I’ve been holed up in my nest all afternoon editing photos to beat the heat.  My slide-in camper made by Capri in Ft. Worth, Tx. is well insulated, and of course. I don’t have it equipped with air conditioning. It has what I considered necessities when I had it custom built. All I really wanted was a portable tent or shelter, that I didn’t have set up and tear down every time I moved, that was priced right. The under $10,000 price was what I was looking for and I got one for $8,500 without some of the extras I didn't and wouldn't need.  The conveniences of a propane powered stove & refrigerator and sink, shower and bed with ample living space for one person (two people would really have to like one another). Plus the security of walls, windows, roof and door make it a very livable space.
    I figured I was at the batteries’ end after four hours of use, so I shut the laptop down and moved my chair to the shady side of the camper. I use two 12-volt Marine type batteries to store the reddy kilowatts of electric captured by my solar panel.  As a general rule I have two of anything that I depend on. If one decides not to cooperate, maybe the other one will! From where I put my chair I can see Kelso Dunes, a big pile of sand in the middle of the Mojave Desert  (http://www.blm.gov/ca/pa/wilderness/wa/areas/kelso_dunes.html) south west of Las Vegas.
    Amazingly there’s people way up there on the top. I checked my thermometer and it’s 102 degrees in the sun and not a cloud in the sky (April 1). I can see with my binoculars the tiny figures of humans.  Other animals are smart enough to be somewhere protected from the blaze of the intense sun. One has a white top and the others are all dark indicating they have dark or black clothes on. Black or dark colors absorb heat. They are hiking in 100+ degrees sunshine in the desert. I’m sitting here in shorts, no top, sipping a cold one, and they’re up there frying their brains and who knows what!!!!
    I started to go up there this morning, but common sense said, No. Maybe I’ll try again near sunset with my white Padre Island Spring Break T-shirt on. That brings me to a basic question of human behavior.  Why do people wear black or dark clothes on hot days? Even most police uniforms are that color! I’m told that at least 25 percent of the people we pass on the street are a little wacko. Look at the nuts stuff I do and look at your friends and acquaintances, a little wackiness amongst them? I’ll bet there is! Wearing black in the heat is nuts!  
    Before I came here to ogle this big pile of sand I was at Cibola NWR (www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/CibolaNWR) for a couple days. I need to spend weeks there someday. It’s another place with no cell phone, electric, internet or other day-to-day conveniences, just spectacular natural stuff.  Cibola NWR is one of those places I spotted on the map at the end of a road that seemed to go to nowhere, at least some people would think that. Not me. That to me means that there may be a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow (road).
    My first couple of attempts were thwarted by an incredibly rough road that felt like  the fillings in my teeth were being jarred loose and the road passed through a restricted area where the military tests weapons and trains, so I gave up. A rough road where I might catch a stray practice round? No thanks; remember I said I limit my risk, well at least occasionally! Then last year just west of Blythe, Ca., low and behold, on the California side of the Colorado River was a little sign directing me to Cibola, after I’d given up! My map failed to show a bridge! I followed the sign not needing to alter my plans since I didn’t really have any and ended up in a delightful deserted spot, my kind of place.
    This trip I looked forward to biking the miles of dirt roads on top of levees and along the River.  There’s a BLM (Bureau of Lands & Mines) campsite with restrooms, water and electric hookup (for a fee) on the California side of the River, but once you cross the bridge into Arizona there’s lots of space right on the bank to camp for free within walking distance of the restroom and I did. The variety of geography is fabulous. There’s the river, and its marshes, alfalfa farms, foothills of the Trego Mountains and the Refuge is surrounded by miles and miles of mostly desert BLM land. I saw loons and egrets, a big bob cat, lizards, and real Jack Asses (wild burros).  There’s also a dirt road that goes all the way to Yuma. I spent the last night at the north end of it, as remote as I get!