The Birthday ride.

A magic moment happens every spring when the Earth stands straight up on March 21. It is the Way the Earth salutes two major events, the birth of Lord Kadizzle, and the glorious day Lord Kadizzle married The Commander. Ever since March 21, 1976 the couple has been living a life of contentment, joy, and unending bliss. Today to celebrate this momentous occasion The Commander announced we would ride mountain bikes at McDowell County Park.  As god's good grace would have it several companies were on hand to help with the celebration.  Three or four of the most luxurious mountain bike companies had their wares available for demonstrations.  The Commander has already joined the elite group that has these bikes, but the caste Kadizzle is in does not have the means. However, the demo people set Kadizzle up on a $5,000 bike and off he went with his leader.  The bike was very nice and the thought kept crossing Kadizzles mind that he should have one.  Amazing advances have been made in the way these bikes shift, ride, and generally perform.  The temptation is great, and perhaps Kadizzle could afford a used one. So here we are 66 years on the planet and 39 years of wedded bliss later. Hopefully we can make one more circle around the sun.

Upon this rock, I shall build my church

Sisyphus, has always been a role model for Kadizzle. Who in the hell is Sisyphus? You remember, the Greek gods punished him by forcing him to roll a huge rock up a hill. He never succeeded, the rock always rolled back down on him.  With The Commander in her usual mode telling Kadizzle it was hopeless, Kadizzle set out to move a two ton rock from a Forest Service road.  Kadizzle loves the concept of doing the impossible.  Up Oak Creek we went with our three quarter ton truck, and a huge tow strap.  After hooking the strap to the rock down the road we went. Kadizzle was surprised the Dodge Ram handled the rock so well. It would have made a wonderful commercial for Dodge.  Now a problem arose. Just as the rock was just about to reach it's new home the tow strap went under the rock.  Our boss had given us a brand new expensive tow strap and we were about to ruin it.  The Commander for some reason told Kadizzle to stop the truck prematurely.  At any rate we finally got the rock basically where we wanted it. Now, we had to get the rock to move at a right angle to the road.  Moving the rock 900ft was easy.  Moving the rock five feet would take about two hours.  With two jacks, two 4x4, some shoveling, and a lot of cursing and grunting we overcame gravity and got the rock to it's new home. Kadizzle and The Commander have an ongoing argument from day one.  Kadizzle always starts a project with success foremost in his mind. How can we succeed? Too many times The Commander starts the project with failure in mind.  Kadizzle is always happy when the project is completed as planned.  If you start a project with the idea that you will fail, you will.

Chauffeur career ends. Bear found guilty.

Uncle Karl, Jerry, and Ralph will have to roam the mountain passes without Kadizzle next week.  The excitement of finding and aluminum can will be gone.  Kadizzle found out last night it takes 34 cans to make a pound of aluminum, and that is worth 80 cents.  Uncle Karl taught Kadizzle a lot about gold mining and how to tell real gold from fake.  Uncle Karl tried to pass off fools gold to Kadizzle then explained how you could tell it is fools gold. Real gold always is gold Karl told Kadizzle as he held the fools gold.  Fools gold only is gold when it reflects sunlight.  Uncle Karl had many gold claims in his career.  After spending days with Uncle Karl, and Jerry it seemed evident they had their own brand of hard scrabble intelligence.  It was strange how they both seemed to end up relatively broke after long lives of relatively good jobs.  On the other hand it was easy to see how Ralph ended up broke.  

The other day when Kadizzle asked Uncle Karl how he got his job cleaning camp sites for The Forest Service he said "You have to be broke and stupid".  When Jerry chewed out Kadizzle for doing a poor job of backing the truck Kadizzle explained to Jerry he was trying to qualify as a paid worker. Kadizzle was trying to prove he was stupid.

On a different subject.  It was the bear that did it.  The other day we hiked high in the mountains near Parker Creek. We came across an experimental station that was also a summer encampment of Arizona University. Kadizzle found a window had been broken out of the main building which sat empty in the winter.  The broken window was reported to the Forest Service.  Kadizzle thought it was vandilism, but that turned out not to be the case. The Commander went back a couple days ago to hike again with friends and realized it was a bear that broke out the window. Apparently the bear saw his own reflection and attacked himself by jumping through the window.  Mr. bear was now trapped in the building and jumped out another window breaking it in the process.

Flowers and Crazies blooming.

As you may recall in an earlier post Kadizzle hoped the craziest of the crazies would not move nearby. No such luck.  Super crazy moved in about 500 yds away.  Now Dr. Dwayne the carpet knife surgeon has moved in nearby. Dwayne is a nice guy, and has been having problems with his van.  Kadizzle offered to let him use his internet to check out a wiring diagram. While checking it out Dwayne mentioned that he had to move out of Camp Bummore because it was being over run by crazies.  Typhoid Mary is back and cooking clam chowder for the bums.  According to Dwaynes report Typhoid want to buy Gary a camping trailer to live in.  Typhoid Mary has an affinity for bums and seems to adopt them like a cat lady picks up cats.  Another week and we will leave bum heaven.

The Good Boy

Kadizzle has a birthday coming up that will make him 66 years old.  As a kid 66 seemed like way beyond the grave, but here we are.  Assessing his life Kadizzle decided he has been a very good boy lately, so he thought he should buy himself a nice birthday present.  One major problem, Kadizzle doesn't need anything, or want anything.  After days of searching it turns out Kadizzle has just about every device or product he wants that is under $200,000 so what can he do.  He could step up and buy a nice new sailboat for $250k or maybe a glidder for $150K,  but perhaps all those gifts over his budget will show up as a surprise.

Just staying reasonably healthy would be a good gift.  However, that might mean giving up pizza, wine, ice cream, and a lot of other good food. Hell that would mean don't eat any birthday cake.  Since Kadizzle cannot solve the problem of what to get himself for his birthday, perhaps you would like to give it a try.  There is only one rule if you try to buy Kadizzle a present, keep it under $500.  The winner will get a plaque to show they won the contest.  Be creative, and don't let the $500 limit discourage you.

Life has it's little ups and downs, like ponies on a merry go round

The sun just set, Kadizzle may be thankful the day is over.  As the famous quote from The Tale of Two Cities said "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times".   The day was as sunny, bright, and pleasant as a day could be.  Off to work he went.  The morning started with a safety topic.  The topic was the proper use of government vehicles.  After a complete review of what is proper and what is not our crew set out and immediately violated three of the rules.  To avoid being prosecuted, the violations will not be mentioned.  As the presenter said, the rules are based upon perception.  So violation is in the eyes of the beholder.

As we traveled down the sunny road to Picket Post near Superior to clean the toilets and pick up litter we were stopped in a long line of traffic.  A thirty year old woman was having a bad day and jumped from a very high bridge. Bringing her body back to the road was a major undertaking that involved at least ten vehicles, two major flashing signs, one way traffic,  a foot rescue team, and a repelling device on top of the bridge.  Her day must have been worse than she could bear.

With two of our crew missing the vehicle was roomy and the the site at Picket Post was clean.  We next headed to Oak Flats where the Indians were still encamped.  Kadizzle sat down to confer with an apparent leader of the Dine (The Navajo's call themselves The Dine').  All of the warriors were gone, apparently seeking buffalo meat at the Walmart in Globe.  The chief and Kadizzle felt each other out on politics and seemed to understand each other.  Meanwhile Jerry machine gunned the out house with high pressure water, and Uncle Carl stood guard in case of attack.  Just as Kadizzle entered the Indian encampment a nice looking non native girl was packing up to leave with her boyfriend. Apparently thay had come to cook for the protest. Not a bad deal for the Indians.  White man came to clean toilets, and bring new rolls of treaties for them to wipe with, and white women fed them.  A vast improvement over the old days of em battlement.

Kadizzle has been plagued with kidney stones on and off for a long time.  Today the urine was full of blood, and no matter how much water Kadizzle drank things did not clear up.  The possibility of an internal attack from kidney stones was a downer on a nice day.  We drove up to Timber Camp and cleaned up there.  It was a very pleasant day in the high pines.

At last done for the day Kadizzle decided to put the final touch on the month long battle with Verizon, Best Buy, and Motorola.  When you think it can get no worse dealing with these companies it does. Verizon put Kadizzle on hold twice for five minutes and then hung up.  Not to be dissuaded Kadizzle called back and finally got to talk to a human.  Even though Kadizzle has been engaged in talks with Verizon for a full month the person acted like it was all new.  Verizon said they would give Kadizzle a $50 credit when he proved he had the cracked screen on his phone fixed.  Seems like a simple matter, but no.  After an hour and  a half Kadizzle worked his way up to  a manager in the food chain.  The manager said he had to go to a meeting shortly, so the hell with it, he just fixed the problem like they promised to do a month ago, and forty phone hours later.  Motorola is still in the battle and has not yet come clean.  WARNING, WARNING, do not ever buy a phone from Best Buy.  Motorola, and Verizon made some concessions, but Best Buy just said go to hell.

The heat is sweltering here, and it may be time to head North.  At this point it looks like we will head to Cottowood, then Sedona, and then perhaps Canyon De Chey.

Almost forgot another part of the day.  Kadizzle is a prolific writer of letters to the editor at the Bismarck Tribune.  The Tribune only allows two letters per month. Often this is not enough, so Kadizzle asked his daughters dog Tony Srpinkleton to also write some letters.  The Tribune calls to verify letters.  Tony usually dictates the letters to Kadizzle and Kadizzle sends them to the paper under Tony's name.  The paper calls The Commanders phone, and when she is asked if Tony is there, Kadizzle fills in for him, since his English is poor.  The Bismarck Tribune published three of Tony's letters.  Tony reads a lot like Kadizzle, and many friends suspected Tony and Kadizzle might be in cahoots.  Well today, The Tribune figured it out.  The Tribune called The Commander and asked for Kadizzle.  When The Commander said "he isn't here", The Tribune suspected Tony might be in cahoots with Kadizzle.  Later the editor called Kadizzle and told him The Tribune will not accept letters from dogs, and since Kadizzle was involved in the scheme he was forbidden to write any letters for six months.  So now all political opinions will be express via the Fargo Forum for the next six months.

If a tree falls on the trail in the forest will the Kadizzle's Clear it?

The tree fell and blocked the trail. When the tree fell in the forest nobody heard it, but some of our friends found it on the trial. Today we hike in with perfect weather and cut up the miscreant.  Also we made several other trails safe for democracy by putting up signs that will allow hikers to find them.

Monday it is back to chauffeur duty with the pressure washer machine gun crew.  Over the weekend the camp ground has filled to almost capacity. Campers are pared two deep on the beech. Hopefully things will clear out tonight.

We meet a lot of people who have some loose bolts, but the other day one showed up that was in never never land.  As Kadizzle was watching solar Jim fly his model plane a guy dressed to the hilt in a motorcycle rider disguise rode up on his Harley.  First he was describing every acrobatic trick Jim did.  Somehow he got into his history in the service.  According to his deranged mind he had been in just about every branch of the military.  Then he related how he swam around an island in Vietnam under water.  During the swim he came under fire from friendly forces.  When he emerged from the water and was seen to be an American they "Gave me a cake the size of the tailgate on your truck".  Just before that Mr. Motorcycle told me how the Park Ranger saved his life the other day by pulling him out of the lake.  So he said he bought a hat.  Next he went to his motorcycle and put on a goofy sailing hat.  What the hat had to do with being saved was beyond imagination, but apparently that is what you do when you are crazy and someone supposedly saves you.   The man and his lunacy was driving Jim nuts and I left on my motorcycle.

Today driving into our campground Kadizzle was flagged down by the same crazy guy because he saw Kadizzle was driving a Forest Service truck.  Crazy man started explaining how he was thrown out of the lower campground, but wanted to know if he was qualified to stay in ours.  Just what we need.  Quickly he told me he had worked at every major park in the country.  Quickly Kadizzle explained he had nothing to do with who stayed where and left.  Now back at our compound I see the spot on the opposite side of the road is empty.  Lord please don't let crazy move in.

The road to nowhere is rugged, and impassable

Yesterday Kadizzle and The Commander set off on a motorcycle exploration. Kadizzle single handed the cycle up Peter Bigfoots road, and then met The Commander where a side road took off. The Commander mounted the cycle and off they went.  A custom in this part of the world is to make roads out of sandy wash creek beds.  The map showed this road going up and connecting with some other roads. Continually the so called road got worse.  More and more boulders started to crop up and The Commander was getting more and more trepidation.  When The Commander gets scared she says she wants to get off and walk.  Even for one the road became impassable, so we gave up.

Today the Tonto Basin Trail Crew (Kadizzle, and The Commander) head up to the Barnhart trail to clear a tree from the trail.  According to our informants the tree is one mile in.  Hope that is correct.  Also we are going to put up some trail signs.

Exploring the Poke Hole.

Hiking the mountains of the southwest the Kadizzles have come across many mines.  Yesterday we found a nice one.  It is always hard to imagine what went on when some old goat got the idea to strike it rich digging a hole.  So many of these mines are in the most inaccessible place imaginable.  The mine we found yesterday was at the end of a long winding home made road.  It was evident more work went into the road than the mine.  It always seems like the people doing the mining never had a clue how they would get stuff to the mine or out of the mine.  The little poke hole we explored yesterday seemed to be a copper mine.  How in the hell would  you get copper ore thirty miles over the worst roads on earth to Globe to have it smelted?

The mine was a classic and looked like the perfect setting for a western.  The best part was what we call the cribbing in mining lingo.  The post and beam at the mouth of the mine were in a picture perfect condition to cave in.  The slightest tap on the post would bring the roof down on anyone trying to enter the mine.  Kadizzle sometimes goes in these things, but this was not one he was going to try.

Over and over Kadizzle kept thinking to himself, you came up here built this road with a lot of effort and money, then dug a couple of tunnels a hundred feet in and said the hell with it.  This almost always seems to be the case with these mines.  The reality sets in at a certain point and the person realizes they will never make a cent on the venture.  It is just like the simple minded people you see in line to buy a lottery ticket.  You are purchasing the right to dream for awhile.  At some point you wake up and realize you will not win.

Flumpers

Kadizzle has a strong desire today to be a flumper.  Flumpers do what they want when they want.  The Greeks had the word hedonist.  If it feels good do it.  On the other hand the hyperactive Commander wants to go to the mountains and explore today.  The Commander assures Kadizzle there will be no hard hiking.  What a joke, it always starts that way and the next think you know we are heading to the top of a mountain. A motorcycle ride on a dirt road would be just fine for Kadizzle.

Often Kadizzle and The Commander discuss the real flumpers.  Today there is a generation of kids that never finish college, live on the largess of their parents, and put off reality as long as possible.  It is a great life if you can surf, and ski as much as you want and get checks from the old man to do it.  What happens when the current crop of flumpers reaches retirement time? The way social security works is the people who pay the checks I now cash pay in from working.  When the flumpers don't work social security takes in no money.  So get to work you flumpers so I can get paid.

Retired people and flumpers have a lot in common.  Both sleep in as long as they like. Both have to make the big decision of, what can I do to make myself happy today.  Both live by the grace of others.  Now there is a whole new class of flumpers.  Down in the bum camp there are three flumpers living in vans and tents.  These guys live on less than 1k per month, and have to live a very frugal life, but they seem content.  Today when I see some of the young flumpers I wonder if they will successfully convert to the bum life.

The Bravest of Men

Kadizzle always admired the brave men who ride the garbage truck.  In freezing winter sub zero temperature the brave bandoleers empty the trash.  On the hottest summer days when the garbage hits it's best ripeness, the brave men ride the trucks and make the community safe.  Today Kadizzle got tricked into being the swamper on the Forest Service Garbage truck.  It started as a simple task of taking a package  to the visitor center for Fed Ex to pick up.  There Kadizzle ran into Roberto.  Roberto asked Kadizzle if he would volunteer for a garbage run to Apache Lake.  It seemed like an easy way to build up some hours and have a scenic ride in a garbage truck.  Well it did not quite work out that way. It turned out someone had already picked up the dumpsters at the other lake.  So off Kadizzle went in his new job as a swamper to empty 20 dumpsters at Lake Roosevelt.

Luckily the garbage was not very ripe because of the fairly cool weather, but some simple dinger emptied his engine oil in one of the dumpsters and we ended up leaking oil at each stop that had to be cleaned up.  The swamper is the guy who backs up the truck and hooks up the dumpsters.  Roberto tried to teach Kadizzle how to operate the hydraulic crushing controls, but Kadizzle played stupid to remain unqualified for a full time swamper job.  With a bit of a new aroma Kadizzle now has a great respect for the brave men that make our country safe from garbage.

Fire in the Hole

The green Forest Service Truck rumbled again into the forest with Uncle Carl riding shotgun. Ralph behind Kadizzle, and Jerry working on a crossword puzzle.  During the trip to the top of the mountain Kadizzle asked Uncle Carl how people applied for the job he and the rest of the gang had. Uncle Carl said to get the job you have to be broke and stupid.  Kadizzled wondered if you had to take a test to prove you were stupid. “Yes, you do” answered Uncle Carl,  “ We had to help Ralph with the stupid test so he could pass”.   When we got out at a wonderful camp site in the mountains the crew was ready to use the pressure washer and clean the out house.  The call rang out to start the pressure washer. “Fire in the hole” Jerry yelled and Uncle Carl started the pressure washer.  Kadizzle loved to hear the command “Fire in the hole”.  It was the traditional way to warn miners a blast was about to go off.  As usual Jerry was the machine gunner on the pressure washer.  A big danger for the machine gunner in an out house cleaning job is splash back.  Ralph, who Jerry describes as “The stupidist old man I have ever met”,  tries to avoid being trained on the machine gun.  Ralph’s ploy is to ask to get out of the truck to pick up litter as we pull into a camp ground.  It usually works and poor old Jerry had to run the machine gun.  In the past few days we have had to burn up some time so we did not get back too early. The answer is windshield time.  We drive backroads on the most circuitous route possible.  As Kadizzle explained to Jerry, if we were going to Europe, we would take the Pacific Route.

You throw it down, we pick it up.

Another day with the geezer crew making American safe for democracy.  Today with the Forest Service Crew of old retired guys we made some wonderful forays into the wilderness. Of course when we reach our destination we have to clean up a mess some slobs made in the wilderness.  At the top of a spectacular mountain South of Globe we came upon a camp site to clean. Industrial strength rodents disguised as humans had made a mess. Shotgun shells, and handgun shells littered the site where the degenerates had camped. Of course the degenerates drank beer, then shot at the beer bottles.  Cans were everywhere along with trash, but out crew cleaned up the mess.  The low class rodents took the time to drive a large screw driver into a tree.  Crew leader Jim told Kadizzle he could not get the screw driver out of the tree.  Kadizzle took this as a challenge and managed to free the mess from the trees with some clever engineering.

It is nice to clean up a site so the next person who comes can enjoy it.  Also when the slobs come they will clearly see the mess they make when they start with a clean site.  There is a subset of humans who go into the most wonderful areas and take great pleasure in ruining them.  It would be great to catch these people.  Many of them take their children and show their children how to destroy the natural environment.

Globe Arizona is a strange mining town.  Like every mining town it is fundamentally a mess. However, you can drive out of town in any direction and be in some wonderful country. The town has crap strewn everywhere, and there is not organization or zoning that is describable.  Probably over half the people live in ramshackle portable housing of some sort with junk piled around it. Boom and bust is the nature of the copper industry and it shows.  If you have a dollar spend it on liquor, a gun, or an ATV. There is no future.

All this being said the guys I clean the forest with are great people. They take pride in correcting the mess the degenerates have made. They pick up every beer can, cigarette butt, and shotgun shell they can find.  It is the old battle of good versus evil.  Why don't the churches and the schools teach some fundamental respect for the planet?

Sitting Dog meets Standing Fox

Lord Kadizzle's Indian name is Sitting Dog.  Yesterday in his role as chauffeur for the old geezers that make up the cleaning crew for the Forest Service, Sitting Dog met with the Indians.  The Indians are still camped out to protest the copper mine that has taken over their sacred land.  As the geezers used the high pressure washer to clean the out house Sitting Dog decided to go over and meet the Indian protesters.  Indians always have a great sense of humor and it was fun talking with them.  As Sitting Dog spoke to the warriors he used the grabber to pick up some of the trash in their encampment.  In all fairness they were keeping the place clean.  One of the warriors pointed at the ground and said you missed a spot.  Sitting dog saw something round and brown.  As he reached for it Standing Fox said "Don't touch that it is an artifact".   Picking it up Sitting Dog realized it was a rusted lid to a tin can.  One mission Sitting Dog had was to find out how Indians used acorns.  The encampment was right in the middle of a place where to this day the Indians gather acorns.  This is how Sitting Dog was introduced to Standing Fox.  Sitting Dog had been speaking with a nice young fellow and asked him about the acorns.  He indicated he was not from this tribe, but his tribe was from an area in New Mexico where acorns were not harvested, but he pointed out Standing Fox and said that Standing Fox would know.  Standing Fox explained that the acorns were used to make a variety of treats including dumplings, cookies, and soup.

The mining plan for the area under the sacred ground is to hollow out a huge area beneath the surface. In this process vast quantities of ore will be removed.  To get the last portion of the ore a massive blast will be set off and the sacred ground will sink into a volcano like crater.  When Kadizzle first drove up in the official looking Forest Service truck he though it might be fun to tell the Indians the blast would occur today and they might wake up 1500 ft lower than where they went to sleep.

As Sitting Dog left the Indians were in good spirit and he told them they had the best room service any Indian could expect from the government.  In this case the government came into the Indian encampment replenished the toilet paper, cleaned the toilet, and picked up all the refuse.   Now just imagine how much better it would have been for Custer if he had simply showed up with toilet paper and cleaned the out houses.

Climb every mountain and watch out for The Sneaker

Today's pickle is where to go. Jeff and Barb want to do an adventure.  The Kadizzles have just about run out of new places, so the choices are getting narrow.  The trick is to go somewhere new.  That essentially means going off into the wild up by Peter Bigfoot's.  The other choices would be to go back to an old spot and look for pot shards, or actually do some trail work down at Oak Flat.  More than likely the Bigfoot adventure will be the one.

Last year our generator was stolen, and Kadizzle to this day has wondered who did it and if they were ever caught. Kadizzle still makes inquiries about The Sneaker.  For a brief time it seemed like the mystery was solved.  One of the old fellows up at the Globe Ranger station said a "hotshot" was The Sneaker.  According to his story the disgruntled fire fighter stole both radios from the Forest Service, and the generators. The hotshot was found selling the items on Ebay.  Yesterday Kadizzle had a chance encounter with the same deputy who investigated the theft of our generator last year. Kadizzle inquired about the veracity of the hotshot story.  The deputy said the hotshot had stolen the Forest Service radios, but had nothing to do with the generators. The deputy went on to say The Sneaker just stole two more Honda generators a week or two ago over at the other campground.  The Sneaker is still on the loose.

The Mountain always wins.

Mountains are deceptive creatures.  The Kadizzles have hiked so many that we know them well.  A favorite deceit of a mountain is to make you think you are going to reach the top, then to show you a whole new climb that needs to be accomplished.  Yesterday was a classic case.  With Barb and Jeff the Kadizzles headed up Denton trail.  The Commander who always hikes like there is a fire in her pants kept busting ahead. Part of our mission was to scout the trail for The Forest Service.  The trail was in poor shape and needed a lot of work. Brush was overtaking the trail, and the trai was suffering from wash outs.

About half way up we could see a saddle and decided that would  be the goal.  When we got to the saddle it appeared we could go a little farther and make the top.  So off we went only to find a big plateau and yet another climb.  After a gain of 2,500 and a hike of 3.5 miles mostly on a strong uphill grade, we made it pretty close to the top.  Views were incredible. We could see all of Lake Roosevelt and for miles in every direction.  Our troop found another crested cactus and inspected several Indian ruins on the way back.  Totally worn down we went for pizza and beer.  There is a strange little pizza place that has very good pizza.  

Recovering this morning after such a strenuous day The Commander is making french toast, and Kadizzle is ready for the second cup of coffee.  It looks like it will be a near perfect day and The Commander wants badly to go on a motorcycle ride.  More than likely that will be the goal.  There are roads up Campaign creek that need to be explored.

One in two hundred thousand

For some strange reason one in two hundred thousand cactus become crested cactus.  The Commander had spotted one of these strange cactus on the road to Peter Big Foot's.  Doing some trail work yesterday The Commander had to stop to get some pictures.  Today the hyperactive Commander insist we put in some trail time.  So it looks like we are going to explore the Denton trail.  Supposedly there are some ruins up in that valley.  Kadizzle would just make this a lazy motorcycle day riding back roads, but they call her The Commander for a reason.  The oatmeal is in the belly and the last cup of coffee is just about empty.

Old men cleaning up the mess of young men

Day two as chauffeur for the clean up crew.  Part of American culture is the subset of humans that need to drive goofy vehicles in the desert.  The idea is to get drunk and drive your truck up some steep sand covered hill.  This will prove you are a brave man and a idiot that has no respect for the environment.  When you need a rest from your idiocy you go to the Forest Service camp site to enjoy your fire made from discarded pallets.  Of course you must break your beer bottles, scatter your trash, and if you want leave some loaded baby diapers.  

The mission of The Forest Service is to keep the place nice for the segment of the planet that deserves a nice place.  This works for the jerks.  They get to come back to make their next mess after we have cleaned up the nails with a magnet left from the last Pow Wow.  The real irony of this is the older guys doing this clean up are being funded under a grant from an Indian reservation.  The mess we cleaned up was on the edge of an Indian reservation, and more than likely the offenders were from the reservation.  So here you have this strange situation were elderly white men are being paid minimum wage to clean up a mess by the reservation with funds from the reservation.  You might recall the story yesterday about Oak Flats.  The Native Americans were camped out there to protest the destruction of a sacred site for copper mining.  Maybe they could move the tents and signs over near the reservation and protest the destruction of their land by their people driving four wheel drive vehicles up the side of the mountain. 

Off to work we go.

A truck load of old farts pulled out of the Tonto National Forest work site in Globe AZ.  Kadizzle's job was to drive the wagon load of seniors to the scenic location of outhouses in the Tonto Forest around Globe. Our fist stop was at the Indian ATM at Picket Post mountain.  What is an Indian ATM?  Of course it is an outhouse that takes deposits only.   The old guys jumped out to pick up the litter, and pressure spray the out house.  Cowboy Gary was certifying Ralph to be a gunner.  The gunner has to shoot the high pressure water right down the throat of the pit toilet.  Gary chided Ralph that he was missing some spots of human waste left overs.

Our next stop was Oak Flats where the Indians were protesting a land swap with a copper company.   The warriors had left their encampment totally unguarded.  Modern Apache Indians on the war path have coolers, bottled water, and a well equipped Webber grill.  As a new gunner at the outhouse Ralph talked a big job.  The vault was full almost to the top and the biggest danger being a gunner is back splash.

By some strange convolution of government grants the old fellows who get paid minimum wage are working under a grant for aging Indians.  None of the men are native Americans so it is a little puzzling.  It might be a case of the Indians in essence telling the white man " Clean up my Sh#t".

Our crew ranges in age from 78 to 60.  These old guys are temporarily out of work and the job gives them some income while they look for work that pays more.  These guys do good work and take the job seriously.

On a side note Kadizzle first hauled the crew for coffee before the day started.  In the gas station right by the counter was a strange display Kadizzle has never seen in a gas station before.  A variety of brightly colored packages of male performance enhancing concoctions was right beside the checkout.  It was hard to imagine someone going to the gas station and saying "Quick give me some of that fake viagra for seven dollars".  In a ruff and tough mining town who knows how the world works.

Six Shooter Canyon.

This morning The Commander and Kadizzle will drive to Six Shooter Canyon near Globe AZ as part of our volunteer work for the Forest Service.  Our job encompasses about a 35 mile area.  The trails we are working with might be 30 miles away in any compass direction.  Today we will shuttle other volunteers around recreation sites to do work.

A popular conception of our government is that it is inefficient.  In many ways this is true, but few people understand the bargain citizens get for their tax dollars from people who work for free.  About half the work force for the Forest Service here is made up of volunteers.  A typical volunteer puts in 21 hours per week.  Volunteers do everything from cleaning the toilets to fixing the roof.  A lot of the volunteers are retired people living in their RV.  In exchange for volunteer work the Forest Service provides a camping spot, electricity, sewage, and water.  If you do the math that is worth about ten dollars per day.  Do a little more math and the volunteer is making about 50 cents an hour.  With both the Commander and Kadizzle working it amounts to about 25 cents per person per hour.  Most volunteers work way more than required.  Don't forget some of these people are doing high skilled work.  Kadizzle noticed a welder working on a Sunday in the Forest Service shop.  A welder working in a power plant in North Dakota would probably be paid close to 50 dollars per hour when you include benefits.   On a Sunday that welder at double time would be getting one hundred dollars per hour.

When people bitch about "the goverment" they need to do some investigation.  Soldiers get killed and maimed for a relatively small sum.  The government that so many love to hate and despise has a lot of hidden gems that rarely get noticed.  Often while traveling we meet people from other countries who marvel at our parks, and outdoor spaces.  However, there is an element in our society that wants to "starve the beast".  These people want to cut off the funds for the Forest Service, and all the agencies that make this country such a nice place to live.  The response of these agencies is to try to operate with volunteers.   Sadly if the trend of "Starve the beast" continues there will be no open spaces and parks for the next generation.

Indian Zip Code

For years the Kadizzles have been visiting hundreds of Indian ruins in the southwest.  Recently we purchased  a detailed book on the area we are currently in.  The book is much more scientific than what we normally delve into.  The sheer number of sites around here is amazing.  It has become politically correct for people in the know not to reveal the exact location of all the sites.  In a way this makes it kind of fun to find them. The good thing about this system is that only hard core people will find the sites, and that leaves the vandals out.  So many of these sites have been ruined by vandals.  Many of the vandals were early settlers.

Kadizzle has been doing some serious map work to extrapolate where these sites are.  Kadizzle has figured a system of coordinates that is made by mapping known points on the map, such as stream intersections.  If time permits we should head back to the wilderness and try to find some of the more difficult sites.

Rain has been pouring into the desert, and the flowers should be in their full glory soon. Tomorrow we head to Globe on a charity mission for The Forest Service. The Kadizzles will be the drivers for a volunteer work crew in Six Shooter Canyon. The volunteers will be cleaning up the recreation sites.

The Smell of Rain

Nothing smells better than rain in the desert. Sitting beside Lake Roosevelt the warm night filled with fresh air full of desert moisture is perfect for sleeping.  Plants give off oxygen in exchange for the rain drops.  Rain in the desert makes the flowers explode. The amount of sand and gravel moved by water when the water finally  moves is amazing.  Recently we hiked a stream after a rain.  In a place where we had walked through three feet of water, there was three feet of sand. Tons of material move around and you can see the results everywhere.  After weeks of daily activities outside a break in the rain is comforting.

Living on the edge

Yesterday with The Commander, Kadizzle set out to reach the Bullhead Canyon Trialhead.  This is by no means a simple task.  Some of the most wild difficult country you might drive into is in the Cherry Creek drainage that is on the east end of Lake Roosevelt.  On various occasions we have done many explorations in the area looking for Indian ruins.  It is one of the longer runs we ever make on unpaved roads. Our goal was to get to the trailhead and assess the condition of the signs there.  We also wanted to find the beginning of another trail.

The treacherous part of the journey is the drive on 203A.  203A is a cliff hanging road that goes for five miles or more.  The problem with the road is that the road is so narrow.  The Forest Serviced Truck we were assigned for the job is a big pickup truck as pickup trucks go.  If we met another vehicle on the road someone might have to back up along the cliff edge for up to a mile before two vehicles could squeeze buy one another.  To add to the fun in many places the road had some serious washouts that made it even worse.  If they do not fix the road they should seriously consider closing it.  However, it has a magnificent view once on top.  Both on the way up and down Kadizzle dreaded the possibility of meeting someone.  In our favor was the road is rarely used. Most people would not make the venture.

Aliens leave message on creek bed.

If you cannot understand or explain something the best thing to do is just make something up.  Driving up to a trail head yesterday Kadizzle and The Commander came across a massive rock display.  Creek rocks were carefully stacked in every direction.  Who did this, whey did they do it, and what does it mean.  It is all very simple.  The rocks are a digital message from aliens.  Each rock is a series of bits and bites just like computer code.  All you have to do is figure out the code and you know exactly what the aliens are saying. There are a few minor problems.  Do aliens read from left to right, top to bottom, or from north to south.  After a great deal of puzzling Kadizzle was able to figure out the code. This is what the aliens said. " Earthlings you idiots, you have enough to eat, all the energy you need, and all the resources to live very comfortable happy lives if you would just share.  Instead you fight and kill each other for the most silly reasons, and squander your planet.  We don't wish to visit any more, it is depressing".

We are a flash in time, and a speck of dust in the Universe

As humans we have such a small vantage point, and perspective on the universe.  Hiking the other day into mountains west of us the geology was amazing.  In the canyon we hiked the Earth was eroded, folded, uplifted, bent and twisted in every direction.  As part of our new job The Kadizzlites hiked with Ruth and Rodger up the Barnhart Trail.  The trail turned out to be a real treat.  Waterfalls, incredible overlooks, and a very nice trail all wrapped together to make a nice hike.

Upon this Rock I will build my church, or was it these wheels?

Most people would be surprised how many people call a vehicle their home.  Yesterday Kadizzle visited Camp Bum More to see how Dr. Dwayne is recovering from his carpet knife surgery.  Dwayne just turned 61.  Kadizzle would have guessed he was much older.  After his home made surgery Dwayne bragged he had just peddled his bike to the Post office about five miles away.  Sitting in a chair at the encampment was the other all pro bum Gary.  It was a sunny day and cheerfulness was in abundance.  The day trader who recently moved back and lives in his van walked into the bum encampment.  Day Trader makes his living trading penny stocks and says it keeps him alive.  Day Trader was on his way to the Solar shower when he stopped in to see the senior bums,  Day Trader is in his early forties.  Dwayne reached into a paper bag and pulled out the largest can of beer one could purchase.  Before Dwayne opened the beer Day Trader shouted for him to stop.  Quickly Day Trader checked his watch.  As it turned out Dwayne's internal clock was very precise.  It was 11:59 A. M.   Bum etiquette does not permit drinking until noon.   Day Trader gave Dwayne permission to proceed and the afternoon was off to a good start.  Kadizzle drove away on his motor cycle with joy in his heart knowing the bums were so content with so little.  This brings us back to people living in vehicles.

It is amazing the number of people, many with decent resources that live in a van.  The recent sprinter vans with the high roofs have become popular abodes.  Two groups really like them, the kayak people, and the hard core bike people.  Some of our friends here are an older couple living in a van.  Their last career was driving a truck as a team.  Before that they were both professionals making the normal life work.  Another couple beside them is also living the van life.  Most of these people are active and healthy and just don't like being tied down.

Kadizzle meets so many different people in the course of our travels it is hard to keep track.  One person always leads to another.  At the boat ramp Kadizzle engaged the host their in a conversation about model airplanes because he noticed they guy had one.  Model Airplane guys are also a subset of old people looking for something to do.  Kadizzle wanted to get a special battery charged, that only model airplane guys can charge.   As it turned out the host did not have a charger, but said the model airplane guy up near us might have one.  Kadizzle figured he would put the old "It don't hurt to ask" trick to work.  Luckily Model Airplane man was sitting by his big fifth wheel.   Beside his big fifth wheel was his black trailer.  It had a huge array of solar panels.  Kadizzle told him of his dilemma.  Model man took Kadizzle into the black workshop trailer.  It was the mother off all solar power stations, plus a nice little workshop where he worked on his planes. The first thing Kadizzle noticed was a strange little machine that appeared to be making ice.  Kadizzle inquired about what the machine was and indeed it turned out to be an ice machine.  Mr. Model explained to Kadizzle that his solar output was so strong he had nothing to do with all the power so he made "Sun Cubes".  The sun cubes fell out of the ice machine right into his beer cooler.  How convenient.  As usual when you ask for something you often get way more.  Mr. Model offered to give Kadizzle a computerized battery charger for his battery.  To top it off  Mr. Model rewired and delivered it.  Now Kadizzle must find a was to repay.  His wife it turns out plays the electric guitar in the evening and has a good voice to go along with it.

Mrs. Kadizzle took advantage of the nice day to ride her new bike.  In the course of her ride she met a woman with four nice children living in their fifth wheel.  The husband was in Alaska doing oil work.  He works two weeks then returns for two weeks.  The family had just captured a large lizard and that was the excitement for the day .

One more off the list

For some strange reason our mission in life seems to be to find every place in the Southwest were an ancient Indian may have had a dwelling.  Sometimes finding one of these places takes years.  Today we scored a victory.  For years we have heard about a dwelling close to the falls on Workmen Creek high in the Sierra Ancha  wilderness.  Today with Ruth and Rodger we set out to find the ruins.  Yesterday we made a six mile foray on the Tule trail so our batteries were already worn down.  In the neck of the woods high in the pines were many of these ruins are located it seems these people did not want to be surprised, consequently they built their homes in some very inaccessible places.  In this wilderness every ruin we have found is extremely difficult to get to.  You always wonder on a daily basis what these people did just to get water and to and from their hunting.   So off we started on a scramble straight up the mountain.  Climbing up a scree slope is no easy task. It is nothing but a steep slope of football sized rocks that are as steep as gravity will permit.

Making the Country Safe for Democracy

Once you give a task a noble goal everything falls into place.  When our country was embroiled in the Vietnam War politicians used to say we were "Making the country safe for democracy".   Cutting brush on a trail is not real glamorous, until  you consider it making the country safe for democracy.  Yesterday we set off into the wild in our Forest Service truck to work on the trail at Oak Creek Flats.   First we put up a couple of signs so people could find the trail.  Near the start of the trail there are traces of Indian occupation.  With a little waterfall nearby and a year round supply of water it would have been a perfect place to live.  Kadizzle suspects the natives were doing some irrigation.

On the trail we hacked and clipped for hours working our way up the mountain.  Since the trail had been neglected for a long time some giant Sotol Cactus had grown right in the middle of the trail.  Removing these sinners that had encroached on Government right of way was a big job.  Once they were pitched into the brush they still looked like they were planted.

Possessed

Norm is one of those guys who lives out of his truck for a great part of the year.  There are a lot of people like him. If Norm needs ice, he gets on his bike and pedals eight miles to get it.  As a bicyclist Norm thought he might come join The Commander to admire her new single track bike.  When we stopped by Norm’s to invite him over The Commander mentioned the new security measures needed to deal with the new bike.  Since the Kadizilites are now volunteers for the Forest Service, we are entitled to lock up The Commanders new bike in the back of the rest room where the supplies are stored.  The Commander explained this to Norm.  Norm said “ Don’t become possessed by your possessions”.  This idea intrigued Kadizzle.  How many of us are possessed by our possessions.  Norm lives a happy simple life.  He sits by the lake and reads,  at other times he house sits for those possessed by their possessions.

Too many times Kadizzle has seen the possessions possess the owner.  It is not unusual to see some guy pull into an encampment with his new 250k diesel motorhome.  The first thing the newly retired old goat does is get out a ladder and start polishing it.  The goat may have landed in the most wonderful part of American with scenery to die for.  All his life the goat worked so he could enjoy retirement, but now he is working for his RV.  It owns him, he does not own it.  

Today the Kadizzlites plan to head up to the Oak Flats trail head. The plan is to clear the trail a little, and gather some data on the trail.

Dr. Dwayne does surgery with a carpet knife

Yesterday Kadizzle decided to make a round and check on life at Camp Bum More.  As he drove up to Gary's tent he could hear Gary singing nicely at the top of his voice just like the first time he bumped into him.  When Gary stepped out Kadizzle got an update on the great renovation of Gary's truck.  The truck seems to be working fine with the exception of the new ignition that will be installed when it comes.  However, the project has faced a major slowdown. Gary reported that the ace mechanic Dwayne was recently at the emergency room for a hernia.

After speaking with Gary Kadizzle decide he should check on Dwayne.  Dwayne was up and about and seemed in good shape.  Kadizzle inquired about Dwaynes health and trip to the hospital.  Dwayne said last year a black widow spider bit him.  The spider causes some sort of pustule to go against his intestines.  Somehow this had something to do with his hernia.  Dwayne had a beer in his hand and his mind seemed a bit garbled.  As best Kadizzle could deduce Dwayne was admitted to the hospital with an inflamed pocket of something.  Dwayne felt the pocket should be pierced and drained, but the hospital thought it best to just treat the problem with antibiotics.

Dwayne decided to take things into his own hands, so when things looked like he was not being observed he disconnected his IV and walked out of the hospital with it dangling from his arm.   Once back at Camp Bum More Dwayne decided to do what he called jungle surgery.  Holding a carpet knife Dwayne explained to Kadizzle how he lanced the swollen pocket on his abdomen.  According to Dwayne it has now shrunk in size and all seems to be going well.  The people at the hospital must wonder where he disappeared to.

Captain Underwear fails to catch The Sneaker

After The Sneaker stole our generator last year Kadizzle has been determined to catch him.  This year The Sneaker has stolen one generator so far.  Kadizzle invested in high tech security lights that come on with bright LEDs when motion is detected.  Old Kadizzle went to bed early last night and the LEDs had just been re-positioned by The Commander.  Suddenly awaking from a very deep sleep Kadizzle heard a car quietly driving off and noticed the security lights were on.   The immediate thought was The Sneaker had been scared off.  Kadizzle went outside to see where The Sneaker would go.  As we now sit The Sneaker would have to come back towards us on a nearby road to escape the campground. Kadizzle thought about running up to the road to get a glimpse of The Sneaker.  It was at this point Kadizzle realized he was in his underwear and a T shirt.  Not a good set up for running through cactus at night in the desert.  Then the thought came to Kadizzle, there were no headlights heading anywhere.  That could only mean The Sneaker was down farther in the campground with his lights out hiding.  Ah, ha, thought Kadizzle he could get in the truck and catch The Sneaker.   After failing to find the multi million candle power boat searchlight Kadizzle jumped in the truck and headed down the road.  Shortly he came across an SUV with the back open and a man nearby.  Kadizzle asked the puzzled man if he had just driven into the camp ground.  The startled camper said yes he had.  It was clear this was the person who had set off the lights and he was clearly not the sneaker.  Now Kadizzle's brain slowly came out of the sleep fog.  First he realized it was only 11:00 P.M.   It was not Sneaker time.  Then it slowly sunk in that had Kadizzle confronted The Sneaker he was wearing only Walmart slummer shoes, a t shirt and his underwear.   Hopefully the next Sneaker attack will be met with better preparation.

First Sail of 2015

Today is more or less a rest day. Our friends invited us down to the lake to go in their Hobbie Trimeran, and their SeaEagle inflatable. Out to a bay we went for lunch.  The Hobbie is very unique.  You peddle the Hobbie.  Cissie and Barb were stuck with the traditional paddle boat. It is amazing how much more efficient peddling the Hobbie is. Whomever invented the system is a genius.  Under the boat are fins that work as a fish would.  It was amazing how much faster the Hobbie went than the traditional paddle boat would go.  It seemed like we could do 4 knots easy, and five or six was not that hard.

Do you have a flat tire? No, I am nuts.

If someone had met Kadizzle about a mile down the trail lugging a hydraulic car jack they would have wondered what the problem was, but there is an answer.  In the great trail maintenance adventure The Kadizzilites were assigned the task of replacing 8x8 timber steps.  To do this the old rotten steps had to be removed.  Roberto suggested using a hydraulic car jack like you see in gas stations.  The steps are pinned into the ground with rebar about three feet long.  By digging under the step and jacking it is possible to get the blasted rotten steps out.  After doing five steps Kadizzle lugged the jack back to the truck and called it a day.

Things at camp Bum More are under control  The bums put a brand new starter in Gary's truck and were flummoxed that it would not work.  Dwayne is a pretty good mechanic, and that much unsuccessful work stimulated his beer gland.  Dwayne was out of beer. Kadizzle was going to make a beer run for Dwayne when he went to the post office to pick up a package, but the package did not come in.  Dwanyne's van was have it's own electrical issues and he did not want to drive to town.  The good news is Gary cleaned the lead on the starter and now it is working.  So the sun is shinning on the bum mechanics.  Kadizzle had a bit of fun with the bums while they were working.  The Forest Service is relatively tolerant of the bum life style, but would not be real happy with two bums doing car repair.  In his new shinny Forest Service truck Kadizzle deliberately pulled up on the bums while they were doing mechanical work on Gary's bum wagon.  The bums thought they had been busted.  Both bums were relieved when they saw it was only Kadizzle.  Today will be a day off and the plan is to relax and enjoy.  No doubt a bee will get in The Commanders bonnet.  Just as this is written here comes The Commander.  The bee is in her bonnet, what luck it is a bee without a big stinger. The Commander actually has a good plan.  The Forest Service wants the milage by road to trailheads from their visitor center. The Commander is suggesting we drive to The Jug and get the distance.  If here plan comes to fruition, we will get work credit for the drive.  Stay posted and see how this adventure turns out.  The picture at the top is the Jug and if all works out we will be heading there today.

Commonality

Birds of a feather flock together.  So many of our winter friends have the same interest in common, sailing, biking, hiking, and traveling.  Jeff and Barb have done a lot of hiking with us lately.  The two Canadians have a trimeran they can peddle and spend a lot of time on the lake.  For easy lake access they parked right beside the water.  The lake is inching up and they had a problem. Their truck was gone for repair. Jeff asked Kadizzle to come down and move their trailer.  Kadizzle said sure, but it turned out the key for the hitch lock was with the truck.  As their veranda slowly disappeared the space around them shrank.  Yesterday they got their truck back so all is well.  We had a nice evening sitting by the water listen to some Canadian fold singers.  Jeff was amazed that The Kadizzlites had a vast knowledge of Canadian fold singers.

The Path to Success

Repairing the damaged trail involved a lot of shoveling, and pick swinging yesterday, but Kadizzle made some progress.  Later in the day the Kadizzilites met with our boss Dough.  We discussed having the Department of Corrections prisoners help with some of the work.  Arizona accomplishes a lot with these young guys, and ironically they young incarcerated workers enjoy being outside and doing something.  One of our problems on the trail is getting supplies a couple miles into the wilderness.  On trail work you eventually get to the point where half your work is walking to where you are going to work.  We  need to get some very big timbers to some steps and hopefully these guys can carry them in for us.

Trail Blazers

Burdened with a terrible cold Kadizzle hit the trails yesterday to make them safe for democracy.  On the edge of Lake Roosevelt Kadizzle punished the ornery flora and fauna that were encroaching on government right of way.  With a handsaw Kadizzle made many thorny bushes and weeds wish they had never thought about protruding into the land of the hiker.  Again today we head out with a full crew.  If all goes as planned earthwork is the theme.  It never rains in the desert, but when it does it does serious damage to the trails.  Fixing washouts will be the plan today.

The Thule Canyon Bust Through

A couple weeks back The Kadizzlites tried to make it from one end of Thule Canyon to the other.  About three quarters of the way it was impossible to go any further without a little technical climbing gear.  Not to be defeated attempt two took place yesterday with Jeff and Barb.  Changes in the canyon from recent rains were amazing.  On the first attempt we had to wade through a pool sixty feet long and three feet deep.  Now that same area is completely full of sand.  Rains had scrubbed some of the brush out of the canyon which was also nice.  Jeff and Barb were amazed by the magic of the place and how spectacular the rocks were.  They were slowed down by gazing and picture taking.

As the hike went on we got to the dare to be stupid part.  Our first obstacle we overcame with an aluminum chock block which we wedged in a crack above us.  By placing the chock in the crack and hooking our rope to it we could pull ourselves up the steeply sloping rock and make it to the next level.  From there things only got worse.  With some skillful rock scrambling we kept going.  This time we had a good idea how close to the end we were because Kadizzle had driven to the canyon entrance and made a GPS point before we started the hike.  Although we were within 1500 feet of the finish we contemplated giving up because it looked like we were trapped by a hopeless ravine with no way around.  As The Commander just said it was very useful having extra hands and eyes.  Jeff took one route and Kadizzle tried another route.  Briefly Kadizzle was trapped on a ledge.  With some jiggering the rest of the crew managed to get him off.  Jeff said that we needed to keep going or we would not have bragging rights.  So we pushed on and we could see the bust out was coming.  After a mile hike back on the road that parallels the canyon we were all happy to go back to beer, wine, and pizza.

Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude, Changes in Altitude

From 2,200 feet above the sea The Kadizzlites, with Jeff and Barb set out on our adventure to 7,400 feet.  Most of the gain was accomplished with the Tundra, but the last and best was done with the feet up Reynolds Creek.  Amazing that the transition from desert to mountain pines can happen so quickly.  The goal of the trip was to find Sieria Ancha Ruin V1:162.  Current PC is not to disclose the GPS points for ruins, so we had no hard data to go on.  Our only hope was to find the ruin from pictures of the area, and general descriptions.  Our mission failed, but we had one of the nicest hikes imaginable.  At our stopping point the view was incredible. In every direction we could see for miles and miles.

As usual we did not do our homework enough before we left. On return and re-examining the pictures it appears we were very close to the site when we stopped for lunch.  If the site is now where we think it is, there will be some difficult scrambling to get to it.  That is all saved for another day.

Another day, and another discovery.

The Commander and Kadizzle left their gated community and went down to Camp Bummore to check on everyone.  Had a long conversation with two older German women.  In their camper van they have been traveling the United States.  Unfortunately they chose to bring a Citroen van.  As one would expect of the Germans the interior was excellent and had the best layout one might imagine. No one in the United States services Citroen, so when the women had a problem in the middle of Utah they had a big problem.  The only nearby mechanic refused to even touch it.  Unbelievably they decided to ship it to a friend in Florida to have it fixed.  In Florida their German friend found one loose wire, and the problem was solved.  Soon they will put the van in a container and have it shipped to New Zealand.  The women had to get a ride to Salt Lake city to fly to Florida.  They were amazed by the bubbas that drove them.  The Utah bubbas in their pick up truck had matching his and hers side arms.  The woman's gun was pink.  The women were amazed how bad public transportation is in this country.

Later in the day Kadizzle set out for a cycle ride.  As he rode a path he had take before on the motorcycle he was able to go a littler farther.  At the end of the road Kadizzle saw some tell tale rocks. Could this be an Indian site?  Yes, it was.  It was a large site with a great view.  Searching the site there was not pottery shards.  This is something strange around here.  Two sites withing a mile of each other will be entirely different.  One will have pottery shards everywhere, and the other will be devoid of pottery shards.  How do you explain it?  It could be people picked one clean, but that is improbable.  Rain always brings new stuff up.  It might be that some of the sites had a different use and people did not live there. Just another mystery.

The Canadians

Kadizzle loves Canadians.  Tonight we had some good drinks with Canadian friends down by the boat ramp. We met them last year.  About 80 percent of our good friends in the winter are from Canada. The real invaders of Arizona are Canadians.  Canadians are much happier than Americans.  They enjoy their beer, and their national health care, they are not afraid to enjoy life and have nice vacations in Mexico and our country.  They don't have right wing radio, Fox News, and they get wars for a bargain because we pay the part of the cost.  The social safety net in Canada is so much better than ours.  They might bitch about paying taxes, but ask any one of them if they would switch countries, and they all say no.  They come down shop, vacation and live well. Meanwhile we give them a nice place to visit and work ourselves to death.  During 15 years traveling winters in the southwest, Kadizzle never recalls meeting an unfriendly Canadian. In fact Kadizzle has never met one anywhere.  They don't pack guns, they take it easy, they live life all their life. We could learn a lot from them. When our housing bubble burst they all came to AZ and bought up the cheap homes. The Canadians know how to cash in on our stupidity.   You never hear silly stump preachers in Canada, you don't have any Rush Limbaughs  in Canada.  The Canadians don't feel they have to be armed to the teeth.  So strange that we are number one in everything, but Kadizzle has not yet met a nasty Mexican, a nasty Costarican, or a a nasty Canadian.  Just about everyone in Ireland seemed nice but one guy, and he was drinking. So what makes people happy?  We meet so many nice people traveling.  Take away the job hassle, and give a person some freedom, and chances are they will be a nice person.

Recently another good friend just retired. She had a hell of a time giving up her job, but now only a month later she does not miss it one bit.  The same was true for old Gerty.  She worked for the phone company for a hundred years.  She just could not imagine not working, but once she got into the swing of retirement she loved it.  Old Kadizzle has been retired for almost 16 years.  At fifty it seemed strange to retire, but Kadizzle has never regretted it for a minute.  Sit in that little cubicle until you rot, but why?  The world is a big place, and you don't need that last nickel to make it enjoyable.  Even the bums here are happy.

Day Two

The Commander caught a bit of a cold at the Super Bowl party, but she is up for working today in our new career.  Yesterday we got off to a good start and cleared brush from about two miles of trails.  One problem occurred when we inadvertently worked in the wrong place.  What looked like the trail was not.  A sign is needed.

Getting up early and going to work is a whole new life style.  Thank God and Greyhound it is warm in the morning.  The camp host down at the Grapevine group camp area where we are working invited us to his spot for some roasted pecans.  It was a good treat and he had cooked them in a solar oven.  Which brings Kadizzle to the sun.  Then New York Times has a good article about the sun and it is worth reading.  The realization that we live at the mercy of a giant nuclear bomb makes one realize how fragile life on this planet is. Many stars like our sun pulse.  If our sun were to do so we would be history.  The energy put out by the sun is mind boggling.

The Commander keeps commenting on how good life is plugged into electricity.  It does bring to realization how much people depend on utilities.  We have no television, which is both good and bad.  Public Radio is our main connection with the world.

Take that you blasted cat claw

There are some nasty plants in the desert, and one of the worst is a bush called cat claws.  The damn things grab onto you and scratch you like crazy.  Also they tear your clothes.  Trying out my new career as a trail maintenance person yesterday Kadizzle took great pleasure in assaulting the little bastards.  The Pala Verde has some small stickers, but it grows so fast that you can see it growing.  Whacking those guys was also nice.  Vengeance on the nasty plants brings joy to Kadizzles heart, but those plants can talk and do have brains.  You might give one cholla a good wack and another one will hear it scream.  Next thing you know the buddy of the injured one fires a ball of needles into you.  In the desert it is a war of animals versus plants. The animals would like to eat the plants, and the plants would like to stab their swords as deep into the animals as possible.  Add to the mix some snakes, and scorpions, and the battle is on.  Old Kadizzle is not a desert rat by nature, so he does not always keep in mind the rattlesnake could be in any bush.  This time of year they are not too active and hopefully they are hibernating, but you cannot count on that.  So here we sit at 6:30 A.M.  about to embark on our first full day serving our country for free.  The Commander will pack us a lunch, and we will pick up our government truck to head off to the wilderness.  Stay tuned

Yesterday was a mini Christmas.  Kadizzle's new monocular came general delivery to the post office.  It will be a great addition to the hiking gear.  We have come a long way from the Pony Express.  Now you can order something from Amazon and have it delivered to your campsite in a day or so.  Yesterday at Camp Bummore the UPS was delivering truck parts to the bum racing team.  In 1929 during the great depression desperate people were living in cars and tents.  Today the relatives of the desperate are still living in cars and tents, but now they have digital cameras, laptops, solar lights, and the life of a bum is not all that bad.  Forgot to include the nice solar showers at Camp Bumore.   Kadizzle and The Commander have been availing themselves of the solar showers.  The recent stretch of sunny days have made the showers pleasant.  Since we are in an exclusive loop the showers get used by only a select group of idiots dumb enough to work for free.

Right up there.

Sun is shinning over my left shoulder.  As Kadizzle looks out the window to the south he sees in bright sunshine the ruins of ancient people up on the mountain side.  The Tonto National Monument in all its glory overlooks the valley we sit in.  What was it like when actual humans lived there?  They would be up early, maybe a little chilly today.  They would have to think about getting some water up there, and probably some food.  Down here they probably would have seen field growing their crops.  They would have seen the big platform mound they built to the East.  To the West they would have seen another of their platform mounds.  They might see smoke from all the occupied sites all around them as everyone starts the day.

Would people come from lower on the Salt River to bring them goods and trade with them?  Would they send people up into the mountains North of here to harvest some game?  Who was making all those pot shards that are now everywhere.  How many people where here?  Someone was regularly attacking these people. Who was it?  Was it other hungry close relatives? Was it people far from the North or South? Was it the Apaches who are now at the Walmart in Globe?  Turn the clock back 600 years and ask what happened on a sunny morning in February 600 years ago.  How did these people exist? What did they know? They never had a clue some people from Europe would show up and bring them the best diseases man could offer.  They never knew they would be tortured, killed, and driven from their land so some hopeless cattle could take their place.  Perhaps someday Earth will be invaded, and humans will be seen as an obnoxious weed.  The aliens will wipe us out and replace us with space buffalo.  Unless of course it turns out we are tasty.  We would be put on display in their stores meat counter and the alien butcher will say do you like white meat or dark meat?   An alien will see me on display and tell the butcher he is trying to avoid too much fat and perhaps he could have someone a little more lean.  All seems impossible, but lets not forget that the Spanish invaded Cuba and cut up the natives and cooked them.  Supposedly it was to fry Satan out of the, but who knows if they made stir fry.

Working for free is a very intensive process

Kadizzle is almost 66 years old.  During the course of his life he has worked many different jobs.  None has required more paperwork or time than volunteering to work for free for The Forest Service.  Not just anyone can work for free.  Nope, you have to have a background check to volunteer.  You have to take a defensive driving course, and take two paper test, one for a regular pickup, and another for a four wheel drive pickup.  Good thing Kadizzle took the test after he has been driving four wheel drive vehicles as part of his job for over forty years.  Naturally all of this is not enough, one must also pass an actual behind the wheel test.

This just scratches the surface.  Multiple forms must be filled out and signed by multiple people.  So far the process has been in process for over a month.  If god is willing and the creeks do not rise there is a good chance the Kadizzles will actually be able to work tomorrow.

The Kadizzle crew will be doing trail work.  Trail work will be anything from removing brush to documenting problems on the trails with washouts.  Since we do a lot of hiking it will work out well.  In exchange for our good deeds we will get a campsite with electricity, water, and sewer, a pair of gloves and a hat.

The whole process got the gears in Kadizzles mind churning.  Many people live their lives thinking about the so called welfare cheats that abuse the government.  Few people think about the people who are just the opposite of welfare cheats.  Billions of dollars in donated work has been done for everyone by volunteers The United States Government.  Yesterday Kadizzle walked into the Forest Service shop.  It was Sunday.  A man was there welding for free for The Forest Service.  In a conversation with the man he said he was a boiler maker.  The Forest Service needed a steel container for a set of portable outhouses.  It was a big project, and this man was working free on Sunday to do it.  If the tax payers had to pay this man the wage he would normally make with benefits on a Sunday, the sum would come to well over $60 per hour.  

As we travel we see middle class and poor people doing work for free for The United States Government.  Many of these people are getting social security, some type of disability payment, or some government subsidy.   These people are not welfare cheats, they are heroes.  We have one friend who is very wealthy. He is 80 years old, but he chooses to work very hard everyday for free cleaning up the mess inconsiderate people make at one of the parks on the Salt River Project.  

Foggy in Froggy Bottom

Going to bed Kadizzle checked the stars and found them working very well, so he figured today would bust onto the scene in all it's glory.  Waking up this was not the case.  Fog has enmeshed the local portion of the planet. Fog is unusual in the desert, but perhaps an interesting change.  The sun will burn the hell out of this fog and surely the day will be overflowing with sunshine.

At 9:00 we meet with Doug our new boss at the Forest Service.  We will be a trail crew of two.  An amazing amount of paper work is required to work for free.  No paid job Kadizzle ever held required the paper work it takes to work for free.  Also the rules are endless for working for free.  People are so worried the government will waste money, that the government waste a fortune doing paper work to make sure no money is wasted.

It is a different life having the amenities of the city far out in the boonies.  Kadizzle was almost looking forward to harvesting sunshine with the solar panels today, but it will not be necessary. No matter what all the electronic gizmos still have to be charged all the time.