"HUMPS" IN THE ROAD!

THE MEDIA PARTY... A "MINI" TEST

With just a few weeks away from the start of our Camel Milk Challenge at the San Diego County Fair, the euphoria of all the media attention matches crescendo with the hard reality of what we are about to undertake.
Friday, June 4, in the midst of the Taste the Fun Media event at the fair grounds, reality came knocking! I decided to promote the Challenge that evening by sipping from a chilled jar of fresh camel milk throughout the event. .... seemed like a great idea at the time. But this was the first time I would come face-to-face with my nemesis... fair food.
So there I stood, smiling schmoozing and sipping while an endless parade of bar-b-cue, sticky confections, grilled delights and deep fried delectables perched in the fingers of friendly passers-by.
Hour one... no sweat! The creamy cool milk kept me energized. Gil and I smiled, shook hands, posed for pictures and answered questions with ease.
Hour two... here comes a Cinnamon roll... that looks AMAZING! (sip... ahhh) back to schmoozing. Is that a battered potato smothered with ranch dressing? It smells like manna from heaven. What did that lady just say? I wasn't listening, I was sizing her up; determining if I could "take her" for her plate.
Hour three... Please God tell me this is almost over! I am blind to all I see... my olfactory sense has taken over as my primary scenery organ. And by the way... this camel milk is warm now... and here comes a chicken kabob. The girl carrying it is small and looks easily distracted... this could be my moment.
Hour four... somehow we are headed back to the trailer, Gil and Clyde as happy and as ever and me somehow surviving.
It was a great event! We met lots of terrific media representatives and visited with old friends.
We met David Moyer from AOL News. (David writes an amazing article about us that goes international and Gil and I spend the next week on dozens of radio shows!)
I finally relax, feeling completely calm and human again... of course, we are now sitting in McDonald's and I have eaten half an order of french fries!

I'VE FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP!
It's Monday morning, June 7 and less than a week away from our move in to the San Diego County Fairgrounds. We are up early as we have a morning tour at the ranch and our telephone interview with David from AOL News.
To insure we have enough milk for our challenge, Gil and I will milk Tula from both sides, each collecting at least a quart of milk in our glass jars. Although this isn't new, we have been milking in the chute: a small coral like structure with Tula inside and Gil and I outside the bars. But since we won't have the chute at the fair, we decide to ease her into milking free standing.

Gil takes up Tula's left side and I take her right. My bucket hangs and an awkward level and I have trouble getting the milk to squirt down into the bucket instead of out sideways, missing the bucket completely. Tula stands munching her grain as I reposition my hands trying in vain to re-direct the stream. I've almost got it... I'm deep in concentration when I feel what seems like a wet baseball glove on the side of my head. I look to the right to see Tula's face... right in my face! Apparently, she had had enough of my contorted hand manipulations. Like a mythical dragon her long, graceful neck turned her huge face to me as she, without moving so much as a toe, reached back placing her lips on the side of my head.
More than a little surprised I leaned back. I should have stepped back. For just as I leaned backwards Tula tipped her hip towards mine to nudge me away. Off balance already, I began to trip and stagger backwards, building momentum towards my obvious destination... the ground.
I fell backwards trying to "save" the milk only to end up wearing it.
Damn it! How inconvenient! Now I have to go change and I lost all my milk. But when I went to stand. I couldn't. At least, I couldn't seem to lift my right arm. I don't remember landing on it or hitting it particularly hard, but as I looked over at it stretched away from my, palm up... I could not lift it. All I could do is look at it... I couldn't make it do anything.
I tell Gil, "I can't move my arm" and he moves over to that side. We just stare at each other for a minute. It was just so weird to see it laying there but not be able to do anything.
So I ask Gil, "pick up my fingers and try to lift my arm up" As he did, we both heard a huge crack-pop, and taa-daa... I could move it again! It heart like hell but it worked.
We finished our chores, did our private group tour and then drove down to the fair to begin our set up.
Tuesday we went in for our pre-challenge physicals. While there, I showed my elbow, which was very painful and could not straighten all the way, to my doctor.
She immediately sent me in for Xrays.
Wednesday, while moving the camels into the fair and finishing building camp Camelot, I get a call from the doctor. She sends me to the orthopedic specialist who confirms it is broken. (for those of you who know me, insert applicable and typical obscenities here)
The dislocation was severe enough to cause a small fracture and a chip to the radius.
The good news: no cast! Nurse Gil got everything back in place perfectly, the chip is small and the fracture should heal on its own.. as long as I am careful. The bad news is I must use the arm as little as possible for the next eight weeks.
Gil and I are relieved that we will not be doing the fair with me in a cast. That would be very distracting to the visitors and would take attention away from what we are doing with the camel milk. So, unless a person reads this or one of my facebook posts, they would not know about it.

DOWN TO HALF THE MILK!
Our biggest concern about my arm is that now I can't help milk. That means half the milk for our challenge! Today is our first day of shows... and we'll just have to see how it goes. We don't start the challenge diet until next Wednesday so Gil is going to save all the milk he milks over the next five days as surplus for the Challenge. (He is so smart!)

Just a little twist to make the adventure more interesting don't you think?

Taste the Challenge!

In thie midst of camel calving season, bird show training season and a business as usual, so hectic you wish vacation was over, "off" season; preparations for the Camel Milk Extreme Challenge Desert Crossing are underway.

The weather is so gloriosly beautiful today, February 15, 2009 that Gil and I are more excited than ever about doing the trek in late February, early March 2010!

We have had several brainstorming meetings with friends and coleages (translation: dinners with friends saying "are you two out of your minds???!!!) Admittedly, most are conserned about the Challanges diet. To reitterate: Gil and I will eat nothing but camel milk, dates and of course water (we aren't crazy) for the month long duration of the trek.

Waking up to scorpions in shoes or weathering spring rain or riding the camels daunts no one. It's the diet! How does a person go from eating like an average, drive-through American to eating such a restrictive diet.

I must admit, as my friends waver, I pause for consern as well. Perhaps we need to do a trial run with the diet portion of our Challange, just to see how it effects our metabolism, energy levels and to see if we can go a couple weeks without a hamburger or roasted chicken (let alone Trader Joe's chocolate covered joe-joes)

This will be the first "trial" of our Challange. Frankly, I think it will be much more difficult to engage in our normal daily lives with such a dramatic change. Especially when a Jac-in -the-box is just a few miles away.

What need to create a "lab" type of environment, a place where we are away from our normal routine and can make the diet a functioning part of it.

So this is my mini quest. Any ideas? Post them here!

Remember to visit us at www.cameldairy.com to get the latest news including up-coming tv programming.

portable potty ideas flooding in!

Well I guess I'm not such a priva-phobic after all! Thanks to everyone for the great outdoors GREAT lu ideas! I just wanted to post this picture sent by a friend. Turns out... they make a "play tent" for grown-ups intended to be a ..... WILDERNESS BATHROOM!

I'm so not a loser!

PART II ... Exploring Personal Limits.

Although the official date and location has not been set, our camel trick is most definitely on.

this post was originally posted on the Camel Dairy Diary Blog at cameldairy.blogspot.com. But the enormity of the project demands its own blog. So here we are!

The preliminary response has been so overwhelming, funny and positive, even at this early stage, there seems to be no turning back now.

Being away from our farm for two solid months while we "trek away" seems to me as though it would possibly create strain here at home. But one month... that seems quite do-able. I am trying to talk Gil down to one month! (I could use some help here people!)

We have determined form the get-go that this trek is NOT to be a test of the camels' limits. They will not be asked to go without food or water. The trek will be an adventure . And the only limits to be tested will be ours.. the human participants. And as Gil and I discuss the trek in more detail, I am discovering... I have limits.

Please forgive me if you were looking for a more GI Joe Survivor type rendering... my mom took my sister and I camping at National Parks as a kid... but that was a long time ago.

Here are some of the "limits" we've discussed so far...

Eating nothing but dried dates and camel's milk:
Bedouins crossing the desert have done this for centuries. I am kind of excited to do it. I teeter on the brink of high cholesterol and think this might actually be an awesome way to counteract it! Gil and I are going to get complete physicals and blood work done before the trek so we can compare our condition before and after.
We are also planning a trek-less trial... perhaps at at the State Fair or the Riverside County Fair. We can lock ourselves up in our Camel Dairy Adventure Exhibit for the run of the fair and eat nothing but dried dates and the camel milk we collect during our milking demonstrations to the public.
How is that for weird fair food. Riverside is 10 days... State fair is 18 days! Hmmmmm... I am anxious to try either one!

Heat:
Well, that one might not be too bad. We are planning the trip for fall or spring. And I like heat. I do. As long as it's a dry heat. And I'm sure the desert will accommodate that.

Cold:
I'll bring a sweater.

Lots and lots of walking:
At the risk of sounding like a Tum's commercial... "that's something my body needs anyway!" My doctor has prescribed lots of walking for me. Whatever my health issue is, hip pain, some joint and leg pen become pretty unbearable when I don't walk regularly. I can walk the camel ride for six hours and feel better than if I stand at a camel display for one hour.

Dirty hair, face, feet, etc:
Did you know that it isn't good for your hair to be washed daily? It robs your hair and scalp of natural oils. So, going long stretches without washing your hair is in actuality a type of spay treatment. (and that will be my mantra ever day) And besides, the many seasons of Survivor contestants have eased us into the wilderness grunge look quite nicely.

Chapped lips:
errrrrr. I hate that! This might be more than I can stand. Chapped lips are the worst! Gil has great desert lips and just doesn't have a problem with any of that sort of survival stuff. But I am so dang white! And I have yet to find a single lip treatment that doesn't make chapped lips worse the moment it wears off! (I am open to suggestions)

No bathroom:
Ok, that's it! I'm out! When Gil and I started talking about the facilities of the great outdoors... we definitely hit a snag. I just can't see squatting in the bushes for anything other than to secretly observe nature. And even then, I would probably not squat... I would sit.

So there it is: my limit. I am not a bear and I do not do THAT in the woods or the desert.

So Gil and our friend Lori and I sat down to a brainstorming meeting (translation: pizza dinner at Momma Rosa's in Ramona... best pizza EVER I might add) to figure out a solution to the bathroom dilemma.

All I need is a seat and some privacy. That's it. And some paper. A seat, some privacy and some paper.

So here is what we are thinking. I can get one of those camping toilets. Not like a porta-potty or anything heavy and elaborate like that... I can rough it a little better than that! No, just one of those folding thingy's with a toilet seat and a bag! There you go! There's my seat! The camping toilet would be very light-weight and could pack on one of the camels. The trek is back on!

But what about privacy? I know we may be in the middle of nowhere and Gil can just turn his back... but still. What if we aren't in the middle of nowhere? In fact if you think about it, it is pretty much nearly impossible to be in the middle of nowhere ANYWHERE in the U.S.!

So here is Gil's idea: One of the camels will be the "bathroom" camel. We'll call him Lu or maybe John. On the lower edge of Lu's saddle pack, would be long, swatches of material that can be rolled up or down like a window blind. When I need my privacy, we simply stop. I set up my throne under Lu and drop the curtain.
Is he SERIOUS! How do you train that?! As intriguing (and functional) as the idea sounds, I would sure hate to be in the middle of something when the camel decides to go. Or for that matter... to GO!

So here is my idea. I will purchase one of those little, nylon kids folding play tents. They fold up in seconds (like those car windshield thingys) don't weigh much and "spring" into action when needed! Ta da! I will make my own automatic, "johnny on the spot" So now I will search for the perfect springy kids play tent.

... the trek is on!

PART I ... THE BIG IDEA

The following post was originally posted to the Camel Dairy Diary at cameldairy.blogspot.com. As the idea to cross the desert drinking camel's milk grows, it is taking on a life of it's own and so now has it's own blog. The first two entries are posts from the Dairy Diary.



Gil is full of big ideas. And I love him for that. If it wasn't for Gil and his big ideas, we wouldn't be a CAMEL DAIRY! We wouldn't have this ranch and our lives would not be as interesting and rich as they are.

But this idea is VERY BIG. He mentions it every once in a while, kind of like ... wouldn't it be neat? But then reality crashes in and we are busy doing so many things... until it drifts in again... wouldn't it be neat.

Years before we ever squeezed out our first drop of camel milk from our first milking camel, Latifa, Gil was intrigued by the idea of Bedouins crossing the Desert, surviving months at a time with nothing to eat but milk from the caravan's camels. Now that we are milking camels regularly, think Gil's big idea spends a lot more time in the front of his mind.

As we add more and more milking camels to our herd, Gil revisits the idea from time to time. "We could do this," he'll say. "We can make a desert trek right here in the U.S. for two months and bring Goldie and Tula with their babies for milk, and ride the geldings like Boo-boo, Camelot, Jamal... are are a lot of great candidates. He talks about having a camel outfitted w/ solar power and web-up links to bring the world along on the adventure. He talks about visiting schools and historical sites along the way. He usually loses me more than a bit when he mentions things like Bedouins washing their hair in camel urine and burning the dung for campfires.

The last time Gil uttered the words, "wouldn't that be neat" was this past October, '09 while we were driving to Ridgcrest California with the Wild West Turkey Stampede to perform at the Desert Empire Fair.

Winding our way through gorgeous, endless desert, Gil gazed out the window for a long time before turning to me and saying once again, "we could do this... we could really do this."
And as I looked out the window across the quiet desert, I have to say for the first time, I also thought; wouldn't that be neat. We could do this. We have the camels now and it would be an amazing adventure.

Time to start planning...
This is going to be neat.....