Our week long Easter Break trip to Arizona with the VW Thing in tow.
  
The sickly pups Maggie and Chauncey went with us, the other three dogs (Chia, Tommy, and Tootsie) stayed home at Sandi's house with Charlie and Lynlee and their dog Boomer.  
Charlie had just gotten out that day after three weeks in the hospital .  He had blown out his Aorta, had it repaired, and was on the mend.  He and Lynlee were going to stay at Sandi's until Charlie was fully recovered. 
We were sad to leave them, but they needed some time with each other.

We left from Encinitas after work on afternoon of Good Friday, March 29, 2002, travel to the Interstate 8 rest area nearing Yuma and slept over.  210 miles traveled.  
On the next morning we went on thru Yuma, headed North and stopped for a few hours in Quartzsite.  In the evening we were in a RV Camp in Prescott, Az.  259 miles traveled.  
On Easter morning we drove the Thing into town and played tourist.  Prescott is a cool town, about 25k people, lots of art boutiques.
On Monday we took the Thing out for a day trip out Route 89A, thru the cute on mining town of Jerome and on to Sedona.  Sedona was a zoo, to much commercial stuff for me.  We took the pups to a Vortex, any help for them would be welcome.
On Tuesday, the 2nd we went up to Flagstaff, got the Bus lubed and had the oil changed, then went on up to a RV park on the South boundary of the Grand Canyon park.  179 miles traveled
That afternoon we took the Thing into the park and stood and looked into that huge hole, it impressed me, but not as much as when Mom took me there last when I was about 15.
On the next morning we drove thru the park to the East exit and again went North and on up to Monument Valley... We drove the valley in the Thing, it was very cool, better than the Chevy adds!  We continued East thru the Navajo Reservation (the reservation is the entire Northeast 1/4 of the state of Arizona) and on down to a free (no hookups) RV camp just inside the entrance to the Canyon de Chelly National Monument.  330 miles traveled that day.
The next morning we took the Thing on a tour of the Canyon, saw some cliff dwellings... felt real at home here, wanted to stay, but I think we need to be Navajo to do that.  In mid day we hit the road and made camp in a RV park in Williams, Az.  256 miles traveled.
Williams is a nice small town on historic Route 66, but a bit high at 7,700 feet.  We had a ice sickle on the hose bib in the morning.
On the morning of the 5th we I-40 then went South on Az. Route 95 and on into Quartzsite.  We were back into the low desert, it was nice and hot.  254 miles traveled
In the morning (Saturday) we headed back to Encinitas.  We wanted to get back a day early to spend some time with Charlie.  He loved the Bus so much, we wanted to take him for a ride, maybe a overnight cruise.  We arrived about noon.  we put on 324 miles that day, making 1813 total miles for the entire trip.

When we arrived we found  no one home but the dogs.  We called the hospital. Charlie had returned to the hospital by ambulance early that morning.  He had died at 11:38 am

This was a truly wonderful trip.  The Bus performed very well, the Thing was so handy, the dogs needed the sun and the special time with us, Sandi and I needed the time together.  I will never forget that trip.

I will never forget Charlie.  My buddy, my mentor, my pal... Rest In Peace dude.