The Battle of Thumb Butte

When you boondock for an extended period of time your RV, being stationary for a long period, can become the target of small gray furred hitchhikers.  Back when I was still in the Tank a field mouse had invaded it's interior spaces and it took me 4 days to trap it.  So, after I moved north from the BLM land I had been on for 14 days to the Prescott National Forest outside of Prescott, AZ (review coming) you can imagine my dismay when the first night camping I heard the pitter patter of little feet inside the Mini's lower cabinets.  I've unfortunately become adept at identifying the sound of a field mouse within an RV so I knew I had to get to Walmart and buy a mouse trap -- by now you'd think I'd be carrying a supply!

Mouse traps have changed in design since back in my day.  (Build a better mouse trap?)  The ones I got from Walmart looked roughly the same as the old days but had the addition of a yellow plastic pressure plate that, when depressed by the animal going for the bait, releases the spring loaded bar that zaps the mouse.

Put the bait on the back of the pressure plate, mouse steps on it, blamo!

I was successful using crunchy peanut butter as bait against the Tank's mouse so I went that route again and upped my game by pushing a half a walnut into the peanut butter to make it more irresistible.  Since I heard the mouse scampering all over in the Mini's lower cabinets I placed the baited trap into a bottom drawer and waited in anticipation to hear the tell tale snap that would announce my hitchhiker was no longer of this world.  I finally got tired and went to bed having not heard anything from the trap drawer however once in bed I heard the mouse running around for most of the night.

Getting up the next morning to silence (mice are nocturnal so I'm sure it was sleeping) I opened the trap drawer AND...

Licked clean!

the trap was completely clean of bait, including walnut, and was still set!  Round one to Mickey!  Having almost taken my finger off several times due to the hair trigger nature of the pressure plate the only thing I could theorize was that the mouse had approached from the side of the trap, completely missing the pressure plate and enjoying his free meal at my expense -- it didn't even leave a tip!

I re-baited the trap and put it back in the drawer thinking how lucky the mouse had been to unwittingly approach the trap from the side and assuring myself it couldn't do that twice.  About 3 am that morning I was awoken by the trap going off and thought my problem was taken care of.  I was too lazy to get up and check the trap figuring it'd wait until the morning but instead experiencing silence a bunch of thumping started coming from the trap drawer.  The mouse was still very much alive and seemingly dragging the trap around the drawer bumping into barbecue utensils I had stored in it.  I reluctantly got up, turned on the interior lights, armed myself with a steak knife and opened the drawer.  Instead of finding a partially trapped mouse it's fur was stuck in the trap and, upon seeing me it clanged the trap against a barbecue spatula got free and turned into a gray blur jumping out of the drawer into the back of the cabinets.  This guy was good!  Mickey takes round 2!

The next morning I re-baited the trap for the third time ( running low on walnuts) and, to speed up this story, Mickey's luck ran out.  This time he must have stepped squarely on the pressure plate and it looked like a very clean kill, ending things without too much suffering.  I have a picture of his demise but as this is a family blog I'll refrain from including it in this posting.

Thus the three day Battle of Thumb Butte (where the battle took place) came to a conclusion.  I'm now carrying a trap as part of the Mini's standard load out although I know I'll never be able to keep walnuts in stock because I'll eat them myself.

Thanks for reading!

Campground Review: North Little Grand Canyon Road, BLM Land off Table Mesa Road New River, AZ

Trying to maintain my "Goldilocks" camping environment (not too hot, not too cold) I drifted about 30 miles north of Phoenix along I-17 to BLM land off of Table Mesa Road.  North Little Grand Canyon "Road" turns north off Table Mesa.  I put road in parenthesis because it's really a rock-strewn one lane clay path that leads past several obvious camping sites before it turns into a off-road vehicle only path.

There's a hiking trail called Black Canyon trail just to keep it confusing.

Having boondocked on BLM land for a number of years I've learned (the hard way) not to blindly drive down one lane dirt paths so I parked the pickup and Mini at a wide open area about a quarter of a mile into North Little Grand Canyon Road to search on foot for a good campsite.  Right before the spot where the road becomes too tough for bigger RV's was a really nice site with great views -- and it was vacant!  I almost ran back to the Mini fearing someone else would drive by me and take it, but I got there first.

The Mini's desert campsite.

Here's the data sheet on North Little Grand Canyon Road:

Hookups:                                             None (Dry camping)                                                  

Fire ring:                                              Yes                                                                             

Water Access:                                     No                                                                  

Fresh Water:                                        No                                                      

Trash Service:                                      No (Pack in, pack out)                                               

Toilets:                                                 No                                          

Showers:                                             No                                                                              

Dump station:                                      No                                          

WiFi:                                                    No                                          

Level sites:                                          Yes                                         

Laundry:                                              No                                                      

Store:                                                   No (Walmart 11 miles away)                                     

Pool:                                                    No                                                      

Shade:                                                 No                                          

Verizon reception:                               4G, 3 bars                               

Internet reception:                               3 bars

Cost:                                                    Free for up to 14 days

The temperatures were probably a little on the cool side for the second half of March, mid-70's in the day and high-40's at night, which meant pretty optimal.  My campsite had really great 360 degree vistas of the mountains and what I assume was North Little Grand Canyon.

The view from my lawn chair.  Note one of the few trees in the area.

While you can appreciate the natural beauty of the area from the photos, what you can't see is the litter that folks have decided to deposit in the area.  Every day when I did my walks I'd take a plastic Walmart bag and pick up beer cans and empty plastic water bottles until the bag was full but I'm afraid I didn't make much of a dent.  It's just really disheartening that people do this.  I don't know if it would help if Arizona instituted a 10 cent can deposit like in some other states but certain areas I've camped in this year are in real trouble.

There's an official shooting range about a mile and a half from where I camped so there is fairly steady gunfire on the weekends and occasionally during weekdays so if that would bother your camping experience be forewarned, it doesn't really bother me.  Also, on the other side of the canyon is a working mine but it hardly makes any sound at all although there is some truck traffic on Table Mesa Road during the day.

First time I've camped with a mine in the area.

Some one who had previously camped at my site had an artistic bent:

It's about 3 ft in diameter.  The green is beer bottle glass.

I've always enjoyed my times camping on BLM land and, to be honest, I liked my experience AT MY SITE along North Little Grand Canyon Road after I cleared my area of litter.  Whoever gets it after I leave will have the nicest campsite in the area, hopefully they'll read this review and fill some Walmart bags of their own.  As to returning I'll really have to think about it next year, the litter is kind of depressing and diminishes the camping experience.

Thanks for reading!

March Madness

My college basketball team - Michigan State - qualified for the NCAA Tournament so with two possible games over the weekend to watch I elected to move 20 miles north of Gunsite Wash to a RV park in the small town of Ajo, AZ so I'd have hookups.  Shadow Ridge RV park is a nice little stop right along AZ Hwy 85 which runs through Ajo with about 120 closely packed sites.

Shadow Ridge RV Resort's office.

Here's the Shadow Ridge data sheet:

Hookups:                                             30, 50 amp, Water, sewer                                          

Fire ring:                                              No                                                                  

Water Access:                                     No                                                                  

Fresh Water:                                       Yes                                                     

Trash Service:                                     Yes                                                     

Toilets:                                                Yes                                                     

Showers:                                             Yes                                                     

Dump station:                                     Yes                                         

WiFi:                                                   Yes                                         

Level sites:                                          Yes                                         

Laundry:                                             Yes                                                     

Store:                                                   No (Mini-mart next door)                                          

Pool:                                                    No                                          

Shade:                                                 No                                          

Verizon reception:                              4G, 5 bars                                           

Internet reception                                5 bars

Cost:                                                    $12/day 1, $24/day thereafter with Passport America

Passport America is a RV discount card that a lot of RV parks honor.  Arizona RV Parks accepting Passport America .  As a member of Escapees RV Club I qualified for an extra 3 months on the annual card cost of $44.  Using it at Shadow Ridge netted me back $24 on savings from my stay so you can see that if you spend any time at all at RV parks getting a Passport America card is a no-brainer.

I did a couple loads of laundry in their spotless laundry room.

The staff at Shadow Ridge were really friendly and helpful, the only ding I'd give the park is the smallish size of the sites.

The Mini with the pickup attached JUST fits into site 20.

I don't usually stay in RV parks, preferring to either boondock or stay at State and National parks but with my team's participation in Madness I jumped at the chance to get a good spot with hookups to watch.  Shadow Ridge was a lucky find.  I'd return.  Go Green!

Thanks for reading!