And so it goes

Don’t worry, I’m still out here somewhere in the Arizona desert. Hard to believe we are already a month into 2015!

Scout, 2 months

The trouble with keeping up with a blog is that shit happens and you want to blog about it but then more shit happens and you don’t want to cram it all into one post but then you can’t remember the first shit that happened and now more shit has happened so you wind up just putting it off for another day. Then you get a puppy and all your plans fly out the window. Because shit happens. Literally.

So, to quickly recap what has happened so far:

• RTR (Rubber Tramp Rendezvous) happened. There were lots of people. I got a bit overwhelmed and hung out mostly in LaVanne. I wish I had taken part more, but I just wasn’t up to it. I still had a good time, though.
• Now, I am camped with about 25 other RTR’rs outside the tiny town of Ehrenberg. I spent a couple of months here last winter and really liked it.
• I got a puppy! And discovered house training isn’t as easy as I thought!
• I also fell in love! (With the puppy, silly.) Her name is Scout but she is also known as: Snugglebum, Cuddlebum, Puppy, Smoky (because my addled brain can’t always remember Scout for some reason), Little Dickens, Cutiepie, Sweetiepie, and Goofy. There will be more nicknames, of this I am sure.
• 

  Mike the Mechanic, explaining combustion engines

  LaVanne had mechanical problems again — that will be expensive again, sigh. She still runs but she sounds like an old junker (“putt putt putt”). RTR’s unofficial mechanic and all-around good guy Mike Brown tried to fix it, but it was not to be.
• Rather than spend hundreds more dollars on repairs, I decided to look for a more reliable, bigger van that I can stand up and cook in, with more room for Scout, who is not going to be a small dog. Trust me: smaller is not always better.
• Although I did see a guy at RTR living in his Geo Tracker! He did not look very comfortable. I’m going for comfort this time.
• I am working on a series of three or four Kindle books based on the Customer Love challenges that you may have taken part in a few years ago. The first one should be ready to go soon — I’ll let you know!
• Last but seriously not least, I started a fundraising campaign for a friend and her son who have been living in their SUV with their dog, Kaylee (my puppy mama!) since I met them over a year ago. They are in desperate need of a small trailer. If you can help even a little bit, that would be awesome. Click on the widget in the sidebar (or this link) for more details.