Yuma, YPG and life in the desert: part one

Editors note: I would, and maybe still will in the future, have some photos to share but my PhotoShop went away when I installed Snow Leopard the wonderful new operating system for my Mac. I'm not all that upset because I did need to upgrade but I oh so hate to loose my PhotoShop. This version is only about ten years old and it took me a few minutes to convince the tech support fellow that, at one time, Adobe did have a version 7.0. You can view some photos my sister has already posted on her blog, Tombstone Tumbleweed.

Update: I did find a program to handle my pix but not completely thrilled. Time will tell.

It takes a special type of person to live in the desert and for seven days we tried. I would have loved it more if it were not for the wind but, sadly, that is a fact of life there. If we had our larger trailer, rather than the tiny teardrop, the wind would not have been such a factor. We did make the best of it and had a good time.

I'm sure it's the solitude that draws most to camp for months on end in the southwestern Arizona desert that and the challenge of getting by. We test ourselves in a variety of ways and making your place in a desolate area is a big test of your fortitude and ingenuity. I see it as a way to mark your progress and make sure you still can compete. When you live in a big city with big city problems such as traffic on Fridays, if you make it home, you can say with a sigh, I can survive.

The flowers blooming in the desert would be worth the trip. Every day more and more cactus sprouted new colors. The trip home showed even more wondrous colors than the trip seven days earlier. Stars are also wonderful but with light pollution from Yuma and a waxing half moon the only Milky Way we saw was at the convenience store. Sure we could see some of the brighter stars but I was looking forward to the big show. I'm still looking for a dark area to watch the next meteor shower.

Nights are particularly silent save the yip of the way-to-close coyotes. A few different nights they all got together for a sing-fest-potluck and shared their excitement with the whole area. As for other life, we never saw but heard others tell of a 4 foot rattlesnake. I was very careful to poke anything before I picked it up. A more harmless creatures are found running wild around the area; donkeys. These shaggy guys have quite the comical look with elongated ears and fairly large teeth and a kick that can send you sprawling or into a coma. We did finally get to see a group of seven gnawing on a scrubby little bush.

Part Two; coming soon.