Hey - Dude!

For those of you who know me personally, my idea of a great vacation (because most people don't share my interests in this department) is driving across the mountains or deserts in the most desolate place I can find. Because the best place on Earth to be is in the middle of nowhere.

It's why I turned a perfectly good Toyota FJ Cruiser into THE SCORPION (a very capable Toyota FJ). 

A friend of mine from the East Coast (of the US) recently invited me to go to a dude ranch with him and some of his buddies. They're in the computer software business. While software engineers aren't all 'soft', the name "Rancho de los Caballeros" (Ranch of the horseback riders) struck me as odd, even for a dude ranch. I asked him where it was. He said, "Wickenburg, Arizona". I've been through Wickenburg before and it's a wide patch of desert, about half an hour outside of Phoenix, on State Route 93 (a major drug trafficking route).

I asked him what 'we' would be doing. He said that everyone was planning a 'spa day', a golf day (I golf poorly), a morning riding on (local nag) genuine cow ponies (elderly, saddle weary, sway backed, flea bitten horses) and a genuine old west cookout. http://youtu.be/R6dm9rN6oTs

He had offered to pay for everything, which was very generous when you consider that the room alone is over $500 a night (for a joint outside Phoenix, nowhere near NOWHERE).

He referred to himself and his buddies as "the Three Amigos". I could be the fourth amigo if only I joined them. But somehow, I don't think it would work out.

While I was flattered to be asked, I declined once I checked my schedule.