Oh yeah, now I have a pass! But, let’s first go back to where we left off.

We left Trona Pinnacles and drove over to Boron, CA. Here we went to the Borax Museum. Boron, CA is a place in Mojave desert with large reserves of Borax. Back in 1883, Death Valley was a source of Borax. The mined Borax was transported via large wagons pulled by 18 mules and 2 horses to the nearest railroad station which was 165 miles away. Larger reserves were later found in Boron, CA and an active mine still exists there. The museum was informative and gave a background of Borax mining and processing. We also found some Kernite there to take along with us.

We were in warmer temperatures now and feeling a lot better! We drove out of Boron and travelled eastwards to the Colorado river. We passed the North end of Joshua Tree National park at Twentynine palms and wanted to stop there. However, it turned out to be really busy and full of tourists. Since we run away from others that are essentially doing the same thing as us, we bolted out of Twentynine Palms! We kept on moving eastwards, and entered the Sheephole Valley wilderness area. Well, well! Never driven through here before. It seemed like our kind of an area. No one around but rocky mountains. We pulled over at the perfect spot off the road and decided to camp for the night.

The next day we took a hike to the mountains that were a mile away. There was this low area in the mountains and I thought we could go through it to see what’s on the other side. So we took this path, and lo and behold! From the top of the mountains, we could see a whole valley surrounded by mountains. It was a lovely discovery. Since I took the path, Johan was calling it the Smita’s pass. So, yes, now I have a pass in the Sheephole Valley Wilderness area!

Kylo Ren the dog joined our hike. We noticed that he scouts the path ahead of us and decides which way would be the easiest for us weak humans. What an amazingly clever dog! There’s definitely a lot of “dog” packed in this animal of ours!

After a nice hike, we settled in and decided to spend another night at our campsite. Unfortunately the area had been left littered by other people. We collected as much trash as we could and took it along. The next morning we left after breakfast and drove to river Colorado.

The Colorado river is an impressive sight. For the first time we were close enough to touch the waters. Johan took the paddle boat in it and had a nice time. We hung out for a bit and then drove further south until we reached the Palo Verde diversion dam. It was a nice walk to view the dam and the gushing river. We kept driving and crossed over to Arizona. Our plan for the next day was to go to Kitt Peak observatory but unfortunately it is closed to visitors since the past year.

We drove on and camped at a missile silo just outside Tucson, AZ. That was yesterday. Today we checked out the Titan 2 missile museum located at the south of Tucson. The Titan 2 was the most powerful Intercontinental Ballistic missile (ICBM) ever built by the US. Its warhead could be delivered 6000 miles away in about 35 minutes and was a good ol’ killing machine. We got a tour of the missile silo and grounds. We are currently parked at Oracle, AZ, which is located in the north of Tucson, AZ. Here come my dear animals. Over to you Rosie dog.

Rosie the dog: So I am having some problems. My backside is giving up sadly. I can’t seem to hold my back paws up. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the humans are pampering me big time and giving Kylo Ren a hard time if he comes anywhere close to me. I guess you can say that my back problems are from my own doing. Its true, I can’t settle down in the bus and keep moving around like a ghost in distress. Oh well, hopefully my Papa will be able to fix my back once we are back home. He plans to do some laser therapy. I prefer the lazy therapy. It works wonders.

So yes, its true what Kylo Ren said last week. My humans put leeches on my ear. I was horrified to see those tiny wriggly worms attach to my ear and then grow 10 times their initial size. Once they got full, they would fall off. I hoped they wouldn’t fall into my ear, because then there would be a new problem that would require another alternative solution. Thankfully that didn’t happen. My humans got attached to the leech (kinda like how the leeches got attached to my ear) and they kept them alive in the fridge for months. Finally the leeches started dying, so they were let go in the creek. I heaved a sigh of relief.

Other than this medical intervention, my humans often dip any tasty oozy cut of mine into epsom salt. Make no mistake, I am not one to take such treatment lying down. I struggle like my entire paw is being cut off. But mama is very firm with me and scolds me if I try to move. Its not fair, I gotta defend my paw if someone is trying to drown it. Sigh! Oh, here comes Baby. Let’s hear it from the big chicken!

Kylo Ren the dog: Baby can wait a bit. I wanted to confirm what mommy was saying about me. I check out the paths and guide my humans through the easiest. I also watch out for coyotes and if I hear them, I bark so loud that they all shiver in their fur. As I said on day 1, I am very smart. But I am also lovable and loving. So yes, I have a lot to offer to my humans. Of course, I am also a handful, but that comes with the territory. Hey, no one is perfect! Uh oh, baby the chicken is getting mad. Over to her!

Baby the chicken: Stop bragging Kylo. I am here to talk about my medical issue. I remember telling you about Chocolate Sprinkles but I haven’t yet told you about my own. So once a couple of years back, one of my legs got swollen up, hot and pink. You know, there’s one thing you always have to remember when you are a chicken. You can’t show the others that you have a problem. Two reasons. First, they will peck on it, and may peck you to death. Yes, we do that sadly. Second, you may go down the pecking order. And trust me, you do not want to go down the pecking order. So I kept quiet and behaved like everything was normal. But the human girls caught me and took me inside. I was diagnosed as having a bumblefoot. Don’t you dare laugh! Solution? The good ol’ Epsom salt bath. I got many soaks in it, and some white pills mom called homeopathic pills called Arnica. Whatever, they were tasty! I got to watch lots of movies, so that was fun! My foot did fix so yes, it wasn’t very bad even though I put up a huge struggle.

So lately I have been getting a bit more passive and unfortunately the young chickens have overtaken me and I am the lowest in the pecking order. Boo hoo hoo. Oh well, such is life. I can feel myself getting thinner. Hmm, time to start fighting over those crumbs. I don’t want to be in the sidelines, especially with all these howling coyotes around! Let’s see if I can start moving up a bit. Cheer me on, my friends!