CAMPING ARIZONA

Recently, my wife and I and our small troop of dogs went camping. Just prior to a sizzling temperature increase here in Arizona. As we drove to Lake Roosevelt on highway 77. We began to notice a lot of travel trailers. We were pulling our pontoon boat with our Nissan Titan.

I found myself dreaming of having air conditioning while on the lake. But for this trip, we would unload our gear pitch a tent, with no air conditioner. Just us, the wind and heat. I actually found myself asking the stars to keep the wind coming. I could feel the humidity creeping in.

We went through a few towns, Mammoth and Dudleyville to get to Lake Roosevelt. Going through Globe as the last large one. We did our usual stop at the local Fry's grocery store for ice and last minute munchies. Off we went to the lake. A mild morning was beginning to show signs of heating up. By 11 a.m. the temperature had hit the triple digits.

We found a nice private cove to spend the next two days in. Our dogs got off the boat to do their seek and find adventures. While the spouse and I set up camp. She enjoys putting up the tent and I the camp stove setup. After we completed the unloading we had a quick dip in the lake and I made us some lunch. Everyone was secure (dogs to). Then we decided to take a boat ride around to see the lake. This is were the fun begins.

Lake Roosevelt is not known for lush sides that one can traverse, no it has deep thick red mud walls coming into the water's edge. We found this out by getting out of the boat. Actually the golden retriever found out for us. She jumped and landed and began to be swallowed by a mass of red goo.
Being the hero I am I jumped into this massive mix up to my knees to haul my dog out of it. Luckily I had gone in barefoot as I often do. My wife however, decided to try to walk across this muddy landscape only to loose her shoes. A nice pair of sandals she loved. As she struggled to pull her legs out of this muck. I heard a scream. She was now loudly involved in telling the lake world she had lost her shoe. She reached down into the muck as I instructed her to do and retrieved the other half of her shoe. It had tore apart. Cheaply made we could see only three points where glue had been placed.. She held what was once a nice sandal in her hand in two separate pieces. She was horrified at this juncture and demanded we leave this mucky world.
We retrieved our now red covered dogs. And hauled ourselves upon our pontoon boat. With red mud sticking to everything we backed away from the area to go back to our small sanctuary where red mud seemed dry. And some nice boaters before us had placed rocks around the edges of the land to assist with walking around.
We found the marina the next day and entered it's tiny but well filled store. To my horror five dollar water shoes were listed at twenty a pair. Gas was pricey to but that is for another story.
During our trip we found dogs must be leashed at all times. And if they by chance pooped we were to pick it up. I bought this pair of water shoes, and proudly brought them to my wife. She exhaled and smiled at me holding this bright yellow pair of swim shoes. As I handed them to her, her smile told a thousand words, while she placed them upon her now tired feet. She had to go nearly a full day without shoes. Something she never does. Camping in Arizona is always interesting.
The moral to my camping story always bring extra footwear just in case you encase your feet in something unexpected.