So… where to start…

That’s our dog, Shiloh. I didn’t actually take pictures of all 68 dogs that I petted… that seemed like it would be rude… although I did count Shiloh as one of the 68 dogs. It was an attempt to set a record for most dogs petted in one day, not most dogs I met.

Mollie, my younger daughter, took a bunch of pictures of our dog, so I might as well use them in this post, right? I have had this idea of setting a dog petting record for some time. Up until this particular day, when we were camping in Quartzsite, Arizona, I had never bothered to actually keep count of how many dogs I petted. I love dogs… and they love me… (remember, never trust anyone if dogs, babies and horses don’t like them)… it isn’t unusual for me to pet 20 or 30 dogs in one day, if I am at a dog beach, or a camp ground with lots of dogs. I always knew that sooner or later, I would find the perfect place to set a good beginning record, which I could then, someday, try to beat… but I don’t know if I will ever beat this number.

As I mentioned, we were camping in Quartzsite because they have this huge annual swap meet. We have never gone before, but my wife’s aunt and uncle have been lots of times. It is a strange event full of weird people. It isn’t the normal recreational vehicle gathering… the people tend to be much older… and weirder… wait… what the heck is that? Why is that guy holding a sign?

Okay, there was actually a long story behind that… because I talked to the musicians… but I won’t bore you with it… this is all about dogs.

Here is the inside of the big circus tent. If you look closely, you will see at least one dog in this picture. Because almost everybody had a dog with them… walking dogs, dogs tied up at booths, dogs in strollers, dogs in carts and wagons… even dogs being carried in backpacks and slings like little babies… and then it hit me… this was the place to begin my quest to set a record for most dogs petted in one day.

Okay, I did take one photo of this cute little guy… and no, I don’t know what that black thing in my hand is… I was holding something, I guess, but I can’t remember what it was. But, as I said before, it was weird enough… even for me… to walk up to people and ask to pet their dogs, while trying to explain my crazy idea of setting a record, without making them wait for me to take a photo of the dog too… it seemed obnoxious… but people were very supportive of my plan… or they were just humoring the crazy big man…

I did try, in an earlier post, to sort of explain the weird place that is Quartzsite, Arizona. There isn’t really a town at all… no houses… just a gas station and truck stop and a small store… but there are some parts of the swap meet that have set up year-round residence. They build ramshackle buildings and barns and sheds and just stay there, waiting for the big swap meet week to begin again. And then, it isn’t a town, it is a sea of motor homes.

Those are the ‘bones’ of saguaro cacti, if you are interested.

You can find almost anything, from the new to the old to the bizarre, if you look long enough.

That is a photo I took from our car as we passed by the swap meet on the way back from… the other part of our adventure… which I will get to in later posts…

I took those two photos coming back from Sedona, Arizona… and you want to stick around for that…

So, yeah, I spent the whole time, on one of the two days we went to the swap meet, trying to pet as many dogs as possible.

I got to 57 before we got back to where we were camping far out in the desert.

Awww… Shiloh has the sweetest eyes… good picture, Mollie! Anyway, I figured I could bump my number up higher if I walked around to a bunch of other campers and asked to pet their dogs. People loved the idea. They were sending me to their friends, telling me about people who had two dogs… it was amazing.

Oh, I also counted Riley… my wife’s aunt and uncle’s dog… who is Shiloh’s best friend.

Riley loves me…

So, as Shiloh stands guard against rattlesnakes, scorpions, gila monsters and coyotes, I will end this post by saying this: Pet more dogs! If you can break my record, I will honor you by doing a post about it… unless you are one of those weird judges at the dog shows that do the weird dog touching thing… that doesn’t count. Maybe next year we will go back to Quartzsite and I will actually take pictures of all the dogs I pet… and try to beat my record. Maybe I will even turn it into a book.