Camping at the Gila River with the Rover Divas

This past weekend was the first official campout with the Rover Divas. On the trip there were three vehicles. All of us are parents with only daughters, and we call the daughters the Rover Divas The Dads had made a plan to go camping along the Gila River.

On the trip there were three vehicles. All of us are parents with only daughters. Andreas and Linda Rhomberg, their two daughters Izabella and Sydney, and their dog Jager were in their Discovery 2 and pop-up camper. Chuck Powell had his daughter, Samantha, and three of their dogs, Fossey, Rascal and Kiwi in their Discovery 1 with a roof-top tent. Samantha gave up a trip to Disneyland to come on this camping trip. She is a true Rover Diva. Then of course James, Grace and I were in our Dormobile, no dogs for us. In total four girls, four dogs and five adults. We outnumbered them individually, but not in total.

We all met on Saturday morning and headed out toward Winkelman, AZ. From Winkleman we went north just past the Christmas mine. Then we took a dirt road around and down to the Gila River. The road was a nice road with a few obstacles to make it interesting, but nothing that would keep us from coming back. It was beautiful. Great views and lots of cool geology, the uplifts are amazing.
Once we got down to the river, we stopped and walked around to find the best spot. The river was running very hard and judging from the trees with water half way up their trunks, we figured the water level was pretty high. Right by the river was a great spot. The only problem was the dogs did not want to listen (can you believe it?). So, Chuck’s dogs Rascal and Fossey jumped in, and then Kiwi, who hates the water, joined the party. So, Chuck jumped in and saved them all. Another second and all the dogs would have been swept down stream. So, we decided to it was a better idea to camp a little farther away from the river.

We headed back up the road and looked around for a spot. We found a spot not too far way. It was about 1pm and Grace had gotten dehydrated and overheated. She was pretty out of it. With some Gatorade, lunch, ice and TLC, she was up and running around with the girls. The funny thing was anytime one of the girls would want some attention after that they suddenly were overheated and needed some ice. Or they needed to go down to the river and get wet to cool off.

We set up camp and then relaxed. The girls built a Rover Diva Club House. It was very cute. We didn’t have to worry too much about them, they played and played. Around 4pm or so, we did go down to the river and let the girls get in up to their knees. They had a great time. Chuck also discovered a new use for a tow strap. They make a great dog leash. With the dogs properly tethered to the trees the girls had lots of fun.

That evening we had a nice campfire and then headed to bed. Grace was totally worn out. She was out almost the minute her head hit the pillow. The next day we hung around the campsite, went on a walk, and generally relaxed. It was a pretty hot day and I was not looking forward to getting back in the Rover to head out. So, I was very excited that no one else was in a rush to leave. We finally headed out in the late afternoon.

On the way out we discovered an area with lots of cool fossils and spent a little time looking at them. We turned over one rock and found a centipede. Then another with a scorpion, and as a result we decided it was time to go. When we hit the pavement we aired up, and decided to meet in Mammoth, AZ for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. During dinner the girls were putting lots of salt on the chips, Andreas said we don’t put salt on the chips. One of the girls said, “Rover Divas put salt on their chips.” Boy, are we in trouble!!!