Our final day in the Slabs before returning to Temecula for Chicago’s surgery started off pretty much the same as always. The sun came up, Journey was doing well, coffee was on, Connie made her way over at 6:00 am. She’s so cute. I swear she is dressed and sitting at the window waiting for me to walk outside and wave towards her trailer. That’s our OK, that we are up and coffee with french vanilla cream is ready. She pops out dressed in brightly coloured cloths, a huge smile on her face, and makes herself at home at our camp. Occasionally Andrew will be awake this early as well, and he likes his tea! Pastor has been wandering around for Lord knows how long, so we we wave him over and fill up his cup as well. On most occasions Doug has eggs going or french toast. Who ever comes by is offered something to eat when we do breakfast. Speaking of coffee, I bet we have made at least a couple hundred cups so far. We should start keeping count like McDonalds use to do with their burgers. I know we have served over a couple hundred meals. We should count that too for fun. 😉 lol
Today, like yesterday, Doug and George are off within the hour to put another few hundred miles on the jeep in search of an RV and trailer for Connie. Everything they had looked at the day before was complete garbage, or non existent! Can you believe they drive up to 15 hours and sometimes get to their destination only to have the seller be a no show, or a unit that looked great on the internet turn out to be something from a wrecking yard? What a joke…… But persist we must. Somewhere out there we have to find what we are looking for. Time is running out and poor Connie I am sure is feeling like we will never find anything for her.
Today, although quite hot, I had another great day. I met even more people, and then had the chance to go for a nice walk with Connie.
Later, I also took a walk about with Andrew. He showed me various camps and taught me more about living in the desert and how vulnerable the eco system is there. It surprises me that those who live there are not more aware of the damage they do when they built their camps. Although it may seem dead, there is a lot of life if you look close enough.
As always, there was another fire. I mean why not? Doug is gone again. I think they wait for him to leave before they start one. Just kidding, but it feels like it. This time the camp was fairly close. There were a lot of explosions and I assume they were from propane tanks or something. Once the dust settled, there was nothing left of what was once an old motor home. Melted right into the ground. We heard everyone made it out, which is good. Thank goodness again that the winds were not blowing. Sometimes it blows so bad out here that you can hardly walk in it. People who live under tarps or in tents are lucky to have their homes still standing when everything settles down. Well, that was the big excitement for the day.
Through out the day I have been serving coffee, passing out water and to those who wander in with back packs I give a bag from the stash we have in our unit. These bags we put together have hand wipes, a variety of food, granola bars, fruit cups, soap, tooth brushes, toilet paper and other such things a person might need or enjoy. It helps us to build relationships with people as well 🙂 Opens the door for conversation and we get the chance to introduce ourselves. Some people out here use interesting names. I suppose maybe they do not want to be found, or maybe it’s just a thing ya do to sound cool. Who knows, but if I ever write a book the characters will not only be colourful, but their chosen names will be very interesting as well. Lol.
I almost forgot to mention how important it is to have medical supplies here. I can not count the times we have dug into the First Aid kit my sister gave us. I have also picked up a lot of antibiotic creams in Mexico, some of which we have passed out or left with Pastor. This morning a woman walked by the camp in terrible pain. Andrew called her over, and that’s when we saw her leg was black and swollen tight. I encouraged her to get to the hospital but she refused. So I went in and got a tub of hot water to soak her foot in, and then we put the anti-fungal cream on a wound she got while licking at a piece of wood for a fire. Within 20 minutes or so the wound started to ooze in the most unappetizing way…. literally. Yuck! She really needs to go to emergency, but you can not lead a horse to water. And people on drugs…. well more often than not there is no talking to them. Such a shame. People out here can die from the use of dirty needles or infections. We have already witnessed that 🙁
She pops out dressed in brightly coloured cloths, a huge smile on her face, and makes herself at home at our camp. Occasionally Andrew will be awake this early as well, and he likes his tea! Pastor has been wandering around for Lord knows how long, so we we wave him over and fill up his cup as well. On most occasions Doug has eggs going or french toast. Who ever comes by is offered something to eat when we do breakfast. Speaking of coffee, I bet we have made at least a couple hundred cups so far. We should start keeping count like McDonalds use to do with their burgers. I know we have served over a couple hundred meals. We should count that too for fun. 😉 lol
There were a lot of explosions and I assume they were from propane tanks or something. Once the dust settled, there was nothing left of what was once an old motor home. Melted right into the ground. 
We heard everyone made it out, which is good. Thank goodness again that the winds were not blowing. Sometimes it blows so bad out here that you can hardly walk in it. People who live under tarps or in tents are lucky to have their homes still standing when everything settles down. Well, that was the big excitement for the day. 
This morning a woman walked by the camp in terrible pain. Andrew called her over, and that’s when we saw her leg was black and swollen tight. I encouraged her to get to the hospital but she refused. So I went in and got a tub of hot water to soak her foot in, and then we put the anti-fungal cream on a wound she got while licking at a piece of wood for a fire. Within 20 minutes or so the wound started to ooze in the most unappetizing way…. literally. Yuck! She really needs to go to emergency, but you can not lead a horse to water. And people on drugs…. well more often than not there is no talking to them. Such a shame. People out here can die from the use of dirty needles or infections. We have already witnessed that 🙁