Cherry Creek adventure

 

The bones are tired. 70 miles on the cycle was a lot of motorcycle riding. This morning with Len the great cycle trip started up Cherry Creek. The Commander would take a hike while Len and Kadizzle made the 40 mile trip up the Cherry Creek road. The road is one of the longest Kadizzle has ever taken throuh such a remote area. Perhaps three ranches exist on the entire length of the road. If you drew a map carefully it is probably one of the least populated areas in the country. This was not always the case. At one time the whole valley must have been relatively well populated with Indians. The area has some of the best Indian ruin sites the Kadizzles have visited, and we have visited hundreds of sites.

Once you cross the water of Cherry Creek for the last time at Ellison's ranch, the road deteriorates quickly. On one of our earlier trips, we met the Ellisons. They look like a couple in their early 80's and each one of them carries a six shooter stuffed in the back of their pants. Just by chance this year, we met a cousin of theirs.

After crossing Cherry Creek the road climbs up onto the side of the mountains. Most of the time the road hangs on the edge of a cliff. The view is spectacular and a lot of the scenery seems out of place for Arizona. When you look up into the canyons, the scene looks like something from South American with vegetation hanging from steep cliffs. After cycling for a couple miles, Len and Kadizzle reached the dark shaded cove where one would start the hike for Devil's Chasem.  We hiked up the Chasm last year to some spectacular ruins.  From there, we went on up the valley to the trail head for the two other major Indian sites in the area. Kadizzle tried to explain to Len where our next Indian exploration would take place.

As the trip proceeded and the crew went deeper into the absolute middle of nowhere, the scenery never let up. Hundreds of potential places for Indian dwellings appeared everywhere. One could spend many years hiking these canyons and never get done exploring. As we went up, it became obvious the original occupants of the valley could have access to some sites from the plain above. The whole trip opened up Kadizzles eyes to the possibilities for food gathering. At one stop, the ground was littered with acorns. Knowing the Indians used them as a food source, Kadizzle decided to try a couple. The natives mush have had a way of drying and preparing them. A bitter and drying taste was Kadizzles result, but if you were starving they might have been fine.

Different Planets on the same planet.

Traveling the world we are assigned to one realizes the incredible diversity of our planet.  Yesterday the Kadizzlites took off on an adventure to a fire tower high above the Sierra Ancha Mountains.  These mountains are only about 15 miles from our camp site yet the climate is entirely different and so is the terrain.

Wayne Axtman, from our home town of Hazen, decided to make the hike with us.  After placing one vehicle where the trail would end, we headed to the fire tower.  Two miles up a steep road by foot brought us to the tower.   The Commander and Kadizzle have always thought about serving a term in a fire tower.  The view, as expected, encompassed a large part of the universe and was spectacular in every direction.  We could look down on so many of the places we have hiked.  It was obvious you could plan on being at the base of a lot of lightening strikes if you lived there.  This tower was a little different and had a cement block room at the bottom.   Just imagine being in a room and getting hit by lightening five or six times in one night.  A warning sign said to not climb the tower during storms.  Sort of like don't piss in the wind.  The fire tower was at 7,135 feet, which is high for this area.  The higher elevations get more moisture, so you are in an alpine environment.  Pine trees four feet in diameter are common.

After soaking in the view, we headed four miles down the mountain on what appeared to be some sort of old jeep trail.  Along the way, we spooked a flock of turkeys, and saw a lot of elk tracks.   Acorns were everywhere, and no doubt that is what the turkeys were eating.  Kadizzle ofter wonders about the Indian food supply and how they survived.  This food supply was within about a two day hike for the Indians that had dwellings down where we are camped.   Meat, berries, and a whole different variety of things could have come from the mountains.

Along the way, the trail got sketchy at times, and the group had to resort to map and GPS skills.  About three miles down the trail, we came across a huge dry waterfall.   During the snow melt it would be a site to behold.  This is the first year we have ever gone into these mountains and not encountered snow.   Luckily the day was T shirt warm and very comfortable hiking.   Kadizzle would give this hike an A rating.   If you ever want to do it,  the bonus for those who have not done it is the scary drive up into the mountains.   As you climb by car or truck out of the valley, the road hangs on the edge of cliffs for long stretches.

Today Len and Kadizzle will attempt the mother of all motorcycle rides on Cherry Creek Rd.  We will go on an extremely difficult and little used back road.  Tune in tomorrow to see if we made it. 

Living on $800 a month

As we travel we find many people living on the edge.   Most of them do quite well.  Many couples get a bee in their undies to go on the road and live the traveling life.   A lot of full timers as they are called end up being camp host for all or a good portion  of the year.  Camp host usually get a place to park, some sort of electricity, and in colder areas the Forest Service will provide propane.  Camp host usually tidy up the campground a bit, cut some brush, and perhaps clean the restrooms.  Cleaning the restrooms is the kicker.  Since many people don't want that job the Forest Service often contracts it out. 

The full timers know every angle for cutting cost.  They know when to stay in a casino parking lot, when to park at Wall Mart over night, and where all the free spots are.   The real key to living cheap is a warm climate.  All economy lifestyles follow the weather.   Living in a warm climate save a lot.  Many of the full timers have relatively nice motor homes.  Most of them figured out that you buy your motorhome in Montana, or South Dakota so you don't get taxed.  You also set up a fake residency there.   Then there is wifi, TV, and how to get these services remotely and cheaply.  The full timers all know the tricks.

After full timers come the people living on the edge.   The people on the edge don't particularly care to work, they have a small income from somewhere, and they have to monitor every move carefully.  A lot of these people have quasi mental issues.  A lot just enjoy being free from the encumbrances of society.   When things are tight you live in a very small space.  This could be a tent, the back of a pickup truck,  a small trailer,  or what ever you can get by cheap in.   There are all degrees of living on the bum.   The hard core bummers have no electronic communication.   The hardcores rely on firewood for most of their comfort,  and cut any corner they can.  Being a mobile street person in the great outdoors of America is not a bad life,  certainly better than pushing a shopping cart in downtown big city.   With a lot of these people you find out something went wrong, a divorce, an illness,  a retirement plan that was not much of a plan.   A whole lot of these people do not at all mind being alone.  They make good company, and enjoy company, but are perfectly happy sitting in the sun reading.   Cut off from the outside world reading becomes an important part of the lives of people living on the edge.   Acquiring books in the wilderness is relatively easy.   Most campgrounds have an informal book exchange where you leave one and pick up another.   There are no fines and the book is never due back.

Who are these people?  There are ex airline pilots,  a farmer who turned his manure spreader into a camper,  an old electrician,   a rich old guy who just took off,  retired criminals,   a hotel clerk who wanted to see the country.   So many of these people are motivated by a simple desire to see what is out there,  and there is a lot out there. 

A verse to an old song says it all " living on dreams isn't easy" , but a lot of people do.   What happens to these people when they finally get too old to bum around?   Bud used to be the camp host back at the Goldfield recreation site.  He lived in the corner and had his fire every  morning in the was tub.  Bud made airplanes from Coke cans and kept peace in the kingdom.   This year we came back from the North and Bud is gone.  He just disappeared, like a couple others did. 

A lot of people begrudge those living on the edge, or think they are not worthy.  How mistaken can you be?  So many of these people are very content.  They use of very few resources.  They provide a lot of service for what they are paid.   So many living so well forget that they live well because someone on the other end of the game has made a lot of sacrifices.  You paid less for your house because some guy crossed the border illegally and put up the drywall in you home.  That same guy may have put the roof on your house.  Now,  after you bought the house for thousands less than it would have cost somewhere else you want to throw that guy out of the country?

It is a strange world we live in,  but it does not belong to us alone.   Thankfully the best things in this country are as close to free as you can make them.   So much of this country has been set aside for everyone.  It was one of the most brilliant things our goverment that so many dislike has done.  The best mountains,  the best desert, the best seashore, has been set aside for all of us to enjoy.  As an old goat you can stay in a pretty nice place for $3 a night.  You can stay in Zion National Park for $9 dollars a night.  That government everyone belittles and hates has created some paradises for everyone to enjoy, if you don't do it blame yourself.

Indian site two discovered and explored.

 

Back into the wilderness today to find Indian site number two that was missing. After a little confusion on what road went where the Kadizzilites got within three tenths of a mile of the site by motorcycle. The Commander and Kadizzle drove the truck to the nearest coral and unloaded the cycle.

Len drove his cycle from the pavement. Kadizzle was surprised the site was much more spectacular than he suspected it would be. The site was relatively well preserved considering it's proximity to civilization. If people can get close to a site with jeeps, four wheelers, or whatever, the site will be picked clean. With effort we could find pottery shards, but nothing spectacular. Why people have to push over walls and destroy these sites is a mystery. This site probably had at least twenty rooms and was a surface site. The day was not clear enough to determine if the site had a line of sight to the major ruins in caves across the lake. More than likely they did have line of sight. No doubt these people communicated by fire signals great distances.

When we returned to the truck to reload the motorcycle we explored a mine shaft on an adjacent hill. Hard to figure what they were mining. The shaft was actually an excavated crevice that went down for perhaps 150 feet or more. The bottom of the shaft could not be seen.

Tomorrow is the fire tower hike and the next day will be the mother of all motorcycle trips. Stay tuned.

Jesus appears at an intersection

 

The Kadizzle's moved to Coati camping area. Coati is just another part of Windy Hill. Strangely we are now in the area where people can run generators 24hrs per day, yet they don't and it is actually much quieter. Sadly we left Gary behind. We had no trouble leaving Generator Willy. The camp host said it was OK for us to use the nice handicapped site if no handicapped people showed up. Kadizzle is mentally handicapped so we are somewhat within our rights. In the handicapped site we have a large paved cement area for our wheelchair, which is nice.

The wheelchair comment reminds Kadizzle of a story Gary told him yesterday. Gary even when he was a career criminal has some ethics. Gary and Kadizzle were discussing people who begged which were actually capable of working. Gary told Kadizzle a story about his old days when he saw a bum friend of his sitting in a wheelchair at an intersection begging. Gary knew this was more than even he could put up with so he stopped and told his friend he had gone too far. Gary told him to “get out of the wheelchair, and get the hell out of here”. So his friend went off pushing an empty wheelchair. This whole story reminded Kadizzle of the miraculous cures in the Bible. If Gary had long hair at the time which he said he did he does have a face that resembles Jesus. Kadizzle can just imagine the scene at a busy intersection observed by a fundamentalist. The fundamentalist sitting at a traffic light would have seen Jesus grab a man out of his wheelchair, and send him off walking pushing the wheelchair. Of course the word would have spread quickly through the fundamentalist community that a healing took place.

Today we meet with Len to plan adventures for the rest of the week. There are three major adventures in store. The Commander is going to do a fire tower hike with an old Hazen friend. Len and Kadizzle are going to do a 70 mile cycle ride through some extremely remote country, and then Len, Kadizzle and The Commander will likely assault the Pueblo Indian Ruin to complete the trifecta.

To go where no man has gone before (no sensible man)

The adventure crews went in different directions today.  The Commander took off with some new made friends to hike part of the Arizona trail.   Kadizzle set out with Len to ride far into the back country on two identical Yamaha's.   After unloading the cycles, we blasted down the road until we found the road leading far back into the mountains.  It turned out to be the first day of javalina gun hunting.  The desert was full of pig hunters.  As we got farther in, people quickly disappeared.  The roads are extremely rugged and difficult to negotiate with anything.  When you start up a hill, you dare not stop or you will never get going again.  Len carefully prepared printouts of our route and the expedition went pretty well. Kadizzle had made this run last year, and had a pretty good idea of how to navigate the back roads.  At the summit, Len was confused about where we were, but Kadizzle assured him he knew the way.

Luckily from Kadizzle's past ride through the area, the two of us decided to reverse the direction Kadizzle went last year.  The whole route is treacherous, but the very worst part is a steep canyon one descends into and hopes to get out of.  These trails are so steep and full of loose rocks that  going down is often harder than going up.  On the way into the canyon, Len had a spill, but recovered.  Kadizzle struggled, but reached the bottom with no crashes.   Thinking it best to get it over with, Kadizzle just headed up the other side.  To his own amazement he could see he was going to make it to the top.  Then the motorcycle started to sputter.   Kadizzle first though he had some how run out of gas.  The motorcycle finally did stall, but Kadizzle restarted it.  After another ten feet it quit.  Kadizzle's favorite jacket had become entangled in the wheel and locked it up.  Although ruining the jacket was a tragedy, it was very fortunate that this happened after the worst part of the climb.  Had the cycle come to a stop on the steepest part, it would have been a nasty disaster.

Out of the canyon, we looked for our second Indian ruin of the day. Before we descended into the canyon we found the first one.  Len did a great job of spotting the ruin.  The ruin was a surface site, and  very hard to see.  Kadizzle said he would not confirm it as a site until we found pottery.  Len found a piece that would pass the test, and Kadizzle found a nice small piece of black on red to confirm it was a site.   The second site was never found, but Kadizzle feels sure he knows where it is.  Kadizzle went up the canyon, and found a spring and the ideal spot for habitation.   Another trip and more investigation will have to be done.  One the way back to load the cycles, the first rattlesnake of the year was spotted crossing the road.  Now that the snakes are out hiking takes on a new dimension.

Life is not stranger than you think, it is stranger than you can think

If you have been following these stories you have read about Gary the tent scholar.  Yesterday, Gary related to Kadizzle some of the unfolding of his life.  As Kadizzle suspected Gary came from an abusive home.  His father beat him regularly and also was abusive to his mother.  Gary first ran away at twelve, and then two more times until he finally left home for good at 15.   Gary related a series of stories about how he survived.  One trick he developed to stay on the move was to hitch hike.  As he rode he would break down and cry and when the driver asked what was wrong he would confess he had run away from home, and was trying to get back.  Usually the driver would feel sorry for him and give him money, the reality he was using the money to go farther from home.  Gary was caught breaking into box cars looking for food.  The FBI let him go after they gave him bus ticket home and told him he better not get off the bus.

This morning Gary explained to Kadizzle what a Murphy scam was an how he would pull them.  Gary would dress nicely and go to a hotel where a convention was being held.  He would go to the bar and buy drinks for a couple conventioneers.   After a while he would ask them if they wanted a prostitute.  If they did Gary would give them a card after they paid him and direct them to any single women sitting in the bar.  Gary would slip out of the bar with their money.  Once Gary was pulling this scam on a couple merchant marine sailors.  Gary did not realize it, but he had scammed  the same sailors a year earlier.  The sailors gave Gary a serious beating, which Gary acknowledged was the cost of doing business.

Another con Gary pulled in Chicago was to go into a large nice department store dressed nicely around Christmas time carrying a briefcase.  Gary would find a salesperson new to the job.  Gary would say he was with upper management and wanted to audit the cash register tape.  After the clerk opened the cash register and gave Gary the tape, he would tell the clerk to help a customer.  You figure the rest, both Gary and the money were soon gone.

Gary had a sad childhood with no affection from his father whatsoever.   Gary was not allowed to speak to his father.  He could approach his fathers chair and wait for his father to address him.  He was beat if he did not get strait A's and just about for every infraction.   When he ran away the last time his father told him never to come back.  Gary said he would never come back unless he found out his father abused his mother, then he said to his father "I will come back to kill you".  

Over the years Gary always called his mother to check on her.   After many years he called and his father answered.  His father asked if Gary was living with anyone.  Gary said no.  Gary's father told Gary his mother was dying of cancer and he should come home to see her.   Gary complied.  When the day came for Gary to leave, his mother and father had to go some where before he caught the bus a noon.  So they said their goodbye's.   Gary hugged his mother and wished her well.  His father shook his hand and went out the door.  As Gary sat there his father came back in and hugged Gary, and kissed him and told him " I love you".   Gary said he forgave his father that moment.

Gary keeps a journal, and after all his reading, he should surely have some concept of how to write.  Kadizzle suggested to Gary he write about his life.   From what little Kadizzle has learned about Gary,  the book would be very interesting.

Every morning on the way to the office to fire the cannon, Kadizzle stops at Gary's campfire and we have a chat.  Before Kadizzle left the Earth Module today The Commander said " I can't believe you and Gary were both comparing notes on how to rob a bank yesterday".     For better or worse Kadizzle finds he has a lot in common with Gary.  Remember the old saying " But for God's grace there would I also be". 

Laundry Day (click on pictures to make them appear correctly)

Logic prevailed and the lost shirt from the motorcycle ride was there in the middle of the remote road right where is was supposed to be.  The cycle ride up and down the famous road by Lake Apache early in the morning was splendid.

Kadizzle had to stop and take a picture of some tire tracks.  You could see where a car had actually gone over the edge with the tires by a few inches.  After the sandy edge of the road the cliff falls for hundreds of feet.  The tracks showed that about an inch or two of the tread was actually in mid air.  Why the sand did not give way and send the car over the cliff is a mystery.

After the great motorcycle excursion it was time to take action with Generator Willy.  Kadizzle wrote a note to Generator Willy and put it on the door of the camp host.  The plan was to have the anonymous note delivered to Generator Willy by the camp host.  The note simple asked Generator Willy to show some consideration and not run his generator all day long and late into the night.  After we returned from the laundry expedition Kadizzle checked with the camp host.  The camp host had delivered the note addressed to site 289.  Generator Willy claimed he was having all sorts of electrical problems and he had to charge the battery on the boat.  Of course you need to charge the boat battery every day.  The Camp host suggested to Generator Willy he move to the section of the campgrounds set aside for electrical addicts.  One camp area allows the generator gang to run 24 hours a day.  Well the curse continues with Generator Willy and it looks like our final choice is just to move ourselves.  It is sad when one person moves in and six have to leave.

Into town and get the laundry done.   The highlight of the laundry was the gun slinger.   In Arizona you need to carry a gun into the laundry mat and the grocery store.  The puzzle is the threat.  When Kadizzle saw the old codger in the grocery store with his 45 he wanted to ask " What vegetables are dangerous?  Is it the carrots, or the lettuce?  Gun slinger came over to Kadizzle at the laundry and said he was missing a sock.  Kadizzle was unarmed and feared this could turn into the classic western gun fight scene.  Kadizzle did not know what to do.  If Kadizzle said I don't have your sock the guy might say " Draw on me".   Kadizzle then thought he might just offer the guy a sock.  The gun slinger then said "I am always one sock short when I do my laundry".   I told the gun slinger to check his feet.  Kadizzled suggested maybe he only had one foot and so he should always come up with an uneven number of socks.   This was meant to humor Laundry Tex, but the joke had little effect on him.  Kadizzle agreed to leave town and the matter was over.

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Six Tooth Philosophy

Yesterday Kadizzle got caught in a cackle storm early in the day.  The plan was to go on a cycle ride with Len, but in no time Len and Kadizzle were in a severe cackle storm resolving all issues of the universe.  Although Kadizzle tried to end the conversation and start the ride a couple times on it went.  It took three hours to get the cackling done. 

With the cackling done the motorcycle was loaded and the three of us decided to head down the Salt River to Apache Lake.  Len and Kadizzle planned to make a run up a back road and do some exploring. The Commander, after she unloaded Kadizzle's cycle went on to visit an old acquaintance on Lake Apache.

Len has modified his cycle so it is geared lower than Kadizzle's.  Otherwise the cycles are identical.  When the cycle adventure came to the first obstacle which did not take long, it was decided that Len would attempt it first.   A little overconfident, Len headed with great gusto up the hill for of pool ball sized rocks.  Len came to a stop as he spun out, and Kadizzle thought he would have to rush by foot to help Len.  Len managed to get his cycle turned around.  Next by foot, Len and Kadizzle went on up the hill and scouted.  It was hopeless and the cycle adventure had to turn back. 

Meanwhile The Commander returned to the two foiled cyclist.  The Commander ran in to two other cyclist camped at Burnt Creek.  She suggested they might have local knowledge of a good ride.  Kadizzle quickly found them and inquired about their knowledge of the area.  It turned out they knew very little.  Foiled, Kadizzle and Len returned to camp.  Somehow Kadizzle managed to have his expensive shirt blow off the  back of the cycle during the trip, so today he has to go back and find it today.

Prior to the great cycle expedition the philosopher in a tent, Gary, invited the Kadizzles for a dinner of fresh large mouth bass.  Gary hates killing anything so he wanted Kadizzle to cut the heads from the fish.  Neither Gary nor Kadizzle are great fish cleaners so together they butchered the fish. 

After the fish dinner Gary and his companion dog, Sammy, came over for a cackle session.  As usual the conversation ranged all over the universe.  If you have been following this blog, you have met Gary.   Discussing life with Gary, both Kadizzle and the commander were taken aback by this self educated man quoting Jean-Paul Sartre.  As Gary quoted the other day " The key to knowledge is doubt".   If so many people stuck in one way of thinking, a religion, politics, or whatever they believe would take a good sprinkling of doubt and re-examine their thought process, we would all be better off.  Gary is living proof things are never what they seem.

Jean-Paul Sartre

By Truck, By Cycle, By Foot, the treasure is found.

Phase two of an Indian site hunt was completed yesterday.  Phase one is getting information from knowledgeable locals.  Kadizzle found the source, and The Commander did the interview to find out where the Coon Creek  ruins might be found.

Actually finding and getting there was another matter.   Early in the day we loaded the cycle into the back of the truck.  Next we drove about 15 miles up the Cherry Creek road.   After parking the truck and unloading the cycle, we headed up the hill to seek out the road into the wilderness.  With no forest service road signs getting on the right road took some doing.   The chosen road was not the best roadway for two people on a 250cc motorcycle, but the skilled Kadizzle guided the cycle with The Commander on the back farther and farther into nowhere.   On several occasions the explorers had to stop look at the map, and argue.  The Commander insisted the sites we were looking for were one place, and Kadizzle said it was not the right place.  In several places the road was so rough and steep The Commander had to get off and walk.  At one point while The Commander was walking Kadizzle went ahead on the cycle to explore.  As Kadizzled topped a hill he saw a vehicle below leaving a primitive campsite.  In order to try to get some leads from the people, Kadizzle pursued them on his cycle.  The jeep went up an extremely steep incline with loose rocks, and the cycle could not follow. Later in the day we met the people coming back and found that they too were exploring for sites.

Reunited with The Commander, Kadizzle thought he had found the right spot to start the foot trail.  A short walk down a stream did reveal a path and the first ancient dwelling. The first dwelling was just a small cave with marvelous rock coloring.  The rock in the cave looked like rock rainbows.

Farther down the stream and below a cliff on Coon Creek we found the main ruin.   One portion of the roof was intact, which was unusual.

Next we were on to our second search of the day.   This time we went to the very top of the universe on the cycle.  On a narrow winding mountain road with the cycle straining to carry two people, we gradually made our way to a corral which would be a departing point for the hike.  Stunning views were every direction from the top of the mountain, and the view could not be captured on camera or adequately described, but it is one of the best scenic areas the crew has been exposed to.

A futile search did not lead to the ruins, and the daylight was running out, so faced with failure we headed back.  However, both members of the crew were delighted.

Yamaha exploration day

Yesterday Kadizzled hopped on the trusty steed and headed out into the desert and mountains.  In the name of the Queen (her excellency The Commander) Kadizzle sought new trails to conquer.  Tule trailhead was the fist mission. The road in looked good, but it looked like there was some flatland hiking before the elevation started.

After checking out a nice dead end road that went up toward the Arizona Trail Kadizzle came back to 449A and headed toward the Peter Bigfoot Sanctuary.  Although the first part of the ride has several miles of sandy wash the last part of the road into the Bigfoot compound is very pleasant. All of a sudden the scenery takes a complete change and you are in mountains and streams.

Peter Bigfoot has established and Oasis of Solitude.  Kadizzle rode to his gate which had a sign offering fresh spring water.  It seemed best to leave the cycle at the gate and walk the last few hundred yards to maintain the tranquility.  As Kadizzle hiked the idyllic trail he came across the firt Yurpee.  What in the hell is a Yurpee?  A Yurpee is a dwelling invented by Bigfoot that combines a Yurt and a teepee.  Going farther into the compound it felt like walking into an abandoned village.  There were dwellings and objects everywhere, but there were no people.

Finally when Kadizzle got to the large garden which is a major feature of the place he saw a woman weeding.  Then a tall woman in her forties came out of the village meeting house and greeted Kadizzle.  Eventually the conversation revealed that she was Peter Bigfoot's companion, which seemed a bit strange given the age difference.  Bigfoot is seventy.   Patrica offered or almost insisted Kadizzle meet Bigfoot.  Bigfoot was supposed to be in the orchard pruning trees, but he was no where to be found when we got there.  The trip to the orchard gave a chance to observe all the different attempts to chisel out a nirvana in the middle of nowhere.   A vineyard was along the trail and it was completely covered with wire mesh to protect it from birds.  It seemed like every tree was labeled with a large number.  In the orchard there were all types of fruit trees. 

No human habitation was anywhere near the sanctuary, and it reminded Kadizzle very much of his early days in West Virginia.  Prior to their blissful wedding Kadizzle and The Commander spent several summers in a remote valley in West Virginia at the Quinn family vacation farm deep in the hills.   Just like Bigfoot's compound Bonnyville as we sometimes called it was very hard to reach. Neither Bigfoot nor Bonnyville  had electricity.  Not sure how to spell Bonnyville,  but the idea was it was out in the Bonnies. 

As usual The Commander woke up full of piss and vinegar and is anxious to find a new hike today. 

Pinto Creek (Click on picture right away to see entire picture)

Many of the faint hearted would never have made it over the road leading to Pinto creek.  In a couple places the gravel road was washed away to the point only the width of the trucks wheels would fit as we crossed a swail on the top of a steep precipice.  After finally reaching the creek, we tried to decipher the instructions to find the box canyon we were looking for.   The directions implied you would go up the creek.  We were "up the creek" as they say, it was the wrong direction.  As we made our way back to the truck we saw another vehicle coming into our parking spot.  With great clamor The Commander got the gentleman to stop so she could ply him for knowledge of the creek.  The young guy had his two sons with him, and he also intended to hike the creek.  Luckily, he brought the computer print out with the hiking instructions.  One key thing in the instructions gave away the direction.  The instructions said the hike had a net loss of 75 feet in elevation.  That meant we had to go down stream.

Pinto Creek was on The Commander's bucket list so off we went down the creek.  Since the instructions said there was no real trail Kadizzle figured the hell with it and just started getting his feet wet walking down the creek.  Later on the way back we found a better trail that would have kept us out of the water half of the way of the down the creek.  It turned out to be a perfect day for the hike.  As we went down stream, the canyon got more narrow and the rocks in the stream kept increasing until they reached the size of small houses.  You could see that as the water sped up during floods nothing but big boulders could remain in place.

When we finally got to the narrowest part of the canyon with steep, high walls, the huge boulders just about made it impossible to go on.  There were many wonderful pools of water that would make great pictures for a great photographer with a great camera. We lacked several of the required elements.

The Commander came across the most elegant pool of water and suggested Kadizzle jump in.  The water indeed did look wonderful, but it was deceptive.  The water in the pool had a chance to settle out the cold molecules and the pool was much colder than the stream had been.  Very shortly Kadizzle realized the family jewels were in peril if he stay in very long.  As Kadizzle jumped in, he realized he could see no way to get out.  The sides were all steep.  Fortunately around the bend where The Commander was waiting to take a picture, there was a natural way out.  Kadizzle was baptized in cold, clear water,

and his sins were washed away with freezing water. 

Prester John and Magellen

Kadizzled rarely has the patience to read an entire book, but he got involved in the history of Magellan's voyage around the globe and read about half the book yesterday.  Like today the people of Magellan's time could be sold just about any bullshit story.  How the world actually worked and was laid out, and how the world was perceived were two entirely different things. 

Until reading about Magellan Kadizzle had never heard of Prester John, but in Magellan's day people believed in Prester John much like people believe in Jesus today.  Apparently embellish lying had a way of becoming truth in the old days even as it does on some news stations today.  Marco Polo claimed to have met Prestor John.   Next is an excerpt from Wikipedia about Prester John in case you want to know more:  You can skip the details if you please and go on.

The legends of Prester John (also Presbyter Johannes) were popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, and told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval popular fantasy. Prester John was reportedly a descendant of one of the Three Magi, said to be a generous ruler and a virtuous man, presiding over a realm full of riches and strange creatures, in which the Patriarch of the Saint Thomas Christians resided. His kingdom contained such marvels as the Gates of Alexander and the Fountain of Youth, and even bordered the Earthly Paradise. Among his treasures was a mirror through which every province could be seen, the fabled original from which the "speculum literature" of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance was derived, in which the prince's realms were surveyed and his duties laid out.^[1]
At first, Prester John was imagined to reside in India; tales of the Nestorian Christians' evangelistic success there and of Thomas the Apostle's subcontinental travels as documented in works like the Acts of Thomas probably provided the first seeds of the legend. After the coming of the Mongols to the Western world, accounts placed the king in Central Asia, and eventually Portuguese explorers convinced themselves that they had found him in Ethiopia, which had been officially Christian since the 4th century. Prester John's kingdom was thus the object of a quest, firing the imaginations of generations of adventurers, but remaining out of reach. He was a symbol to European Christians of the Church's universality, transcending culture and geography to encompass all humanity, in a time when ethnic and inter-religious tension made such a vision seem distant.

The lesson in this whole exercise is how readily people can be mislead.  Magellan's attempt to circle the globe was made infinity more difficult because myth interfered so much with reality in his time.  The amazing thing is how little has changed today.  Progress is stifled by peoples willingness to believe nonsensical lies widely held.

News from our Planet

Finally got some good pictures of Gary Vigneau our local camp scholar.  The worst curse of life in a campground is the wretched generator.  With a long weekend the blue collar crowd with construction generators has showed up.  Honda makes a nice quiet generator, but lured by the cheapness many people buy noisy generators that disturb the entire universe.  Poor Gary got surrounded by the generator gang.  Hard to understand why anyone's idea of camping would be to go to a nice quiet place and listen to a pathetic engine run.  The Kadizzles are not without sin.  This year we have upgraded to solar power, but we need more battery storage.  However, we are working toward the silence of sunshine.

The hike scheduled for yesterday never took place.  Somehow the day dribbled away.  One encounter did pay off.  In order to charge the computer Kadizzle had to read a book by the rest room which had a power outlet.  During the charging session Kadizzle struck up a conversation with a man who had grown up as a rancher in the area.  Naturally these people are a wealth of information about what is where.   The gentleman gave The Commander some great leads on Indian sites later in the day. After some conversation about the various Indian sites in the area it was discovered this man was a cousin of the Ellesons.  The Ellesons Ranch is at the head of Cherry Creek and the Kadizzles had happened on them a year or two ago with Ruth and Rodger.  They were an old couple who each had a six shooter stuffed in their pants.  At that time the Ellesons gave us good instructions to some of the incredible Indian sites in Devil's Chasm.

Today the plan is to make it to Pinto Creek.

Pinto Creek hike? or wading?

A day like this will not happen in North Dakota for at least three months.  The sun is up warm and shinning.  Open the door and walk into what would be a summer morning in North Dakota.  Today The Commander is planning an assault on Pinto Creek.  Yesterday The Commander set out on her own to find an Indian ruin.  Her attempt failed and she blamed Kadizzle when she got cliffed on the way back.  Kadizzle apparently failed to have the proper maps on The Commander's GPS

We took Gary to the big shopping center of Pumpkin Center yesterday.  Gary is temporarily broke so he was going to sit in the truck while the Kadizzles shopped.  After some prodding Kadizzle got Gary to take twenty dollars and shop.  Gary insisted he get our address to send the money back to us.  Gary bought the essentials in life,  a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, some cigarettes, and a couple bags of ice.  With just six teeth Gary is limited in his food choices.

Later in the day when Kadizzle returned on his cycle from hauling The Commander into the mountains he noticed Gary in the front of his truck doing something.  Shortly Gary came over to our site.  Gary said he wanted to give us some of the treasures from his dashboard museum.  Gary said it would give us a start on our own museum.  So now we have a trilobite,  some amber,  magnetite,  a sharks tooth,  several shells,  petrified wood,  and some gem from Australia.  This was Gary's way of thanking us for the grub stake we had provided until the Social Security check gets here.   Our plan is to donate our mini museum to our gran daughter Sylvie who is looking forward to her special birthday present.  She will love the trilobite.

Waiting for The Commander to return from her hike Gary and Kadizzle sat in the shade, drank a beer, and Kadizzle sneaked a Swisher Sweet.   Discussing the universe and philosophy Kadizzle was frightened when he realized how much he and Gary agreed on the state of the universe.

Well The Commander is fueling herself with cereal and studying a map.  This can lead to nothing good.  In few moments The Commander will jump up crack the whip and declare all sorts of things have to be done in preparation for our assault on Pinto Creek.   If Kadizzle's research is correct the hike will involve a lot of wading in the creek.   Hope the creek is warm.   So here we go, light the fuse and the day will start.

Into the wilderness with The Commander

On yesterday's hike we stopped for lunch before starting the walking portion of the trip.   Up over the mountain in the background was our goal.  Once there we could see clear to the fountain at Fountain Hill's. It must have been a distance of at least 20 miles.   Every hour the fountain at Fountain hills shoots a stream of water hundreds of feet in the air.   The fountain provides both a landmark, and a clock.

The scolar in the tent.

Every day we get to know the Gary Kadizzle has been writing about a little better.  Gary is turning out to be a remarkable scholar that never graduated from high school.   Gary has written 11 volumes of information he has garnered from years of reading.  Volume one is on " Thought".  Gary brought it over to show us.  Gary has carefully cataloged the thinking of every major scholar in a very well thought out compendium.  What first blows you out of your chair is when you open the volume and see that it is all hand written.   Gary got a calligraphy set from his brother at age ten.  Gary taught himself wonderful hand writing that is amazing.  His ability to write in such wonderful script is amazing.  He is like an ancient monk.

Gary had a master index of all the books he has read, which includes of every bible of every religion.  The Commander was very impressed.  Kadizzle asked Gary what his politics were and Gary replied " I am a rational anarchist".   This is like my friend Ray who says he is a orthodox atheist.

Gary is living on the edge and enjoying every moment.  From what Kadizzle can garner Gary lives from one social security check to the next.  Living out of a tent his only way to cool food is with ice and coolers.  This is a difficult proposition to accomplish while spending weeks in the desert.  Today Kadizzle offered to take Gary to town.  One minor problem is that Sammy has to go.  Sammy is the loyal dog of Gary.  Sammy and Gary seem to be able to talk to each other.  Like Gary, Sammy gets lonely for dog company.   Another man was walking a couple of dogs and Sammy just had to meet them.  Gary told Sammy no.  After Sammy whined in dog language Gary asked the man if Sammy could visit.  The man agreed and Sammy rushed to meet the other dogs for some butt sniffing and a little game of chase each other.   Sammy has her own bed roll.  Gary said Sammy reads with him and then when he is ready to go to be he tells Sammy to get in her own bed.

So today the Kadizzles, Gary, and Sammy will be heading to the big city of Pumpkin Center.   Yesterday Kadizzle learned Pumpkin Center was once the proposed capital of Arizona. 

Adventure Part II

The Kadizzles had a great hike.  Getting to the trail head meant driving in the truck as far as we could, then making some motorcycle parlays.  After all that there was the hike.  The road was so steep in places The Commander had to dismount the dirt bike and walk.  Finally the road got so bad even one  person could not make it on the cycle. 

Our hike was along part of the Arizona Trail.  At various times we have hiked various segments of the trail around Lake Roosevelt.  The remarkable thing about the trail segment we took was that we went from excellent views overlooking Lake Roosevelt to good views overlooking Apache Lake.  It is hard to believe how you can leave major metropolitan areas in Phoenix and be in such wild isolated country in a very short time.  The Native people had more land than is immediately apparent to work with.  Often you get into an area and wonder how people managed to find enough game.  Once you do more exploring you find there is far more game habitat than is first apparent. 

More than likely we will repeat the procedure later in the week. Kadizzle will scout out an adventure on the motorcycle and then we will do our map research.  The final phase is to actually do the hike.

Things are never what at first they appear to be.

The mind is deceptive and can very quickly lead the wrong direction.  Today as Kadizzle went to the office to fire the cannon Gary's dog started barking.  The dog wanted some attention so Kadizzle stopped to give her some affection.  Gary came out of the tent where he was eating his breakfast out of a frying pan.  Eggs, and a hot dog were the fuel that was going to start Gary's day.  On Gary's table were two books, one fiction, and one history.  The history book was by a woman who had done great interviews with some of the most important people in recent history.  Gary does not give the impression of someone well read, and perhaps very knowledgeable.  Gary is an enigma.  Here is a man that appears destitute, and on the edge, but Gary seems about as content and happy as anyone you might find.  What impressed Kadizzle the most in his conversation with Gary was his statement that he always read two books at once, one book of fiction, and one factual book.  Too many people read nothing but fiction, and have a very limited view of reality. 

Today's Adventur Part I

Yesterday afternoon old Kadizzle took off into the wilderness South of Lake Roosevelt on his nut buster motorcycle.  Kadizzle found a road that lead up into the mountains past the Two Bar ranch.  Obstacles for motorcycles were plentiful.  Soon Kadizzle almost reached the top, but was stopped by ball bearing rocks on a steep grade.  The area did look like it would please The Commander for some remote hiking.  The Arizona trail snakes through the area somewhere. 

So today the goal is to put The Commander on the back of the cycle and see if we can get to the Arizona Trail where is snakes along the ridge up there.  If we succeed we will be deep in unexplored Indian territory.  In order to get up there it will be necessary to choose when to let The Commander ride, and when to have her walk.  Unfortunately the walking will be mostly on the steep parts where the little Yamaha cannot take us both.  Although Kadizzle sympathizes with the Commanders plight he is glad he get to ride the whole distance.  If we make the error of riding two when we should be riding one there may be scratches on people and machinery.  Tune in for the rest of the story today or tomorrow.

Report from Planet Earth on a sunny day

Good news, The Commander loves the camping site Kadizzle picked out.  Can't blame her, we have a nice view of the lake and mountains.   The quite is a big bonus. No one ran a generator last night.  The sun is up, warm and filling the solar panel with free electricity.

At some point The Commander will have to see Gary's traveling museum on the dashboard of his truck. No singing has been emanating from his direction.  Kadizzle woke up in the middle of the night as usual with a round of weird dreams.  The interpretation is Kadizzle should try to be a good boy today.  Being a good boy is already a problem.  Kadizzle would like to go for a motorcycle exploration ride over in Peter Bigfoots mountain sanctuary area.  That would mean The Commander would have to entertain herself.  May not be a good idea.

The next snippet Kadizzle just picked up from Peter Bigfoot's site to give you some info and perhaps get you to visit his site.  Just by happenstance a friend of Kadizzle's daughter Megan was an intern with Bigfoot.  Two years ago the Kadizzle exploration crew inadvertently stumbled across the Bigfoot hideaway deep in the mountains south of Lake Roosevelt.

A recognized authority on Southwest plant life and desert survival, Peter Bigfoot is perhaps best known for his much-publicized July 1976 solo trek across the Sonoran Desert. He walked 85 miles in 15 days, and brought no food or water, relying strictly on what could be foraged along the way. Grueling heat, the constant threat of dehydration, and a bout with hepatitis were true tests of his wilderness survival wisdom.
This transformational experience inspired Bigfoot to found Reevis Mountain School of Self-Reliance, a magical wilderness homestead, farm, and sanctuary in the northeast corner of Arizona’s Superstition Wilderness, far from the distractions and pollution of modern life. Here, since 1980, thousands of students and visitors have experienced Bigfoot’s uniquely loving blend of botanical knowledge, survival skills, natural healing techniques, and spiritual awareness.
Today, Bigfoot spends most of his time working on the farm, teaching, writing, and producing a line of herbal remedies. He has the assistance of his wife, Patricia, and a changing group of interns who come here to experience Reevis and learn from Bigfoot's decades of wisdom.

The Bigfoot compound is like a movie set for life in the sixties.  A bunch of people trying to build their own nirvana unhampered by the world outside. 

The Report from Planet Earh

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If you have been following this blog and you read the last story you will recall Kadizzle was interupted by the sound of someone singing. As promised Kadizzle took off to investigate. This is the report. The voice was coming from the North East. As it turned out about 100 yards to the North East. As Kadizzle approached the old sixties vintage blue Ford and tent what appeared to be a vicious dog ran toward Kadizzle on a rope with what seemed like the intent to have Kadizzle for supper.

Kadizzle shouted out towards the tent and asked if it was safe to approach with the wild dog. Nothing happened, the singing just continued. The whole situation had the feel of mental illness about it. Someone in a tent singing in a very nice voice solo totally oblivious to the world. Judging from the attitude of the dog Kadizzle figured the owner might be just as mean and thought best to move on.

As Kadizzle wandered off Gary came out of the tent and Kadizzle asked if it was safe to approach the dog. Gary said it was the nicest dog in the world. Kadizzle told Gary he would offer the dog on the rope his leg, and if that did not turn out bad he would go from there. Well the dog did not bite the leg so Kadizzle patted the dog on the head. It turned out the dog was very friendly. Like the dog Kadizzle had misjudged Gary. Gary was as he himself said “eccentric”, but he was a nice fellow and certainly not mentally ill. Kadizzle complimented him on what a nice voice he had, and asked if he had done any professional singing. No, Gary said he just liked to sing. Then Gary explained he was in his tent with headphones on singing. That explained why he never answered when Kadizzle first approached.

It turned out Gary had recently retired and was touring the country with his dog. Gary's former profession was as a tent set up person. He worked for a company that had 30,000 chairs, and five thousand tables, plus for sure many tents. The tents were set up for events like races and whatever. Kadizzles first guess was he did it for circusus.

Gary had the appearance of a nice fellow, but a fellow with the teeth of an Eygptian mummy. Gary asked Kadizzle if he wanted to see his photo collection of his travels. Somehow Gary did not seem to be the digital type guy. When Gary went to his truck to get the photos Kadizzle suddenly notice this was no ordinary truck. As Gary explained it was a traveling museum. The dashboard was covered with every type of rock, mineral bird feather, fossil and found item on the planet. The dashboard museum had overflowed and the museum was growing on the floor by the gearshift.

After Kadizzle got some pictures of the truck we went through the photo album. Gary had some nice photos of wildlife, flowers, and barns in a thick three ring binder. Gary has decided to spend the rest of his life traveling in his truck and enjoying the country. As the sun goes down he is still over there filling the air with song.

Good health is so easily attainable, go to the grocery store.

Today the big move from Roper Lake to Roosevelt Lake occurred.  The Commander begged to short circuit the trip by stopping in the Gallurus Mountains.  Not sure how you spell that.  Next we considered staying at an Apache Casino.  The Commander figured we could leave the camper and drive back to check out the mountains.  That idea fizzled and we headed on to Globe to resupply.

Kadizzle has little patience to spend and hour looking at vegetables, no matter how much The Commander insist he stick by her side.  To keep entertained Kadizzle searched for free samples and wanders the isles.  Today's store had a magic computer machine where you could sit in a chair and get your blood pressure and weight.  After great news on the blood pressure Kadizzle decided to try the weight function.  Good news Kadizzle exceeded his goal of losing fifty pounds.   As good as this news was Kadizzle knew it was wrong and decided to go back and have another try.  This time the news was even better the magic machine indicated Kadizzle had lost another five pounds on the short 500ft walk he just took.  To see Kadizzle at 172 lbs you would have to go back to 1972.   Realizing the weight was so far off Kadizzle suspects the blood pressure was functioning in some erroneous way also.

The strange thing about this computerized lying machine was that it was strategically placed for people to use while they waited in line to get their prescription filled.  Imagine a customer waiting to get medicine and finding out that the pharmacy computer said they are in better shape than they have been in 35 years.  

After a long stay at the supermarket we drove on to Lake Roosevelt.  After checking out the Schoolhouse camping area we decided on the Windy Hill site.  The Commander was put off at the School House camping area by reports of stealing.  An unusual couple staying there in a tent since December said there had been some attempts to steal a generator, and thieves had taken one of their knives.  The little blonde disabled lady was friendly and gave us some good tips about getting water. However, she did seem like one half of an odd couple.  She said they were forced from Colorado when it turned out someone was manufacturing crack in their apartment complex.  Her story about thieves stealing her knife seemed strange.  Who would drive for miles to steal a kitchen knife.  The Commander says a thief expects something for their effort.

Now we are settled in with thoughts of robbery floating through The Commanders head.  We have the alarm lock on the solar panel, and another alarm on the generator.   Kadizzle needs to modify his
"mother of all alarm system" to scare the bad guys away.  Kadizzle cannot decide if he should use a fishing line trip wire set up, or a pressure switch.  

As Kadizzle sits here by the lake a singing voice is drifting this way.   The blonde lady said there was a crazy, ornery old camp host here that is 83.  If that is him singing he seems to have a nice voice and sounds like some old preacher.  Kadizzle is going to have to jump on the motorcycle and meet this old codger.  Stay tuned for a report later.

Land of Contentment

What if you did not have to got to work every day?  What if every day when you got up you could do what you want, and go where you want?  That is the plight of the typical person traveling around in an RV.  The net result is you rarely meet anyone but content people when you bed down in some campground in the middle of nowhere.  People are friendly, easy to meet, full of good advice, and willing to share.  Already this year the Kadizzles have made many new friends and hiked with old friends we have met traveling in the past.  Act like you are working on your truck or your camper and ten men will show up to help.  Someone always has the tool you need.

A special sub group of fellow travelers are the bird brains.  Kadizzle just came back from his morning visit to the main office where he fired the cannon.  On the way there he met a bird watcher.   In a bit of a challenge Kadizzle asked if the gentleman had ever seen the Elegant Trogan?   Sure enough he had.  The Elegant Trogan  lives in just one place in the United States, Patagonia State Park.  Purist go there just to see that bird.  The bird is a celebrity.  In the course of conversation the bird brain told me about the Peach Faced love bird.  Although Kadizzle has been in Usery Park many times Kadizzle did not know it was the home of the Peach Faced Love Bird.  Now that Kadizzle rethinks he did see a strange bird there that looked like a Parrot.  Apparently someone let a pair loose of the African Bird and now there are 5,000 of them in that area.

The Earth Module works North

The Kadizzles drove North and East of Safford through some of the rankest desert imaginable to reach the Gila River Riparian area.  In an area where the mountains had puked out their treasure of soil massive amounts of cotton was being grown on irrigated land.

Finally at the Gila things changed.  The deep canyon held more water than the desert let on.  In the canyons the vegetation was lush. As usual we set out to find some Indian ruins.  After poking around we went up Bonito Creek, but had no success.  The area has some wonderful camping spots and it was very tempting to pull the fifth wheel out there.  However, the roads were narrow and had some 19% grades.  You could not go out there unless someone went ahead and made sure no one came the other way.  Someday perhaps we will park as close as we can and take the motorcycle in.

Tomorrow the Earth Module heads out to Lake Roosevelt.  Each year we have explored one of the three major ruins on Cherry Creek near Lake Roosevelt.  This will be the year we do site number three.   Sometime when we can get together with Ruth and Rodger we will make the difficult hike in to the final site.  The motorcycle will ferry us on the first two miles which will be of great help.  So tomorrow we pull up the landing gear, resupply at Globe and head on to Lake Roosevelt.  If any of our fellow travelers want to meet us there and eventually make the great hike let us know.

 

Empty

"Empty" lyrics

RAY LAMONTAGNE LYRICS

Download "Empty" Ringtone to your Mobile

"Empty"

She lifts her skirt up to her knees
Walks through the garden rows with her bare feet, laughing
And I never learned to count my blessings
I choose instead to dwell in my disasters

Walk on down the hill
Through grass grown tall and brown
And still it's hard somehow to let go of my pain
On past the busted back
of that old and rusted Cadillac
That sinks into this field collecting rain

Will I always feel this way ‒
So empty, so estranged?

And of these cut-throat busted sunsets,
these cold and damp white mornings
I have grown weary
If through my cracked and dusted dime-store lips
I spoke these words out loud would no one hear me?
Lay your blouse across the chair,
Let fall the flowers from your hair
And kiss me with that country mouth so plain.
Outside the rain is tapping on the leaves
To me it sounds like they're applauding us,
The quiet love we've made.

Will I always feel this way
So empty, so estranged?

Well, I looked my demons in the eyes
laid bare my chest, said "Do your best, destroy me.
You see, I've been to hell and back so many times,
I must admit you kind of bore me."
There's a lot of things that can kill a man
There's a lot of ways to die
Yes, and some already dead that walk beside me
There's a lot of things I don't understand
Why so many people lie
Well, it's the hurt I hide that fuels the fires inside me

Will I always feel this way
So empty, so estranged?

Thanks to Brad Hendrickson, carolina for correcting these lyrics.

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Writer(s): Raycharles Jack Lamontagne
Copyright: Chrysalis Music, Sweet Mary Music

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It Seemed LIke A Good Idea at The Time

A little trash in the desert has a big impact.  A fallen down shack with some junk cars and falling down fences has a special ability to ruin a scene in the desert.  Someone once had a brilliant idea to make a homestead in the most hopeless place on Earth.  Almost always these kingdoms have to be surrounded by chain link fence as if there were treasures there someone would actually bother to steal.  You can travel to Alaska, or to the remotest desert in Arizona and always find the leavings of the guy who had a dream.  Living off the land was a phase in the sixties.  Just go in the woods, the desert, or the wilderness plant some seeds and sit back.  Will anyone ever clean up the mess these people made?  Every time Kadizzle goes sees these dilapidated places he wonders " how can you be so damn lazy you cannot even pick up the trash in your yard?".  It's not trash to the man in his kingdom.  The old car is going to be repaired.  The bath tub will be a horse watering trough, and the window frames salvaged from the gas station that burnt down will be used for the new addition.  In the west you can find whole towns of mini slums.  Doesn't anyone every say " lets clean this place up".  No, it is a paradise just waiting to happen.

Indian Bread Rocks.

The Dos Cabezas mountains down in the land of Cochise have many hidden spots of beauty.  At the Indian Bread Rocks campground we landed and started hiking.  Kadizzle always thought the Dragoon Mountains were his favorite, but now he knows there are other good places in this mountain chain.

For two days it we climbed through the huge rocks and discovered the hidden pools of water in the canyon.  When we drove in it looked like we had the spot all to ourselves, but two other campers showed up late in the day after we had drinks with Ruth and Rodger.  One camper had a drone he demoed for us.  The hieght it reached was impressive.   His drone could hover over the campground and record a video.  It would be fun to get some overhead shots of our hikes from a drone.

Rodger and Cissie headed off up a canyon to search for a spring, and Ruth and Kadizzle tried to find an easy way back. We made it back, but it was not the easy way.

Now we are settled in at Roper Lake State park.  We just got back from the hot tub fed by a hot spring.  The water was about 90 and five more degrees would have been nice.  Tomorrow Ruth and Roger head home and the Kadizzles will spend another day here.  Nest we will land back at Lake Roosevelt if all goes well.

Water in the Desert

North of Wilcox Arizona we drove for fifteen miles through desert drier than a popcorn fart.  Here and there it looked like someone had made an attempt to drill for water, move it, store it, or somehow get it.  When we opened the back tailgate of the pickup truck the dust had just poured in the covered bed.

The adventurers were trying to find a hot spring on land owned by the Nature Conservancy.  As luck would have it the Nature Conservancy headwaters were closed.  Our best determination was that the hot springs was right at their headwaters, so we had no access to the spring we wanted badly to roast in.

As that part of the adventure languished we drove on down the road to hell and looked for a place to hike.  First we went up a stream past an old abandoned ranch house of some sort.  Remarkable the stream suddenly had a lot of water in it.  Amazed to find the flowing stream Kadizzled headed back down the stream to the truck.  The water in the stream came to an instant stop.   The stream turned into a bone dry bed of gravel.  The water simply disappeared in an amazing feat right into the ground.

We regrouped at the truck and headed down a trail into a canyon.   The Stream appeared full of water and running briskly.   This was a stream fed from some underground source that never goes dry.  Because there is always water a unique little fish has evolved here in the desert.   Of course the fish is a protected endangered species.   From a desert so dry it was having a hard time growing rocks to a lush valley full of vegetation was a dramatic transition.   This was the kind of area that enabled the ancient people to survive. 

The desert and how it deals with water is always amazing.  The power of water to transform things is never better illustrated than when magical water hits soil that looks as dead as the bones along the dry part of the creek.  After hiking down stream for three miles in search of another hot spring we gave up and returned.  

A good round of Dare to be Stupid

Dare to be Stupid is a great game that can be played on sail boats, motorcycles, on foot, or on any device of your choice.  The object of the game is to do something stupid and not get hurt or break anything.  The other day Kadizzle met Richard.  Richard and Kadizzle decided to take a motorcycle ride up Bull Dog Canyon.  Finally we came to a side road that got worse and worse.  It was time to play Dare to Be Stupid.  Should we go up this too steep incline or not, sure why not.  Should we go over this mini cliff or not?  Sure why not.  At some point Kadizzle's brain kicked in and he decided he did not want to wreck his relatively new motorcycle, so he said to Richard " Maybe we should turn around".   Richard said I will lead and we will try to go a littler further.  This went on and we finally gave up.  Going down is simpler than going up.  On the way back there were two choices to get by one bad spot.  Richard though he could go up the mine cliff pictured.  Kadizzle went up the other difficult choice.  As Kadizzle peered around the rocks he saw Richard briefly fly into the air. Kadizzle could not see the whole crash and was somewhat disappointed to miss the winning play.  Worried, Kadizzle took off on his alternate route to reach Richard in case he was hurt.  Richard was not hurt but did manage to damage his cycle.  Richard won for the day, but Kadizzle is sure he can take the next round of Dare to be Stupid.

It feels like the old days.

Rodger is sitting beside me in the camper helping me con Ford into giving me one of their new aluminum trucks to try out.  Ruth and The Commander are in the other camper putting the day together.  Our old exploration group is holed up at The Triangle T ranch East of Benson, AZ.  We are in the country of Cochise. In the very spot we sit Roy Rodgers, Johnny Cash and John Wayne all stayed. This was a convenient place to make western movies and there is an old movie set here.

At some point we are going to find an old Spanish fort that goes back to the 1500's.  The motorcycle is strapped to the back of the fithwheel if we need it for exploration.  Last night the Kadizzles introduced Ruth and Rodger to the card game The President and The Idiot.  Poor old Kadizzle ended the last game as the idiot.

Modern Cave men found in AZ

A few days back The Commander set off on a hike by herself to explore a new route we have been developing.  The route will ultimately go up a canyon and come down somewhere in Bull Dog Canyon.  Yesterday with our Canadian friends we set off up the canyon to explore the route.  When The Commander came back from her initial conquest she was excited that she had come across a cave deep in the canyon where suspect people were living.  The canyon by local standards is remote and rarely visited.  You cannot get to the canyon unless you wade across the Salt River. Most hikers are unwilling to wade across the river.

After we crossed the river we went up the part of the trail we had used many times.  Strangely someone has been changing the trail signs we use.   After continual bolder hopping for two miles our troop reached the cave.  Remnants of modern humans were strewn about the cave, but the place did not seem to show signs of recent activity.  When The Commander observed the cave on her first jaunt into the canyon she only observed the cave from a distance with binoculars.  Her fear was dastardly people were using the cave for refuge and she dare not encounter them.

The contents of the cave were a bit strange.  For some reason whomever occupied the cave placed various bottles and cans on strings and dangled the cans from sticks that protruded from the cave wall.  The cave had tarps and air mattresses on the floor and a variety of cans strewn about.  Most peculiar of all was a first class letter addressed to Dan Pettris.  The letter contained toothpicks.  Now the question is who is Dan Pettris?  The letter came from Oregon and was delivered via a Pettris in Lakeside AZ.

This was not a cave easy to get to.  There were some little pools of water nearby, but the water was of poor quality and life in the cave would have been difficult.  Carrying supplies to the cave would not be an easy task.  There was absolutely no source of natural food in the area.   Perhaps we will have to search for Dan Pettris and find out why he was living in a cave and people were sending him toothpicks.