Back at Chochiti Lake

Here we sit in New Mexico.  Kadizzle is trying to shack roust Mrs. Kadizzle so we can get on the road. Kadizzle would not mind making Denver to day, but the big boss wants to stop at Wallsenberg.  So who knows.  The sun is up and it looks half decent, now we need to blast out of here.  Maybe we are crazy heading toward the cold and misery of spring in North Dakota, but at least now we can carry a concealed weapon no questions asked. Arguments will be much easier to settle and maybe duels will come back in popularity.  When it comes to a collection of knuckleheads North Dakota has the best in the legislature. These idiots always try to out do each other when it comes to cooking up some silly law.  Remember these dolts were going to outlaw windpower.  Next it will be solar power.  Jesus controls the Republican party in North Dakota and the Republican Jesus sure doesn't care much about pollution.

The Signal

God said he would send a sign when the Kadizzles should head home. Last night the sign came. This moring the Earth Module will head North towards Chochiti Lake.  As weath permits the crew will work its way North.

The Gold

Yesterday Kadizzle served out his sentence as the machine gunner on the outhouse crew.  Kadizzle ran the pressure washer wand and blasted away at the vault toilets for the Forest Service.  After the morning battles Kadizzle found out the crap used in the water tank was not actually a disinfectant.  For the afternoon attack Kadizzle got a full face shield, and put the Clorox to the water.   Now America is safe again.

On the crew we have old Carl.  Carl is an old miner and a part time gold miner, so on the rides between the long drops we talk about mining.  Yesterday Carl had a revelation.  Carl said the famous Lost Dutchman used to stop by his parents house.  Now if you know anything about gold you know about the Lost Dutchman mine that people have been searching for many years.  People have died looking for the gold.  Carl who is 80 said the Lost Dutchman used to stop at his parents house and have a meal on the way to his gold mine.  According to Carl the Lost Dutchman mine was not in the Superstition Mountains.  The Lost Dutchman went into the Superstition mountains to throw off people following him.  He emerged on this side and went up Pinto Creek.  So the treasure must be up in the Pinto Creek area.  People have died looking for the Lost Dutchman treasure, and more will.

Later Carl told the story about a Mexican miner that left 14 quart jars full of gold in his mine.  Again, according to Carl the Mexican had so much gold he could not carry it all.  The Mexican was a seasonal miner that came to the Globe area to mine gold.  Carl's father knew the old Mexican miner. The Mexican miner wrote a letter to Carl's father and told him about the 14 quarts of gold.  The Mexican said Carl's father could have the gold if he would buy and send him a metal detector.  Carl's father did.  The miner said the gold was hidden a short way in the entrance of the mine.  So Carl and his father set out to get the gold, but when they got to the mine they found the entrance had caved in.  If the gold is in there, it still is.  At some point Kadizzle would sure like to see the letter. Carl said he had it and would show it to Kadizzle.

Poverty Supreme

Yesterday Cliff, and the Kadizzles drove back from Cliff's mountain retreat in the White Moutains.  We drove through some absolutely spectacular scenery.  Cliff  realized he forgot his camper keys about fifty miles into the trip.  Mrs. Kadizzle and Cliff had to drive the extra 100 miles back to get the keys.  Meanwhile Kadizzle was dropped off at the Indian Casino.  Kadizzle has learned that every casino will give you ten or twenty dollars of free play to get you hooked.  Kadizzle can usually just take the money.  It did not work this time Kadizzle lost $1.50.   Nothing is as insane as a casino. You are going to lose, but the only issue is how long it takes to get your money.  The saddest thing about Indian casinos is they produce nothing, but more poverty.

So as we drove down the road we finally came to the town where Fort Apache is located.  The town is the major reservation center.  The poverty and slums were mind boggling.  What the hell went wrong.  The poverty blight covered miles in every direction.  Right in the middle of some wonderful country was this mess that somehow emerged from our solution for Native Americans.  Is it a failure? Hell yes, beyond belief.

Reservations never should have existed.  The failure to assimilate has been exacerbated by the reservation system.  Everyone suffers. The dogs don't do well and roam freely looking for scraps.  The horses look half starved. The effect of drugs and alcohol are everywhere.  While this mess and suffering goes on Donald Trump will do what he can to give more tax breaks to his rich buddies.  Trickle down has never trickled down to the reservations, and never will.  What little help these people get from the federal government will be even less.  On any Indian reservation you will generally see two things, new schools, and new medical facilities.  It is a great contribution from the white father, but seems to change nothing.  Of course there is plenty of corruption, and abuse of every sort.  Kadizzle laid in bed and puzzled about a solution.  He never came up with one, but it sure takes the shine of a wonderful drive in the wilderness when you hit a pocket of unimaginable poverty in the middle of nowhere.  Somehow giving more moeny to the rich does not seem like it will solve anything.

Things are heating up

All around us life is coming to life.  Everyone seems to be seeing rattlesnakes, Cliff almost stepped on one yesterday. It is time to get the hell out of here.  Mrs. Kadizzle may have to be blasted out of here, but so be it. The Army helicopters are practicing taking water from the lake for fire fighting.  It will be a bad fire season because all the rain has got the vegetation going.  Kadizzle helped Ted put up and take down signs today.  This park has so many signs one person does nothing but repair signs.

With the lake up the fishermen are in abundance.  Hopefully we will be farther north this time next week. First to Denver to see Ticklepinch, then on to the Dakotas.

Music at the Outhouse

In the picture above Carl is on the left.  Kadizzle worked with Carl on the outhouse crew a couple years ago.  Kadizzle is the chauffeur for the crew.  Yesterday Kadizzle took Carl, Mikie, and Bill on the outhouse tour to clean vault toilets and fire rings.  Kadizzle drives the one ton truck with a pressure washer and we blast the long drops with disinfectant.  It is a great job we get to drive through very scenic county.

Up at Oak Flat where the Native Americans have been protesting for three years we pulled in to refresh their toilet paper supply.  A couple of protesters were practicing music and singing.  So Kadizzle and Carl joined in and sang a few songs.  Somewhere in Oak Flat Carl came across a diary that was lost.  Some young woman wrote about her financial mess, and her sexual adventures with her new love.  The account of the woman's trip to vail indicated in some basic language that she made love with snow skis on while propped against an aspen tree.   Later in the day we found a cell phone and one of those cards casinos issue.

Degenerates are the people who throw trash and make the natural environment a mess.  Some degenerates go to extremes to show their insanity.  In one vault toilet we found a degenerat had defecated on the floor in the corner.  Apparently the degenerate did not understand how the hole with the toilet seat worked.

Carl is 80, and Mikie is an old woman who served 16 years in the Army as among other things a drill sergeant.  Bill like Carl was an old copper miner.  So the truck had three miners and an old soldier. Somehow Kadizzle ended up being the machine gunner.  That is the guy who shoots the pressure washer down the hole to clean the mess.  It is a dangerous job because stuff flies everywhere.  Kadizzle takes the wand and yells to Carl " Fire in the hole",   Carl fires up the pressure washer and the joint is sanitized.

Cliff Dwelling

The morning is chilly, but the heat will come.  Flowers are blooming in the desert and the Kadizzles have been dispensing trail information at the National Monument Cliff Dwellings above our camp site.  The time is nearing to head north.  Mrs. Kadizzle has been craving property in Payson for three years so the Kadizzles have invested in a one acre lot in Payson.  Oh what fun it will be to build a house.  The big anniversary, birthday combo is coming.  March 21 is the historic day when Kadizzle tied the knot and also the day he was born.

Starting to Cook

Hot even for Arizona this time of year.  After a long cycle ride through the desert which is lush with greenery Kadizzle barely made it back. Just as he turned home the front tire went flat.  Made it back, but changing the tire tube will be a bitch.  Kenny the Crazy and Rhonda just got back from their hike. They tried to do Browns Peak yesterday, but Kenny did not do the trail research as instructed. Flowers are going nuts, and it is about the time of day for a cold one.  The big going away party for the volunteers was this morning. They gave us a nice feed and a backpack.  Kadizzle suggested they also have an appreciation party for the prisoners and offered to buy the hamburgers.  The Department of Corrections workers as they are formerly known are critical to keeping this place going.  According to the big cheese the volunteers in our group contributed $500,000 worth of labor to The National Forest Service.   So people who think the government is cheating them need to get out and see how much free labor the tax payer is getting and quit bitching.  Time to go harass Kenny and Rhonda.  They are delux RV people with a TV on the side of their Hefalump 45 foot ring a ding.  Maybe they will turn on the News and we can see what lie Trump told today.

Kayak Apache Lake

The kayaks launched at the marina on Apache Lake.  Spectacular scenery surrounds the lake.  The Salt River flows throw a massive canyon and looks a lot like the Grand Canyon.  For hours we paddled and enjoyed the various coves.  Stopping for lunch we went to a hidden camp site and ate our sandwiches.  Like a lot of experience in this area we had ignored this one for two long.  The cliffs all over the lake looked like they would be so much fun if only the water was warmer.

Spring in the Southwest

Yesterday we hauled water to another trail crew.  In the course of finding them we encountered a man in his 80's.  Since 2000 he has spent 2000 days searching for Indian sites. He has found hundreds.  His knowledge is extensive.  The Kadizzles chatted him up for about an hour before we went on with the water mission. The number of people who were in this area 600 years ago was amazing.  Ruins are everywhere.

Today we are assembling a kayak trip on Apache Lake.  Perhaps later we can post some nice pictures.

The Booger

Kadizzle is not a fan of self mutilation. Every time Kadizzle meets a young person with a bone in their nose or a pierced tongue he wonders why would someone one do that? The only reasonable answer seems the person want to show they are different or perhaps they just want to shock people.  So yesterday Kadizzle found an artificial fishing worm in his truck.  Now it occurred to Kadizzle that he could use this worm to retaliate against the checkout girl at the grocery store with a ring in her nose.  Kadizzle invented the old man booger.  Simply put the worm up your nose and check out.  When the check out girl with the infected ring in her nose says " Gross" you just say "  I like your nose ring".

People are out there working

This morning people got up at 5 A. M.  Three native Americans got up after sleeping in tents.  Working for minimum wage they hiked down the Deer Creek trail with picks and shovels to make a better trail for the citizens of our country.  Our trail crew has been clearing the brush for three days.  Rita and Ken picked up garbage in Oregon for free.  Another crew of young people are working for a subsistence wage up on the Arizona Trail  They slept in tents.  A lot of good people are really working to make our country better.

Now you have a bunch of assholes like Donald Trump, and the Republicans trying to take health care away from those on the bottom while they shovel money to those on top.  Those on top woke up on their yachts, beach houses, and golf courses.  They never have enough.  They are entitled.  Dad died and made them rich.  They guy working at the counter handing you food is a welfare cheat, his dad forgot to give him a million like The Donald' s dad did.  According to Paul Ryan the poor, and those old people on social secrutiy are the problem.  The problem is not those eight people who have as much money as the bottom 3.6 billion in the world.  We do not need heath care, what we need is a 21.6 billion dollar wall to keep Mexicans from picking our vegetables.  We need 54 billion dollars for more nuclear bombs.  We need to protect the precious 1% so the 3.6 billion don't come get what they stole.

What is the  answer. Of course it is trickle down economics.  Give the rich more.  It will fall out of their pockets, the poor can pick up the change and prosper.  Everyone can go into business and make a fortuen, it is so easy.  Why bitch?  Trickle down was started by Ronald Reagan in 1978.  Since then all the money has trickled to the top.  That is what the data, the truth, the math says, but their is no longer truth, math, or data.  Now we have Donald Trump, a man who manufactures his own truth every day.  No one cares.  I have a flat screen, a fishing boat with fuel, and Bud Light, I just don't give a shit.  When the time comes I have my gun, and a basement full of food.   So let them welfare cheats bitch, and moan.  Fox News tells me everything is fine, and will only get better as El Trumpo gets the job done.

Just Breathe

Oh I am a lucky man to count on both hands all the ones I love.  Some Folks just have one, others have none.  Sitting here with the sun coming up and the day is going to be fine.  Listening to Willie Nelson with some good advice.  Wake up with the sun put on some good music.  Just breathe.  I wonder every day as I look on your face.  Everything you gave.  Did I say that I need you.  Did I say that I want you. If I didn't I am a fool.  No one knows this more than me as I come clean.  Just breath.

Well the trail season is coming to and end and it is a good thing. The bones of the old folks are hurting.  Getting old is like machinery that has had better days.  The knee is hurting.  Old Kadizzle did not get much done yesterday and the crew told him to stay home today.  Not a bad idea.  So here I sit in ecstasy just watching the sun climb in the sky.

When you go south for the winter you cheat.  You have two summers.  The winter summer is just about over and the time to go north for the summer summer is coming.  The pickup will back underneath the Earth Module and the Kadizzles will follow the geese north.   Spring should hit here like a bomb in the next week or two.  All the rain will make the flowers explode.  Humans have their spring, summer,  winter and fall.  Old age is fall. The leaves are turning yellow like it or not.  Just breathe.

The mule lady

Yesterday was a boring day.  That is not all bad, it was relaxing.  A couple times Kadizzle took off on the motorcycle to get some air.  On one trip Kadizzle went down to the horse camp.  At the camp he met a woman with a couple of mules.  The trail crew needs someone to pack our gear on mules so Kadizzle chatted up the mule lady.  She said she was doing the Arizona Trail with her mules and volunteered to help. so perhaps we can put something together.  If we can get our gear on the back of a mule instead of on the back of a lumpy Kadizzle that would be a victory.

Well it is Monday morning and Rita and Ken are gone, so that leaves three of us to work.  We may go up to the Deercreek trail and join a trailcrew of younger people.  So let the day unfold.

Volunteer Town

Slowly volunteer town has jelled as a community, and today we will have a nice barbecue turkey compliments of Kenny and Rhonda.  Who lives in volunteer town?  Way down on the end towards Globe is Johnny.  Johnny is in his late 80's.  Johnny was here when the place was built and he is a human blueprint. Johnny rides around and when someone wants to know where a pipe is buried or a valve is Johnny knows.  Johnny is a good strong liberal and fun to talk to.  Johnny always rides and goes everywhere with his little dog.  Faye is next. She lives by herself in her camper, and has a house in Payson. Faye does secretary work at the visitor center.  Dave lives down on that end in his truck camper and he does water research.  Down on our end we have Cliff, Kenny and Rhonda,  The Quinns, and the mean nasty unneighborly Eric.  Eric is a bald little round man who gets a salary.  Eric did not plan well for his retirement and resents those who did. Eric thinks volunteers are freeloaders,  so Eric stays away from everyone and lives his little life of misery.

So tonight our young boss Cory will bring his bride to be and her parents to our ring dang do.  There will be cheesecake, chocolate cake and of course the turkey.  Last night we had a nice campfire with Kenny and Rhonda. Cory stopped by.  Life is good here.  Every day after work we have a drink on the veranda overlooking the lake. We have fun joking and giving each other a hard time.  Everyone helps each other and life is good.

Today will be a rest and relax day. Maybe a motorcycle ride is in order.  The weather looks perfect for the party tonight.

Winter Home

Riding the Yamaha yesterday I got out on a little point on Lake Roosevelt. The picture above was the result. If you examine the picture, our Earth Module is on the lake right below the For Peaks. The Four peaks are the highest mountains in the background.  The lake has come up at an astonishing rate this year from the rain and snow.

The idea

Kadizzle has been plagued his entire life by laziness.  In the back of his mind an idea has been percolating for a long time.  North Dakota has been plagued by a Republican regime for a long time.  Trump has emboldened the dictatorship of the Republicans in North Dakota.  Republican attempts to wreck revenge on the Native Americans is a case in point. Kadizzle is not taking side in the oil dispute. However, the Republican proposal to open up casinos owned by the state to punish the Natives is a perfect example of Republican drunk on power.

How can sanity take back the state? Kadizzle's idea is to make use of a little known resource.  In every little town in North Dakota there is a community access channel. Hoeven, Cramer, and our local lickspittles are running scared of town hall meetings.  Town hall meetings could be held on the local public access channel.  Now the key is for a group to control the meeting that is not the Republican gang.  So now the lickspittles show up and cannot control  the flow of information.  Naturally they will refuse to show up.  So what you will end up with is a television set with chairs for the people to be interviewed. If the representative does not show up a dummy with Cramer's name or whomever it happens to be will be placed in the chair. The interview will go on.  The great thing is the public cannot be denied access to this channel.

Ken and Rita leave the crew

Ken and Rita had their last day on the trail crew yesterday.  Most people in their forties could not keep up with them hiking and clearing brush. For sure Kadizzle could not keep up with them.  When we clear trails we have lilly trimming, a five year cut and a ten year cut.  Ken and Rita did the ten year cut and left some wonderful trail work behind them.  More of us old goats need to get out and do some public service.  To do a little bragging Kadizzle would say the trail crew consisting of no one under the age of 67 has cut the brush off of more than a hundred miles of trails.  The Forest Service figures our work is worth $20 per hour.  We have been averaging four people.  That would be eighty dollars per hour, or about $2000 per week.  That is money that tax payers don't have to pay.  Republicans love to say starve the goverment and make is so small you can drown it in the bath tub.  Republicans love to say the government is wasteful and inefficient.  The Forest Service here has about 60 people working for free.  Do the math and it saves the Forest Service over one half million dollars per year. That is pretty damn efficient in my opinioin.  Now look at the real insane waste the Republican love. 21 billion for Trump's wall, 54 billion for new military toys and nukes.  Wow, what could we do with that kind of cheese?  We could pave every trail in the United States, or maybe just pay teachers or have health care. No, we want bombs and walls.

Day Three of a Three day week.

As usual the trail crew is up early.  Awake at five A.M. make the coffee, and get up to date.  The rain yesterday brought the streams to life and there are some great water features, but you cannot get to them. Today will be a brushing day.  Old Kadizzle's leg is too sore to hike up any trails. The rest of the crew may buzz up Frazier Trail and try to get it up to snuff.  Next week should be nice and it seems like the rattlers are out or will be soon.  Tomorrow will be the start of our long weekend.  Soon the Earth Module will move north.