Day 15: 'A Boondocking Adventure: Indian Bread Rocks in Bowie, AZ'

 

Knowing that we had to leave the campground by noon, we got up really early and went on the “birding trail” to try and see birds right as they were starting their days.  It was so quiet!  We saw deer but no cows this time and we saw a few amazing birds that we would have never seen if we had woken up later.  

I got an amazing picture of a Black-crowned Night Heron just perching in a tree and then I got a picture of the cutest and smallest woodpecker ever.  

At the last part of our walk, we spotted a bird that I hadn’t ever heard of before, much less seen before – an ‘Elegant Trogon’.  It was incredibly pretty and just sitting on a branch looking at me, as I snapped multiple pictures of him.

Our next stop was the Indian Bread Rocks picnic site on BLM land.  This is right next to the New Mexico border, but we are still in Arizona.  I had read a lot of reviews of folks that had camped here and after piecing together directions and comments on the place, we finally arrived at the location after driving on a 2 mile long dirt road.  We started seeing RV’s and camper vans parked along side the road and started looking for an empty spot.  There wasn’t any!  We drove over a mile down an extremely primitive road and Rick had to put the truck in 4WD just to get us down the road.  He didn’t say a word, as I kept assuring him that we would not only find a place to park but find a place to turn around a 30 foot trailer.  (But as we kept driving, it started looking like we were really getting ourselves into a pickle.) 

At last, we spied a spot in the road that looked like a turnaround with no one in sight BUT there were at least 100 head of cattle standing there, staring at us – many of them with extremely long horns.  

It was the absolute perfect camping spot and I was in heaven!  Rick was absolutely horrified that I would even suggest it!

I insisted that we park there and convinced Rick that if I moved the make shift fire pit that some other camper had put up, he could back the trailer right into that spot.  I have to hand it to Rick – he never once uttered a word as he moved all the rocks and sticks from one spot to another, all the while being stared at and surrounded by a hundred head of cattle.   (I think he was just too scared of being gorged by one of the super long horns that he just wanted to get situated as quickly as possible so he could sit inside the safety of the RV.)  I was so caught up with staring and talking to the cows that I walked into a prickly pear cactus and had spines coming out of my knee that actually drew blood when I pulled them out.  Me and prickly things just do not get along.

Rick finally jolted me out of my cow induced euphoria when he told me that the truck and Beamer needed attention, as it smelled really bad.  Yup – I had neglected my duties and Beamer had let one loose in his cage.  Now he had to get an outdoor shower but I got him back…  I put his cage right smack in the middle of the herd of cows.  Sure enough, as cows are incredibly curious animals, they started coming up to Beamer’s cage to check him out.  He wanted absolutely nothing to do with that so he flipped around in his enclosure causing a huge commotion which scared all the cows!  Much to Rick’s relief, they all started walking away and out into the desert.

About that time, Rick leans out of the RV and says “Uh – next time you pack up the coffee pot and place it on the bed for travel day, make sure you remember to throw out the coffee grinds.”  Sure enough, they had spilled all over the duvet cover.  

After we shook it out and put it back on the bed, I started working on building a fire.  So what do you think happened?  You guessed it, I backed into another prickly pear cactus, this time it got me right in my ankle.  Dang – that one really hurt – way worse than the first encounter!

We ultimately had a wonderful campfire and then a candle light dinner (the first dinner we can ever remember having by only candle light).  The moon was nowhere to be seen so Rick got his wish and got to see a gorgeous star filled sky, complete with a clear view of the Milky Way.  

I was snuggled up in my favorite fluffy white throw, drinking a glass of red wine and enjoying the stars when somehow I managed to spill the entire glass of wine on myself and the fluffy white throw.  I had no choice but to run it inside the RV and soak it in the shower, in an attempt to try and save it from a permanent red stain.  

Now, there are a couple of things to NOT do in this situation.  Do NOT use an entire Tide pod to wash out one small throw.  (There isn’t enough water in an RV to last three days of dry camping and rinse all the soap out of one small blanket.)  Do NOT hang the blanket over the shower stall glass where one side is outside of the shower because then you will have a major water leak to clean up inside the bathroom.  Sigh...  I definitely see a big laundry day in my near future. 

Thankfully it is now bedtime and I’m fully anticipating being jolted out of a deep sleep many times tonight by the sound of coyotes all around us, but it is truly magical being so far outside of civilization with everything you need to survive just a few steps away.