Camping with our new Toyota 4Runner Rat

We were very excited to try out our new "Rat" (our nickname for our new Toyota 4Runner).

So off we headed in it to the Eastern Arizona Mountains.

It got its first challenge right away--we ran into a huge swamped portion of the road.  We had been told that this vehicle has a water clearance of 36 inches, so we just headed right for it.

                             

What can't be seen in the video is how slick the road was underneath, yet the Rat held its line exceptionally well.

We were able to reach a quite remote area, which was our objective, and set up camp.

The next three photos give you an idea of how remote we were:

See us?

We were there 5 days and nights.  In that time we saw only one vehicle on our road.....and they were lost.  Thankfully for them, they encountered Vicky who is the map queen.  She got them turned around and headed to where they actually wanted to go.

We saw one other vehicle in the distance, and then ran into two groups on our hiking expeditions.  One was a mountain climber who stopped 50 feet in front of us because he was so surprised to see hikers in the area.  He said we were the first people he had seen in 4 days.

We really encountered the desert.  We hiked 5 days, and accumulated 28 miles.

 

The camping was more primitive than what we had been used to in the camper.  

For one, we used outdoor "toilets."  

Here is me heading off to the reading room with my trusty portable toilet seat and the shovel I had given Vicky for Valentine's Day (I'm quite the romantic).

Vicky cooking. The toilet seat also doubles, in a pinch, as a chair.

Vicky cooking in the morning:

 Does this breakfast look good or what?

 You're right!  It is delicious.  Prepared with love, just for me.  Vicky has her own breakfast--her homemade granola, fruit, and yogurt. 

A solid breakfast is necessary for us before we head off for 3 hours on a hike.  That's a lot of work for two old people (well, maybe for one "old people" and Vicky).

While Vicky is heating the coffee water outside and preparing breakfast, my "job" is to warm the coffee containers using the new tent propane heater we purchased.  We all have our strengths:

This is the first time we have tent camped except in campgrounds.  It went pretty well. We had purchased the tent we needed, the stove we needed, the pad we needed, and the tent heater we needed.  We found out we will need some other supplies, so are obtaining those.

But it all achieved our objective.  We can take 5-day camping trips to very remote and difficult-to-reach places to hike.  We will take our camper when we drive farther from Mesa and plan to stay two weeks or so.

From late afternoon to late morning there was no one on the planet except us.

Our days consist of chilly mornings drinking coffee and having breakfast in "bed" in the tent, hiking, and then sitting outside and just staring at the beauty of the desert.  What a life.