What is a Desert Pack Rat?
We were outside the Superstition Mountains just a few days ago and now our backyard is in the Saguaro National Park east of Tucson, Arizona. There are literally saguaros everywhere! Getting into Gilbert Ray Campground is quite the experience. We showed up on Monday afternoon at the first-come, first-served electric-only campground. We missed getting a site for a 35-foot motorhome by five minutes. The attendant recommended we overnight at Casino Del Sol about 20 minutes from the park. As a result, we boondocked in the casino’s parking lot with several other RVers. Surprisingly, it was relatively quiet. We even enjoyed a pretty good buffet too. Turns out, coming earlier in the day is the best way to get a site. Today, we got a site for seven days and will enjoy the warmer weather and the beautiful saguaro-filled desert scenery!
Boondocking at Casino Del Sol 
Gilbert Ray Campground – Our Backyard
“If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.”
Thomas H. Palmer
Pack rats cause lots of damage to RVs and cars.
As it turns out, we didn’t get a very level site. After we finally got our RV leveled, we noticed most of the sites had lights scattered underneath their RVs and under their cars/trucks. This is odd as it was in the middle of the day. Turns out, there is a reason for the lights. The reason is desert pack rats. Desert pack rats are white-throated wood rats (Neotoma albigula), but it’s easier for everyone to call them pack rats. They are nocturnal and only come out at night. They are native desert mammals that have been around for quite some time. Civilization moves in around them and they are in “Disneyland”! They love to pick up shiny things to bring to their nests. Wires and cables on vehicles are things they love to chew. They can literally destroy a vehicle in just one night by chewing the wires and cables inside the engine!
We were not going to take any chances! We went to registration and asked if pack rats were around. One of the employees said she had been sparred for the last four years, but they got her this year. Ok, that didn’t sound good. Fortunately, we had two bright lights we used in Minnesota to keep the water and battery bays warm. Right now, one is under the RV and the other one is under the tow car. The light is very bright and supposedly, it will keep the pack rats away. One can’t be too careful out here in the wilderness!
Have you learned something new recently?
You never know what you will learn on a daily basis when you are full-time RVing. It’s going to take us awhile before we will be considered experts. Above all, we will have lots of fun throughout the process of becoming one!
Learning something new has so many benefits. In my career working in Apple Retail, we were challenged every day with new product information, new procedures, new ways to connect with customers and employees and much more. I believe when we stop learning, we stop being who we can ultimately become. We have amazing brains that can capture so many things. Are you willing to accept the exciting journey of learning that is ahead of you?
The Top 7 Benefits of Learning a New Skill
“The Top 7 Benefits of Learning a New Skill” by Central Connecticut State University Continuing Education is a great read that I found very interesting. Here are the top benefits they cited in their article:
- Your brain chemistry changes.
- Your learning speed increases.
- You make connections between skill areas.
- You become a more interesting person.
- It fights boredom.
- You adapt better to change.
- You could stave off dementia.
If you are interested in learning more about these benefits, click here to read the entire article. The benefit that most impressed me was #7 – You could stave off dementia. “People who learn a new skill are less likely to develop dementia, which has been linked to demyelination of your brain. People who actively learn new skills don’t give their brains a chance to demyelination and their neural pathways are ready for new impulses to travel along them.” I don’t know about you, but this benefit encourages me to want to keep learning new things forever! My learning list will be to hike new mountains, experience yoga, read new book genres, listen to more podcasts, try new quilting methods, make new healthy recipes and more! I will focus on continuing to learn as long as I can!
What do you want to learn?
So, what are you focused on learning now? Is it learning a new language? Maybe you are working towards a degree (undergraduate or masters). Are you getting ready to run a half-marathon? Maybe you are researching if you can go RVing part time or even full-time. Whatever it is, dream big and find ways on making your learning fun and exciting! In conclusion, that’s what I try to do every day living this RV lifestyle.
Please share your comments below on what you are focused on learning right now. Good luck in your learning journey.
Finding Joy in the Journey
Heidi of Loving the RV Life
After being a graphic artist by trade for decades starting with Adobe PageMaker in the ‘80’s until it was phased out by their new “InDesign” I taught myself how to use it but o always knew there was more to know about this powerful design program. Recently when my older version became obsolete I had to bite the bullet and pay monthly to subscribe to the newest software! Having to spend $20/month and discovering my Creative Cloud subscription provides hundreds of tutorials I decided “let’s get the most from the investment” and learn more! It just gave me joyful excitement as I’ve been discovering new features I either didn’t know existed or didn’t know how to do! (Phil could hear me saying “wow!” and other things as I tried out new skills!) It gives you such a rush learning something NEW!
Your advice is good! It’s making me think I need to pursue more opportunities to learn new things. I always balked at that but then I always learned how good it was to do so!!! Having a Dad with Alzheimer’s and hoping I don’t take the same path, makes this all the more important!
The rats 🐀 info was amazing!!! Makes us think we may have been lucky when we were camping out west in 2017!!! Like you I always seek out people and I ask a lot of questions. I too would’ve asked why the lights!! When we had our boat at our marina neighborhood years ago I’d go out and seek out other boaters who were outside just to chat. I would tell PHIL “I’m going to go learn stuff.“ He would always be anxious to know what I learned when I came back. Asking questions is good.
In two days we take off in our camper for six weeks going south. I expect to be learning lots of new things and seeing new places!
You are a good writer Heidi. It’s fun reading your posts. Keep learning and keep having fun! ❤️
So, fun to stay in contact with you and Phil! I’m so excited that you are going to be RVing for 6 weeks and getting out of the cold and snowy winter in Minnesota. Enjoy learning every day!
We’re staying at a cabin near Leadville, Colorado and suspect that there’s a pack rat in our shed. Here they’re bushy-tailed woodrats (Neotoma cinerea). We have a wildlife cam and set it up along with a tin can and some aluminum foil for bait but haven’t gotten any photos yet. From what I’ve seen online, they look pretty cute – kind of like chinchillas.
Yes, they may be cute but supposedly can cause a lot of damage! We didn’t want to find out just how much damage they would do, so went along with putting lights under our vehicles as a precaution!
Wow I had no idea about pack rats! Thanks for sharing this information, I’m sure it will come in handy!
Pack rats were not something we were aware of either! We had evidence of a pack rat home near where our campsite was and it was huge!