Jen’s Journal – November 16, 2019

Day 140: Gilbert Ray Campground, Tucson, AZ

Partly cloudy and warm.

This morning we were chatting with a fellow camper who has two little dogs. The little dogs hopped right into Arvi’s open door to check it out. Then, while we were chatting, a hummingbird flew around and flew briefly into Arvi to see what it was like and came right back out.

What is it about Arvi? After dinner we were knitting and reading inside when we heard a scratching sound, possibly under the hood. Tom lifted the hood and saw a pack rat looking at him! We didn’t know what to do, so we drove a mile or two out of the campground, hoping to, er, ‘drive’ it out. Tom found some bits of black fabric on the ground when we returned. Then we put Christmas lights in the engine and our smelly candle and more Christmas lights underneath. We also put cotton balls with calendula cream around. We heard the same noise and Tom again saw it under the hood, hiding amongst the engine parts. Then he sprayed the fabric-covered air intake, and all around Arvi, with vinegar spray. One corner of the air intake is missing some of its fabric.

We haven’t heard the pack rat since, but we are a little nervous about it. We were going to stay at this campsite another night or two but now we will move somewhere else.

Before the pack rat incident, we went to East Saguaro National Park. We drove and walked through many many cactuses and desert plants. I tried to sniff the leaves of a branch of what I thought was a creosote, but got jabbed by something sharp. Not a creosote.