.: PROLOGUE :. Dave planned this weekend trip as secretly as he could. The only solid clues I had prior to stepping on the plane Saturday morning was that: We were flying out Saturday really early (divulged by Mama Zhu) We were flying into Phoenix (snuck a peek at Dave's monitor) Dave planned to spend time in Tucson (Dave threw a tantrum when he sent me off to the DMV for maps and I returned with a general AZ map and only Phoenix city maps) The itinerary was totally undisclosed until after the first day. So, Dave had a grand old time playing coy. At first he succeeded in convincing me that we were going to go camping and gleefully informed me that going to the toilet would cost me 25 cents and taking a shower was 2 bucks. Heh. Taking his word for it, I amused him for the about three days with wild theories like how every campsite employs a trained bear to casually saunter through the tents, satisfy the geeky tourist with the hi-tech vid-cam and maul the occasional bratty kid. The rest of the time the big furry guy wears a pink gauze tutu and rides a unicycle at the carnival. Anyways, his whole ploy came apart when I declared that I was packing a king size towel and he scoffed "Bah! You don't need a towel!" Hmmm... "Well, what am I to do in the woods? Air-dry myself??" His story promptly began to unravel as he started to present me with concepts crazier than my cross-dressing bear. "I'm gonna house you by yourself in a teepee-hopi and you'll have to cook cacti for dinner 'coz we're gonna be so far away from civilization that you won't even have a GAP nearby to buy new socks!!! Hee hee hee hee heeeeee~" Um.. ooookay... And so, giddy Dave and skeptically befuddled Mich traipsed off to Tucson and took 150 some photos and 1.5 hours worth of video clips.