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 .... 

Company Departs / Canyon Running / What It must Have Been Like

All good things must end . My sister departed to go back to Fl , my other friends have went to Deming to deal with the challenge of getting their house built . Back to the daily routine of discovery and exploration of the high desert . I did get the chance to show my sis the incredible beauty and different plant and life forms on the high desert . Bob , Sis and I loaded up one day for the trip to Sierra Vista AZ. by way of Douglas and Bisbee , the trip narrated by Bob , with his volumes of knowledge of the area was nice for me too . It was a good ride , particularly as I didn't have to drive , the local fauna cooperated with antelope coming within a few yards of the highway to show off their summer colors , through the pass to Douglas some white tail deer leaping through the thickets made for a pleasant surprise  . Traffic , thankfully was light and with no one to pressure us we had a leisurely trip over and back  . Bisbee is all that you would expect from an old mining town built onto the side of a mountain , with the great open pit mines with their gaping maw there to remind you of what mining is all about . It ain't pretty but it is an awesome sight , especially if you think about the technology that was available when these monsters were in full swing .

Sierra Vista is not all that old and bears a striking resemblance to every other bedroom community in America , lots of big box stores , lots of franchise eateries , lots of traffic , I was a wreck by the time came to return home . I realize these places are necessary for people to exist , but I don't have to like it ! At any rate a safe return to Rusty's was accomplished and after an application of Shiner Bock , my jangled nerves were settled and we spent a pleasant evening sitting on the deck and let the desert whisper it's secrets to us .

Yesterday I undertook a little canyon running . I started up at the far end of cave creek and slowly worked my way back to Portal , a quick stop for a coffee , and I went down State Line Road , I wanted to get some more photos of the old Pullman car that sits abandoned out in the desert just south of Rodeo
as I was cruising the stretch of road leading to the old car , I spied the Sulphur Canyon Road and having met a couple of folks who lived back in there , I went to explore . There are a good many trails back up in the canyon but I decided not to beat the van up anymore and parked and with the aid of my walking stick made it in quite a ways to get a few shots ;

 

  

  

While I didn't set out to be gone the entire day I found that canyon running on my messed up legs makes for some slow going . What would have been a short trip some years ago , turned into a two and a half hour journey and just about beat me up . It was worth it ! 

My next stop was down on Stateline Road . This old Pullman car really intrigues me , no telling how long it has been sitting out in this field . No one seems to know , it is quite a distance from where the tracks were and still has it's trucks underneath it . What kind of stories this old car could tell , cattle barons ? Perhaps some native Americans riding it to their imprisonment to Fl ? Families coming west to settle ? Tired cowboys , making the trek back to the ranch after a hooraw in El Paso ? Miners going to Douglas or Bisbee ? I may have to write a story on this one .

 

And of course the end of a great day .
Stay tuned ....