We weren’t disturbed during the night I was happy to discover when the dumpster trucks awoke us. As we dozed, I heard the sound of birds chirping in the trees. Vanessa said something about her alarm and I told her not to worry about it, that there were just birds outside. I must have still been drunk because it was definitely her alarm, not real birds.

We stealthily emerged from the van like the innocent woment that we are and crossed the road to the first café we saw. It was across the road from the pub and busy with the morning rush. Very hipster which is right up V’s alley. The place smelled like coffee, all steaming up from oversized mugs. When V saw a plate of waffles go past, she knew what she wanted for breakfast and I was the same. Smoothie for me, French press for V, I rustled up some chairs and squeezed us into a corner. The food went down well and despite a spill with the press jug, the coffee was much to V’s satisfaction.

Feeling full and less hungover, we went back to the car where I discovered I had a flat on my front right tyre. After pumping it up to pressure, I could hear the leak from where I’d had the tyre patched before. Shit. Oh well, it could have happened in a worse place. V organised her gear while I changed the tyre out, happy that I didn’t have any issues with my spare (always a good sign). Vanessa topped the new tyre up with air while I stowed my jack and tools.

Finally, we were on our way. We planned to find a hike somewhere in Sedona before heading back to Phoenix. I’d told Dan as much and he was keen to join us, but that was before he copped a hangover from the party he’d had the night before so it was just us girls. We stopped in at Slide Rock State Park for a look, pulling off to the side of the road at another of my secret spots where we could hop down the rocks and get to the park without paying the entrance fee. We walked along the forest trail a little too far, making for a slightly difficult way down on the wet, muddy rocks, but we were eventually safely down, right at the slide rock where kids were sliding on their bums at speed along the smooth rock. It is a beautiful little spot, but the water was way too cold to be swimming in, especially at this time of year. Kids are crazy.

After using the restrooms (thanks state park), we rock hopped upstream to a more secluded spot. There, we had the place to ourselves. I put my legs in the water and had a shave, which was well overdue and we both decided it would be nice to just hang out exactly where we were until we got sick of it and then maybe do a hike.

I went back up to the car, finding a much easier path, and collected a few things for us to be able to relax. When I got back, people had sprung up from nowhere and were crowding our spot, but we didn’t care, we just set up anyway. We had a few snacks and relished the short moments when the sun peeped out from behind the clouds. Vanessa got stuck into a new book while I caught up on my writing, all the while looking up at the tourists in front of us with different rock jumping capabilities. All good entertainment.

After a couple of hours, the sun was determined to stay hidden and the wind had picked up to make us cold. I used a towel as a blanket and V donned my downie, but it wasn’t enough, the setting was no longer pleasant. We packed our shit up and got out of there, cringing as we touched the cold water to make our escape.

Back at the car, we decided to drive into Phoenix and maybe do a hike there since it was two hours away and we were quickly running out of time in the day. On the way, I got in touch with Dan and he’d recovered from his hangover and was keen to hang out at the lake so a plan was made. I must have done the drive often enough now that it’s boring to me because it seemed to take forever. We relished the growing warmth as we head south. When I stopped for petrol not far from the lake, we were both hungry and I was in need of a beer so we stocked up on beer and V got some chips. I regretted not opening one of the beers for a roadie on the way to the lake.

We pulled in to the jetski shack and saw Cleo wagging her tail on the porch. Yay, Vanessa got to meet Cleo! We got outta the van, immediately cracked some beers and settled onto the porch to share our stories of the last two days and listen to Dan’s woes in the jetski rental business. There had been an idea to go out on the water, but we were all happy to chill since the wind was too cold for doing anything out on the lake. We listened to some good music and continued sipping our beers. As Vanessa put it, I was in my happy place.

At around 6pm, Dan had to go and rescue a sunken jetski, so V, Cleo and I held down the fort. Within minutes of Dan leaving we were inundated with people looking at jetski rental prices. I played it cool and said that if they had any questions, they shouldn’t hesitate to ask. When a man came running over to us to tell us about a boat stranded out in the water, I struggled to find the right number to call to get help while he ran back to the shore and swam out to help the boat in need. Shortly after, the wife of the man on the boat came running over, almost hysterical, at a complete loss of what to do. Her phone was dead, she couldn’t get in touch with her husband on the boat and he was slowly drifting out into the lake, despite the best efforts of him and the swimmer to row back to shore.

After trying the ranger’s number and managing to call the office of Lake Pleasant in New York State, I called 911. My first 911 experience! I was impressed with the efficiency with which they dealt with our conundrum and within minutes they had promised to send help. The two wives of the men on board and I walked over to the bank as close as we could get to the boat and yelled simultaneously, “Help is coming!” as loudly as we could in the hopes our combined voices would carry across the water. They understood and stopped paddling, which hadn’t been doing them much good anyway. While we waited, I ran around the jet ski lot playing catch with the rescuer’s wife’s two young boys. A short while later, a boat came across the lake towards the boat ramp. The men on the stranded boat waved their oars in distress and just as it seemed the other boat had missed them, they slowed and turned around. We didn’t need the police’s help after all, the new boat towed the strugglers to shore. Drama! Drama! Drama!

We told all this to Dan when he returned as he drained a half-full jetski of water. He told us that even if we’d had the truck to launch a jetski, they charge $150 for a rescue! With the few minutes we had left before leaving, we watched a big storm cross the north side of the lake. The clouds pooled in dark masses and lightning flashed across the sky but the rain didn’t hit us. V was on a high as we got ready to leave. Dan whisked her into a whirlwind hug and I lifted her up and spun her around when she couldn’t stop doing her rain dance.

I did the now-familiar drive to the airport fending off high winds from the storm. It was smooth sailing all the way and we were both quiet, reminiscing about our good times together. At the airport, we didn’t have any of the troubles we’d had a few days before and thankfully the place was deserted. We did one last quick sweep of the van for V-things and finding nothing, we hugged each other and said, “Til next time!” I think V left happier than when she’d come and my spirits had definitely been lifted. A successful mission.

I drove straight back to the lake via a quick stop at Walmart for some dinner and beers for me and Dan. I met him at the jetski shack where I unloaded the food then we drove a short ways to an overnight parking lot. Poor Astro was left by herself in a dirt carpark while we walked back along a path to the shack. The wind had died down so it was a nice night and being in the shack was cool for something different. We made sandwiches out of the hot chook, avocado and lettuce I bought and dug into some beers while we sat back and watched shit on Dan’s laptop. We started with news that lead on to a comedian Bill Burr who had us in fits of laughter.

When we got sick of TV watching, we set my table up and got the cards out. Being inside the shack made us feel like grownups living apartment life! Dan won this round of cards but it was a close call. Defeated, I followed Dan and Cleo into Air Force One which was tucked away right next to the shack.