September 5, 2022

We had some mini adventures this week of sleeping away from home.  It was a nice little get-away from our lovely RV.  Last Monday night, Luke picked me up from work early and surprised me with a campsite he had set up at our new favorite spot that we call Spencer Flats or Spencer Pocket, but maybe it has a more official name we are just unfamiliar with.  It was already dark when we arrived, but we had our headlamps and black light flashlight for spotting scorpions.  Wouldn’t ya know, we saw one of those suckers right away!  They really do glow under the blacklight making them super easy to spot.

He scurried off quickly and then we did not see him again.  The Milky Way core was again fully visible for us so we built a fire and enjoyed stargazing for awhile.  Of course, we snapped some photos.  I even executed my first real attempt at star trails in a photo.

 

It was a beautiful night!  The stars were vivid and the clouds cleared for us (for the most part).  We captured the tail of the Milky Way behind the rock formation we call Spencer Pocket.  Then we turned around and captured the core from the other direction.  The dogs loved camping out with us and no one was stung by a scorpion.

 

We got up to catch the sunrise.  It wasn’t especially dramatic in colors, but still very beautiful to watch.

 

We decided to go from sleeping in a tent to sleeping on a luxury mattress.  The managers at Yonder suggested that I try staying in a cabin for a night before the park gets busy so I can speak from experience when guests ask how they are.  So this is just what we did.  We chose a night when there were not many guests and moved into a cabin at the far end of the park facing the sunset.  We even ordered one of the meal kits they sell and had roasted chicken and veggies for dinner over the campfire.  It was a delightful evening with s’mores for dessert and feeling a bit unplugged in a cabin with no TV.  We even tested out the outdoor showers as we felt at that point that we needed to fully treat ourselves to all the luxury of the experience.  I did not take any pictures.  I was too busy enjoying my experience instead.  

We also had a heat wave start here.  These hot days gave me some indoor time though to do other crafty things.  I made the most delicious crumb cake in the universe I think.  Here’s what happened.  I was grocery shopping and while grabbing a container of blueberries, I knocked over one of raspberries.  The berries spilled onto the shelf below right on top of the peaches.  I decided that buying the raspberries would be the right thing to do.  Then it occurred to me…raspberries and peaches go quit nicely together.  I looked for a recipe that I had the ingredients for and voila!  We had peach raspberry crumb cake.  Kudos to the one who wrote this recipe.

Luke met with a local business to offer them a marketing proposal so we hope that works out.  Our friend Gabby had a birthday so we had an impromptu potluck so we could celebrate her.  Good thing I had that cake made!  I also got to see my friend Marisol one last time before she leaves for a new job in Montana.  These wonderful women I have enjoyed my time with are all moving on soon to the sugar beet harvest up north.  I hope that I see them again along the road.  Nomadic relationships can feel like the most poignant ones though they are brief and usually all destined to end.  Perhaps this has more to do with what each of us are going through as nomads. One cannot describe how this type of freedom feels.  You just have to experience it yourself to really know I think.

Luke and I watched the new Beavis and Butthead series which was nostalgic and awesome.  It was the same as it was in the 90’s though the fellas watched Tik Tok videos instead of MTV videos while they hung out on the couch.  Much to our delight, in one episode they were watching a vocal coaching video by Mark Baxter, who had once been Luke’s vocal coach.  

We had a very busy Labor Day weekend at Yonder though everything went fairly smoothly and all the guests looked happy despite the heat.  I have a somewhat daring photoshoot planned with the girls which I have been thinking of for about a month and it looks like I will finally pull it off.  I’m not sure if I’ll post any of the photos from it here or publicly, but I am excited we have it planned.  The desert is our amazing playground.