Playing Catch Up / Manana Disease / Company

It seems it's been a while since I did this , I make no excuses . Time really flys at times , but somehow Idug my spurs in the ground and managed to slow everything to a crawl . My travels form the high desert into the mountains resulted in a near terminal case of the dreaded Manana disease . I'm at a loss to describe the things I've seen and experienced . At the risk of sounding mystical or spiritual , this has to be one of the most fantastic places on earth , the Apaches had some better understanding of the power of nature and whatever resides in this magical place .
The arrival of my friend Gary just before Thanksgiving was a great motivator , after catching up on all the outside world news and the folks we know in common , we had a great Thanksgiving meal here at the park . Food beyond expectations and people , literally from all over the world ! One couple from Germany, a couple from Canada , and the rest from all over the U.S. Most of the residents here are travelers so stories flew fast furious about all the places we had all been , the most astonishing thing was the lack of talk about politics or celebrities  ! Truly a Thanksgiving ! The crowd thinned out and we all trundled to our own places of rest .
Friday Gary and I got an early start and we went to Portal first , luckily the little store was open and we could grab a snack , little did we know these would be the last people we would see for the next five or six hours ! Up over the small hill to the entrance of Coronado National Forest and then we started UP , the gradual incline and paved road gave way to an dirt mountain road ! Now to be fair there was a sign that said that the road was not well maintained , and it was very narrow , and could be impassable in the winter . Well , it is the end of November but no signs of winter as yet ! Fortunately for us , Gary is an excellent driver and has experience on mountain roads , plus He has a new pick up with lots of ground clearance ! Friends and neighbors , I mean that road went UP ! Switchbacks , sharp blind turns and some very slippery and soft spots  made for a very interesting ride ! Of course the scenery is breathtkaing and if you don't feel whatever you believe in hand on you , you are seriously bent in your thinking .We made it over the top[elv 6800ft] to turn off at the other Dirt road leading down and in the direction of Chiricahua National monument . This also was an entertaining ride as the swichbacks , etc, were now going the other direction ! Rough is a vast understatment for this road I would still reccomend this trip to anytone if you are a good driver and have no problems with heights ! Some drop offs were as much as 800 to 1500 ft sraight down , and there are no guard rails ! This is a mountain road  , at the begining there is a sign that warns you NO VEHICLES OVER 29 FEET , yet at least once or twice a month some dipstick truck driver trying to avoid the scales or whatever attempts it and they close the road until they can retrieve all the pieces ! The roadto the National Monument is somewhat better and inside the park the roads are paved and well maintained . However our destination was the Masai point that overlooks the Apache stronghold , and again it was UP ! The arrival at the top , again left me virtually dumbstruck ! How did these people exist in this place ? ANYONE who could find a way rto live in this should be left alone ! I'll let the pictures do the explaining , I was shaking my head in wonder all the waty back home . Leaving the Monument we decided to go to Willcox AR. to get a bite to eat and then head back to Rodeo . Distance to Willcox , about 40 miles , back to Rodeo about a hundred miles . We traveled this in less time then it took us to go over the mountains to the monument ! Distance from Rusty's to Portal , 7 miles , over the montain to the monment , about 45 or 50 miles ! But what a ride !!!
Gary had to leave to take care of business today [Sunday ] but He'll be back ! This area infects you worse than any disease , you can't get enough of it ! Here are a few of the hundred and some pictures I took on Friday ... By the by Masai Elev 8000 ft plus it was right nippy ...34 degrees !

Vapours / A Language Barrier

After contacting the home front yesterday , I mounted a trip to Douglas partly for supplies for the weekend and partly for the ride . I don't get tired of driving the roads around here , always a new view with a different perspective depending on the time of day . Dipping down off the pass into Douglas , a quick stop at the gas station to fill up and check the air in the tires , and then down to 5th st and the land of big stores . Foregoing the Safeway and a couple of others I trundled into Wally World to find a parking spot within trekking distance to the door! As soon as I stepped through the door the first indication I had that they had released the vapour that day were evident , several women clustered around a display of eerily ornamented paper plates and cups vaguley reminiscint of a scene from Macbeth , except with Christmas overtones , turning sharply away from this disturbing scene and down to the area I hoped would bring relief and a new blanket , I  did a controlled crash into what was considered the Holiday area ! A good 1/4 acre dedicated to ... yes Christmas ! More evidence of whatever vapour the fiends had released on their customers , women drifting slowly about like leaves in the wind with that deer in the headlights look so often seen on heavily over served bar patrons late at night , the men leaning over the shopping carts offering mute supplication to whatever gods there be to deliver them from this torture . I had to flee! . Back to the one place there would be none of this cruel assault on my visual and audial senses , the Automotive department ! Huddled beneath the cans of oil and STP I caught my breath with the sweet scent of floor mats and hydraulic oil . Peeking from this sanctuary I saw that I could make it to the camping dept. without encountering elves or reindeer , [there were enough Rudolphs to power the Space Staion in that store ] , I snagged the little cooking pot I wanted and sped towards home furnishings to grab the spare blanket I wanted . Steady Jim , Steady , almost done , a dash across to the food section , grab some Gatorade , a couple packs of hot dogs , a loaf of fresh bread , some apples and down through the gauntlet that passes for a check out line ! A stroke of luck and I caught the prettiest little cashier in the place , with a smile and and quiet Hola Senor she rapidly got me out of there !
I was at my parking spot when I heard the voice drifting across to me on the wind , a woman on a cell phone two rows over , obviously wound up about something , whatever , I loaded up and was walking arund the cab and had nearly gotten inside when a nice looking truck pulled in beside me . Not new just nice looking and well taken care of , turning in my seat the cell phone harriden was just launching her cart across the row and still screeching getting into her SUV , the cart of course took dead aim on my row and with nothing to impede it was drawing a bead on the unsuspecting truck next to me ! I heaved myself back out and caught the cart prior to any damage being done . Standing there I felt a hand on my arm , I turned  to see a well dressed Latin man and smiling and saying Gracias Senor , he then unleashed an invective towards the cell phone woman's genral vicinity and I can assure you that even with my faulty and limited command of Spanish it was colorful ! I told him as best I could I just was trying to stop the cart from hitting the truck and he replied " Si , Yo entiende , con permiso Senor , and he held the door for me while I crawled back into "A" , Buenos Dias Senor , Adios . I fired up the Dodge and was backing out , I looked at the plates on the truck SONORA old Mexico ! A language barrier ? Don't think so .. The vapours went away .....

Colors / Music / Ridin Around

I can't get over the array of colors in the desert ! Watching the sun come up this morning the differences between the higher elevations and down on the desert floor , at the tops of the peaks the background cobalt sky faded down the slopes to a verdant green and at the foothills were a light green and tan , the desert floor at first light was an entire spectrum of greens and blending with the lower brushes and grasses of anything from a dark brown to a khaki color . Closer up where I could actually see the ground a blend of dark granite to reddish agate rocks and stones , so unlike the Texas hard pan caliche that was almost alkali white . 
Yesterday took a ride over to the phone booth to catch up on staying in contact with the rest of the world and seek an appoiuntment with the VA doctors , successful in one a complete bust on the doctor thing ! Afterwards I turned the nose towards rt 338 to Lordsburg  , driving through ranch and farm country , fields of chili peppers being harvested and on towards Cotton City I came upon a haying operation . Stopping to watch for a bit The smell of that alfalfa abouut knocked me out , the hay was so green it had bluish tinges to it and seemed to roll on for a mile or more . I had the Robert Earl Keen cd cranked up and listened and watched the bales appear for a half hour or so then up the road to see what was next . I cruised into Lordsburg not really looking for anything in particular , the place is a typical sleepy New Mexico town , even though it's on the interstate there isn't much to give it a tourist flavor . One block away from the exit and it returns to small town America ,I stopped at Saucedo's grocery to grab a few supplies and then headed back to Mickey D's for a cup of coffee . One more phone call and on the road back to Rusty's via route 80 and down through the pass to regroup after a day out on the road . I didn't take any pictures , I'll leave that to the theatre of your mind ! It was a beautiful ride ...

News / Defining Relaxed

The weekend sort of did a sneaky Pete on me , while adjusting my attitude to fit into the slow time drift that defines southern New Mexico, I must have over compensated and suddenly it's Monday ! Clear blue skies , moderate temperatures , surrounded by extraordinairily nice people , good food , an abundance of scenery that takes your breath away no matter what direction you turn , hmmm... Wonder how that happened ? Saturday did prove to be special as I finally got my act together to do some outdoor cooking . Got my trusty dutch oven out and built a fire early in the afternoon . After the coals were down to where I could manage them put on a pot of pinto beans with ham hocks , sausage , chilis , and onions . Let that slow cook all afternoon while I played a little guitar , watched the mountains and listened to some tunes . Bob came over about 5:30 and we swapped lies for a while and had a bowl of beans together . The conversation turned to growing up and how different things are now as opposed to several years ago . He proceeded to tell me about growing up during the Depression in Wyoming , and what his father and mother had to do to keep the family fed and under shelter . If I could I would have the stories published and made required reading for every person under thirty in America ! Not that they would learn anything , but at least to know how little it takes to get by . As the hours slipped by I considered how lucky I am to have had the upbringing that I did . To be able to sustain myself with what I have and to be content and comfortable is more than a lot of folks get to realize in their life . The media keeps pounding on theAmerican dream and buy this , buy that , buy it on credit , buy it even if you don't need it , you have to have a house , you have to have the newest car , doesn't matter they are poorly built pieces of crap . One thing the media has got right , if you continue to be satisfied with the crap and continue to go in debt and feel you are entitled to more , you deseve it ! The dumbest coyote in New Mexico doesn't go back to where it was shot at the first time ! Keep on America , but quit whining about how bad things are , if you don't like the way you are living then do something about it .
In the rest of my adjustment over the weekend I guess you could say I have reached a level of contenment that defines relaxed , a lot of stuff that used to bother me to no end , now seems pretty trivial . The bozo's in Washington can't be helped , the weasles on Wall St. can't be helped , the folks who keep electing or retaining corrupt officials can't be helped . I can ,  however, be happy with my situation and what I do .
Here are a couple of pictures of the beans while cooking , they were and are REAL good .

Geting What You Need/ Not Neccassarily What You Want

Well now ! Here we are after the farce that passes for electing a leader for our country , the old saying comes to mind "be careful what you wish for " comes to mind . My buddy Bob and I were discusssing the goofiness of the last few months and he mentioned that we had just elected a president that had the ability to borrow or cajole money out of people who could least afford it ! Doesn't matter that neither candidate has a good grasp of what is actually going on in this country or how business or taxes work . Bob is 78 and has been around the block a time or two , another point we discussed was that the last time this much hoorah was made over an election was back at the beginning of the Kennedy era and before that was FDR back in the thirties , both precluded some really tumultous times for this country . One thing is for sure SOMEONE always has to pay the fiddler ! Myself I still think there are going to be an awfully large number of young and disenfranchised followers of our new Pres.
For now I'm on the mend from whatever this bug was , feel better and this morning loaded up and made the trip to Rodeo to the little store there . Now, this little place doesn't have a whole lot of stuff ,but they did have a bottle of antacid and I didn't care what it cost ! It seems to have done the trick and I spent the rest of the day shooting the breeze with Bob and watching old Gunsmoke on the big TV in the office . The wind has once again come up pretty strong and while I did have places to go , there was nothing that important . So , returned to camp do a little clean up , a short power nap and figure out what to do about something light to eat .
Tomorrow if the winds prevail my take a ride to see what kind of trouble I can stir up , again may not have been the day I wanted but I got what I needed .

A Slight Setback / Recovered ?

To explain my abscence for a couple of days , some kind of bug or virus or maybe Aztec voodoo laid me low ! Just plain wiped me out , didn't even fire up the coffee pot and that's something for me! Don't have a clue whay caused it , couldn't eat , stomach ache , weak and couldn't get enough water . Spent yesterday in bed and really didn't move until last night , then made some chicken broth and finally today I feel almost human again . A strange experience to say the least . So , today looks to be a trip to Lordsburg to look around and get some new reading material , hopefully I can avoid all the election madness , I foresee some troubled times for us , no matter who wins ! One side expects the arrival of free bubble up and rainbow stew , a chicken in every pot and no one has to work any more ! While the other side believes we are doomed and taxes are going to be so high to bail out the fat cats and take care of more loans from foreign countries we won't be able to maintain . Then you have the true crazies who promise armed insurrection no matter who wins ! Fortunately the desert doesn't pay much attention to all this and people seem to concentrate on survival and doing what needs to be done to get by . Seems like a good spot to be for a while . 
Here are a couple of pictures from the front of the park , it's a nice place to hang out , and relax , neat little koi pond , waterfall and front porch with shade ......

The Mercantile / A large Phone Booth

My travels yesterdy took me to Animas again , I needed to investigate the store I saw before called The Animas Mercantile .It's an easy trip across the basin and up over the pass , a slight rise of 700 to 1000 feet involved , with a gently rising road and open curves with good visibility . The store itself is in a large metal building and while I expected some building materials and whatnot , I found a complete hardware store with just about anything you need to make stuff work ! In true mercantile tradition they also had a rack of goodies such as candy bars snacks etc . I asked the lady if they had a problem keeping the treats fresh and she said  "just watch " , I was there while 5 or 6 customers went through and every one of them grabbed something , no problem with freshness ! In the course of our conversation she informed me most of the guys drive 30 to 40 miles just to get there , needless to say they need a snack to get them home . I found an extension cord , a pair of ranch gloves and some fly strips and traps , before I contained myself and quit making up projects that I probably would never do ! Bob later told me the local ranchers own the place , so what you see is pretty much what you need .
A quick trip around the corner to the little store and gas station for a cold drink and a popsicle . What ? You didn't think I was going to go without my popsicles did you ? The store was full as Humberto's bus was there a legal importer of Mexican labor , these guys ride that old school bus 120 miles each day for work around here on the ranches , Friday is payday and they stop to get their cold drinks and snacks to get them home , usually they go from work directly to the border and that's it , whatever it takes to make a living .
The other reason for going to the store was I can get a great cell phone signal there , sort of like a very large phone booth ! The view from the parking lot streches for miles in every direction , so well worth the trip if I just sit in the parking lot and have a popsicle ! The ride back was once again a slow easy drift down to the basin , 15 miles pretty much coasting and didn't see one car !
the pictures are from just sitting around my campsite trying to learn the camera better , taken from about 5 in the afternoon till just after sunset , they show the light on the mountains as evening comes on us . The one of the bird on the ground is a Glover's quail , can't get over the size of them . Remember ,to see the pictures full size , just click on them ,I shrunk them as much as possible to get them all in .