A day in the desert

It's been a full day... It's our first full day in the desert. Things did not go exactly as planned, but then again, we didn't have a lot of plans, so I guess it all went exactly as it was suppsed to go.

Our day started a bit late (for me anyway). I usually am awake at around 4:30-5:00, but this morning I didn't wake up until around 7:00. We made some coffee and spent a couple of hours hanging out with Alan and some new friends. It was a gorgeous morning. Lots of wildlife around - including the elusive bunnies that Alan is always talking about. They're hard as heck to get on camera, but I managed to get one off in the distance. In the lower right corner you can see something dark and bunny-like headed top speed toward the bushes... You'll have to trust me that the blur is actually a bunny. They're quick little buggers.

We're camped out a few hundred feet from the wash. Alan helped us to find a spot relatively close to his camp so we could piggy-back off his internet access (Thank you Alan!). It's quite a trip to be out here in the middle of "nowhere" and have high speed internet access. Better than most of the RV parks that we paid more than I want to admit for.

Our day was pretty mellow compared to most. Alan and I took a bike ride through the desert and did some exploring - we found a new indian site that is not too far from our campsite. We rode into town and had lunch, stopped off at the post office, made a quick trip to the book store and then rode back from the far side of Quartzsite back to home. Not sure how far we rode today, but I'm guessing about 10-12 miles.

In the afternoon Alan and I took on the bike project. I thought that the two of us might be able to figure out the problem(s) with the new back wheel for his bike. We spent a couple of hours shooting the breeze and working on the bike. I believe that we have the problem figured out and resolved at this point. Not perfection, but peace of mind and a working finished product that will resolve the main issue of weak and easy to break spokes...

The temperature was a bit hot today. At the end of our ride the temperature on the digital thermometer under the awning read 102. It feels much cooler because there's no humidity, but it was hot and uncomfortable in the sun none the less.

We spent this evening relaxing and talking about the day, the future and what we all want from life. Despite all of our differences, it still amazes me how similar we all are in our core needs...