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 .... 

Computers / Birthday / A Great Day

A fresh start today , Bob's Birthday with the accompanying food and good friends to hang with . The computer is all cleaned up and all the little annoying tasks associated with it are done . After an entire day of all the computer geekiness I could stand , I settled down on the deck and treated myself to a Shiner , watched the day end with it's usual magnificence , the sun slipped slowly behind the Chiricahuas and the light playing on the clouds became a light show a rock star would have been proud of . A quick review of the computer clean up , the geeky stuff was a pain in itself , I don't like doing it and have only learned to do the various tasks because I refuse to pay someone to do it for me . Hence , quite a few detours were made taking up time and for all I know setting a new precedent in computer maintainence . I'm sure there are system administrators out there just trembling at my skill ! The biggest item , believe it or not was dust ! Yep , plain old dust , we do have an abundance of said dust in New Mexico ! It gets into everything , keyboards , usb's , hard drives , any peripheral you may have and needless to say everything else in the trailer . A lot of time was spent just getting the fore mentioned items free of the dust . Then on to the drive clean up and straightening out the registry , running the spyware programs , etc. etc.I think it should run properly now , I sure hope so , the resulting head ache received from doing this small bit of insanity was a real winner !
Onward and upward  so the saying goes , today plans on some tall tales , good friends and lots of food . Another beautiful New Mexico day in the making , temps in the 80s , humidity in the teens and 20s a slight breeze , HOO YAH

Stay tuned ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB !!!!

Splainin the VA title &dealing with the Credit Demon

Yesterday I wrote that the VA loves me , splainin that , is even though they can be the most exasperating bunch of people to deal with short of a bunch of crazed Walmart shoppers the day after Thanksgiving , I receive very good care at most of the VA facilities I have to go to .The long waits , Doctors who at best have a marginal command of the English language and even less understanding of American culture still provide Me with good medical care . Not saying I don't get as aggravated as anyone else, just don't want to give the impression I don't get care .
Yesterday I got into an electronic conversation with some folks out in Texas , and as we talked about the sad state of the Country and credit and mortgages , banks and assorted other forms of thievery , I mentioned a guy named Clark Howard . He has a radio show that deals with financial stability and not wasting money in general . He has a website clarkhoward.com that can be real helpful to anyone interested in not getting ripped off or wants to save money . He is a great proponent of getting out of debt and staying out ! Basically get rid of all those credit cards , keep your car more than a year or two and watch for bargains , He DOES NOT give investing advice or tell anyone to get into stock trading . I don't believe there is a hidden agenda to what this guy preaches , common sense and take responsibility for yourself are His main topics . His ideals of self sufficiency and not buying stuff you don't need are right up my alley and falls into what I'm trying to do with Azad . Even though I work on a really tight budget the parts and pieces I buy and try to pay cash for , are of good quality . I've found two salvage places for RVs and the parts they offer are in good condition and the price is generally within my budget . One of the things I'm discovering is take time to make stuff work , don't rush it , sometimes an engineering break will give you a new approach to a problem and keep you from spending more $ to fix a problem ,

Azad the RV

Dazed and confused Azad found his way home .The journey from Gainesville Fl. to Lake City Fl. is only about fifty miles and "A" performed like a champ ! For as old as He is the old guy trucked along and seemed to have plenty of spirit and all systems were a go except for the turn signals . I brought the old fella to the side yard at my sisters and we are ready to begin all the little projects and modifications I've been planning for the last few months.
First step is to learn all I can about the existing systems and all the little gremlins lurking in A's thirty year old body . Already I've answered numerous questions concerning the lunacy of buying something so old ! My reasoning is , So am I ! I understand the technology in A's innards , nice and simple , basic wiring and electric equipment .All the semi hi- tech stuff I plan to add is also the same plan , Uncomplicated and easy to maintain . The main plan is for house batteries as big as I can afford {hopefully glass mats }a solar charger to keep them at a level to run a few of my tools like a laptop , coffee pot , etc . After some research I was surprised at the availability of appliances for 12 volt systems .
Today was dedicated to tracing wiring and checking fuses , also pulled the old radio out of the dash to see if I wanted to keep it or not , School's still out on that decision , I did find most everything is safe and no major problems , rerouted a couple of wires and added some padding to a some sharp bends just for safety . Found a good place for water storage under the sink area that will be easy access for maintenance and installation .Tomorrow if the weather permits (thunderstorms today ) the plan is to delve into the propane system to see it's condition and decide if I need to upgrade or replace anything.