicken: The other chickens are stealing my thunder, so I am going to sneak in this blog. Guess what! It happened again! Some human girls came over to admire our flock and Leena, the young one, picked me out from the group to show off. I really think my feathers are coming along. All this California sun has tanned me to a golden orange shade and I look awesome! Like orange chicken (umm wait, is that a dish?).

So I overheard the human girls talking to their mom yesterday. They are smart, these girls. The older one was telling her mom that while dogs communicate with body language, the chickens have a whole actual language that they use. And, get this, they knew some of our phrases. The human girls started talking our language. They used three of our phrases! One is (I will try to articulate it here) Kwaaak gok gok gawk (spoken softly): which we use to call our friend or even the humans for food. The friend will reply using the same sentence. Second is, Kwak kwak kwak kwak kwakwak (say kwakwak loud). This means we are upset. Third is kwakuk kwa kwa kwa meaning danger is near. Yep, these human girls know us. I will have to eavesdrop more often to know what else they know about us. The older girl (Tanya) even said that they planned to spend the summer listening and decoding our language further! I better warn the others! Have a great week my friends!