Finally... the Camping Pics

Hey -- it's been a great weekend! Hung out Friday afternoon and evening with Jenn (and David Bowie -- who does have quite the anatomically correct package in his Labyrinth ballet tights -- not that I was looking, but jeesh, you can't miss it), then spent Saturday eating fruit pancakes at Bobo's Diner with Lindsey, recovering from a stomach dough bomb, and later drinking beer with Anna & Ben at "Frog & Firkin" before heading to an astronomy department party, where I met many colorful and brainy characters. Today (Sunday) I caught up on homework and went swimming at the pool and am now preparing to study a bit more after I'm done mucking around on this blog.

You'll be happy to hear I finally have my camping photos uploaded! So here's the Labor Day trip in pictures...

First, though, I have to say that you would have thought I'd learned my lesson about engaging in outdoor activities during the Arizona monsoon after my near-death experience in a Sabino Canyon flash flood last year. However I'm a slow learner.

Things started out well. Our group of seven (Anna & Alex, Mike & Keri -- the couples -- and Dave, Linda, and me -- the singletons) met at Keri's house where we got the cars packed up for the two hour drive up to the Chiricahua Mountains, located on the New Mexico border.

Since I'm the only person that didn't care about riding in air conditioning, I volunteered to ride with Mike in his restored 1979 VW bus. He's an auto mechanic for Audi and has completely rebuilt this bus from scratch. I have a soft spot in my heart for VW buses because we had one when I was growing up (between 1976-80), and my dad used to take us camping in it. I'd almost forgotten that all VW buses sound the same, smell the same, and have that delightully archaic control panel with sliding levers and no labels for anything. However, within minutes, I felt like I was back in time!

Speaking of...

Here I am with my dad and our other VW bus, a Vanagon, which we had in the 1980s. This is the picture I once referred to in another blog entry, in which my mom thought I was my brother and put this picture in his photo album. This was apparently my unisex phase. Also -- please note the Busch Gardens painter's cap (and ignore my terrible posture).

Here's Mike's bus...

The best thing was that he has Satellite XM radio and likes exactly the same music as me (1980s new wave synth pop) so we had a great time on the drive.

About 20 miles from the campsite, we spotted a little turtle along the side of the dirt road. Mike decided to stop the bus so we could check the little guy out...

Mike scared the turtle so much he made him pee, but then he relaxed for photos.

He was trying to get the hell away from me here...

He shat on my hand right after this photo. I suppose I deserved it for not letting him go right away.

Once we got to camp, I decided to stay with Dave in his humongo-tent.

There was plenty of room for two air mattresses, and the guy is an engineer and has all the latest gadgets so I figured he was a good bet for a roommate. Sure beat my crappy little pup tent...

Mike is the ultimate "old school" camper... here is his VW bus set-up:

Note the "living room" off the front of the bus. I was a bit jealous, even if our tent did have a small vestibule.

It started raining almost the minute we got to the campsite...

And it was cold as Siberia. Here are Anna and Alex trying to warm up with cocoa (or wine... oh yes, I think for sure it's wine... well, that's not so warming... at first anyway)

After the sun went down it felt like Siberia in mid-January...

Luckily the rain was still misty though. Here are Alex, Keri, and Anna at the campfire.

Dave (Mr. Gadget) brought his "Saws All" Craftsman portable mini-chainsaw...

Thank god for modern technology. His quick wood cutting and fire-building skills kept us at least sort of warm for a while.

Here's Linda warming her "Geisha toes"... (umm, socks & flip flops):

This woman is a complete hoot.

As the evening went on, she gathered more hats on her head to stay warm...

She loved this picture, saying it captured the evening perfectly. Too much beer & subzero temps.

It really was this cold...

Here's Anna trying to stay warm. I believe I was shivering uncontrollably about here, plus the rain was starting to really come down.

I got no sleep that night between the insane cold, the pouring rain, a wet pillow, Dave's snoring, and having to pee and not wanting to go outside...

And this was the massive rain puddle greeting me when I tried to get out of the tent in the morning.

Here's the view out to the campsite...

Everything was so wet, we could barely use it.

Thankfully, everyone on the trip was either a mechanic or an engineer (except Linda and me)...

Here are the mechanically inclined people setting up the tarp in an attempt to stay dry.

Here's the inside of the tent I shared with Dave...

The dark spots on the navy mattress are rain water that my head laid in the night before. Dave set up his little space heater (satellite looking object at the top right) to try and dry out my soaked goods (including my sleeping bag).

Honestly, if had only been up to me, I would have cashed it in right then and there. I'm not really one to tough it out while camping. However, I was in the minority (only Linda agreed with me, and she wanted to go have a "camp out" in her living room).

We spent the next day playing gin rummy, hiding under the tarp, and trying to stay dry. Luckily my stuff did dry out, thanks to Dave's high-tech gear.

Here we are that evening trying to stay dry & warm in Mike's VW bus...

Note the wet spots on my pant leg... that would be rainwater, which sopped me the entire two days in the woods. Lovely. I also had on so many layers (long-sleeve tee, fleece vest, sweatshirt, fleece jacket, and raincoat) that I looked like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man.

I only escaped the campsite once (trying to find dry fire wood, which I did not find) and climbed a big hill looking over our camp area. We weren't in an established campground (thus no bathrooms, showers, etc). It looked like this (big trees) for as far as the eye could see...


Needless to say, I was pretty happy when we got back to civilization, and I have a much stronger appreciation for rooves, floors, beds, and kitchens now...

Must go do some Quranic reading now for class tomorrow ... peace!