We travelled afar since leaving Norman, OK, but with very little to report. We just buzzed over from the West to East hardly stopping anywhere. Rosie doesn’t show major improvements. Her back still falls over. She is also spaced out, but that she has been for a while. Nothing new there. I guess there’s no cure for old age.

Once we started driving from Norman, Johan got interested in ending the trip by going through the Outer Banks, NC. The outer Banks are islands located off the coast of North Carolina. Its been a favorite destination of ours since many years. The last time that we came here was a year and a half ago. We travelled with the four of us and Rosie and Kylo in Elfie. We got stuck in the beach, had to be towed out, and then spent a night in the dunes. That had been a fun trip.

After driving almost continuously, we arrived at Cedar Island, NC last evening. We spent the night at Cedar Island and had booked a spot in the ferry to Ocracoke, NC for this morning at 7:30 am. We got on the ferry nice and early. It was mostly empty. Dory was happy to be in the ocean (finally!). The boat ride was a little over 2 hours. We reached Okracoke around 9:30 am and drove over to the campground. For the first time on this trip, we are not boondocking, but rather, are parked in a fancy campground, paved and such. I still prefer the primitive style, but we left it far back, along with the desert (sigh!).

Although we went to the beach and said a quick hello to the Atlantic ocean, we didn’t stay there much. It was cloudy and rained in the afternoon. We came back to the bus and did some schoolwork and relaxed a bit. Tomorrow should be a busy day with a lot more schoolwork and plenty of beach time.

The kids go back to school next week. I am having mixed feelings of regret and relief over this. I love having them around. By now Tanya is an easy one since she keeps doing her work on her own with minimum input from me. I only work with her on math. Leena is a whole different story. She is too young to self-study. And also young enough to want to play hooky from our homeschool. Working on her schoolwork can be an annoying task. I am happy to hand over the work to her (poor) teachers!

Not much more to report so I will hand it over to my animals.

Kylo Ren the dog: Let me start off the dog section. We are on our way back. I tell you, I am so glad to be back in the East coast. The West is overrated. I got so many cacti bits in my paws that my humans had to walk around with a comb in their pocket so that they could remove the Cholla cacti that would invariably get stuck in my paw. Pro tip: only remove Cholla cacti with a comb. If you try to touch it, you will get painful prickles yourself. Another pro tip (this one is from mom): Do not, I repeat, DO NOT eat Cholla fruit. You will end up with tiny prickles in your mouth that are almost impossible to remove (hee hee).

My humans tell me that I went on a boat and over the ocean. I think they may be making it up. I didn’t see any water anywhere. Oh, we did go to the beach today. I am not a fan of the beach. Rosie likes it a lot more than me. I find water icky. I never run into puddles. Usually I either go around them or will fly over them with one long jump.

Today mom invited me to join her and Tanya on the bed. I didn’t wait to be asked twice. With one gigantic leap, I was next to Tanya! Leena came looking for me and I managed to successfully hide myself behind the cushion so she didn’t see me at all. Although she did wonder about the furry, bushy tail-like thing. And maybe bits of my body were visible or maybe the entire body was showing, don’t know. My face was definitely hidden. I couldn’t see her at all.

The smells of our latest stops seem more like home. I wonder if I am finally going to see my crate again! Just the very thought makes me shiver with excitement! Oh, to live like a normal dog in a normal house, away from coyote sounds and frightening water bodies. Heaven! Oh, my dear wifey has something to say. Here she is!

Rosie the dog: Huh?! Oh yeah, I did want to say something. I remembered Oma (Papa’s mom) used to say this very often. It seems fitting to my current state. Let me quote (quickly before I forget).

“To get old is great, but to be old is not that great” — Oma

Ain’t that the truth. Groan. My old bones are creaking and my back is one falling mess. Luckily I am still more or less in control of my bodily functions. My Papa has been propping my back heroically. Oh, one great thing that happened today was that I went to the beach! I knew that the beach was near as soon as we arrived at the new location. I begged and begged until Papa took me. Heaven! I got to touch the water once again. It may be the last time. But hey, I did it! Oh, in waddles Crazy Cookie. I am going in my rest mode.

Crazy Cookie the chicken: I don’t like the campground. Boondocking is better. Here we are on shaky grounds and I do not mean the bus. My humans aren’t sure if we are allowed to be here so they were a bit nervous about us being seen by the campground host. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see us?! So far we have been treated like celebrities wherever we went. And now we are being kept out of sight. What a disgrace. All this California tan of mine is going to waste.

I hear we are getting close to home. That’s nice to know. I would love to be in my coop and the run again. Its been a while since we got to stretch our feathers out. Our camp spot still has cacti, though. I tried some of the cacti, they are pretty tasty. Not sure what prickles Kylo was talking about!

There’s one thing I must tell you. While we haven’t gotten too many admiring looks from humans (we did get some at rest areas, just not a lot), I did notice something. Rosie looks disoriented most of the time, but she immediately comes over when she sees us. Its almost like we are the one permanent and reassuring thing in her life. She looks calm and happy upon seeing us. I never thought of us as therapy chickens, but this definitely proves that we are. For all those humans who have only looked upon us as food, let it be known that we are every bit as good as dogs when it comes to providing emotional support. Even the humans like to pick us up and hold us when they are upset about things. So, stop looking at us and thinking of chicken drumsticks, wings or soups. There’s a lot more to us. On that very positive note, I end my blog for the day.

After leaving the Titan II museum we went to Biosphere II. Biosphere II is located at the north of Tucson, AZ at a place called Oracle, AZ. It is a research facility currently owned by the University of Arizona. The Biosphere 2 mimics various biomes of the Earth (Earth is the original Biosphere, or Biosphere 1). Biosphere II is made of various glass domes containing a rainforest, an ocean, mangrove wetlands, Savanna grasslands and a fog desert. It also has an orchard. It was originally intended to research, develop and study a self-sustaining space. In 1991, 8 people were sealed inside the Biosphere for 2 years. They were given the tasks to survive the two years with almost no food supplies from outside, carefully control and study the environment and maintain all the equipment. Ultimately their carbon dioxide levels got too high and oxygen levels went down to 15%, forcing them to get some oxygen from outside. Regardless, they impressively managed to stay in the space for 2 years, undoubtedly learning essential lessons and getting experimental data.

We spent a lot of time exploring the biosphere. It is a beautiful and an impressive research facility. We also got a tour of the “lung” of the Biosphere. This is a large dome that can expand or contract the volumetric space in the Biosphere by using a rubber membrane. When the biosphere gets warm during the day or cold at night, the air expands or contracts. The lung helps appropriately releasing air to prevent the glass to break out due to the temperature changes.

We camped for two nights a little away from the Biosphere II. It was a nice location with grass and desert landscape, and plenty of coyotes! Kylo had an exciting time barking at the intruders. After leaving Biosphere II, we drove through a very scenic Salt River Canyon. This is a huge canyon with impressive rock formations and the Salt river far down below. Leena was sick that day, so we couldn’t quite enjoy the breathtaking scenes. That night we parked slightly north of a place called Snowflake, AZ. Here’s a canyon named the 5 mile canyon. It was beautiful. We arrived in the evening. It was pretty cold that day.

The next morning we woke up to a whole new problem. Leena was better, but Rosie’s back was totally falling over. She has Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) which is very common with older German Shepherds. She has had it for a while and we worried a bit about it during the beginning of the trip. However, that day we were truly upset. It looked like the end of Rosie. Once the back starts falling and the back paw turns over such that the dog lands on the front of the paw, rather than the paw pad, the progression of the illness would be that she would lose control over pee and poop. This would mean a big mess on her fur and skin, and an unsalvageable situation for us. We were all quite depressed and in tears that day.

Moving to the positives, we were going to hike down the canyon. As were were about to leave, a couple stopped next to us. They lived in Snowflake, AZ. They asked us to join them on the hike. So we all minus Rosie went down the canyon. Ordinarily you can hike far into the canyon. However, the recent rains had caused the river to swell up. The woman (Azzy) braved the river and found a way over by walking through the high current, freezing waters. Johan, Tanya and Kylo went over as well. However, Leena (or I) weren’t keen. So we decided to explore the dry part of the canyon instead. Azzy was into bouldering and she taught Leena a bit. I suspect Leena has taken to it. Now we’ll have to find opportunities for her to try bouldering or similar climbing activities. I found it interesting that a day so depressive can take such a positive spin because of two ordinary strangers putting a bright spot into our day. So, yes, indeed, it is a beautiful life.

Leena and I worked our way outside the canyon by climbing boulders. I suspect our walk was more fun than Johan, Tanya and Kylo’s. We came back to the bus and stayed at the same location that night. The next day we went in the direction of Petrified wood national forest.

Petrified wood was formed millions of years ago. The river cut trees that went downstream and got buried. All the organic matter was eventually replaced by quartz and trace minerals to form beautiful, spectacular tree sections. Awesome! We stopped for a brief walk into the forest and did the junior ranger activities. It was a nice day.

Rosie continued to struggle. Johan was the only one taking her out by propping her back up with a scarf. Her back became very heavy like dead weight because of the near paralysis, and it became out of my abilities to take her out. These were depressing days. I started dosing her with high dosage Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). I am still doing that. Back home, Johan has treated Rosie with laser, which helps in slowing demyelination and improves nerve function. We were frustrated that we didn’t have access to the laser. Johan has a friend, Lloyd, in Norman, Oklahoma. Johan bought a laser and had it shipped to Lloyd.

While waiting for the shipment to arrive, we moved onto the Zuni reservation in New Mexico. The Zunis are over-studied Native Americans that live on the west of New Mexico. Their tribes were invaded by the Spanish who then introduced them to their way of life and re-did the map of the area. The Zunis are no fans of the Spanish. They had a nice little museum on Zuni history. We checked it out. Following this, we went over to El Morro national monument, which is enroute Albuquerque, NM. El Morro consists of large rock formations where the Spanish passed through and inscribed their names. So after we heard the Zunis bash up the Spanish, we learnt about the brave Spanish pioneers who went through El Morro, and the hardships they endured.

For us, the most interesting part of El Morro was a 3.5 mile hike up the rocks. A part of the hike was closed due to snow. But Johan wouldn’t let that stop us (sigh). So we went through the closed snowy path. It was a bit scary but we made it out alive. It was a lot less scary than the one we did four years ago at Bryce Canyon. There also we had encountered a closed hiking path due to snow. But the steep drops and excessive snow made that hike very frightening. Regardless, we survived both and so I live to tell this tale. We left El Morro and drove to Grants, NM.

We parked outside Grants, NM for the evening. We had a frustrating encounter with a runaway German Shepherd that we tried to rescue. She was running along the highway. However, she was much too fast for us and so we had to give up our quest to catch her. Hopefully she survived. The next day we went to a Uranium mining museum in Grants, NM. This modest museum had a nice, self guided tour through underground mines. We had a lovely time exploring it.

We then went to the nuclear museum in Albuquerque, NM. This was a truly spectacular museum with a lot of interesting exhibits, well-presented along with a lot of hands-on activities for kids. We loved it here. We drove out of Albuquerque that evening. A storm was coming in to Texas. Our destination was Norman OK where the laser was waiting for us. We wanted to get ahead of the storm and so we spent a lot of the next day and night pulling through to Norman OK.

We parked by Lloyd’s place around 6 am. Lloyd was out to receive us. We all went for breakfast at a local diner. Once back, Johan and Lloyd went to his lab (Lloyd is a Physics Professor at the University of Oklahoma) to get the laser to work. Around 10 am, Tanya, Leena and I decided to walk over to the library which was a mile away. It was a fun walk and a lovely library. However, the storm came in, and we got stuck for many hours there. We read, researched and explored the library. We ran back when there was a slight break in the storm. That evening we went out for dinner at a nice, alternative style restaurant with Lloyd and his girlfriend Joyce. It was a fun time. However, when we got back, we discovered that Kylo had torn up one of our couches in rage at us disappearing for all these hours. Sigh. The redesigned couch is not overly uncomfortable, but definitely ugly!

The next morning, Johan went for breakfast with Lloyd. They hung out for a long time. So Tanya, Leena and I decided to explore downtown. Wisely, we took Kylo along so that our other couch would be spared! We went through downtown and had a fun girls time together. Then we decided to lunch at the same restaurant where we had had dinner the previous night, since it was dog friendly. We got a small lunch and drinks and enjoyed a game of snakes and ladders.

We got back to the bus and drove out of Norman, OK. Rosie has been doing better. She is also perky, as if she feels that her body is capable of more. So she keeps getting out of the bus. She runs, and then her back falls over, but it is still a bit better than before. We are now driving through Arkansas on Interstate 40. We plan to finish our trip by going through the Outer Banks in North Carolina and hang out at the beach!

Ohh, here come my dear animals. Let’s see what they have to say.

Kylo Ren the dog: Life is definitely beautiful. That I will admit. Everyday is a new adventure. However, lately I have been getting into all kinds of trouble over nothing. Honestly, I haven’t done anything wrong. I mean, I did eat the couch, but as mom said, it was a redesign. The redesigned couch is actually better because I took a chunk out of the foam that makes it easier for my unhandy humans to get in and out of it! Oh, and, I also ate the new comforter. And the brush handle. Ok, let’s not go there (gulp).

As I was saying, I have been getting yelled at for no reason at all. Rosie is the one who should be getting yelled at. She actually fell on top of me the other day. And when I looked upset, mom told me off. Imagine that! If I as much as go anywhere near her, the whole set of humans start screaming like crazed hyenas. Eye roll. Ok, fine. I will stay away from her.

One thing I had to tell you, I am very smart. Did I ever say that before? So my humans were talking and whenever they talked about my wife, I would look at Rosie. They were so impressed, they kept asking me where my wife was! I didn’t get it! She was right there all this time, so I just had to look at her and they would laugh and clap and ask me again. To tell you the truth, I find my humans juvenile and silly. But, let’s not go there (either!).

Rosie has been getting weaker so I have many responsibilities now. I am trying to take care of all the intruders, pests such as ants (I eat them, yum!) and my humans and chickens in general. My humans got teary last week and so I gave them plenty of cuddles. I do love their sweet cuddles. Oh, here comes the chicken. Over to Miss Daisy!

Daisy the chicken: I am the quiet one. But I am not low in the pecking order. In fact, after successfully pushing Baby down to the last, I am number 2, right after Lazy Laurie. Few fun facts about me. Rosie loves me, absolutely. She will always catch me between her front paws and starts licking my neck. That’s a bit scary sometimes, but she is a gentle giant so I sit patiently while she does that. Once, however, she went crazy and chased me hard. Then Lazy Laurie came to my rescue. Lazy Laurie was so brave, she literally flew in between Rosie and me throwing Rosie off. She may have even slapped Rosie with her wings, kung fu style. Rosie was so stunned that she slowed giving me enough time to reach the coop and my slow humans the much needed time to catch Rosie and drag her away! Ever since then, I have worshipped Lazy Laurie!

Let me tell you what happened to me the end of last year. It was very cold for a couple of nights, even for the hardy breed of Rhode Island Reds such as us. My comb froze over. Luckily one of the human girls saw this and grabbed me. This was one of the few times that I was happy to be grabbed. They took me in. Mom put a wet warm wash cloth on my comb and I got royally pampered. I was kept in a little cage inside the house for a few days! While this was fun, it was also a bit scary. I didn’t want to lose my spot in the pecking order, and I didn’t want to be pecked to death by my jealous sisters upon return. Luckily, the weather improved and I was able to join my flock fast. We left for the road trip soon after and my comb has healed beautifully. So that’s my big story. I am going to see if I can find a piece of tortilla. There’s one under the water can. Let me get that. Laters!

My health is failing me. My back paws are somewhat paralyzed. So I asked mom if I could do this entire blog (in case my front paws also fail me) and she said yes! So here’s life from my, Rosie the dog’s, point of view.

I was born a long, long time ago in the May of 2009. May 19^th to be precise. When I was about a month old, I had to say goodbye to my mom. A nice man bought me for his wife as a birthday present! So I was a birthday present! I was so thrilled to be chosen. Unfortunately, his wife was less thrilled. She didn’t expect this surprise, and was not happy at the idea of taking care of a dog. Imagine! Anyway, I was given over to this organization called PAWS who handle doggie adoptions. There I met my foster mom. She took me out for a walk in town and there I was being all frisky and what not. And I caught someone’s attention! My future mom and dad saw me. They obviously got bowled over. They learnt that I was up for adoption that weekend.

Now I haven’t told you this before, but my mom and dad are go getters. So they decided to go and get me! I was very much in demand. My parents knew this somehow, and so instead of arriving at PAWS at 11 am (when it opened), they came at 10:40 am! And this worked, because they were first in line to apply for me. We also had a playdate and we all liked each other. They had a little girl called Tanya who was 3. The day they came to take me home, I was so excited that I accidentally bit Tanya. But my new family took it in their stride (even though at that moment Tanya wanted a cat!) and I got into their car. I was whimpering and fussing with excitement and fear. So my dad held me down during the drive home. That was it! That’s when I decided that dad was my master!

The first few days were a bit of a challenge. My parents dragged me out for walks all the time even though I wasn’t quite ready for those levels of exercise. One day my mom even had to carry me home from Webster’s in downtown because I refused to walk. That was a big deal, because I was already 30 pounds by then!

One of the first things that went wrong was that my mom was allergic to me. So the first couple of months she couldn’t tolerate me anywhere near her. She would clean and mop the floors daily. After the first couple of months, luckily her allergies disappeared. Otherwise I would have had to get rid of her!

I was very full of energy as a pup. In fact, I ran almost as fast as greyhounds. I almost beat them in the dog park. They were not so amused about that. Oh well. I also had so much energy that no less than two long walks a day could keep me calm. Three walks were better. Dad would take me out in the morning and mom in the afternoon. But on rainy or sleety days it would be a real problem because I couldn’t sit still. Then mom would throw the ball across the living and kitchen about 60 – 100 times before I calmed down. Yes, those were the days. Sigh.

Tanya was a good friend, but I was very jealous of mom and Tanya since I wanted all of dad’s attention. This caused a few problems, but luckily my family patiently worked through my mental issues.

My family turned out to be very adventurous and we went on super long road trips. I would whine and strain myself throughout these trips and get myself all tired over nothing. But the first time I saw the ocean, I was mesmerized. I knew I was a water gal right there. I would jump in it, try to drink the water and always get myself very sick afterwards. Oh well, another lesson not learnt. Haha.

My biggest strength was my very loud bark. People saw me and thought that I was so cute. While that was true, I was a cutie alright, but one bark from me changed their opinion about me. They would think I am mean. As if a bark changes anything. Humans are strange. Anyway. My biggest weakness, and I hate to say this but it must be mentioned, is that I get scared very easily. Thunderstorms were a nightmare for me and I made sure that it became a nightmare for everyone else. I would start scraping, tearing things up, scratching up my people. My brains would shut off, it really wasn’t my fault. My mom would sometimes give me a medicine called rescue remedy that would calm me down some.

So while reacting to storms was not my fault, let me tell you about something that was my fault. As a pup I ate everything and anything. Books, toys, clothes, lego blocks, you name it! Actually, come to think of it, that was due to teething pains. So, still not my fault! But I do feel guilty about the time that I chewed off one leg of Tanya’s favorite toy horse. Mom was so mad but Tanya saved me from a whack by saying that she didn’t care (I know she did, I saw her crying later. Ulp!)

Anyway, life went blissful and peaceful with walks, road trips, visitors from India and The Netherlands and friends who would come by and pamper me. Then one fine day, something happened which changed everything! My mom was on the couch and I came bounding in as usual. But there was a basket, in which was a creature! I let out a low growl so that the cat would leave, but lo and behold! It wasn’t a cat, but a human baby! I couldn’t believe my eyes! I stared, growled but the baby was so cute, my eyes got watery and I kissed the baby’s bald head! It smelt lovely. I kept going back every 15 minutes to lick her. The baby joined our pack. Her name was Leena.

Mom was always worried that my loud barks would wake Leena up. But it was the opposite. My barks made her feel safer and she always had her best naps when I was noisy. After all she had heard me while still in mom’s belly! Leena was always very naughty and got into everything. But she was always my little baby. Whenever a visitor showed up who tried to pick up Leena, I would pretend to play with them and position my body between them and Leena so she would be safe. Things settled down again and all was well in my world.

One year a whole lot of people came from India. They were mom’s parents, sister and her two kids, Bunnu and Priyanka. And, guess what, they stayed awhile. Mom and her sis (Noopur) would take me out for long walks and do silly things. I used to love those times. I would drool into Noopur’s eye whenever I could and it would make them both go into peels of laughter! Yes, I am a funny one! The kids Bunnu and Priyanka soon became my buddies and I would pamper them along with Tanya and Leena. They all were bickering over who I loved the most. What a silly question. Of course, it was my Papa! Sadly they left after a bit and I looked for them for a long time. But they don’t live under the upstairs bed, that I am sure of. I checked many times.

Mom’s parents stayed awhile. Nani (mom’s mom) would make some delicious smelling meats in the kitchen. The smells made my mouth water and I would sit begging in front of her. Nani got tired of it. So she asked Nana (mom’s dad) to get me away. Nana played a trick on me. He gave me a chunk of rapadura instead of meat. But, hey, I loved that too. After that day I switched from following Nani to following Nana! Yes, I am quite a foodie, Indian cuisine being my favorite.

After Bunnu and Priyanka left, we got some new family members. They were four chickens! I went quite mad. The chickens had a temporary pen in the middle of the garden and I would spend all day going around the pen and showing them who the boss was. They got the message!

We also once had a small guinea pig called Bugsy. Bugsy belonged to Leena’s school. He came over only a couple of weekends so that he wouldn’t be lonely at school. Unfortunately, the last weekend that he was here, he got really sick. I sniffed his butt and knew that he had stopped peeing or pooping. But no amount of nudging changed the situation, and he died. I was sad, because that was one of the first times that I had actually loved a little creature.

Anyway, life went on. I told you about the dreaded leeches and other home remedies in previous blogs. So I won’t go into that. But let me tell you about this lovely time when Oma came to visit.

Oma was dad’s mom. She was really old. She came to live with us from The Netherlands. She moved slowly and used a walker. I really liked her slow movements. It made me feel calm. So I would always stay by her side during the day or night. Oma was cheerful and forgetful. We took some trips together and had a great time. Oma lived with us for a year and a half. Then she returned home. I was sad to have a smaller pack once again.

Then back in 2019 we went for a long 5 month trip out West. Here I got to show my guarding skills very well. I guarded my humans day and night and made sure they came home alive and well. The chickens lived with the farmer while we went on this trip. We got the chickens home once we were back.

One day in 2020, dad and I decided to take another little trip. I was happy to go with him, but something went terribly wrong. Our bus slipped and flipped over and somehow my one paw got caught under the bus. I ripped around and it got dislocated. But a kind vet took care of it using a sling and I was back to my normal self. However, I did get a lot slower after this.

In 2020, one fine day we went for a long drive to this place with a lot of dogs. We picked up another dog! I was a little excited and a little nervous at the same time. The dog was ok during the trip. He was called Kylo. Once home, he got a little weird. He stole pasta from the kitchen and would hang out in the darkest corner, looking pretty scary. The second day that he was here, he bit little Leena on her lip. And the third morning, he bit me. That was it for Kylo. My humans decided that he was not safe and took him back to the rescue. Thank Goodness!

But then it happened again. Papa went on a road trip and came back. He took us all out to the car. I thought that we would be going on a regular old walk, but what’s this? There was a face peeping out of the bus door. It was Kylo 2!! This was a little pup. Kylo saw me and started peeping and crying in fear. I barked at him and kept trying to get him. The walk was a disaster!

But Kylo 2, henceforth referred to as Kylo Ren, was here to stay! He was Tanya’s dog. We were kept separated all the time in the beginning, but later we were allowed together and formed the perfect team. I would bully, he would get bullied. One thing, though. I never quite forgave Tanya for getting a new dog. I still ignore her and am pretty rude to her. Oh well.

Chickens died, new chickens were added to our group. And then my humans decided to take this current road trip. It’s the 4 humans, 2 dogs and 4 chickens. It’s a bit crazy, but mostly fun. We were all having a blast until my backside started refusing to cooperate and falling over. So its been a hard time ever since. Papa has to prop my back for walks. Mom has been giving me terrible concoctions and medicines. The plus side is that she is spoon feeding me. Yeah, I am a princess. Well my friends, thus concludes my autobiography. I may add more if my front typing paws continue to co-operate. So long!

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!

We reached Baker CA the day after Pisgah lava tubes. That day was supposed to be raining all day so we waited the rain out at a truck station. It had a pizza hut and so we decided to get pizza. To our surprise, we realized that we hadn’t eaten a store bought pizza in months. So we tore at our pizza like hungry vultures! That day was more or less lost in terms of fun. We stayed in our corners reading books and doing some school work.

It stopped raining in the afternoon. We drove in the direction of Death Valley. It was a beautiful drive in. We camped overnight at sand dunes nearby. The next day we drove to Death Valley. One of our bikes came off the bike rack! Luckily we were at super low speeds and we could stop immediately. We shuddered at the thought of the kind of damage that would have happened if we were on a highway.

Death Valley turned out to be a disappointment because the rains flooded out the main areas of attraction. We were hoping to go Northwards to Ubehebe Crater, racetrack and teakettle Junction. From there Johan wanted to take the Lippincott mine road down to Saline Valley and hot springs. To be honest, I am not a fan of the Lippincott mine road. We went up that road when we were still dating, and our marriage was almost called off! Ok, well, maybe not that bad, but that road is downright scary. It goes right by the ridge and is not exactly a well paved road.

Still, it would have been fun to visit the Ubehebe Crater and racetrack, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. The main road to Ubehebe crater was closed off. We did our junior ranger activities. From there we visited the Mesquite sand dunes. These are lovely. We spent the night there. In the morning I went for a walk over the dunes by myself. Leena joined me later and we had a fun time finding animal tracks on the dunes.

The main road through Death Valley is no ordinary drive. It is pretty narrow and you reach high elevations of almost 5000 ft. We found snow and some sections were still a bit scary. It was a spectacular drive with many things to ooh and aah over. We reached the junction to Saline Valley Road where last time we had discovered that we had lost the jeep that we were towing! The last time round, we had to drive back a bit and found our jeep that had rolled off to a side and was miraculously unharmed. I had driven the jeep behind Dory to Lone Pine that time and still have fond memories of that beautiful drive. Once we reached Lone Pine, Johan had found a welder and they had together designed and built a new, super sturdy tow rig to ensure that our jeep would never think about such adventures again!

Anyway, we drove through without incidents this time. The South Pass, which is another way to Saline Valley was also impassable. Johan was itching to go in, but we found horror stories of people stuck in due to floods and didn’t feel that we needed to expose ourselves to any of that.

We reached the Inyo National forest ranger station right outside Lone Pine. On the other side of Lone Pine begin the great Sierra Nevada mountains. It is a sight to behold. I felt caught up in the beauty and mystery of these great mountains. There’s a peak called Mt. Whitney peak right by Lone Pine. We had camped in that area last time. But it was all snowed in so we didn’t have any such possibilities. We drove past Lone Pine and visited the Manzanar museum.

Manzanar is a location right by Lone Pine. It is the site of a shameful part of the US history. After the Japanese attacked Pearl harbor, there was a huge anti-Japanese sentiment in the country. Fueled and fanned by news media, Roosevelt signed an executive orders to send Japanese Americans and other people of Japanese descent to concentration camps. They had to leave their properties and move to this unforgiving desert landscape for no reason other than looking like Japanese. It’s a sad reminder of all the things that have been done wrong in history. Of course, not many remember or know about Manzanar, which reminds of the famous quote: those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.

The history of this place is older than the concentration camps. Manzanar was inhabited by Indigenous Americans 10,000 years ago. The Owens Valley Paiute have been living here since 1500 years. As everywhere, European settlers took over this land and established ranches. Since 1905, Los Angeles started acquiring water rights in the Owens Valley. After a lot of fights, ranchers had to leave. Manzanar turned into concentration camps in 1942. So it’s history, while interesting, is ultimately one of human greed and of “might is right” ideas that we can’t get past.

After Manzanar, we had had enough of being in the cold. We drove to Ridgecrest, CA. However, it was also super windy and unpleasant there. So we continued on to Trona Pinnacles. Trona Pinnacles has rock formations that look straight out of Star Wars or other science fiction movies! Trona pinnacles, also known as tufa pinnacles, formed underwater 10,000 to 100,000 years ago. This is the Searles lakebed. The pinnacles are formed of Calcium carbonate and some algae. The Searles lake was a part of a series of “Inland seas” made from the runoffs from the Sierra Nevada. The Trona pinnacles are very remote, especially if you visit during the week.

We spent three nights here and were quite alone in our camping spot. After the first day, we had excellent weather and went on a couple of hikes. Our chickens also got to free range here. It was a highlight of our trip. We just left the Trona Pinnacles and are heading direction Boron, CA. Animals are here, which means my blog needs to stop!

Kylo Ren the dog: The name Death Valley really scared me. But after visiting it, I realized the death refers to “being bored to death”. I didn’t get any outings here. Hmph. One thing though. I got to be in the snow for exactly 5 minutes. Now, that’s not a lot, but its something. I’ll take it! Trona Pinnacles turned out to be a lot more fun. I went on multiple hikes here. A couple with my humans on bikes, and a couple with them walking. The pointy pinnacles were a challenge. But as a reward, I found a bone in the boonies! I took it back to the bus to show Rosie. My, was she jealous!!

One thing bothers me a lot. My humans don’t let me scratch my ear. They run towards me screaming like mad banshees whenever I try. Or they put a cone around my neck. The other day Rosie told me why! She told me the biggest horror story of her life. So a few years ago, she scratched her ear a lot and it got super thick. The vet called it a hematoma, or a blood blister. The vet wanted to remove the blood, and to staple the area shut to prevent blood to come in. The humans balked (Rosie balked too). And then, it happened. The humans came up with a dreaded alternative solution. Mom found a website called leeches.com and bought 5 leeches. Soon 8 tiny leeches arrived. And dad put them on her hematoma so they could suck the blood out. I believe these clever leeches put some chemicals in so it actually cured the hematoma!! But my poor wife was so scared of these wiggly monsters sucking blood out of her ear. So, I get it now! But scratching ears feels so good, I can’t help myself sometimes. Ooh, its Crazy Cookie. Hiya Crazy Cookie.

Crazy Cookie, the chicken: Hiya Kylo Ren. You stay away from me. Yes, my friends, Trona Pinnacles were fun. We got to free range. Lazy Laurie entered the big bus Dory. She was so assertive that Rosie the dog looked scared. Lazy Laurie is totally awesome (sigh!). Kylo Ren is a bit crazy. He tries to get to us and I don’t think it is to give us a lick of love. More like, the bite of death. Luckily the humans have been successful in keeping us separated so far. He did escape today but was caught on time.

I loved the Trona pinnacles. I felt poetic after seeing them. Here’s the poem I penned with my own feather:

The chicken goes to Trona,

The chicken goes to Ajo,

The chicken goes to Joshua,

The chicken goes everywhere!!

Nice one, right? Its modern poetry. The weather has been not so great sadly. We have spent a bit of time indoors in Elfie. But things are looking brighter and hopefully we will soon have a new admiring crowd checking us out! I got medical tales to tell you as well, but maybe for the next blog. I am going to write some more poems. Bye, my fawning fans.

You may have noticed this before. Mommy blogs such as mine always look like everyone is having the greatest time, and all is golden. Obviously that’s not the case. Time to document all that goes wrong.

First of all, the preparation is a killer. Going away from your home for months is no piece of cake. Plenty can go wrong. Frozen pipes, vandalism, tree falling, earthquakes (ok, maybe not earthquakes!). But, you get the idea. Its not like leaving the house for a few days or even a month. Things have to be packed, cleared, put away, organized. The mail must be attended to. Bills have to be taken care of. So yes, a lot goes into leaving the house. In fact, this turned out to be so stressful that we almost didn’t want to leave.

Second, the school. So how does one convince the school to let their kids go? The easiest option is homeschooling. We didn’t want to go that route because the kids would need to be re-enrolled. Both are in alternative programs that we love and would like them to continue. So we had some angry administrators to deal with. Also, try getting your kids to work for you like the teachers do. It isn’t easy. The 16 year old does it. With my 11 year old, it is a continuous battle. Threats abound! Finally, finding internet in the boonies is not easy. Since the 16 year old needs internet for her schooling, this is a constant problem. We use Verizon’s Mifi. It works ok but not always. The last time, we went to local libraries a lot and used their Wifi. This is the better option if you plan to stay on the road for a longer time. It is very fun to check out local libraries and spend time in towns. We don’t have that kind of time in this trip.

Ok, so we took care of our houses and school. What next? Our mobile home! This is a small space. We are four people and two dogs packed like sardines in this little space. Thankfully chickens live in Elfie! This means tripping over each other, lack of privacy, and our space being constantly messy! Every time we visit a beach or sand dunes, there’s sand everywhere. We clear up the clutter and can try to not clutter the space up. But what about things that fall on their own while moving? The other day I put my bills in an overhead bin, only to see them come down later like snowflakes all over the bus while we were moving! So things fall over, can break if you are not careful.

Hmm, what else? Oh ya. We are in the West coast. This is the desert. So if you are imagining daily showers, its not going to happen. We are constantly looking for water wherever we go. The expectation is, of course, that you buy gallon jugs. But we don’t want to generate all that plastic waste. So we pick water as we can, and use and shower as and when possible. Sometimes we use the truck shower stations. Those work well if you can find one.

Of course, you will also have to attend to your toilet waste. There are many options such as having a blackwater tank, compostable toilets, incinolets etc. We use the simplest compostable system which allows us freedom to boondock without having to find campsite dump stations at regular intervals, or lots of energy needed for an incinolet. Not everyone’s cup of tea for sure.

A note on the shower. We use a recirculating shower that uses the same water over and over again after running through a filter for the period of the shower. With this system you can have a half hour shower with a couple of gallons of water.

Also, our beds are cramped. Don’t expect a king size bed. Or you may, in one of those big campers, but then don’t expect to go far into the boonies. Cooking healthy meals can be a challenge. Cooking at nights when our solar is not working is a no no. We cook on induction or on outside fire.

One last thing that I can think of right now. School’s expectations with regards to deadlines. In general, a homeschooling kid can get the whole day’s work done in a couple of hours. But while travelling, we hike a lot. We are tired and the work still needs to be done. Also, while the camper is moving, the kids find it hard to write. So a lot of time disappears with no tangible gain. I believe our kids are learning a lot more on the road than they would at home, but there are still people we are answerable to.

So yes, living on the road is not for everyone. But if you have a travel-lust like we do, its a no brainer. I could probably live like this forever!

Rosie the dog: Let me tell you all that can go wrong on a road trip. Your back will hurt more. You have to pay attention to all the strange noises at night. I have heard the coyotes howling on the previous trip. Nowadays, thanks to my poor hearing, I don’t hear all that much. The world has suddenly become a lot safer! Also, I miss snow. I am very much a snow gal. My hubby, Kylo, is also into snow. Yesterday we were at high elevations in Death Valley and finally there was snow. We both were so happy. Out here its always hot and there’s this awful cacti everywhere. I get it in my paw once in a while.

What else? My hubby and I don’t have much space. So when we get food, its a bit like war. We both try to eat each other’s food, and there’s growling and fighting. Its the same at home, but there we are far apart. So yes, this is not good for our long term relationship! And don’t even get me started on all the strays around here. They are downright dangerous, man! Some have tried to attack our humans while they were out biking. Our humans are now learning that not all dogs are benign like us. Hmph, I could have told them this at home and saved us all this aggravation. Regardless, my point is, home is best. Let’s hear it from the chicken.

Lazy Laurie the chicken: Well, I like it on the road for the most part. We got an early spring and I love the California sun. I do agree with the great Rosie dog that I have heard those coyotes too. Believe me, they send a shiver down my feathers when they howl. Luckily for the yellow bus, they can’t come near, but its scary nevertheless. Our living quarters are a bit cramped, and we all still hate the leash so those are definitely big minuses. But I love the treats that come once in a while when our humans leave their breakfast and we get the leftovers. Being at the top of the pecking order, I get all the biggest pieces! I even ate my own egg the other day. Its delicious y’all! One big plus about the road trip is that we get plenty of admiration. So yeah, I am good with the road!!

We are moving a lot, and my blog can hardly keep up! Let me try to bring it up to date. As I mentioned previously, we were parked at Lake Mead in a place known as Telephone Cove near Laughlin, Nevada. This is a beautiful beach with clean water and lots of ducks. It is another of BLM camping places, which is astonishing. Its hard to believe that there exists a place like this where you can park for free for 14 days.

The dirt road in is mildly challenging, but we felt it had been graded and expanded since the last time we were there. We arrived in the afternoon and pulled in at a spot. Unfortunately a low branch from a tree hit the top of our bus damaging a solar panel. So now we are low on electricity. The first evening there was lovely. We cooked dinner on fire and enjoyed the sunset and sunrise. The next day we used our paddle boat to go in the lake all morning. That afternoon it was going to get windy. It reached 25 mph gusts and became unpleasant. We parked close to a mountain that shielded us off from some of the wind. However, the beach fun was over.

The next morning was a bit cooler and the wind was still there. We went on a long hike through the canyons nearby. We had been there before and retraced our way. There is a spot in the canyon where there are semi hardened sand walls. Johan had written the word “TALEZ” there four years ago (which stands for TAnya LEena Z). Since it was sand, we expected it to be long gone. But it was still there!! It sat undamaged for four years until our hike last week when our own Kylo damaged a part of it! We were enjoying the hike and so we kept going. At the end of the hike we realized that we had done 6 miles! Not bad for a morning.

We packed up and left that afternoon. There wasn’t much more beach time possible with the weather still bad. We drove until we reached Goffs, CA. Last time we had hung out at a museum here. The most interesting thing that I found there was a map of old India when Pakistan and Afghanistan were a part of it. What was such a map doing at Goffs, CA, a town in the middle of nowhere with a population of 23?! We didn’t revisit the museum this time. We left early and drove by Mojave national preserve to Ludlow, CA via Interstate 40. This is an amazingly beautiful drive with spectacular views of the mountains in Mojave desert.

We stopped for breakfast at a cafe in Ludlow and then went to the Pisgah lava tubes. These lava tubes are in Ludlow, and are quite remote. Not too many people visit. The last time we discovered these by accident as we were driving by. We saw them and stopped to explore. These lava tubes have caves that you can go down in and explore. On one side is a mine.

We found a nice spot and overnighted there. We went in the lava tubes multiple times and explored quite a few of the caves. My shoes are worn! But yes, it was a great time. We left the lava tubes this afternoon and are moving in the direction of death valley. Unfortunately we are plagued with winter weather because of some freak snow storm hitting California this weekend. We’ll keep plowing on and hope for the best. Dogs and chickens are lazy today. I had to goad them a bit before they decided to blog.

Kylo Ren the dog: I went on this long hike with my humans in the canyon by Lake Mead. They struggle so much to climb, I usually can run up and down their climbing spot a couple of times while they are climbing. But something happened that drove the usual composed me totally crazy. We reached the end of a canyon with no way to go. There was a rope there and little Leena decided to climb to the top with the help of the rope! Now I can do a lot of things, but rope climbing is not one of them. I was already losing it when dad decided to follow Leena! They both stood on top of a steep ledge, and there was no way for me to get there! Thankfully the others stayed behind and they started coming down. But I was so scared when they came down that I really didn’t know what to do with myself. To ease my anxiety I dug around like crazy, pulled on plants and ran with a rock in my mouth. My humans sweet talked me until I felt normal again. That was scary!

Other than that, my humans went to these lava rocks. But they didn’t take me! Hmph, I bet I could have gone in and out of those caves just fine, but I think the humans worried that I would cut my paws on the sharp lava rocks. As if! They are sweet, my humans, but they really underestimate me. Sigh! Anyway, I sat twiddling my paws while they went out on multiple hikes. At least, my dear wife Rosie and I got some alone time. Alas, she spent all that time sleeping or snarling at me. I’ll keep trying with her. Oh! Here’s the chicken!

Baby the chicken: So let me tell you about Chocolate Sprinkles. She was named by Leena, and we all agreed that it was a sweet name. Chocolate Sprinkles had an issue when she started laying. I believe it is called a prolapsed uterus (ugh, what a tongue twister!). Basically, when she tried to lay, her uterus came out of her with the egg stuck behind. The humans freaked out! They grabbed her and took her to their farmer friend. Farmer friend said that he thought that was it for Chocolate Sprinkles, and that she should be put down (hmph, some friend!). Chocolate Sprinkles looked like she was expecting to die that day. And she would have too, if she was with us. Because our solution to every problem is to peck at it, and I don’t think that would have worked well for her!

The Papa came to the rescue that day. I heard the little girl Leena say that they watched some videos and learnt how to gently get the egg out, which Papa did and then Chocolate Sprinkles got to be in an Epsom salt spa for an hour. After that she was a fan of Papa for a few days until she forgot all about it. But I remember!

Anyway, Chocolate Sprinkles never really laid eggs after that. She just hung out with us and darted around if any humans got near. She was always the best at evading humans and rarely got caught by them. Last year she suddenly just fell on her side and died within 5 minutes. The human girls stared at their devices and declared that she must have had a liver problem since she was very light at time of death. I don’t know about all this, but what I do know is that my dear friend Chocolate Sprinkles is buried under the raspberry bush. I visit her grave time and again. Oh, its late. Good night folks!

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!

Backtracking a bit, we left Joshua tree national park and arrived at Bombay beach, Salton sea, CA. When we came in, Bombay beach looked like a run down ghost town to us. We parked at the beach to overnight with plans of leaving in the morning. The beach had odd art all over. I mentioned that previously. But although odd, the art was not random or thoughtless. It took effort and serious skills to put them together.

We enjoyed the sunset at Salton sea, and got up early to catch the sunrise. Both were beautiful. Salton sea itself is heavily polluted and smells bad. There’s crud if you step in the water. But it looked beautiful nevertheless. After breakfast we got on our bikes and decided to tour the town. The town is square with 5 or 6 blocks each way. We checked out the lovely art and took many pictures. Yeah, my blog is going to look stunning today!

We were very surprised when we found a community cafe in the town, open Friday through Sunday. Luckily for us, it was Friday. We went in and got our drinks. The barista was a lady who was originally from Pennsylvania. She was very friendly and gave us little bits of information about the town. We were surprised to hear that the town was not actually empty. Each house was occupied. Also, real estate there was expensive! Well, well! Another person named John walked in and we talked to him about how we were slightly concerned that our bus would get stuck on the beach. He offered help if necessary, and told us about a nice restaurant/bar in town that had a karaoke night. We biked along further and found a free book library where you could take books as you pleased. There was a house with butterfly origami. We stood admiring the art, and the owner came out and gave us origami butterflies. Now we were impressed and decided to stay another night.

We went out to dinner at the recommended restaurant called Ski Inn, and saw our friend John there. Food was good, but the most interesting part for me was the karaoke. Having sung karaoke online for more than a year, I figured I had to try it out live. Not sure how it sounded, but it was a great time for me. It was also a safe place to try singing onstage, since we knew no one there!

The next day we were able to pull out of the beach pretty easily, and were thankful to not become a part of the facebook page named “I got stuck at Bombay beach”! Went back to the cafe, and hung out for a bit. Our rig created some excitement as usual, and the chickens never fail to impress.

I spoke a lot about Slab City so there’s not much to add, except for one important point. They have art too, and a whole lot of it! We visited their art museum at East Jesus with spectacular art made from people with little to no means. The results were breathtaking and touching. You can see it for yourself in the attached pictures. Oh, the dog and chicken are looking bored. Over to them.

Rosie the dog: Bombay beach was cruddy all right. I am very much a water girl, and plunged into it. I came back looking slightly dirty, but had my fun. My self proclaimed “fearless” husband Kylo Ren, on the other hand, is a total wimp as far as water is concerned and won’t even step into a puddle. Anyway, the salty water made us both a bit sick so that was a bummer. But overall, I liked the beach. Slab City was a whole different story. There were odd looking dogs everywhere, running free and being nasty. Here I was happy to let Kylo Ren take the lead. He took care of the neighbor dog alright. Handy fella, my hubby. Oh hey, look who’s here today. It’s Baby, the big chicken. I didn’t think she could write! Over to her.

Baby the chicken: What?! Not only can I write, I have an elaborate security system set up for my chicken sisters to warn them of imminent danger. The human girls have unfortunately figured out my language and so it is no longer secret, but it still does the trick. More on our language on a later blog.

So I wanted to give you a little low down about our group. Lazy Laurie and I were born around the same time. So were Dandelion and Chocolate Sprinkles. I am sad to say Dandelion and Chocolate Sprinkles are no longer with us. Back in 2019, the human roosters decided to take a trip similar to the one they are currently taking. And, get this, they left us with their farmer friend. Dandelion was a fearless one. She and I could overcome any little bunch of chickens. But one day Dandelion disappeared. I never quite understood what happened. My theory is that she was either turned into soup by the farmer, or a hawk got her.

So now when I hear the younger chicks Crazy Cookie or Daisy complaining about this long trip, I have to peck their heads to remind them how much better they have it than us. Gen C is so spoilt! More about us later. But before signing off, I must let you know this important fact. I am number 2 in the pecking order. Good day y’all.

My animals and I don’t always agree on everything, but we do agree on this point. So we decided to put each of our points of view on why humans are strange.

We are currently parked at Slab City near Niland, CA. This place is off the grid in a strange sense. The land was once training grounds for the military. After they left, the land was occupied by nomads and others. They don’t own the land, and there’s no water or trash services. So things have to be brought in and out. As it goes, things people need are brought in, but the trash stays. You can see that everywhere. Oh well. This place has RVs, shanties, school buses, modest structures erected by people to live in. It seems chaotic and unplanned when you drive in. However, where there are people, there is a community. Mostly you can find the community if you are willing to take the time to go out on a bike, which we did.

We ended up at a community cafe this morning. It was a rough structure, we went in for coffee, but the lady was serving breakfast. You got pancakes, eggs, sausages, fresh fruit and a coffee for $5! Not bad at all. We got some, sat down to eat. A dog sat close to us hoping for some scraps. He wisely chose Leena to do his begging. Dogs know that generosity is inversely proportional to age! He was not disappointed.

People were friendly and came by our table to chat or just to say hi. After breakfast we went to the library, not expecting much. Well, looks can be deceiving. The library in another shack was expansive. It was forever open, and there were no librarians. But you could find shelves upon shelves of books organized in genres. No library cards were needed. You could take a book, relax on a couch or table and read, or you could simply walk out with the books and return them when done. We got some books along that we will bring back tomorrow.

So what’s strange about humans here? There’s no real law and order. Things are haphazard, no rules apply. You could essentially do whatever you want here. Yet, there’s a community. There’s open mic every Saturday night. People will talk to you about their bus or their travels or their dogs. Then there’s the amazing library (complete with a beer bar) and community cafe. And although the land does not belong to anyone, yet there’s respect for each other’s space. You don’t go in a space occupied by someone else. You just go elsewhere and make your own little space!

You will say, what about all the trash everywhere?! Yes, its trashed up. But this is a minimalistic community, simply due to lack of funds and amenities. So they use far less than most of us use. The difference is that our trash gets taken away out of sight, so our towns look pretty. In Slab City the trash stays and is visible. If your town stopped collecting trash, your town would look way worse because of the extensive usage of things. People also use a lot of solar panels here, mainly out of necessity since the town is off grid with no electricity. Slab City is a unique experience.

Kylo Ren the dog: Humans are strange for sure. First, they don’t pee on bushes. They need to pee indoors. I don’t get it. Outside smells fresh. You can find a spot of your choice and enjoy the fresh morning smells. Second, they don’t let me do my job properly. I am fierce and ferocious. Ask any animal around, they will agree. I can guard my well meaning but somewhat weak masters to complete, 100% safety. But they use many different means to curb my natural pack leadership skills. Lastly, I think I could have had a wife a bit closer to my age. Truth is, my wife, Rosie, is terrifying. She puts her entire jaw around my neck sometimes, and let me tell you, its not out of love. The humans think its cute and get out their devices to make movies of us, but there’s a real war going on. Oh, Rosie wants to add to my musings. Let’s make way for the queen.

Rosie: So my main master is dad. I am so in love with him. I think he is alpha. But here’s what has bothered me from day 1. I have smelt his food and the food of the others. They eat meat and chicken, while my alpha dad gets only vegetables. What I don’t get is, why is alpha getting the worst food? Is alpha aware? He should be, he is alpha after all. I don’t get humans.

Crazy cookie the chicken: Yes, yes, a hundred times yes. Humans are totally strange. The highest on the pecking order are the thinnest. By that standard, I would be top of the pecking order (psst, I am the thinnest, sigh). Anyway, what I mean is that they have these rich people who are on top of the pecking order, but they live on the worst food. I don’t get it. The whole point of the pecking order is so you get the best of food, survival chances and comforts. But humans establish strange pecking order around pointless things. They don’t get anything tangible out of it. Hmm, odd. Now humans are big and higher up than us. I am sure about that. But then if they see us, they start giving out these silly yelps and click our pictures with their little devices. By the way, they seem to be lost in those devices. These behaviors are very unbecoming of a creature on top of the pecking order. They don’t seem to be aware like us at all. Dogs seem more sensible. That said, we like those humans. They are interesting. We vie for their attention, even though we run from them when they actually pay attention. Life’s an adventure.