Penny-Less

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A few words about losing my best friend.

Penny and the Pumpkins
This is my favorite picture of Penny, mostly because it also represents our new life together after my crazy divorce. I shot it at my just-purchased property in Malaga where we were living in my old RV, the Mobile Mansion, before building our home. She was about a 1-1/2 years old here.

It was a January morning like any other when my friend Janet and I went for our morning “power walk.” We typically walked at least 2-1/2 miles, starting at our campsites/booths at Tyson Wells in Quartzsite, AZ, walking east on Kuehn Street, and cutting into the open desert on one of the many dirt tracks. As usual, Penny the Tiny Dog was with us. She was leashed for the first part, then let loose to run and explore when we got into the desert for the bulk of the walk. Later, before we got back onto the road, I’d leash her up again.

That morning, things didn’t go the same as they usually did. We were just coming out of the desert to our leash-up place when a man started yelling. The next thing I knew, a large dog was chasing Penny. Then she was crying and Janet was yelling and we were all running toward the place where the big dog had Penny in his mouth. The dog’s owner got control of them, but Penny was writhing on the ground, still crying, obviously in pain. She actually bit both Janet and I as we tried to calm her. I scooped her up, yelled at the man with the dog, and headed off to find a vet.

Penny on the Kayak
I went kayaking with Penny on December 17 in the Colorado River backwaters near where we were camped. She didn’t particularly like the kayak but she wanted to be anywhere I was.

I don’t want to go into details here. Honestly, I’m tired of thinking about it, tired of reliving those moments when I raced to a vet in Blythe, lifted her out of the car, and saw how much blood was on the blanket there and my tee-shirt. The vet whisked her away for x-rays and soon reported that nothing was broken but she wanted to keep Penny overnight for observation. “She’s in good hands,” I was told.

Janet and I walked without her the next morning. We walked the same route; the man with the big dog was nowhere to be found. We spoke to some folks near our exit to the desert and asked them to tell that man, if they saw him, that his dog had put mine into the hospital.

Oddly, I didn’t have my phone with me on that walk. But when I picked it up back at my camper, I saw that I had three calls from the vet. A message told me to call back. I was with Janet when I got the news: Penny had died during the night.

Now some people have dogs who are pets. And some people have dogs who are like their kids. And then some people have dogs who are their constant companions, best friends, life savers. I’m in that last group. Penny was all of those things to me.

And yes, as I type this two full months after losing her, I’m crying.

So Penny is gone. Forever.

Last Photo of Penny
This is my last photo of Penny and it isn’t even a good one. It was shot in Janet’s booth where we’d gather for dinner some evenings. January 6, 2020.

Penny was an amazing companion. In the seven and a half years we were together, we had learned each other’s habits and needs and worked together as a team. She went with me nearly everywhere whether we traveled by car, motorcycle, helicopter, bicycle, or airliner. She wasn’t needy like some dogs, but knew how to curl up on my lap for affection when we watched TV. She helped me through some of the toughest times of my life just by being there. I can’t say that about anyone else.

I needed to blog this. I needed people who knew about her and our relationship to know that she was gone. I needed to head off any questions about why I don’t talk about her anymore. Now you know. Now everyone knows.

The empty spot she left in my life will be impossible to fill, but I’m trying. Last month, I adopted a pair of puppies. I’ll be blogging about them soon.

But one thing I already know: neither of them can ever replace my best friend, Penny.

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Comments are closed. I don’t want condolences. Please respect my wishes and don’t comment elsewhere or email me about this. The best thing in the world that you can do is either choose adoption for your next pet or donate to organizations that rescue and find homes for dogs and cats.

Snowbirding 2020 Postcards: Yuma Oil Change

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I find an oil change place that can accommodate my truck with camper and trailer.

One of the challenges of my winter travels is getting maintenance for my truck when I’m on the road. The trouble is, when I’m in transit, I usually have my camper on the back of my truck, which raises its height to about 13 feet. When I’m not in transit and the camper is off, I’m often parked in a place where there are no maintenance shops nearby.

Oil Change
It’s all about the height of the garage bay doors. Most simply aren’t this tall.

I drive thousands of miles in my truck each winter, and although I get an oil change right before I leave, I always need one before I come home. This year, I lucked out: on my way to a supermarket in Yuma, AZ to do a week’s worth of grocery shopping before my next off-the-grid campsite, I happened to drive past a Valvoline oil change place that had very tall garage doors in its bays. I was able to pull into the turning lane and zip right in with my camper on top and my 12-foot enclosed cargo trailer behind me.

While I realize this isn’t very interesting for most readers, it was a great treat for me — especially since the sticker on my window said I was only 24 miles overdue for the 5,000 mile oil change. I didn’t have to park the trailer and camper somewhere to get the job done. Something that had been front and center on my mind for the past 200 miles could now be tucked away until after I got home.

I subsequently put about 1,800 more miles on the truck before finally getting home in mid March.

Snowbirding 2020 Postcards: Painted Rocks Petroglyph Site

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I make an unscheduled stop at an interesting place I don’t need to visit again.

After my very successful show at White Tanks Regional Park on the west side of Phoenix, I headed southwest to southeastern California. The goal was to stop in Yuma to do laundry and buy some groceries and then spend a week in the desert near the Holtville Hot Spring.

Along the way, however, not long after I got on I-8 at Gila Bend, I saw a sign for the Painted Rocks Petroglyph Site. I’d lived in Arizona for 15+ years and had never visited this archeological site. I wasn’t in any hurry and I didn’t have anyone expecting me anywhere, so I turned off the freeway and headed north.

The 14 mile road was smooth for the first 5 miles or so. After that, it headed into the hills and got windy. This was unfortunate because one of my new puppies, Rosie, gets carsick. I had her on medication but the drooling started nearly immediately and she lost her breakfast before we reached the park.

I pulled into the campground, which was just past the main parking area, got out with my puppies on leashes, and walked back to the pile of boulders that appeared to be the main feature of the park. I immediately saw a No Dogs sign. I’ll never understand why places in the middle of nowhere that are mostly fenced off anyway don’t allow leashed dogs. We went back to the camper and I tucked them inside, when went back for a walk around the boulder pile.

There were a lot of carvings on the rocks. Most looked like they could be prehistoric, but there were also a bunch from various explorers, missionaries, and other travelers coming through in the 1800s and early 1900s. There was a trail going around the pile and I took it. Most of the markings appeared to one on the southeast side, but who knows? Signs forbid going up into the rocks for a closer look.

Petroglyphs
Many of the boulders had prehistoric markings.

Petroglyphs
Here’s how it works. The rocks naturally form a black color known as “desert varnish.” People chisel away at the black color to expose the natural rock color beneath it. You can see this in many places in the desert southwest.

I took some photos, including two shots of a flower I’d never seen before, and headed back to my rig.

Flowers Flower Closeup
These little flowers were relatively widespread in the area. I don’t know what they are; I still haven’t bothered looking them up.

The campground was nearly empty. I debated back and forth whether I should just camp there for the night. It would be nice to be somewhere quiet with dark skies. I could get to Yuma and then my final destination earlier in the day. With that in mind, I drove through the campground, found a site away from everyone else, and parked.

More campers arrived throughout the afternoon. Despite the remoteness of the area in a valley surrounded by ancient volcanic remnants, my cell signal was strong and Internet access was wicked fast. A rainstorm came through. I went for a nice walk away from the rocks with my dogs. My next door neighbor ran a relatively quiet generator in the evening. It was too cloudy to see stars.

My Rig
Here’s a photo of my rig at the campsite early the next morning before we departed. You can see the pile of rocks that’s the main feature of the park in the space in front of my truck. You can also see Lily the Dog standing up in my truck window.

It had been a relaxing day — something pretty rare when I’m in transit — but I realized early in the morning that I was eager to get to my next destination. By 7 AM, we were back on the road. Rosie, dosed up with her motion sickness medication, hardly drooled before we got to the freeway.

And although I rarely have a “been there, done that attitude,” I had one about Painted Rocks as I drove away.

Snowbirding 2020 Postcards: Dinosaurs for Sale

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Need an eye-catching fossil for your center hall?

I was in Tucson at the beginning of February, mostly to take five jewelry-making classes, but also to hit a few of the gem and mineral shows. I had a whole afternoon to goof off and hit the 24th Street Show, which I’d missed the previous year. There were lots of fossils there, including a few full skeletons of dinosaurs, like this one.

Dinosaur
Everyone needs fully articulated mounted dinosaur for their home or office.

Dinosaur Head
This is the real head for the mounted dinosaur bones. The one on the mount is fake, just in case it falls over while on display.

There were quite a few others on display, but you get the idea.

Snowbirding 2020 Postcards: Catalina State Park, Round 1

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I visit an extraordinary state park for the first time and sleep through much of my stay.

I was scheduled to spend the first full week of February in Tucson, AZ where I was taking five jewelry making classes. The first one was scheduled for Monday, February 3, at 9 AM sharp. Although I’d booked a campground in Tucson starting on Monday, I had no accommodations lined up for Sunday night and did not relish the thought of driving in rush hour traffic from Phoenix to Tucson first thing Monday morning. So I drove to Tucson and worked on getting a place to stay once I was there. I figured that in a worst case scenario, I could camp out at a Walmart or casino parking lot.

Saguaro Cactus
How’s this for an iconic image of the Sonoran desert and Arizona in general?

I wasn’t feeling well that day. I’m not sure what was going on, but I had a low-grade headache and felt very tired. So after making a number of stops at dog shelters — long story there — I was very glad that a call to Catalina State Park that Sunday evening assured me that there was space for me in overflow parking.

I had never been to Catalina, but a friend of mine who had a girlfriend in the Tucson area had suggested it as a place to camp during my trip to Tucson. Three months in advance, I’d tried to reserve a site but it was already fully booked. Snowbirds, of course. People kinda sorta like me. So I’d found an RV park in the city that was affordable and closer to where my training was being held. Trouble was, the office was closed on Sundays so check in wasn’t allowed. (Am I the only one who thinks that’s weird?)

Sunday afternoon saw me driving up to the Catalina State Park gate/ranger station, getting out of my truck, and getting assigned a space in one of the overflow campgrounds. I’d left my cargo trailer behind in the Phoenix area, so parking was not a big deal. I drove through some gorgeous Sonoran desert scenery, found the campground, found spot #13, and backed in. Then I locked up the truck, climbed into my camper, and basically passed out on my bed for a 2-hour nap.

I felt a lot better when I woke up. It was late afternoon and the light was just getting good. It was too late for a hike, but not too late for a quick walk in the desert behind my campsite. I took the photos you see here — magnificent saguaro cacti and rugged desert peaks. I regretted that I’d have to leave by 8 AM to get to my class.

At Catalina State Park
This was also shot within sight of my campsite. It was absolutely gorgeous there.