We are camping at Caliente Springs in Desert Hot Springs, California. We arrived Friday afternoon. Our campsite is sandy – to be expected – this is the desert. Other Half and I have a system for lining up the Big Rig and getting it backed into our campsite. We are getting much better at this and generally it’s non-eventful. Once positioned, the Big Rig has an auto-leveling system. Other Half pushes a button and it levels itself. My role during leveling is to stand outside of the Big Rig, holding our mildly freaked out pooch, and pretend to pay attention. Perfect job for me. I’m good at pretending to pay attention.
Just as I was about to give the thumbs up, I glanced at the back wheels. They were several inches OFF the ground. YIKES! That meant our 16-ton rig was being held off the ground by two (almost puny) leveling legs. Not good. We have seen a number of rigs “leveled” with either their front or back wheels off the ground. This is not for us. We agreed early on – ALL wheels on the ground at ALL times. Seems reasonable.
It took some maneuvering, but we got the Big Rig leveled with ALL wheels on the ground. Much better. Once this was accomplished, I took Rigby for an exploration meander. She gets nerved up on set up and tear down days. Her little world has been turned upside down. Walking lets her pee and calm down.
We headed over to the the dog walk area. The sign on the gate set me back a minute. I’ve never entered the desert wilderness before, and just exactly what wild animals are we talking about? I must have looked befuddled, as a woman exiting the “desert wilderness” asked me if I was familiar with the area. Not so much.
She proceeded to give me the scoop. It started with Jumping Cholla Cactus, an especially nasty cactus that causes big vet bills if your pooch ingests the spines. She advised I carry small pliers in case I needed to extract a spine from her paw. Also, as she glanced at my flip flops, she said never go into the desert with my toes out.
Next it was packs of coyotes and wild dogs. They come down out of the mountains at dawn and dusk. She advised that I never walk toward the mountains – too dangerous. Then it was the rattlesnakes. She said with the unseasonably warm weather they’re not hibernating yet. She said the UPS driver ran over one in the campground. The final wildlife warning was that a cougar had been sighted in the area. Not only sighted, he was seen napping on her neighbors chase lounge. What?
By the time Rigby and I got back to the Big Rig we were both freaked out. I relayed the list of worries to Other Half. He was less freaked out than me. Daughter arrived shortly. I relayed the list of worries to her. She was even less freaked out than her Dad. It took me a bit to calm down. I’m happy to report, so far the only wild animal I’ve seen is a Roadrunner. I’ll keep you posted.