On to Havasu!

Forward

I won't be writing this in the present tense. (Sorry my writing friends who've been giving me solid input and critiques with my last couple of posts.) Instead, this post will be written in the past tense as I've been making great strides since arriving in Lake Havasu City. Read on!

Kingman

I found a great little camping spot on the side of the Hualapai Mountains near Kingman. After being awake half the night at Cracker Barrel, I craved a little solitude. In addition, I still had lots of grading to complete as the end of one term and the start of the next was upon me. I needed to work.

I parked in the late afternoon and intended to stay for a few days, maybe a week. If I really liked it here, I could stay two weeks and then ride into Havasu.

The spot I found was next to some brushy desert trees amid tall grasses. The spot in the center of this rolling landscape was gravel and sand...and mostly level, which is what really mattered. I parked the Godspeed, angling it so my bedroom faced southeast. That would allow me to capture all the wonder of the Orionid Meteor Shower, of which tonight was the peak night. Supposedly, I'd be able to see at least one meteor every four minutes, possibly more because of being parked in a dark-sky location.

That afternoon, I worked on schoolwork. Amid answering emails, posting to the discussion board, and giving clear, insightful feedback to my students' work, a pop! pop! pop! came up from over the hills. Someone must have been target shooting. I knew it wouldn't last long.

Except it did.

The shooting seemed to be coming from over the hill in the low valley on the Kingman side of things. I'd seen a car drive in, so I figured they'd be out soon. After about half an hour, the shooting stopped, and the car pulled away.

This isn't an unusual thing on the desert. In fact, many places where I camp or stop to run Buena are littered with all kinds of empty shells and bullets. I used to collect the brass-looking bullets until my father told me there was lead in them. Since lead can lead to health issues, I abandoned the collection and prayed I hadn't contaminated my body. Now, I just take pictures of the bullets and trash that I see strewn about.

And this spot was trashy. Little clumps of tissue, broken glass, old rusty cans, and some plastic littered the immediate walking area around the RV. There wasn't so much that the site looked immediately trashy. In fact, I didn't discover any of it until I walked around the site a bit and saw it poking between the grasses or buried under rocks.

Eh...I didn't walk around long. Between the shooting and the trash, I figured staying inside the RV was better. It forced me to get my work done. My incentive was getting out of here as soon as I finished my work.

The next day, I got plenty done. By the afternoon, the shooting started again. Only this time, it sounded closer, the shooter's rhythm quicker.

Pop! Pop! Poppity-pop-pop!

Okay...whatever. I get it. It's fun to see how quick you can actually pull that trigger. To me, it was just a bunch of noise that interrupted my schoolwork. For the most part, I wasn't worried because the sound came from the same general location and didn't seem to move. But another part of me worried because there are real crazies in this world today. My grandfather used to tell me about these people who "are barely human." He would tell me about the scripture that says when people give themselves over to evil and disregard the Lord, their conscience is seared as with a hot iron. I later found that verse in the Bible (1 Timothy 4:2). It means they have no conscience left.

So when the shooter pulled out some bigger gun that went Ka-Boom! over and over and over for at least 10 or 15 minutes, I started to worry. I couldn't focus, and I didn't like all that shooting going on this close to the RV. I mean...I couldn't see the shooter or the car, but the noise was too much. Still, I wasn't going to confront this shooter as I did those shooters in the automobile lot a few years ago. (That story will also be in the book.)

It wasn't until the sun hung right at the edge of the horizon until that shooter left. I watched his shiny white SUV come up over the hill and listened to the tires crunch the gravel, spraying gravel as he hurried out onto the pavement.

The next morning, I left.

Not sure where to go, I headed toward Havasu. I'd just have to deal with the heat.

Havasu Heights

Heading south on 95, I considered how I'd be heading down that long hill into Lake Havasu City, so maybe it would be better to stay at a higher elevation in Havasu Heights at the BLM land near the Bunker Bar. So I parked there for a few days. I still needed to grade papers, and I wanted to organize the RV before getting to Havasu.

Only, I couldn't wait to see Havasu, so I called Brenda soon after arriving, and she drove the Xterra up to me before leaving for her Pinochle game.

So, now I had the Godspeed and the Xterra in one place. Together again since leaving Escalante! Now, everything was possible. I had my home and my wheels. The only thing missing was the garden. One day, I'll have a home, wheels, and a garden. That's my goal.

Job Applications, Music, and Settling In

Between grading papers during the busy final week and applying for jobs took up most of my time that first week parked in Havasu Heights. Once I filled out all the job applications and finished posting final grades, I decided it was time to move down to Lake Havasu City. The weather had gotten better. The highest temperatures would only be in the mid-80s.

Also, being in town allowed me an easier commute to job interviews. Every place where I had an interview made me an offer. I said "no" to the pizza place, the auto parts store, and the grocery store, but I said "yes" to a hotel and a print shop. So, now I'll be muy ocupada! with three part-time jobs. (Yes, another term started with school.) But that's okay. I'll stay busy and hopefully build up enough do-ray-me to put down on a little spot of land, particularly if this recessionary-inflation thing we're going through results in lowered property values. Maybe I will have that garden. I just need to work hard to get it!

Addendum: Mexico

As I drove Brenda's car through Quartzite, I said, "I can always justify a trip to Mexico!" We laughed because it was true. I needed to go to Mexico before November 15 to pick up a pair of bifocals. Glasses and eye exams are cheaper there, and my prescription from last year was about to expire, so we drove down on Thursday, had a late lunch in Mexico, picked up glasses, and did a little shopping.

Why no pictures?

Because when I got back from Mexico and was cleaning up at my sink, I didn't realize I'd set my phone on the edge of the sink. As I splashed in the small sink, the water collected around the phone. Then it sat in water for about half an hour before I was ready for some phone time. I watched the phone die throughout the evening. It was a sad thing. I liked that phone, but I lost all my recent pictures. Thank God I'd backed up all my pictures (around 9000!) from that phone when I was staying up near Oatman! The picture leading in to this post is one I took of Lake Havasu a few years ago.