Lousy month, from beginning to end.

Well, it’s been a month since I last updated the blog – and for good reason.  Since the last day of November, I have been stuck essentially in one spot, and only able to get away from the rig for a couple hours at a time.

It’s a long, long, and ugly story, and if you don’t want to hear all the details of a very sick kitty, you might want to just skip this blog post and wait for the next (hopefully better) one.

We had just pulled out of Six Mile Cove on Lake Mohave (Colorado River), and come down to Laughlin/Bullhead City when it became obvious that Ms Hailey was just not herself and was in some distress.  It’s late Friday afternoon, of course.  Finally found a vet nearby, but they refused to see her that afternoon, suggesting I go perhaps to Vegas!  They were open on Saturday, but said they were totally booked up.  On Saturday morning I was waiting outside their clinic, and only got her in eventually by playing videos of her on my phone in obvious distress at full volume, over and over again for the staff and other people there.  No one else can touch her unless sedated (that’s normal for her!), so she was sedated and coughed up stomach contents including a large hairball.  Blood tests were done and an ultrasound of her gallbladder which was negative.

She was given an antibiotic injection and we were sent on our way with some medications to give her.  Unfortunately, nothing seemed to work with her and we were literally back at the vet with issues every two or three days for the entire month. 

During this time, there were at least two more blood tests, an xray, a biopsy, a serious tick infestation and two treatments that had no effect on them, some sort of injury to her tongue, zero interest in food or water, multiple drugs administered around the clock, a feeding tube inserted in her neck, an IV, a couple of nights in hospital, not able to keep down any food or medications.  By necessity, the rig was covered in towels, newspapers, tarps, puppy training pads, and she had to be locked in the shower for a couple of the worst nights.

Well, a full month later, we are still dealing with a feeding tube as she has no interest in food, but she is guardedly doing a bit better, and at least using the litter box. Unfortunately she has not learned yet to vomit in the litter box!  I was holding off on a blog post, thinking that the nightmare would soon end and we would just have a story to tell. Unfortunately, the story is ongoing and we are pretty much stuck here till things improve.

Happy to escape the vet – sporting her new feeding tube.

Most of the month was spent here, along Rt 66 near Oatman, Az.  Very scenic and quiet spot, but totally exposed to the wind, and about 20 miles from the vet clinic.

A couple of night-time visitors came by …

And I did manage to get the Mavic airborne a couple of times – looking back towards camp.

I have a problem with signs – that clearly don’t mean what they say.  Here’s a ‘NO Trespassing’ sign on the side of the Visitor Center in Laughlin.  I trespassed and went inside for some information!

If you like Fords, you might consider this a real truck?

To add to the fun we were having this month, my power inverter just decided to give it up – for no particular reason. With limited options, I found an overpriced one at the Tractor Supply store.  But when I connected it, the fan would run almost continuously, wavering it’s pitch to match the minimal draw from my laptop.  Annoying as all get out.  This won’t do.  It went back. While Hailey was in cat hospital, I ran down to the truck stops on I-40 north of Lake Havasu to see what they had.  Through a pricing error, I almost got a pure sine wave model for the same price as a ‘modified’, but eventually ended up with a nice 1000w model.  In the past my inverters have allowed a wired remote on-off switch, so I had one switch in the bedroom, and another in the living area.  This one, however has a removable, wired display panel that you can mount anywhere, extended with standard phone wire.  But it also operates on bluetooth and has a free app that controls all it’s functions, alarms, voltages, and on-off switch as well.  I’m finding that pretty handy, and I guess it has a fan, but I’ve yet to hear it!

Since we were camped only a couple of miles from Oatman, I was able to run up there a couple of times during the month.  People have decorated many of the bushes along the road, some even with presents!

As always, the burros are a center of attention in Oatman.  You can even adopt one, by contacting the BLM!

Some of the washes here have what I assume are flash flood warning sensors?

Sign near the vet clinic; and my new 6x8’ bedspread .

On a relatively better day back in camp, Hailey hops in the truck and suggests we hit the road!

Big laundromat in Fort Mohave!

Some historic stone buildings and some mine operations near Oatman, Az.

And a nearby solar field.

Hoping that Hailey’s sore tongue continues healing and she finds her appetite again so we can get rid of the feeding tube and get back on the the road again soon!

Mostly Mojave, then Mohave!

It looks like we spent almost 10 days, camped in the Mojave Preserve, south of Baker, Ca.We were a long ways from I-15, and a fair ways off pavement.  Average traffic past our spot was <1 vehicle/day.  During the long weekend, we could see the solid line of traffic in the distance, and we were SO glad we were not part of that rat race.

There was a nice mountain complex beside us, so that provided some exercise exploring and scrambling up the various peaks, or walking entirely around the rock in the desert.

As per usual in these spots, my floor magnet picked up a good quantity of nails from the various abandoned fire pits – from past idiots burning pallets.  Lots of broken glass, from target practice no doubt, was picked up and hauled to the bins in town.  Overall though, the area was pretty clean and well kept. 

A bit of burro sign seen in the desert, but none were spotted.

The area has an active volcanic past, so back trails lead to some very interesting formations.  One of these is a small lava tube that you can walk down inside.  There are stairs leading down into it in one spot where the roof has collapsed, and then you can go a few yards in either direction.

On the surface, next to my light is a small hole, less than a foot across that leads down into the cavern.  Inside, this is a hole in the ceiling, about 10’ over your head.

At this spot, the road ended at a dry waterfall in the wash.

Several evenings Hailey was indicating mouse-like sounds, but they were coming from high on the walls or ceiling, not the usual mouse haunts.  Finally went outside with a light and found that it was a large group of bats circling the rig, and presumably landing on the roof or walls that was creating the scratching sounds!  That’s a first.

Found these spider dens out in the desert.

I had one neighbour for a few days, but we each had our own private side of the rock pile.

After departing that location, we found another scenic spot for an overnighter.

Hailey climbed a Joshua tree for a look around the neighbourhood.

This is the Mojave Cross, on the Cima road, inside Mojave National Preserve, also known as the White Cross World War I Memorial.  It was the subject of a court battle that went to the supreme court.  So now it sits on a small parcel of private land – surrounded by the Preserve.  You can read all about it with the link above.

I hiked up Teutonia Peak nearby and checked out some abandoned mine workings, but passed on the higher Kessler peak hike.  It is high elevation and sunny, but fairly cool, so only spent the one night there.

From there we headed back eastward to Searchlight, Nv, but had to dip into my fuel reserves to get back to the much cheaper Nevada prices.  After topping up the propane as well we headed down to Six Mile Cove on Lake Mohave, meaning to just check it out. 

But the long road down to the shore was so rough with washboard, we decided to stay a few days.  The area was much cleaner than when I had visited years ago, but there is still abundant trash back in the bush and along the shoreline.  Only saw one Roadrunner, and wondered if it was the same one that came face to face with Hailey in the same tree when we were last there!  There were only a couple other rigs there, but it got a bit breezy, so that attracted a bunch of kite boarders.

AT&T signal was weird there.  It would be strong for an hour or so, then be gone for longer.  Even on the surrounding hills it was not consistent.  I’ll use that as the latest excuse for not updating the blog.  Nice neighbours from Missouri felt sorry for me and picked up some cold beverages for me on a trip back into town.  We hadn’t planned to stay that long and were running a bit short.

Had a bit of a rain shower one afternoon, but there was no visible runoff down by the lake.  It must have rained a lot harder up near Searchlight, as there was obvious signs of flooding across the Cottonwood Cove road, and some minor erosion of the road shoulders.