Survival Night Out - May 22

On May 22, Linda and I decided to have our survival night out in the desert.  If you’re not familiar with this scenario, we decided to try some of the survival skills that she had learned from her on line class.  And she also found new and unusual ways to cook meals.  We were out geocaching a few weeks before and found the perfect place.  It was secluded behind a hill so that you couldn’t see it from Route 66.  There were 2 mines very close to this area as well.

Since the 22^nd was her last day working before summer break, and since my sister Cathy was here to watch Zoey, we thought we’d give it a go.

We packed a few things in the Jeep and headed off.  We got there around 5pm and it was still comfortably warm.  We found our camp and began to unload the Jeep.  We set up the tent and unrolled our bags (well, it was survival with a bit of comfort, and I emphasize a “bit”).  We also brought the small camp stove rather than make a fire (Linda is great at making fires and I am the King of smothering them).    Once we were set up, we took off to look at the mines.

They were marked off and one was filled in.  The second mine close to us was partially open and you could see into it.  It was really interesting. 

We decided to go back to camp to eat.  Linda had brought foods that could be prepared in her “pouches” that she made for this.  We had “Bagsgiving dinner’ which consists of dry stuffing and powdered gravy that you mix with boiling water and canned chicken.  It may not sound like much, but it is delicious.  Linda had the vegetarian version of this meal.  We had brought minimal items with us.  After all, if you’re forced into a survival situation, you might not have much.

We took a lot of pictures and also walked up the hill to look out.  We found some rocks that look remarkably like tools, but Linda said they're just rocks.  Pretty cool rocks I think.

We went back to our camp and goofed around a bit and decided to turn in (about 10pm).  It had gotten pretty windy during the evening, and so we decided to keep the tent open for air flow.

It was a challenge to sleep with the wind blowing so much.  And were really not used to sleeping on a little foam mat on the ground with a sleeping bag on top of it.  I figured that the wind stopped at about 4am and we did get some rest after that.

I was up at 6 am to see the sunrise over the desert.  It was really beautiful.  Linda got up about 6:30 am and we had instant coffee and a breakfast concoction that she had made so we could use the pouches again.

We took a few more pictures, broke camp and headed for home.  All in all, I believe that our night was a success and that we could really survive in the desert if we had to.  We’ll be doing this again, but probably after summer when it is a bit cooler.

We headed for home at about 8:30 am and hit a few caches along the way.