WE WALKED THROUGH THE GATES OF PARADISE TODAY AND JEEP CLIMBED THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS

Think I forgot to put the ‘E’ in the word HOLD in Monday night’s post title.  Guess that can happen when it’s late at night and one is very tired.  Throw in a bit o the age factor and it can no longer pass as an excuse.  It’s a cold hard nose fact that brain cells are slowly deserting an even slower sinking ship.

AS DARKNESS FALLS I’VE ADDED A FEW ADDITIONAL PHOTOS FROM THE MOUNTAIN VALLEY RV PARK WE ARE STAYING AT IN RODEO NEW MEXICO

 

It was a good thing we left our spot in Columbus New Mexico when we did Sunday.  Doug over at Miss Adventure Travels said New Year’s Eve gunfire went on till 4:30 in the morning.  Pistol shots and automatic weapons.  Guess that’s the town’s way of keeping Pancho Villa and his roving band of gutsy ghost riders from invading the United States again!!  Villa led a hit and run raid against the small U.S. border town of Columbus in the Battle of Columbus March  9th 1916.

THE LAUNDRY ROOM AND SHOWER

Had hoped to take a few shots of the full Moon setting over the Chiricahua mountains this morning but we had a slight hazy cloud cover going on so it was not to be.  Desert air has a memorable smell to it and out with Pheebs early it was noticeable.  Usually after a desert rain it is really noticeable.  Kind of a heavy almost sweet non offensive aroma.

Another nice morning walk around the Northeast edge of Rodeo netted me a few more photos. 

 

WALKING BACK TO OUR RIG ON WHAT MUST HAVE BEEN THE OLD HIGHWAY THROUGH RODEO YEARS AGO

 

AND A THORN THIS MORNING WENT RIGHT THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF MY SHOE INTO MY FOOT

BACK AT THE MOUNTAIN VALLEY RV PARK

We were all piled into the Jeep heading for the Chiricahua Mountains by 8:30.  Slipped past Portal and picked up a narrow dirt road heading for the tiny community of Paradise.  We had been over this narrow stretch of dusty road before but coming from the other way years ago.  As I said it’s a narrow road and if you meet someone coming the other way it may take a bit of wiggling for the two of ya to get by each other.  Many blind corners as well so one must take it slow and not be in a hurry.  It was 5 miles to Paradise with a cemetery stop at the northeast end.  We’ve stopped there before a couple times but never walked through the old cemetery.  This morning we did.

WE ARRIVE AT THE PARADISE CEMETERY

AND THE GATES OF PARADISE WERE OPEN FOR US

SOME GRAVE SITES WERE WELL CARED FOR

AND MOST WERE NOT

 

IF YOU READ THE INSCRIPTION ON THE STONE AT LEFT YOU MAY THINK THE SECOND LAST WORD IS SPELLED WRONG….IT ISN’T….THIS MAN FOUGHT AND LIVED THROUGH A GREAT BATTLE AT THE CHOSIN RESERVOIR WHERE MANY AMERICAN MARINES DIED IN THE KOREAN WAR

 

BOTH KELLY AND I LIKED THE INSCRIPTION ON THIS FELLOWS STONE

ALSO LIKED HIS CREATIVE MARKER

I WONDERED IF MAYBE A PET HAD BEEN BURIED HERE

KELLY AND PHEEBS ARE UP THERE AHEAD OF ME

SOME GRAVESITES ARE PINNED ONLY WITH A METAL TAG WITH A NUMBER

AND FOR SOME THEIR ONLY FINAL RESTING PLACE MAY BE MARKED WITH A FEW SCATTERED STONES

I AM RETURNING BACK THROUGH THE GATES OF PARADISE

Our drive the rest of the way up the East side of the Chiricahua Mountains went well and Kelly did get to make a snowball.  I totally snowed myself under with photos so I will try to get them edited and published for Wednesday night’s post.  In the meantime here are 6 photos I edited from today’s Jeep drive.

We had us a great day and it was reminiscent of our earlier RVing days when our favorite thing was to head off in our Hyundai Santa Fe day tripping and exploring mountain and desert roads, finding hard to find Ghost Towns, rock scrambling, poking around in old run down western cemeteries, and hiking into historic places.  It has been so nice these past few days doing the things again that has interested and intrigued us so much here the great American Southwest.  From the time we left at 8:30 this morning until the time we arrived back at our rig about 2:30 this afternoon we never encountered or talked to another person and all the way up the mountain and down the mountain we only saw one over vehicle which happened to be a forestry worker going by in a pick-up truck.  These are our favorite kinds of days.  Just the three of us out doing what it is we love doing best.

We will have the big wheels rolling in the morning and plan to head south down around the Chiricahuas through Douglas Arizona and up the west side of the Chiricahuas to have us a look see for whatever it is we can see……………….

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Liz goes to her first show at an art gallery and is looking at the paintings. One is a huge canvas that has black with yellow blobs of paint splattered all over it. The next painting is a murky gray color that has drips of purple paint streaked across it.
Liz walks over to the artist and says, "I don't understand your paintings."
"I paint what I feel inside me," explains the artist.
Liz replied, "Have you ever tried Alka-Seltzer?"

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- “So you went to a bread factory? Guess you had a crummy day.”

- What sort of television programmes do ducks like?  Duckumentaries

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A man and woman were having marriage problems, and decided to end their union after a very short time together. After a most brief attempt to reconcile, the couple went to court to finalize their break-up.  The judge asked the husband, “What has brought you to this point, where you are not able to keep this marriage together?”  The husband said, “In the six weeks we've been together, we haven't been able to agree on one thing.”  The wife said, “Seven weeks.”

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