Bacon-themed post on the joy of inertia

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Hike up Cat Mountain. It felt like we hadn't hiked in ages... With all the biking and rock climbing, we had forgotten how much we liked hiking too! How much more contemplative it is than biking... especially in the desert with all the cacti (no contemplation allowed!).

We went to one of the many tents of the Rock and Gem Show, the biggest in North America. Here Aïsha spent a lot of time touching and admiring her favorite stone, Malachite. We ended up talking for quite a while with the owner of the booth, in French (he was from Congo) and the Malachite came straight from there!

This guy spent a good 10 minutes telling the girls about different fossils (here shark teeth) and showed them a black diamond ring selling for $16,500!

The man was grilling bacon-wrapped chicken... We might buy bacon only once every 2-3 years, but when we do, we eat it in style!

Yes, we are still in Tucson. We renewed our rock gym membership for February. The BLM where we *live* feels like home now. The hippies drumming and fire hoola-hooping in the distance, our closer neighbors made-up orchestra of guitar and violin playing at all time of day and night. Even the dogs know each other now! We've had many communal bonfire nights, lots of great conversations and good laughs.

We know most of the regulars at the gym now. It feels good to be able to work on the same routes over and over, to feel ourselves getting stronger and getting some technique in. We are pretty excited to go spend the weekend at a beautiful rock climbing spot in our tents and Westy (real camping!) to celebrate Jen's 40th birthday. 

I am not in this space that often lately, but you can find me almost daily on Instagram or on Facebook (and no, I don't post the same thing in both places).

Quartzite: Bluebird Wanderlodge meet or Burning old man

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People get old couches at the Salvation Army at the beginning of the season and make pretty cozy set-up outsides. There is even a hot tub under that screen tent!

Quartzsite is one of the largest boondocking site in America. Boondocking, in nomad lingo, means a place where you can camp for free (usually without services). This place is huge and people can camp there from December to May in the BLM longer stay areas with dump station and water for $170 for the season (or for free without access). Needless to say, the place has a pretty interesting vibe! It kinds of feel like a huge Burning Man Festival.. but given the average age of the campers, it's more like Burning old man...

Many owners of Bluebird Wanderlodge motorhomes (like our bus) were gathering this week in the Nest, so we joined the crowd. It reminded me of our old VW bus meets pre-kids. People setting up in circles with bonfires in the middle, potlucks outside, incredibly dark starry skies... and the gentle hum of generators in the background. 

On Saturday, we decided to go to the Big Tent to explore the Gem Show, which turned out to be part flea market and part RV show too. The place was packed and dusty. We made our way between ethnic statuary and knick-knacks, fake fossils, Tigger shirts embedded with fake diamonds, RV brushes made from recycled tires, foot long hot dogs, teeth whitening and pain relief mud foot bath (I'm not making that up), pet rats and a bunch of other things that were just plain weird before finding the well hidden gem show. As the locals say, If you can't find it in Quartzite, it hasn't been thought of yet.