Sunday, August 16, 2009

Doing a Sunday / Backing up a Bit to a Recent TRip

Sitting down on Sunday morning , most of the chores done , yesterday was a cooking day , so I have plenty fixed to eat . Starting the second cup of coffee , watching the day flow by the open door , a road runner or two , some Gambel's quail , the usual rabbits (Rufus & Doofus ) , a few cactus wrens and the ever popular lizards that seem to think I'm particularly amusing . It appears it's going to be a typical New Mexico day , clear blue sky a slight breeze and probably going to be hot this afternoon . I may have to retreat to the front porch of the office with a large glass of ice tea and kick back .
To all who read this , I figured to back up a week or two and recount a trip I did down to Cloverdale NM . There isn't much there now just a couple of old buildings from way back when . However the ride there and the history of the area is worth recounting . Back in the 1870's and 1890's the area was a hotbed of activity , with all the thing you would associate with the wild west . Rustlers , smugglers , mining and huge ranches . The Cloverdale road happens to coincide with Geronimo's trail , needless to say it has been there a while ! It runs all the way from the Sierra Madres in old Mexico to Lordsburg now , and more than likely went a lot further , but civilization and modern roads have more or less erased any sign . But from Texas John Slaughter's ranch on the Mexican border in Douglas AZ to Cloverdale NM is nothing but wild country , from Cloverdale ruins to Animas is a two lane track that no one but the border patrol, a few ranchers and crazies like me use . I started the ride to see if I could find the outlaw cemetery down by Cloverdale , that's supposedly where Ike Clanton's daddie is buried along with several other notorious outlaws from the Tombstone / Wyatt Earp days .The infamous feud of the Earps and Clantons spread across southern Arizona and the bootheel of New Mexico for several years after the OK corral fiasco .  If you read some of the history of this era it's not surprising that politics and quite a bit of what was then the media played a big part in making the bad / good guys of this time into larger than life characters . None the less they were surely some hearty folks and just living in this part of the country was a challenge .
My ride down this road of history started on a bright hot day , with considerble more comforts than were available to these old outlaws , . The road is rough and winds down into the canyons of the Pelloncillo's past a few ranches and border patrol outposts .

The sun beats down with the intensity that is hard to believe , the old adage of being hot enough to fry an egg on isn't far from being true . You don't lay hands on exposed metal , If you don't have some kind of covering for your head , you'll be lightheaded in minutes and anything more than that and you are on your way to some serious problems with sunstroke .
 
High desert landscape is sometimes odd , for all the deep browns and grays , green is abundant , see some cottonwoods and there likely is some water or at least some moisture near the surface .

 
While I never found the cemetery , I found a landscape that if you aren't careful lulls you into a state of  not quite paying attention , your mind wanders , the vast empty spaces , drain your mind till you snap back to attention as your wheels go grinding over rough sided roads.

 
Cattle and horses wander freely , this is open range , dirt tracks lead left and right off the main track , might be a ranch or water tank , no telling . Some ranch houses appear now and then usually several miles apart . Occasionally a vehicle is seen , they always wave a desert tradition , they aren't your buddy , just acknowledging your existence .  These folks live out here by choice , if they wanted company , they would live in some crowded rabbit warren of a city , not likely though , privacy is treasured to them , they like it the way it is. 

 
For me it was a journey down an historic highway , for the rancher another day at work , the border patrol while always respectful and civil , wary eyes on the move always watching , there are still bad guys out here .
Stay tuned .... 

Friday, August 14, 2009

Trippin the Light Fantastic and Assorted Stories

Yeah , Yeah, I know I'm a little tardy in doing the post thing ! I've been busy ! It's not like this is a JOB , and I sure as hell ain't on the clock ! Lots of things going on , making and smoking sausage , pickling peppers , (harvest just started ) running around Arizona and New Mexico looking for cemeteries , and generally trying to keep my head on straight . So many damn distractions , I discovered Facebook and lo andf behold here are a mess of my old friends ! Chit chatting and emailing each other and sending photos to be admired etc. etc. I guess this new technology isn't all bad , just wears thin after 30 or 40 hours continuosly ... So today was a grocery day and the trip to Douglas . A trip I always enjoy right up to the city limits of Douglas and then the traffic starts ! Now Douglas isn't exactly what you would call a metropolitan area , but anything more than two or three cars starts to piss me off and then add the school buses , I get pretty testy ! Thankfully I hit the stores at a slack time and even got through Walmart without thoughts of murder and mayhem , a quick dodge across the street to see Oscar the butcher at Safeway brought me a real score of 3 very large chuck roasts at 99 cents a pound . Yes , we will eat very well for the next few days ! A pot roast and one for the smoker and see how the third one goes for canning or sausage . Back on the road to Carl's JR and a 49 cent cup of coffee , across to the border gas station an some cheap (by Arizona standards ) fuel .
I should say at this point I left Rodeo under the first completely overcast / cloudy sky I've experienced since last November . While in Safeway the heavans opened up and blessed us with a real frog strangler, the parking lot quickly disappeared and there was standing water deep enough to wet your ankles . This was not the exciting part of the day .
Leaving Douglas and heading towards  Rodeo via the valley and prairie lowlands you must drive though a fairly serious set of mountain passes , where I received a lesson in sex . You DO NOT screw with mother nature ! A summer thunderstorm doesn't arrive on cats paws . It RAGES , lightning crashes from peak to peak with a violence that shakes any kind of vehicle you are in . The thunder is like howitzers going off inches from your ears and visibility if any is about 3 feet in front of the hood of your car . But wait , that perfectly smooth and level road you had driven over just a short time ago is now running in torrents of water , stong enough to lift the tires from the pavement and give you the feeling you just joined the Ice Capades ! Well , just pull over and wait it out , the question is where ? Where there was a beautiful hard packed caliche desert just a short time ago is now something that resembles a beer soaked horse shoe pit on a drunken Sunday afternoon !  A short exploration onto the side of the road to check it out ... NO NO NO , the heavy desert tires sink like the goddamn Titanic and if you are lucky you skid back up on the pavement and continue on at a GREATLY reduced speed ! Hold ON ! We are not done with the excitement yet , lets throw in a few animals to make the day complete ! Oh hell yes , a few stray head of livestock , steers as big as pickup trucks some snakes and rabbits , maybe a gila monster or two , turtles , road runners all escaping the flood of water that blasts down into their homes . An education in driving the desert in a thunderstorm !The bonus ... cresting a hill and looking out over fifty or sixty miles of the valley , a light mist changing the landscape into an Alice in Wonderland vista of changing colors and shapes with rays of light highlighting the same view you've seen twenty times before , now it's all different , small dips and canyons , peaks and hillsides that have a new character and the clean smell of the desert washed devoid of dust . I suppose there are worse ways to spend a Thursday afternoon , hell I could have been in a city choking on smog and fighting the rat race ...yeah right ..
Some photos from the porch ..
Stay tuned ...