JEEPIN WITH THE PHEEBS TODAY

IT’S A BIRD, IT’S A PLANE, NO….IT’S SUPER PHEEBS:))
It was a hat, winter jacket and hands in your pockets kind of morning walk with a slight breeze bringing cooler temperatures to the area.  Could be in for some cold and cloudy days now until next week sometime.

OUR THURSDAY MORNING SUNRISE
Wind gusts always sound way worse than they really are when your in an RV. Seems every little nook and cranny on the outside of the rig sets up it’s own howling and whooshing. The winds weren’t that bad in the night but of course they had me up at 1 a.m. sitting in my chair with the computer on my lap. Yep, still having my usual sleeping problems:((

IT WAS A COLD ‘HANDS IN YOUR POCKETS’ KIND OF MORNING
The Pheebs has taken to this desert living like a fish to water and loves racing up and down the washes through the Mesquite trees and Saguaros.  Only one pesky sticker so far and she seems to have learned quickly to avoid them.  With the rocky surface here her paws are toughening up right quick.  She is just the happiest little girl bounding over hill and dale.

PHEEBS LOOKS BACK IN THE DIRECTION OF OUR MOTOR HOME TOP LEFT
The skies were alive with roaring thunder this morning as the A-10 Warthog fly boys out of the Davis Monthan Air Base in Tuscon criss crossed our area in low level passes.  They had their deadly air to ground twin turbine jets just a whining.  I love watching these guys in their aerial ballets.  Unseen and much higher in the sky were the F-16’s, F-18’s and probably the new F-22 Raptor fighter jets.  They could be heard pulling their roaring and erratic high speed G turns in mock combat with each other.  Rare for them to ever come down to the deck where they can be seen but I did see one pulling a high speed low level turn near Hickiwan Trails a few years ago.  Got a picture of him too.  This whole southern end of Arizona is a huge aerial training ground for the American Air Force.  Being an airplane kind of guy I don’t mind the roaring thunder in the skies and I especially like watching their aerial combat maneuvers at night as their blinking lights dart among the stars. 

SOMETIMES THE LITTLE MOTORMOUSE RUNS OUT OF GAS ON OUR MORNING WALKS
Our Verizon signal has been better since putting the modem on the roof and we are not having the problems we first did when arriving here. Our speeds are a bit better.  I would say for anyone new to boondocking, this Darby Wells area is a great place to get your feet wet because it’s a short drive into Ajo for supplies and you will be hard pressed to find a more scenic example of the Sonoran desert in a natural peace and quiet setting.  Nearest major shopping centers are either Casa Grande or Buckeye with Casa Grande being 103 miles and Buckeye being 77 miles.  Buckeye is the easier drive straight north up through Gila Bend.  Ajo to Gila Bend is 43 miles with another 118 miles to Yuma.  And, that’s our little geography lesson for today:))

LOTS OF NICE JEEP ROADS IN THE DARBY WELLS AREA
We did fight with the satellite stuff again this morning and re-instituted our new receiver.  Kelly spent a lot of time on Skype again talking to the Shaw Direct satellite TV people.  Ever since beginning our RV days back in 06 I wished we had a dollar for every minute we have spent on this satellite stuff because for sure we could probably go out and buy us a brand spanking new snappity-doo 40’ Diesel banger:))  We did manage to finally achieve TV satellite success around noon today.  About time too because I was about ready to just load the whole thing up, drive it into Ajo and throw the whole kitnkabootle into a dumpster!!

THIS IS NOT MY IDEA OF A SECURE OR EASY TO USE SATELLITE DISH SET-UP
Mike from MIKE AND PAT'S TRAVELS  sent us a link to the place where he bought a logical leg adjusting tripod a few years back and after checking the tri-pod out on line we are going to order the medium heavy duty pod.  Don, from Manitoba also sent us the same site so that confirms the quality of the adjustable leg tripod.  Our previous tri-pod was leg adjusting and if your out boon docking in places like we are where the ground can be very un-level or rocky it is important to be able to adjust the legs.  Flat based tripods are fine for flat ground in RV Parks but not so good out here in the boonies.

By 11 a.m. the cloud cover overhead was solid and the temps had dropped to 59F.  At 1:25 it began to rain.  Not nice!! Couldn’t get myself warm no how for the whole day.  Due to a small problem I’m having with my left leg I stayed in my Poang chair most of the day under a warm blanket.

STAYED INSIDE TODAY KEEPING WARM
The Bayfield Bunch welcomes new blog follower Johnna today.  Don’t know where you are Johnna but could you send us a little warm air over here to southern Arizona.  Thanks for dropping by.

Close call for our Verizon modem this afternoon.  We had put it on the roof of the rig a few days ago in an attempt to improve our weak signal.  Remember me mentioning earlier about it raining today…..yep we forgot the modem was up on the roof.  About 6 tonight we were rather suddenly and totally ‘off line’.  Kelly remembered the modem and I scrambled up on the roof, unplugged it and brought it in.  The two lights on it appeared normal so Kelly plugged it in and we were once again back on line…..barely.  Climbed back up on the roof, flashlight in hand this time, plugged the modem back in and put a plastic container over the modem.  And a rock on the container to keep it from blowing away.   Kelly hollered up that we were on line again so it looks like we dodged a nasty modem melt down.  Oh these forgetful Senior moments.

OUR INDOOR VERIZON MODEM…..OUTSIDE ON THE ROOF
I have been taking the Pheebs out for a walk before supper most nights but with today’s rainy drizzle Kelly suggested Pheebs and I go Jeeping instead.  Great idea. 

HI-HO HI-HO IT’S OFF A JEEPIN WE GO
There are some great Jeep roads running through the Darby Wells area so Pheebs and I headed out in full four wheel drive mode to see what trouble we could get ourselves into.  Pretty hard to get into trouble with the sure footedness of a Jeep though.  We had a great time, mainly in first gear, making our way slowly over the ruts, boulders, dry washes and rugged ridges.  Picked up some cool new desert pin striping as well. 

PHEEBS HELD HER PAW ON THE BRAKE WHILE I HOPPED OUT TO TAKE THIS PHOTO
 
We were bouncing around so much inside the Jeep that sometimes Pheebs was in the driver’s seat and I was upside down in the back.  But, we made it and had ourselves a great time covering maybe 5 miles way back in the middle of nowhere. 
 
Pheebs loved the ride but by the time we got back I think Pheebs was a little ‘green’ from all the rocking and rolling. 
PHEEBS WAS FEELING A LITTLE ‘GREEN’ BY THE TIME WE GOT BACK TO THE RIG
I did just delete a comment from Mr. Anonymous again regarding my Wednesday post.  Somebody obviously still has a very big chip on their shoulder.  Thank you Rick and Elaine for your response to Mr. Anonymous before I deleted it.

SUNSET AT OUR HOUSE
GROANER’S CORNER:((  A police officer stops a woman for speeding and asks her very nicely if he could see her license.
She replied in a huff, "I wish you guys would get your act together. Just yesterday you take away my license and then today you expect me to show it to you."
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-Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
-Until one has loved an Animal, their  soul remains un-awakened.
BAYFIELD BUNCH PHOTO ALBUMS https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295
The only thing better than right now  will someday be the memories of
right  now...AL.

WE SET OUT THIS MORNING TO FIND 21,000 PETROGLYPHS

SUNRISE AT OUR HOUSE THIS MORNING
I was simply bowled over by the number of stars in the night sky when I stepped out of the rig Friday night.  Haven’t seen a starry sky like that since leaving the southwest last March.  At home we are surrounded by Pine trees making the sky all but invisible.  I will have to haul out my constellation and star charts and re-familiarize myself all over again with who’s who and who’s where way up there in that beautifully clear night sky.

I was awakened several times in the night by what sounded like a low rumbling of distant thunder.  Thought that kind of odd considering the clear skies and time of year for here.  Then, I remembered….we are only about 30 miles from one of America’s top military locations…HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE.  It is here where the 49th Fighter Wing is based and fly America’s newest and later fighter aircraft, the F-22 RAPTOR.   It’s no wonder I heard thunder in the night sky:))

 
AROUND THE CAMPGROUND AT PETROGLYPH 
We are also located about 30 miles southeast of the Oscura Mountain range which helped contain the blast of our world’s FIRST ATOMIC BOMB on July 16th 1945.  The actual Trinity bomb site is about 60 or 70 miles from us as the crow fly’s.  Only open to the public twice a year.  Glad I was in Ontario at that time because that would have woke me up for sure.  I was just over 9 months old and about 1,800 miles away:))

I kind of got my Mountain Ranges mixed up in Friday’s post.  Always a bit difficult sitting down with my Atlas and magnifying glass at the end of a day trying to sort out mountain tops.  Luckily, I have a few Westerners like Ed and Red who keep pretty close tabs on my accuracy.  Red from over in California writes, “BTW you came off the West side of the White Mountains a sub range of the Sacramento mountains. The Capitan mountains are the only mountain range ,that I am aware of that runs West to East, They are only about 20 miles long and about six miles wide. When you drop off the mountains on US 380 you are almost at the junction of the White Mountains and the Sacramento Mountains. You are parked at the West base of the White Mountains. If you were in Alamogordo you would be at the base of the Sacramento Mountains.”

There are 21,000 petroglyphs here at the site  where we are are camped.  By the way, Pictographs are painted on rock & Petroglyphs are carved into the rock and that is the difference between the two.  We did our best to find all 21,000 Petroglyphs this morning but only managed to see about 50 or 75 maybe.  The numerous petroglyphs are scattered along a windswept ridge for about half a mile with a rugged trail leading through them.  This is the most Petroglyphs we have ever seen in one location.   We saw a bunch at ‘Painted Rock’ near Gila Bend in Arizona about 4 years ago but nothing like here.

For anyone interested in Petroglyphs you can see more of my morning’s photos here at my Picasa Album site….THREE RIVERS PETROGLYPHS
It has been one week now since leaving home and the crew is still working away at adjusting to the change of traveling.  New routines have to be established.  Different ways of doing things are slowly falling into place.  It can be quite a challenge swapping one’s at home hat for one’s traveling hat.  But, we’re getting there and things are falling into place.  All part of being a Snow Bird.

NO, NOT A PETROGLYPH…..JUST MY LOVELY WIFE KELLY:))
Came across this short post from WTTCS in the RV Net Forum this morning.  Made me think of our single travelers here in Blog Land and the sadness they have had to endure in pursuing the RV Lifestyle after a beloved traveling companion is gone.  I especially liked CRBuck’s response to Wttcs which incidentally stands for "wacky tacky traveling circus show."

Miss Lazee has just joined the Bunch as our latest Blog Follower.  Welcome aboard Miss Lazee.  Miss Lazee’s site is called, THE PRINCESS AND THE COWBOY.  Y’all might find it humorously interesting how this full time RV couple ever stayed together long enough to get their RV dreams off the ground in the first place:))

THIS IS A WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE SPOT FOR FOLKS TO SEE SOME OF THE PETROGLYPHS FROM THEIR WHEELCHAIRS THROUGH BINOCULARS.
In the morning we are going to head north up the Tularosa Valley to a place called VALLEY OF FIRES for a look around.  No idea about Verizon coverage there so if you don’t see a blog Sunday night it just simply means we do not have a connection.  I will do a blog anyway and post it as soon as we get back on-line.

PHEEBS AND I HIKED TO THE TOP OF THIS HILL TODAY
GROANER’S CORNER:((  A woman becomes ill at home, and her husband calls 911 to get an ambulance. The operator says she'll send someone out right away.
"Where do you live?" the operator asks.
"At the end of Eucalyptus Drive," says the anxious husband.
"Can you spell that for me?" the operator asks.
There is a long pause. Finally the man says, "How about if I drag her over to Oak Street and you can pick her up there?"
--------------------------------------------------------------
-Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
-Until one has loved an Animal, their  soul remains un-awakened.
BAYFIELD BUNCH PHOTO ALBUMS https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295
The only thing better than right now  will someday be the memories of
right  now...AL.