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 .... 

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 ...

 

  

  

 

Daily updated fun stories, amazing pictures, bizarre texts, extreme videos and a lot of great stories on Smoont.com � The Deepest Step Well in the World

Daily updated fun stories, amazing pictures, bizarre texts, extreme videos and a lot of great stories on Smoont.com � The Deepest Step Well in the World

Lazy Friday / A Good Deal at Ghostrider's Grill

"What a day for a day dream " the words to that song were buzzing in my brain yesterday from the moment I woke up to another sunrise that washed across the desert floor like a golden tide ! Sunlight bringing shifting shapes and illuminating the Chiricahuas with a wash of color to the canyons and peaks . Another day to celebrate just being alive . No plans , no great expectations just the begining of a nice day . Getting moving to get my lazy bones out and about , having a second cup of coffee , suddenly the sun let me know it was appraoching midday . Amble to the office and  pick up the key for the mailbox , trundle down to Rodeo , check the mail , nothing special . Let's take a slow ride to Portal and see what's up with the folks at the Lodge , an excuse for a cup of their excellent coffee and check on the progress of the wall .

The turn has been made and it's nearing completion ! Mitch , has plans to create an outdoor dining , relaxation area and is nearing his goal . After some interesting conversation and a cup or two of their wonderful brew , I made the move to head back to the Ranch and decide what's for dinner . As I stepped outside this is what was appearing over Portal Peak ,

 

  

another example of the awesome power of thunderstorms in and among the mountains .

The trip back to the ranch was uneventful with a quick stop at the Natural Foods Store for some sugar free salt water taffy . The thunderheads had me thinking and as I wheeled into the ranch watching the rain and wind dance around the valley , I decided to head to Animas for dinner at one of my favorite spots

Ghost Rider's Grille behind the Bootheel Grocery .

http://www.ghostridersgrille.com/index.html
http://www.bootheelgrocery.com/index.html
 I ordered the Chili Relleno's this time and as expected they were excellent ! This is the fourth or fifth time I've went there and it's always first rate , the owner Thomas Estrada has owned the grocery and restaurant for a little over a year , his philosophy is keep it simple and good with reasonable [more than reasonable ] prices and give folks an alternative place to go on Friday and Saturday evenings . Ghost Rider's is open only on Friday and Saturday evenings from 5pm to 9pm with the bar open to 11pm . Thomas moved his family here from Albequerqe , his wife is a local and has strong ties to the community , their main reason for returning to this area was for their children and the education thereof . That seems to be a recurring theme among the folks I've talked to out here . They are proud of their school system and after talking to them and some of the young people here it's evident why , it is truly a good one ! Thomas's mom [Vera ] handles the kitchen , a retired police dispatcher , Vera's skills in the kitchen are self evident , it's spotlessly clean as is the entire
store/ restaurant .Linen table cloths and napkins grace the comfortable tables , seating is well placed and you never feel crowded . The staff is friendly and courteous , there is a well stocked bar with wine , beer and liquor . Prices for alcoholic beverages are moderately priced and affordable , to everyone , they also have plenty of soft drinks , tea and coffee. On another trip there I had one of their specials , Chicken fried steak with REAL mashed potatoes and cream gravy , again it was right up near the best I've had in awhile! Cost ?
About $8 ! A good deal anytime . While some would say Animas is out of the way Thomas and his crew seem to stay busy every weekend and folks like me drive twenty miles or more to get there , they must be doing something right !
The grocery store is a treasure also , with the closest large grocery 40 to 50 miles away the Boot Heel , has just about everything you need to get by on and they do Package sales of alcohol , Beer ,Wine and spirits .An added plus is the very friendly and knowledgeable staff at both places  , they live here and can direct you to just about anywhere you need to go or where to find things . The grocery also provides fuel , both gas and diesel with prices within 5 or 6 cents of what you'd pay in the big city .
All in all a great place to come on the weekends for dinner and some relaxation and during the week for groceries and fuel . A nice place with some very nice people !

 

  

 

Sorry about the poor quality of photos , but then again in my previous life I was a chef not a photographer ! I'm still learning . ! Just for informational purposes , the front parking lot of the grocery is my great phone booth in the sky , I spent a lot of time there last year watching and learning about the area from some of these incredible people !
Stay tuned ....

Just A Quickie

just picked this up on my reader and wanted to share , a young woman , name of Tyler Risk had a bad go-down on a bike , this link is to a webpage for folks to sign a guest book to give her encouragment .
No donations are needed , but there is a place to donate to help keep the web pages going for folks in need . It explains itself . For all you motor heads she was a Triumph rider ! Check it out and give her some kind words , believe me "been there  , done that '" she needs all the help she can get !
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tylerrisk

Random Thoughts and Crashing About the Desert

Just some random thoughts and ideas today . A trip to Lordsburg yesterday to get a dose of civilization and go to a rock shop resulted in an unplanned stop at Road Forks on the flyover leading back to Rodeo . The van which is known to be tempermental decided to pause and using all my desert Zen , I used the time to get a few shots across the valley looking towards Cotton city . While it was hot , there was a nice breeze , so settled in and thought about some ideas that have been scurrying around my brain . Taxes on alcohol and tobacco are astronomical , supposedly this is for our own good . If the powers that be can get everyone to stop smoking / using tobacco and drinking that devils brew alcohol we will be infinitely healthier and all is right with the world . However the taxes on these items are used for education , etc . If we all quit , then where does the money come from to pay for al these etceteras ? I see Colorado has opened their laws to more gambling ! There you go ! I remember when the state lotteries were all the rage and how they were going to alleviate the burdens of paying for education and the etceteras , let's see how that's working out . Hmmmm , Nearly all the higher [?] learning institutions have raised their tuition to the point of getting a degree is only possible by going into debt for the next twenty years or so , hmmmm , they do have championship sports teams , coached by a staff that has a budget that could run an aircraft carrier , and they still manage to host some interesting speakers [ mostly ex-politicians ] at hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop . Yep , gambling should do it !
A good friend of mine recently won a contest for one of his recipes and gets to appear on TV , that's a good thought . He's worked like a dog all his life , now has his own restaurant and is living his dream , good for him and his family !

Looks like the Global warming is really hitting us hard also , with several states reporting the coolest summer temperatures ever recorded ! Not saying we shouldn't take care of the planet , But let's not pull a chicken little and start passing all these bills to make more rules for our own good ! By the by Gore's state is one of those reporting , you know , the one where he got strip mining going again ! More political dipsticks hungering for a stage to promote their [$] agenda . Meanwhile in places like Terlingua and spots in New Mexico and a lot of other places  there are dozens of people quietly turning to alternate energy sources and recycling making do without a tax break one . Eventually somebody will get the attention of the  foggy bottom dwellers and show them what can be done without all the extemporaneous legislation that is being promoted .
AHha the van has decided breaks over and back on the road , coming of of Granite Gap the view of this valley never fails to grab at me . The other day as I was crashing about the desert taking pictures of some property for a friend , I realized how great it is to still be able to find a spot that is smog and noise free !

Driving over a road that has been layed out in a seemingly random manner , not maintained by anyone other than the folks who live out here , I find that it's not as bad as you might think. Rough ? Yes , but still drivable and with a little effort to move some rocks into the washes and build up a berm  , it would be as functional as needed . Amazingly enough there are some very nice homes way out here , some are manufactured [modular ] and some are traditional adobe , a scattering of mobile homes and even an RV or two with either a shed or roof built over them to afford some shade . The main thing is still the water , it's there if you can afford a well , down about 150 feet and is as good as any I've ever had . I realize it's not for everyone though , the solitude and quiet are the plus side . The drive for major supplies such as groceries and everyday neccesities just drives some folks crazy . While I don't miss TV , movie rentals , fast food chains , traffic , and all the other things that go with urban society , some need these to keep their little motors running . Almost daily I make discoveries  about my lifestyle I can change . I don't buy near as much food as I used to when I do go to a store , my closet has clothes I haven't used in months . My personal entertainment has shifted more to outdoor activities , and a night sitting out under the stars listening to the desert has become my TV . I can't say it's for everyone , just works for me , I still love to read and the internet keeeps me up to date with friends and family . I wouldn't like to sacrifice that , but I seem to remember getting along without it not so long ago . I wrote a letter a few days ago , actually took a pen and wrote a letter . My teachers would shudder at my hand writing but I got it done . It was kind of satisfying too,
hadn't written in so long I had to actually concentrate on what I was doing ! May have to get back in the habit and write someone once in awhile .
Time to start the days entertainment , laundry first then it's back out in the desert to explore another road .
Stay tuned ....

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An Experiment / How Tough Were They ?

A recent venture out to Rucker Canyon and down to Douglas and old Mexico got me to thinking about my most recent experiment in how the early settlers got by . I started the experiment after thinking about water and how hard it is to come by in the desert . I decided to try and use an approximate amount that someone would carry or have available , say a hundred years ago ! The amount I carry on trips now is seldom less than a couple of gallons , just for drinking . Starting with that I allowed that half of that would go to the horse or mule that would be carrying me . Took off and made a trip forty miles at a slow pace , drove as slow as traffic would allow and kept the windows down , no air conditioning . I wore a long sleeve shirt , jeans and boots and a hat , also carried a neckerchief for the sake of appearance . I left the water jugs on the seat next to me with water from out of the tap at the park . When I left the ranch at 8:30 in the morning it was right at 86 degrees and not a breath of wind . Driving slowly south I was planning on the first stop just past the Mora siding site along the old railbed , a distance of about 12  miles . I was feeling pretty full of myself and proud as could be  , so opened the water jug and had a long drink . Since I had no horse I figured another one for it too , inspecting the gallon jug I figured I had drank about a quart of water . Not bad , the temperature was rising steadily ,but not too uncomfortable yet . Onwards towards Apache and slightly further down to a high spot of the road with a turnout to an old mine road the next stop . I passed through Apache at 10:30 and had a quick drink on the fly , at the rise of the road and the turnout about 6 miles further on I stopped , got my water jug out and took a deep swallow . It was liking drinking water out of the hot water tap in the house ! Dammitt! I'd left the jug sit on the seat in the direct sunlight ! It couldn't have been much different in a canteen on a saddle horn or waterbag hanging off a horse or wagon . About this time I realized I was sweating like someone had cut a fire hose ! Standing in the sun with no shade was a bad idea ! I kept moving towards the canyon , I should mention I was driving at about twenty miles an hour and had'nt seen a vehicle since I left Rodeo ! Rucker canyon was a few miles ahead , I checked the water and was surprised  that there wasn't much left in the first jug ! If I break a water hose or whatever now I'm screwed ! The horse is dead ! I finally arrived at the canyon road and stopped off the highway far enough to get in the shade of a small cottonwood . It's now almost noon and by the little thermometer I had was upwards of 95 plus ! I had  only traveled about 35 miles and was wringing wet from sweat and to say it was getting uncomfortable was a vast understatement I had planned on making some coffee on the little sterno stove but gave that up , drank some more water and chewed on some beef jerky , which only made me thirstier . There you have it ! I'm halfway to Douglas , I still have to cross the other mountain range through the pass and across a desert floor and then back up to 5000 ft over the pass and I've got less than a gallon of water to drink ! Which brings up the other part of the experiment . How about the everyday things we do like washing our hands and face or taking a shower everyday ? I kept the experiment going for six days , washing my hands on occasion and at night wetting a small towel and washing my face and arms to keep from feeling too nasty .On the seventh day I couldn't stand my own odor any more and called the experiment ot an end . I itched and smelled bad , my beard was driving me crazy and I was sure a colony of some kind of large ants had taken up residence in my hair ! I spent some quality time in the shower with some of the nicest smelling soap and shampoo ever ! I even wore the same clothes that I had worn on the water trip , they actually made a crackling sound when I forced them into the washer ! Another thought of just how tough those settlers were , washing clothes , your body , drinking , cooking , taking care of the animals , and doing all this without knowing where the next water would be ! 
How tough were they ? Try it for yourself ! I have a whole new outlook on those folks , they were stronger than I can imagine !
By the by the trip to Rucker canyon is on hold till I get someone to go with me it's even wilder than I expected and is not a place for an old crippled up guy like me to venture into alone .

Stay tuned .............