An Update

I am finally getting my blog updated. It will be a little different as the oldest will be on the top and the latest will be on the bottom for just this one update. Cell phone service has precluded me from updating so I just keep a log and have cut and pasted. Hope you enjoy.

smln jck

10 Mar 05: Took the truck into the Napa store and the mechanic there determined that two idler pulleys needed to be replaced. With those replaced, the noise went away. He also blew out the alternator, power steering pump, and other things on the engine. Said he had never seen so much dust come out of things. I told him the truck spent a lot of time on gravel roads. Which it does.

The temperatures have started to rise. It was in the 90’s today. That is getting a little hot for me. But warmth is one of the reasons we are down in the desert. We are also down here to see the birds, flowers and other creatures. And that is also happening. Today I got to see a Western Diamond back rattler for the first time. We have rattlers up in Montana, but not one with black and white stripes near the rattler. He was just crawling along as I was out walking the dog. Of course the dog is half blind so did not see it very good. But I kept him behind me as we watched it for 15 or so minutes crawl along the sandy trail.

When we got back to the area we are camping in after our truck fixing in Ajo, we moved out into the desert further. It is more secluded and there seems to be more birds. This area near Why has a lot of birds. And do they ever sing at sunrise! What a treat that is to sit and have my morning tea with birds calling out their song. Although there is one Gambles Quail who is almost annoying. He insists on starting his lonesome mating call before daylight and just keeps it up. On and on he goes. And his favorite perch is in a Palo Verde tree not very far from our camper. We also have a great place to run. Just head out west on a BLM road and run until you are tired. In my case, that is only about 30 minutes, then turn around and run back to camp.


11 Mar 05: Broke camp and headed towards the east. Just east of Sells there were acres and acres of poppies in bloom. What a sight. This is the year of the flower down here that is for sure. We have heard that it is a once in a lifetime occurrence that there are so many wildflowers because of so much rain.

We camped out in the BLM again in the Las Cienega National Conservation Area. Not a bad camp, but not one of our best. We were in a horse pasture of one of the local ranches, which was nice. Camped on top of a hill with some great views. And what a pretty sunset we had. Got to see a lot of lightning down towards the south also. But to much traffic on the road and very few wildflowers.


12 Mar 06: Headed out fairly early this morning and drove up to Punkin Center near Roosevelt Lake. Drove through part of Tucson and that was a little nerve wracking. I don’t like cities and traffic. We were going to go up one highway, but somehow missed a turn and went on route 77. As it turned out, it was a very pretty drive to Globe. Then we headed up around the lake to Punkin Center. G & GB arrived shortly after we did. Headed back down the lake to a forest service road that we drove up to a great camping spot in a saddle on a ridge. Had to go quite slow (first gear) because the ruff roads really rock the camper. But it was well worth the two and a half mile slow drive. A great campsite and a wonderful view. By the time we got camp all set up, it was dark. Had a nice campfire and caught up on the latest news of our friends.


13 Mar 05: Hung out around camp all day. Did some little hikes in the area. CJ and G went down to Punkin Center to meet Di and Poki in the evening. They almost missed each other. Were parked at opposite sides of the only bar and CJ & G never thought of going in the bar to look for them. And of course that is where those two would be hanging out! But modern technology saved the day. My cell phone rang and it was Poki wondering where they were. That made GB and I a little worried because they should have been there already. A quick call to G’s cell, which was NOT on, so left a message. A few minutes later G called and they all got together. Stayed up way to late sitting around the campfire catching up on all the news of friends again.


14 Mar 05: Went for a hike to some Indian ruins. GB had discovered this place about ten years ago while hunting in the area. What a hike. Some of it was steep, very steep. And if the steepness was not enough, there were lots of prickly pear, cholla of many species, yucca, hedgehog cactus, other cactus I don’t think have been identified yet, and some of the most unfriendly brush called “cats claw”. All this made forward progress rather slow at times. We came back a different way which was not much better. This was real bush whacking hike. We all gave GB a hard time. He said that probably not many people get to these ruins. I wonder why. We were all pretty scratched up by the time we got there, and still had to return. There were a lot of shards around there and GB was looking in the rocks for some arrow heads or spear points when he came face to face with a rattler. The rattler backed down. We finally got out of there and back to the vehicles. The weather was starting to change and by the time we got back to camp, the wind was whipping and the temperature was dropping. We ended up having supper in our camper. All six of us. But we have had more than that in there on some of our PLC outings. Eight of us on a rainy evening while getting ready to float the Yukon River. Anyway, it was a good time and we shared a lot of laughs about the hike now that it was over. But I did make a call to the Pro Leisure Circuit Chief of Staff Billy Bud. I asked how to file a formal complaint about the mistreatment we all received from GB and his cross-country hike. I did not receive much sympathy!

Have used my little leatherman Squirt pocket pliers a lot. They really work well to pull out cactus spines from the dog and myself. A great tool.

15 Mar 05: CJ and I headed into Payson to have a veterinarian check out an eye on Zeus. He was in a little dog scuffle and got an eyelid tore. Then it got infected so we needed to get him on antibiotics. Also did a grocery shop for the camp. And of course had to have a latte since we were in a town. A big thanks to B & M for getting us hooked on them! The rest of the group did some more hikes around the camp area.

16 Mar 05: Hiked on part of the old Arizona Trail. A few Hedgehog cacti are starting to bloom. Nice to hike on a trail.

17 – 18 Mar 05: Poki and Di headed out. We did a drive to Redman Wells and a nice hike by Apache Lake.

19 Mar 05: Broke camp and headed out. G & GB headed back to Utah and CJ and I went into Globe for laundry and a few groceries. Then headed over to Roper State Park by Safford. We needed to dump our holding tanks and get water. Well, the water at the campground was contaminated so that was not a good deal. And it was really crowed since it was a weekend. Probably skip that campground in the future.

20 Mar 05: Decided to start heading back north ourselves. But will probably take a week or so to do it. We went to Picacho State Park west of Tucson and spent the night. They at least had water. Got there early and did some work on a web page I do for our local American Legion Post. This place was crowded also because of all the day visitors coming out to look at the wildflowers. And there were a lot of them.

21 Mar 05: Headed further west to Gila Bend where we jumped off the interstate and went out into the Sonoran Desert. This is more the type of camping CJ and I do. Camped under an old Palo Verde tree that is giving us some shade in the afternoon. It is much warmer here than up at Roosevelt Lake where we camped at 4100 feet. And quite a few cacti are blooming in this area. Had a great sunset.