GUMO ASKS…"ANY TARGET DATE YET FOR YOUR DEPARTURE?”

ALL OF TONIGHT’S PHOTO’S WERE TAKEN WITH MY EITHER MY NIKON D40 OR D90
Our day for the most part was cold, gray and wet. Needless to say, the Bayfield Bunch was confined to barracks. Kelly did have some work related errands to run but the 2 Muskeeters and I stayed in, stayed warm, and played ourselves a few games of Toys. 

THE LITTLE MOTORMOUSE ISN’T FUSSY ON MORNING WALKS ANYMORE SO IT IS ALWAYS SO SPECIAL WHEN SHE COMES ALONG
JEAN AND SKIP encountered a pleasant, if not special experience near Sedona Arizona on Monday.  Might want to check it out and see what they heard and saw atop a high rock.  Clue….it was not a bird or an animal.  Just one of those times of being in the right place at the right time.   Having been to Sedona in December of 2007 I remember writing in my SEDONA POST that it was one of the prettiest towns I had ever seen.
 
GUMO asked in a comment question Monday.... “Any target date yet for your departure?”  Unfortunately, as yet I do not have that answer.  We are still waiting for Kelly's daughter to decide when she is coming to Ontario.  Last phone call 4 days ago said maybe this week so I'm guessing we won't get out of here until sometime in mid November now:((  I am encouraged by an email from ED FREY which said, "Don't get discouraged about the chances of seeing the Four Corners area. The weather changes every few days so you only have to keep and eye on what is happening. IF you get photos of Monument Valley with a dusting of snow people will go WILD it is so beautiful that pictures do not do it justice."  By the way, Ed just brought himself home his new best Pal, Patches:))
                                                                                      MILKWEED PODS >>> 
RV SUE AND HER CANINE CREW recently visited a small ghost town which still has a few live folks left in it.  Chloride New Mexico is in an area that Kelly and particularly liked back in March of 2008.  Sue mentioned what a treasure the old general store there was and I agree.  My post for that day is here at THE LITTLE WESTERN TOWN AT THE END OF THE ROAD and my photos of Chloride and especially the interior of that old General Store are HERE.

A SECTION OF OUR MORNING TRAIL WHERE MIGHTY OAK TREES ONCE STOOD
And yet another reason why I like most of the folks here in Blog Land.  A comment on last night's post from WENDY USUALLY WONDERS regarding an earlier post of mine about a suspected wheat intolerance problem was particularly interesting.  With her own related health issues and accomplishments Wendy sent along this link, WHEAT BELLY.   Again, it shows the type of caring people we have here.  Communication is information:))

SO WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE KELLY IS UP TO WAY OVER THERE??
 
WHAT THE HECK, HAS SHE STOPPED TO PUT SOME MAKE UP ON??
 

‘OH RIGHT’, TEXTING IN THE FOREST…..  KELLY IS THE EVER VIGILANTE KEEPER OF THE DEER PARK LODGE PHONE:))
SAM has finally tracked down a pesky leak in his fifth wheel that apparently has been going on ever since the rig was originally built.  The leak source was the result of poor workmanship and had a surprisingly simple source.  Might want to double check your rigs for simple source leaks folks.
 
MANY RINGS IN THE STUMP OF THIS OLD OAK TREE THAT I ESTIMATE TO BE WELL OVER A HUNDRED YEARS OLD
And, a little photo tip......Most of last night's and a couple of tonight's leaf pictures were taken with the sunlight shining through the leaves and not on them.  This is called, 'backlighting.'  Any time you have a transparent subject like leaves, flowers, grasses, etc. try putting your subject between you and the light source.  This is sometimes easier to do in early morning or late afternoon when the sun is lower on the horizon making your shooting angle easier and the lighting softer.  With the sun shining 'through' the leaves instead of on the leaves it has a tendency to give the leaf a neon effect plus silhouetting some of the details within the leaf itself giving you nice vibrant colors.  Look for a shadowy area behind the leaf to give you a dark background.  I like to use a long telephoto lens if I can and shoot a lot of that stuff at 300mm.  At that range the range the focus is very shallow therefore blurring backgrounds and foregrounds.  This highlights the subject I am trying to bring out of the photo.  And, once again, I have my camera’s set to slightly underexpose (make them darker) each photo and that helps with the punchy colors and extra detail. 
  
GROANER'S CORNER:((  Two campers are walking through the woods when a huge brown bear suddenly appears in the clearing about 50 feet in front of them. The bear sees the campers and begins to head toward them. The first guys drops his backpack, digs out a pair of sneakers, and frantically begins to put them on. The second guys says, "What are you doing? Sneakers won’t help you outrun that bear." "I don't need to outrun the bear," the first guy says. "I just need to outrun 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.

TO-DAY WE RAMBLED AROUND IN THE GHOST TOWN OF GLEESON ARIZONA

GLEESON'S SALOON WHERE TOMBSTONE'S JOHNNY RINGO WAS LAST SEEN ALIVE

I think it had to be one of the coldest nights we've had so far. Left a hose nozzle & sponge in a bucket overnight by mistake & this morning they were froze solid in the ice. Strangely enough the plastic nozzle didn't break & has survived to squirt another day. Cloudy to-night so maybe we'll get a little break from the frosty temperatures.

Rene & Jim rolled out this morning around 9 a.m. headed for New Mexico & Texas. They are booked into an RV park to-morrow somewhere near the Arizona & New Mexico border. They don't travel with a television in their rig so they wanted to be at the park to watch their appearance on television Sunday night Feb. 15th. The program will air on PBS & is called, Why We Love Our Cats & Dogs. Their dog Jerry, who they lost to cancer last year will be part of that show. Rene & Jim's website is http://www.liveworkdream.com/

INSIDE THE CRUMBLING SALOON

We had some DVD's to take back to the Elfrida Library this morning so we figured we would do that & head out northwest of Elfrida to the old mining & ghost town of Gleeson. It's one of those places that you could drive through & never know it was there if you weren't specifically looking for it. Spotted a few old tumbledown houses first & then the cemetery. No ghost town is complete without it's past inhabitants buried somewhere near by. The cemetery is on a slight hill at Gleeson's west end & overlooks what was once a bustling mining town of 500 people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleeson,_Arizona
The cemetery is mainly overgrown now but part of it is still being used. Small piles of rocks mark some of the gravesites while others have old iron gates surrounding them. The weather has worn names off some stones while some have crumbled into the dust. I'm sure there are many more people buried here than time remembers.

GLEESON'S CEMETERY

From the cemetery we stopped at the ruins of an old house where I took more photos. If only those old crumbling walls could talk. We saw a long white building on the north side of the road with some people standing behind it so headed over that way. It was a Jeep tour guide giving a couple of people a driving tour of the area. He was very friendly & gave us some history on Gleeson. Not sure if the gun & holster he was wearing was real or just a prop. We don't see things like that in Canada!! The long white & deteriorating building we were standing beside was once Gleeson's lively saloon. It was here that Tombstone's Johnny Ringo was last seen alive.
The building is locked up because it is crumbling & not safe to enter but we did find a small space in a front window that I was able to get my camera up against & take some photos of the interior. It wasn't until we got home & I could look at the photos that we knew what the inside looked like. Appears to have been a stage at the far end & there is a large mural clearly visible on the north wall. I'm sure this was probably a very lively & rowdy old west place in it's heyday. Afterall, it was a mining town. Part of the roof has caved in & I think the building is beyond repair which seems too bad because I'm sure it probably has some historical significance to the late 1800's. I did manage to scramble my way through the brush & have a peek into the rear of the basement but it was pretty deteriorated in there with parts of the floor coming down. If there are such things as ghosts, I think this old crumbling saloon probably has it's fair share of them.

ONLY THIS OLD JAIL HAS BEEN RESTORED

From the saloon we went a short distance up the road to the old jail which is in the process of being restored by a private party. Managed to take a few pictures of the interior through a small window in the door. All these photos I'm mentioning will be in to-days web album. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ Across the road & up a bit is the ruins of a large building that once housed Gleeson's school in the basement & a large dance hall upstairs. This was a very solidly built building with a lot of concrete in it. Probably the center of a lot of Saturday night dances years ago. One can only imagine the outcome of those nights where guns & alcohol to-gether were commonplace. FORMER SCHOOL & DANCE HALL

Our last stop before leaving Gleeson was the old adobe ruins of the hospital. Just some sections of walls standing with long gaunt windows in them. Couldn't help but think of all the pain & suffering that must have taken place inside these walls many years ago. There appeared to be a large round well on the south side of the hospital as well. In the distance I could see where the mining operations had taken place & wondered how many mine accident victims would have been brought down out of those hills by cart or horseback to this very hospital. GLEESON'S HOSPITAL

It is so hard to comprehend how people lived & died years ago in these small mining towns scattered throughout the southwest. But, at least some of that history is still here for people to see if they are interested. And it is what's left of these small towns that is the true history of the west. A lot of people come to see Tombstone Arizona thinking that is the original old west but Tombstone has become so commercialized that it is nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction there. If there is any originality left, it is lost in all the glitz & Hollywood glamour. If you want to see the true old west as it once was you have to get out & hunt down these little ghost towns scattered over the desert sands. But, be prepared to be disappointed if your expecting to see what you have so long been watching in Hollywood movies. You will come face to face with the reality of time & it's effects on man's history. So, bottom line......if you want to see a Hollywood ghost town, go to Tombstone. If you want to see the real McCoys, get your driving map out, get your hiking boots on & search out places like, Gleeson, Pearce, Fairbanks, Charleston, Millville, & countless others in this area. Last year in New Mexico we found places like Chloride & Hillsboro just to mention a couple. In California last December it was the mining town of Tumco.
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/83THELITTLEWESTERNTOWNATTHEENDOFTHEROAD
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/82THROWINGSNOWBALLSINTHEEMORYPASS
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/THEOLDTUMCOMININGSITE

We were back to the ranch by 1 & spent the rest of the afternoon resting up from our ghost town venture in the morning. Next week we'll go have us a look at what's left of the town of Pearce. More old ruins, more old cemeteries & more old ghosts.......................

THEY SAY THERE ARE MANY GHOSTS HERE

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MONTICELLO....DEFENSE AGAINST THE APACHE INDIANS

SATURDAY MARCH 1/08

Our first stop this morning was Becky & Norm's to return their laptop computer which they had forgot last night. From there it was over to the southwest part of town to see T or C's Veteran's Memorial Park which is the home of the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall. This is an impressive & well thought out project which is still ongoing. Be sure to see the photos. OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

Our second stop was to an exotic cactus greenhouse. Got talking to an American fellow who mentioned he was from the suburb of Gates in Rochester. Kelly's originally from Spencerport just outside of Rochester. The owner of the cactus store overheard the conversation, came over & said she was from Rochester too. Small world huh!!

We had read & heard about a little town in a box canyon northwest of T or C called Monticello so we headed out across the desert in search of more history. http://www.geronimotrail.com/side_trip_7.html Once again a smooth paved road led all the way across the desert floor before dropping down into long narrow canyon & once again, we found a town at the end of the road. Monticello's buildings were built facing a town square because it was easier to defend against the Apache Indians who also lived & roamed the area back in the mid to late 1800's. The buildings are mostly adobe & wood, some with inhabitants & some without. A lot of the houses have been tastefully restored & others are in various states of disrepair. There is a large heavily constructed school in total ruins. I wondered if it had suffered a fire. OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ We spent nearly half an hour here & saw 1 person. The only sounds we heard were horses from some stables near by. I guess it's not fair to call these little places ghost towns but in a sense that's what they are. There are people living here but I think the ghosts of old pioneers are here as well. Maybe not everybody's cup of tea but it's sure a great way to see what's left of & what once was.....the true old American west.
Upon leaving Monticello we had heard about a dirt road across the desert heading in the direction of Chloride so we found that & headed over that way. Once again, a totally serene drive over hill & dale without meeting another car. We were told there might be some water to fiord in a few spots but we found all the washes totally dry. This was also Indian country back in the 1800's & we could imagine the Apache Indian hunting parties riding hard over the ridges & gullies. When you read the history of this whole area there was a lot of fighting going on between the pioneer miners & the Apache Indians. You can feel the history all around you. The well maintained dirt road led us back onto the paved #52 road about 15 miles west of Cuchillo.

We were back in T or C by 2 o'clock in the afternoon & spent the rest of the day relaxing & reading. The sun's rays seem to be getting hotter every day so the brisk breeze was a welcome relief. We have pretty much decided to leave this area Monday morning & head on over to the other side of the White Sands missile range through Alamogordo to Roswell. Because I have an interest in Astronomy it's only normal that I have a likewise interest in the UFO phenomena as well, so in turn it's only natural that I pay a visit to Roswell, New Mexico. Commercialized or not, at least I might get to shake hands with some little green plastic Martians...............................D'ya think!!

THE LITTLE WESTERN TOWN AT THE END OF THE ROAD

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 29/08

To-day was another one of those special day trip days. Stopped at the Elephant Butte State Park office & picked up some maps & pamphlets on the surrounding area. Kelly had heard of a little Pecan store in a town nearby called Cuchillo so off we headed. It's not far from Truth or Consequences & we were there in less than half an hour. Not much left of the town except some old derelict buildings scattered along the road. Rich's Pecan farm was the only place that looked like it had any life to it so we stopped in. Pecan tree orchard at the back. A nice lady came out of the house & over to the shop. They had a big pecan festival there a week ago & she said about 1600 people attended. We bought some pecan fudge & a pecan pie before resuming our journey westward in search of the little western towns of Winston & Chloride. Once you get across the flat open desert setting & into the foothills of the mountains, the scenery really begins to take shape with gently rolling hills studded with Juniper trees. Again, it was my favorite kind of road with good pavement & lots of twists & turns. Another gear jammers paradise. The further we went the more beautiful it became. Distant mountains had snow on their peaks with the slopes covered in forests. It was rare to meet another vehicle & when you did, everybody waved. This is truly a different planet here than where we come from in Canada. It took us awhile to reach Winston & we were disappointed at what we saw. It reminded us right away of another place we had been where the human population had little regard for their environment......Slab City, in California. Old wrecked cars, junk of all description, smashed windows & debris everywhere. This once pretty little place was totally trashed. It was sad because the countryside surrounding Winston is so beautiful. The town of Chloride was only another 2 miles further on & we were apprehensive as to what we were going to find there. These places were all once booming mining towns with thousands of inhabitants but all that's left now in some of them is usually some old tumble down weather beaten buildings with a few residents scattered about. As we rolled into Chloride we could immediately see there was a difference here. OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ No junk, no old upside down cars with smashed out windows, no litter sprawling across the ground & no sign of human neglect. Yes, there were some buildings in disrepair but there was something different here. The road finally came to a dead end just past the Pioneer Store & old Saloon building. That was it, it just ended there. Back up & turn around. Kelly remarked that it looked like we came to the end of the world. We pulled the car over across from the Pioneer store & shut it down. We could tell that this was going to be an interesting place. The hills & canyons around Chloride are out of a picture book. There is a quiet peacefulness in the air here. We were very fortunate to meet a local resident lady across the street who took us in the Pioneer store for a look around. Her family is connected to that building & she knows the history of all the merchandise first hand having been a part of the 4 year intensive restoration project. This is a truly remarkable building with all it's old history & merchandise intact. The story of how this building was painstakingly restored is as remarkable as the building's history itself. The best way for me to describe it is to have the readers go to the town's informative website. All the information is there & well worth the read for anyone interested in old towns of the west. http://www.pioneerstoremuseum.com/index.html We also briefly met the man who is responsible for the rebirth of this little town. (and putting to-gether the website idea) He was busy with restoration work on the old bank. It is clearly a labor of love for this fellow & if it wasn't for people like him, much of the history of the old west would be lost forever. I forgot to get his name & we didn't want to keep him from his work but if you get to Chloride, I'm sure he won't be far away. This little town is a page out of history.................

A beautiful drive back through the rolling hills & out onto the desert floor. Stopped at the State Park in Elephant Butte to fill some water jugs before returning to the rig. Norm & Becky picked us up around 5 & we all headed out to Hodges Corners Restaurant for a buffet supper. Great place & they had real mashed potatoes too. Of course we ate soooooo much that we nearly all exploded again but what the heck. Becky & Norm insisted on paying the bill so that was pretty nice.
Back to our rig while Kelly helped Becky with some more computer stuff. I googled up a website that had old television & radio theme music on it so we all sat around guessing what themes they were. Kinda neat stirring up those old memories. Gunsmoke, Andy Griffith Show, Petticoat Junction, Gilligan's Island, Star Trek, Superman, Amos & Andy, The Munsters, Bonanza, Dragnet, The Green Hornet, My Three Sons, Father Know's Best, Columbo, Dallas, The Honeymooners, Mash, My Little Margie, Leave it to Beaver, Sanford & Son, The Lone Ranger, and, and, and, the beat goes on:))

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