Combat bocce ball

 

I had never played bocce ball before and my vision of it had been as a lawn sport with nice smooth grass to roll the balls on.  In fact, all the photos of this sport depict that very activity.

So it was to my surprise that Kay and Tom invited us to play with them during our stay in Quartzsite.  Really? 

Kay explained, with that mischievous gleam in her eye, but this is “combat bocce ball”. 

Huh?

So out into the wash between Boomerville and the Solar City (those RV’s wanting to stay away from us and not hear our generators) we went.



this was OUR playing field
 

Their set of bocce balls was all beat up, full of dents and scratches and I was soon to find out why.  We played on the rocky surface of the land around us, dodging cactus, bushes and G-d knows what slithery creatures might be lurking about.

But, like a bunch of kids playing kick the can under the light of a lamppost in the middle of the street, we laughed and carried on with hoots and hollers.

There is a playful aspect to these Boomers!  It’s as if we had lapsed back into being preschoolers, enjoying our similarities more than what sets us apart, and just reveling in the joy of playing with one another.  This felt so right to me.  The only difference seemed to be that instead of hearing my Grandmother’s voice calling me home for supper, I had to fix it myself.  Bummer.

Just when I thought Boomerville was winding down several more rigs started to pull in.  They stopped near our area while we were outside with our neighbors, Al and Ingrid and asked about where to set up.  Ingrid immediately tried to make a quick $20 by claiming to be the campground host.  Nice try, but it didn’t work.

They asked where the "solar people" were because last time they set up near some of them; and they didn’t like it when they started to run their generators.  Ingrid continued playing host and assured them that we all ran our generators here and it was no problem.

So, much to her dismay they all pulled in right next to her fifth wheel…all three of them.  And I mean right next to her rig – closely.  Seriously?  You can look around and see lots of empty open places to park here and they tuck in like we’re in some kind of crowded campground.  How rude.  Oh well, that’s part of this life, you know you’re moving again soon anyway so just let it roll….unlike those combat bocce balls.

We had some good memories of that stay and it was fun meeting new fellow nomads. 

Long Live the Queen of Nostalgia