This past week has been a true test of
my strength, spirit, smarts and sense of humor. I think I've failed
as an intelligent tourist but excelled at keeping my wits about me.
While still in Utah, Okie and I went
for a walk behind the land we were camped out on. About 30 minutes
back on the trail I stopped once again to give us both water. It was
a hot, sunny desert day. I'm very diligent about checking for
creepy-crawlies before I put down my pack or let Okie stand still for
any length of time. This time I failed to see the red ant hill beside
me. I was getting our water out when I saw Okie trying to shake an
ant off her paw. I immediately swatted it off. She wouldn't put her
paw down and when I got her to walk she limped. The first thing that
rushed to my mind was fire ants, poisonous fire ants! I scooped Okie
up and started jogging back to the van. I'll admit I panicked. I kept
repeating out loud, 'this is all my fault, please don't die on me'.
She became limp and her eyes were closing but I wasn't letting her go
to sleep. At this point I'm holding back the tears. I'm hot, thirsty
and fear dehydrating but I'm moving as fast as I can. Back at the van
I put her down and she slumps onto her side. I then run to the
camping spot next to mine, huffing and puffing, to see if they know
where a vet is when out of nowhere Okie is standing next to me, tail
wagging. I don't know if she was just tired and wanted me to carry
her but I finally allowed myself to cry. I was so happy to see her ok
it didn't matter why she was so unresponsive before. Now I know she's
learned to jump out of the van.
Two days later, now just outside of
Death Valley, it's getting dark so I pull over into what looks like a
gravel alcove. I figured I would be off the road enough to go fairly
undetected for the night. As soon as I drove 10 feet in I could tell
the gravel wasn't as hard-packed as it appeared to be. I was stuck.
There was no going forward or backwards. My tires sank deeper and
deeper into the ground. The road, as desolate as it was, had a fair
amount of traffic so I decided to give up for the night and hopefully
flag someone down in the morning who could pull me out. It struck me
as funny, the idea I was in the situation so many people warned me
about. I was in the middle of the desert, van stuck in the ground and
my cell phone had no reception. I made a peanut butter sandwich and
went to bed. In the morning I made coffee and prepared myself for the
possibility I would have to dig myself out. Thank goodness for
friends who think of things I don't. I was given a bag of survival
stuff by a good friend and in it was a shovel. I could have kissed
him if he was there...and not married. I didn't need it though, this
time. The first vehicle I flagged down happened to be a highway
patrol truck and he had me out of there in 10 minutes. What a feeling
it was to be back on the road.
I had wanted to go back into Death
Valley that morning to go hiking but my mind was on the 'check
engine' light that was now on. Before getting stuck however, I had
spent the day in Death Valley and let me tell you it's quite the
place. I've never seen such a vast expanse of nothing and felt so
destitute, even though there were sporadic cars carrying other
tourists. Okie and I did go for a short hike to a location I believe
was used in one of the Star Wars movies. Okie is quite the adventure
dog. She is often ahead of me, scaling rocks and then looking at me
as if to say, 'are you coming or what?' She's the one who gets me
exploring when I'd usually still be thinking about whether I want to
go in, up or under there. Who says little dogs aren't good for
hiking?!
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| The hills looked like they were oozing towards the road. |
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| The badlands where I wanted to hike. |
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| Our hike to the natural bridge. |
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| Okie climbing a dry waterfall. |
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| Not snow. It's salt forming on the dry lake bed. |
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| 262 feet below sea level. |
Freed from the gravel, we were cruising
along towards the San Bernardino National Forest. I had been driving
through so much desert I wanted to balance it with a hike through
some trees. On the way I stumble upon an abandoned water park. In the
desert. I can't imagine why this place went under. (insert sarcastic
tone). But, lucky for me it did and it made for a fun little
excursion for the two of us. It was surprisingly clean and free of
glass so I felt perfectly at ease letting Okie explore, as she likes
to do. She's a wonderful companion and loves to wander and check
things out but always has her eye on me, following wherever I go. We
had the place to ourselves and spent a good amount of time walking
and taking photos.
After spending the night 7000 feet
up in the National Forest I cut through San Bernardino and headed for a
drive on a secondary highway towards Quartzsite, AZ, where I hear there is
more BLM land to camp on for free. On the way I drove by the Imperial
Sand Dunes recreational area where people drive like crazy over the
dunes. I have never seen or been out on real desert sand dunes and
could hardly contain my child-like excitement about running around on
them. I parked and the two of us went tearing around like crazies.
It's like a giant sandbox for the little one and she was having a
blast right along with me.
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| Okie and my footprints |
Just down the road I saw a bunch of
trailers and RVs parked and since it was getting late I chose to stay
there for the night instead of trying to make it to Quartzsite in the
dark. After all, this spot was free camping too. Then, I become the
uneducated tourist again and decide to pull over in an area which is
far away from everyone else. Turns out there is a good reason why no
one else had decided to set up there. Yup, you guessed it. Stuck
again. This time in very soft sand and I knew it was happening but I
reacted too late. What else does someone like me do in this situation? Make another PB sandwich and take long exposures of the van stuck in the desert.
I woke really early
in the morning knowing the sun would get hotter as the day went on
and I imagined I would have a long morning of digging ahead of me.
The digging wouldn't start until after I made the morning pot of
coffee though. This is when the shovel was a much appreciated gift. After
letting a lot of the air out of my tires to give them more surface to
grip I dug out the wheels and made a path under the van. This would
get me about 15 feet before my back wheels would spin and get buried
again. Coffee break, then repeat the digging and moving 10 feet. I kept thinking of all the ways this could be worse and it kept my mood up. It could have been mud I was stuck in. It could have been raining or I could have stopped in quicksand. I knew I would get out eventually. It
took me a good two hours to make it to hard land and what excitement
when I reached it. We danced and jumped around in the sand, clapping
and cheering, even though Okie had no idea what was so exciting. She
had spent the last two hours chasing the sand I was throwing and
digging holes net to me to bury sticks I had dug up. At one point she
had me laughing my head off as she barked and chased a tumbling
plastic bag across the dunes. Having her around really does help
make light of things. Oh, to be a dog.
The sense of accomplishment I felt when
I finally got the van out was pretty awesome. There's nothing quite
like feeling you can do things on your own, especially when it
involves vehicles. Once on solid ground I had to put air back in the
tires and this time a friends thoughtful trade at my last yard sale
saved my butt. He had traded me a tire pump that plugs into
the lighter of the van. Still drinking coffee, I hooked it up tire
by tire and re-inflated them. Again, how awesome I felt to not have
to ask for help. I am safe and have learned much, all while keeping a strong head and I will never pull off the road without checking things out again. Time to be a smart tourist.
