The Middle of Nowhere

Our family recently went on another camping trip here in the great state of Arizona. These trips have been a great source of surprise and enjoyment for me as we have explored and discovered the many awesome attributes of this state. Every place that we have been has been amazing and beautiful and I have loved each place and been thrilled and dazzled by the beauty of it all. Until this last trip. We recently camped at Agua Caliente in Ocotillo, California. It was a place that Chris found on the web and it looked amazing and beautiful in all the pictures. We were so excited and so over Christmas break we packed up the car with all of our gear and headed out. Prior to this trip all of our camping excursions have been to the north and to the east. And they have been delightful and scenic and awesome. Aqua Caliente was our first.....and last trip into southwestern Arizona. We drove for what seemed like forever and ended up smack in the middle of nowhere. If you have ever thought that you were in the middle of nowhere....I assure you that you weren't....unless you were in this place! I have never seen anything so remote or so desolate or so colorless and bleak. This was not a place that you would just happen upon. Oh no....you'd DEFINITELY have to be going there. But we had arrived at this place....and desolate as it was, we made camp. We pitched our tent and cooked our dinner and built our little campfire and bedded down for the night. I wish I could say that we all slept all nice and cozy...but alas....it was not to be. Chris had heartburn and couldn't seem to be still. Every time he moved, it created a very cold pocket of air in the sleeping bags that we had zipped together. I was FREEZING. Then Ben started with a tummy ache and we had to listen to him moan and sigh for a good two hours. No sooner did he begin to settle, then Clara had to go potty. By the time we all settled back down, the sun was coming up and there was no hope for the occupants of our tent to doze back off. So we started the day a little on the sleepy side! After breakfast, we decided to head off into the great wilderness for a hike. So we packed our waters and gear and headed out. We had a nice hike and then got back and decided to get showers and head into the nearest town (25 miles away) and get some supplies since the store that was supposedly supposed to be open and well stocked was not open at all. So we showered and loaded up the kids and had just BARELY pulled out of the campground when HUGE winds starting gusting all around us. The whole car was shaking the wind was blowing so hard. So we turned around and headed back to our campsite to make sure our tent was secure and had not blown away. We inquired about the weather and the ranger said it was supposed to be only 5 m.p.h. winds during the day, increasing to 15 m.p.h. in the night. Well, early in the day they were already WELL over 5 m.p.h. and we knew that as they continued to increase we would not be able to have our campfire (so no heat) or our tent canopy to help hold in the heat. We made the split second decision to break camp and call the trip a wash. We started packing as hard as we could go and I nearly had the tent empty when a HUGE gust of wind literally came up under the tent, ripping the stakes out of the ground and tried to take me and tent with it! Luckily, I'm a fluffy sort of girl and I was able to hold my own...though just barely! When we finally got packed up we sighed a huge sigh of relief and gladly began the journey home. We were never so glad to get home to our own beds! I can say this for sure....Aqua Caliente is NOT a place I ever wish to visit again. In the future, I think that we will stick to the north and eastern sides of this great state! Life is good in the desert.....better on my side!