I know, you thought we ended up in Africa. Not so fast, Big Boy (or Girl). We are firmly in the US, although if you listened to the accents you would be sure we were in Canada, Wisconsin, Minnesota, or one of those other northern countries. That is because no one over the age of 55 likes cold and snow and they all travel to Mesa, AZ.

Don’t get your things in a wringer! I know – you love snow and cold. Well, the other 90% of the world heads to Mesa as soon as the holidays finish. You know about Area 51, right? Well, consider this Area 55+.

Obligatory pet photo – nothing whatsoever to do with the story

I handily fit into the demographics, so I can hardly be throwing stones. But everyone looks old! Of course, not me! Fortunately I never aged after 32, so I certainly cannot be considered as part of the rank and file here. But those others – yikes!

Like usual, I digress from the real story here. You are undoubtedly saying to yourselves, since when has Brad told a real story? You would be making an excellent point. Where was I now? Oh yes, telling a real story.

The real story here is coyotes. Yes, wily coyotes. And, of course, you are saying to yourselves, oh great – Brad captured some great coyote pictures! Once again you would be wrong. We have seen them on multiple occasions, and we hear them nightly, but like many mammals they have an acute sense for Canon optics that renders them invisible to the camera.

So what cockamamie story is Brad going to hoist on us? Well, I could talk about the beautiful settings here at Lost Dutchman State Park; or the amazing sunsets or views of the moon; or the great hikes up into the Superstition Mountains.

No, I have a better story to tell. Pack rats. Yes, Pack Rats. And I mean rats that can come into your campsite and burrow into your RV, or worse yet try to nest in your truck and eat into your oil filter or chew on the electrical wiring, causing severe damage and expense. The solution? Place lights under your RV and truck to keep them away. I don’t know, maybe the rats are related to vampires and hate light.

So off to Walmart we go and purchase some LED string lights to run under the vehicles. We had detected some RV’s with these lights under their rigs, and thought to ourselves, how gauche, tacky, and vain these RV owners were. Right up until the moment we realized those lights were not bling, served a purpose, and installed them in our site.

I leave you with a night picture of our site. It is everything I would have hoped our site never looked like, but I have shelved my disdain and pride in favor of a working truck and my wife not screaming about rats in our RV. The universe can be weird sometimes. Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day!