FOUND OUR PERFECT RV SITE AT LAST

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14/08

Our recently warm weather has gone into the dumper as we woke up to a cold windy morning. Never even made it out for our walk. Max is still staying off his left ankle so it was a good morning for him to stay on the couch. Had problems uploading the web album photos this morning & we seemed to have some internet connection problems so we spent most of the morning trouble shooting.

We had planned on moving to a new RV site west of Ajo in a couple of days but after being at Mike & Maureen's last night on the Darby Hills road, we decided to pack up & move to-day. It's just too beautiful there to miss another day. Drove the 3 miles over to Hickiwan Trails, dumped our holding tanks, & topped up the fresh water tank & water jugs. Stopped in the office to help Ray with a few things on the computer & then we were on the road heading for Ajo. Arrived in the Darby Wells BLM land area about 2 p.m. Had looked at a site the previous night that was totally secluded so that's where we headed for & luckily no one was there when we rolled in. This is by far, the nicest RV site in the nicest area we have ever been at. Photos can't even begin to do it justice. We are sooooooo happy to be here & cannot believe our good fortune at finding such a superb site. Our friend's Mike & Maureen are our closest neighbors & they are out of sight about a quarter mile away. I will probably wear my camera out over the next couple of weeks taking so many pictures. OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy We just can't believe our luck:)) No chance of some yakky doodle RV club moving in right next door either. So many new areas to explore, trails to hike, & rocks to scramble on. Nobody around us but birds & coyotes. I am so looking forward to total peace & quiet in the lap of Mother Nature herself. At last.........we may have found our winter home for years to come:)))))) Hmmmm, can you detect the excitement in the usually un-excitable guy...............................................

YABBA DABBA DOOOOO, IT'S MOVING DAY:))

SUNDAY FEB. 10/08 WHY, AZ.
Finally, it's moving day:)) Beautiful Arizona morning as usual as we started packing things up for our move to the BLM lands just 3 short miles away. Tanks to dump, fresh water to load, bins to be packed, interior to be secured, etc. As a rule, moving days tend to be a bit stressful. I'm always inpatient & chomping at the bit to organize things & get the big wheels rolling. Well, you know what impatience leads to. Nearly knocked myself out when I hit my head on an open bin door, the water hose had a temper tantrum when I couldn't get it unfastened from the coach, the TV aerial put up a fight when I tried to lower it, my shoes were hiding on me, I would just get all the doggie's in the coach & they would be right out again, loaded up the 8 big firewood logs we've carrying since Boreggo Springs AGAIN, the automatic step wouldn't re-tract & then I tried to drive away with the emergency brake on!! Yup, another perfectly normal day in the life of an RV'er..........10-4 But, finally we were ready to go, and soooooo away we went:)) Picked up some propane in Why & drove the two miles south to the BLM lands. No sooner had we pulled in there and we took a wrong turn & got ourselves onto a nasty little road of sorts. By the time we scraped ourselves (Kelly was driving the car separately) back on the main road I had gone through some huge holes on the trail & a couple of bad gully whomp washes. I could hear the banging & crashing behind me as the coach rocked violently from side to side going through the gullies. Cupboard doors were being jarred open, cans of soup, pots & pans & just about everything but the kitchen sink were airborne & crashing to the floor. No point in stopping so I just soldiered on down the road until we had reached the campsite we had seen the day before. But, there was a problem!!!!! Somebody had beat us to the site:(( I pulled the motorhome over & dejectedly shut it down. The floor behind me was littered with everything kitchen oriented imaginable. I climbed over tins of this & boxes of that & exited the rig. Kelly had parked behind & we now had to decide on another site. Upon closer observation of the people on the site we had hoped to get, I noticed all they had was a blue jeep. Now I was really steaming!! To think somebody would take that perfect big rig space just to have a picnic!!!! Grrrrrr!! We pulled into another spot that wasn't nearly as nice a short distance away & shut things down. I did not have nice thoughts about the picnic people in the spot we wanted. Well, within minutes a tall older man came walking towards us. I thought, "oh no, he's gonna tell us to get out of here." I couldn't have been more wrong. This kindly man suggested we take the spot they were at because they were getting ready to leave anyway & that site was suited for a big rig like ours. Well, can you imagine the guilt feelings washing over me at that moment. Here I was thinking bad thoughts about these people when all the time this older couple were obviously having good thoughts on how they could help us getting settled into a nice camp site. Thankyou so much to the considerate & genuinely nice couple from Ajo, Arizona with the blue jeep:)) Boy, I sure got a lot to learn, & I'm only 63:((

Words can't express how happy we are to be back out in the desert boondocking again. We really lucked out this time & found a great spot beside a big old shady mesquite tree. Nobody close to us, lots of space for the doggy guys, & the site is perfectly level. We didn't even have to put the motorhome's jacks down. (I don't like those things anyway) So nice to open the door & leave it open for the rest of the day. So nice to sit in the shade of a big tree again & listen to the wind in the branches. Nice to hear birds flitting about from tree to tree & best of all, no people sounds. Aw yes, how sweet it is:))

Kelly slipped up to Ajo for groceries & I finally resumed reading my Marshal South book. First time since Quartzsite nearly a month ago. Beautiful night again with stars from horizon to horizon & a beautiful crescent moon. A fellow RV'er stopped by & told us to lock up our bicycles. The illegal aliens moving through the area at night don't bother anyone but they will take the bicycles if they are not locked up. When I was out for a walk with Max earlier & I saw a flashlight burst way out in the desert, & then another one & a few seconds later, another one. I figure it's a group of people moving north through desert near us. And yes, we have our bicycles doubly locked up...............................

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AND THE WAITER WAS PACKING A GUN!!

SATURDAY FEB 30/08
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The guy who served us breakfast this morning was wearing a gun. Yup, it's true!!

The days & nights are getting warmer & the last two nights we didn't have to turn our Blue Flame propane heater on. I even put on a short sleeve summer shirt finally. We didn't go to far on our morning walk because we wanted to take a drive over to some BLM lands about 3 miles from here & scout out a boondocking site for to-morrow. We were planning on moving to the Darby Wells area west of Ajo but I think we'll head out in the morning & set up camp at the area closer to Hickiwan for the week. That way we can still pop in & help Ray out with the computer stuff if he needs it. He successfully installed the Wifi antennae to-day which will cover the whole park. Only remaining glitch is figuring out why the website is taking so long to appear on the web. We'll probably go to Darby Wells next week.

There is lots of room in the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) lands with other rigs scattered about here & there. Not as scenic as Darby Wells but a nice area just the same & people have been boondocking there for years. It's 2 miles south of Why at mile marker 55 on the west side. We'll be sooooooooooooooo happy to be out in the desert again where the dogs can run free & we can leave the doors & windows wide open for the birds & bats to fly in & out:)) Might even have a lizard or two in for afternoon coffee. Nothing like waking up in the morning with a couple of tumbling tumbleweeds tangled up in your socks. Ya just gotta love it!!

On the way back from the BLM scouting trip we made a snap decision to drop into a little Cafe we had been meaning to try out in Why. Three RV rigs parked outside & a few cars. Well, the Cafe was kind of a typical little small western town kind of place. (OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy)
Sorta sparse looking inside & the windows were crying out for a couple gallons of Windex but there were about a dozen people there so we figured we would give it a whirl. A young fella with a big Arizona cowboy hat about 2 sizes to big for him arrived at our table with menus. The cowboy hat wasn't the only piece of western ware this guy was wearing though. Besides the well worn dusty cowboy boots he was also packing a gun under his green T-shirt. We heard the couple behind us inquire about the visible gun barrel & he told them that he owned the Cafe & had a lot of cash in the register. Told them 2 illegal Mexican aliens had held the lady next door at knife point while they ransacked her house, so he wasn't taking any chances. And he was serious too!! I figured this must have just happened recently so the next time he came to our table I asked him when that incident had occurred & he said about two & a half years ago. Ooookay, I thought. I was his age once & any excuse to wear a big cowboy hat, dusty boots, & a real gun & holster would have been totally super in my world too. Yep, I understood this guy real good:)) I did take some candid pictures of him & in one you can see part of the gun & holster sticking out of his T-shirt at the back. (OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy) Anyway, thought it was kinda neat in a way. Oh, by the way, the breakfast was great & I even took a picture of it. Would I go back.......you bet!!) I like cowboys with oversized hats & real 6 shooters:)) Well, it's the real west ain't it!!


Not much doing for the rest of the day but for the first time since leaving home in October we actually flipped on the air conditioner for awhile this afternoon & also had a fan going. Weatherman says it's going to be even hotter to-morrow. WOW!!

Because of the warmer night air we were invigorated enough to jump on our bicycles after supper & go roaring out into the twilight desert. Hadn't gone far when Kelly tried to shift gears & her chain came off. These ka-zillion million geared bicycles are a real complicated mass of multiple sprockets, chains, de-railers, mosmagators, & so on. After looking at the limp & jammed up chain I immediately figured it was the end of the world & we might as well throw the bicycle on the junk pile & walk home.............but, we always have an ace up our sleeve in these dilemmas. Kelly!! Without further ado, complaining, or listening to my doom & gloom junk pile idea, she patiently set to work getting the chain back onto one of the sprockets. I helped out a little bit & within minutes we/she had the problem resolved & we were up to warp speed across the desert floor again. Because I always carry my camera everywhere we were able to get a few nice sundown pictures before weaving our way back to the park in the dark amongst the saguaros, chollas, mesquite's & creosote bushes. (OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy) I've always had excellent night vision so we made the quarter mile bumpy ride back to the park without getting ourselves pin cushioned to a cactus in the dark. Noticed some fellow RV'ers had a campfire going & we heard the strumming of a guitar. A beautiful crescent moon hanging over the warming desert floor made for more great Hickiwan memories to take home with us once again this year:)))))))))