FINALLY.....A NEW CAMERA LENS:))

THIS WAS THE WAY OF THE OLD WEST

Tonight's photos are a random sampling of pictures from the day we dropped into RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS near Gleason & Tombstone Arizona this past winter.

 

SELF PORTRAIT IN A GLASS BALL

With the exception of some weed whacking this morning I didn't get much done around home today but I did get a few things done a whole bunch of miles away.

CHATTING IT UP WITH THE RATTLESNAKE MAN HIMSELF..................... JOHN WEBER

I have been thinking for over a year now about trading my 55-200mm  Nikon camera lens in for a new 70-300mm lens.  Been watching the prices on a particular lens for quite awhile & finally it went on sale so it was out the door & off to Henry's Camera Store in Masonville Mall, London Ontario this morning.  I did have an alternative reason for going as well because yesterday I while on the way to & from London with the mobility van I had spotted a Jeep Wrangler for sale in the little town of Hensall.  

 

MY NEW AF-S VR NIKKOR 70-300 f4.5-5.6 G IF-ED ZOOMERGATOR LENS:)) (fully extended)

AN ANTIQUE BROWSER'S PARADISE

The Jeep turned out to be a 2001 with a ka-zillion million miles on it plus rust spots so that was the end of that.  Proceeded on to London.  I have blogged before about dealing with some of the 'kids' in retail stores so I didn't go through the door with a lot of optimism going for me.  Computer & camera type stores usually have those young wiz bangs behind the counter who no doubt know their 'technical' stuff but don't seem to have a lot tact when dealing with older folks.  Luckily, this time I dealt with an older fellow by the name of Mike who didn't talk to me like I was some kind of old homeless geezer who just crawled in off the street & didn't know which end of a camera to look through anyway.  I traded in my 55-200 lens plus a 2x Tamron converter.  I didn't expect to get much for them.....and I didn't.  In retrospect I probably should have kept that lens as a spare because there was nothing wrong with it.  It had a lot of miles on it for sure but still worked fine.  Like I've said before.....I'm not the brightest crayon in the package sometimes!!

IT WAS JUST NICE TO STAND HERE LISTENING TO ALL THESE HANGING ANTIQUES TINKLING IN THE DESERT WIND

The new 70-300 lens is much bigger than I had expected but that's fine.  I'm from the old school where heavier feels better.  I know I'm going to love this lens & I'm hoping to get in a bit closer on those bugs & bird shots now.

Leaving the camera store I got the brainwave to head on over to a Stratford Ontario auto dealership that had some Wranglers on the lot.  Looked at a couple nice 2007's but the prices were enough to pull your pants down & I could not believe the low ball price the guy offered me for the Caravan.  It was $1,300.00 lower than the lowest offer I have had on the van so far. 

Headed on back to Bayfield stopping at a few car lots on the way but no Jeeps in sight.  Also stopped in Goderich to take that red 2005 TJ for another run.  It's a 4 cylinder 6 speed & I like it but Kelly is not keen on it.  This is the only place that will take the bike on a trade.  Yes, I could maybe get a few more dollars for the motorcycle if I tried selling it myself but I absolutely hate all that 'bargaining & stupid dickering crap' you have to go through with everybody coming to look at whatever your selling.  Some people enjoy that BS but I am not one of them.  Nothing like haggling over money to bring out the worst in people!!

The big spring rush is over at our front yard bird feeders for another year.   Activity is way down as the Cardinals, Blue Jays, Red Breasted Grosbeaks, Orioles, Nuthatches, & others have all but disappeared.  Still a few Goldfinches at the feeders, some sparrow type birds & of course the ever present all time front yard scavengers....the squirrels!!

I unplugged our troublesome external hard drive from the desktop computer & hooked it up to our newer Win 7 Toshiba laptop this afternoon & it worked perfect.  Re-plugged it back into the desktop tonight using a different USB port this time & so far so good.  I'll know when I go to publish this thing in a few minutes.  Maybe it's not the X-drive after all.  Maybe it's just the color of my socks or something.

NO, THE CACTUS IS NOT FOR SALE!!

I have finally decided to include my SMUG MUG photo gallery on the bottom tag line now.  It is nowhere near done, nor will it probably ever be done because I just have way too many thousands of photos to sort through.  But, it is a work in progress for sure.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Suburbia: where they tear out the trees and then name streets after them.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it......

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

TO-DAY WE FOUND THE FINAL RESTING PLACE OF TOMBSTONE’S INFAMOUS……JOHNNY RINGO

 

I knew the 3 donkey guys were up to something again this morning when I saw them clustered around the gate with what appeared to be a couple long green tubular things.  I slipped down the north fence line, around behind some clumps of tall 12 foot grass, crossed over behind a couple tractors & slipped past the end of the hay bale barn.  They were so engrossed in their little project they never saw me coming.  Yep, they were up to something alright.  Somehow they had gotten into Ray's driving shed & were able to drag back a set of welding tanks along with the lines & a welding nozzle.  Nellie had the oxygen & acetylene tanks propped up against the fence & Sarah had the rubber lines stretched up over her back & sure enough, there was Poncho, welding goggles & all, trying to burn a hole through the chain securing the gate.  

Well, I let out a holler & Poncho dropped the welding nozzle & Sarah turned & quickly looked the other way as if she didn't know what was going on.  They were 3 pretty sheepish looking donkeys as I climbed the pen fence & walked across the corral towards them.  It was me & 3 donkeys in a stare down over the top of the gate.  Well, I assume Poncho was staring at me but it was hard to tell with those goofy looking welding goggles he had on.  I wasn't mad at the guys & I don't think they were mad at me for catching them but there were a few moments of indecision between all of us.  Who was going to make the first move & what was that move going to be!!  The thought occurred to me then that I had better get myself smartened up right quick & with that thought fresh in my mind I undid the chain & pushed the gate open making way for the rascally donkey gang to come into the corral.  And come in they did!!  The gang headed straightaway for the piles of hay.  Well, Sarah & Nellie did that is.  Poncho couldn't see where he was going with those whacky welding goggles still on his head so I had to run over to him & pull them off.  He shook himself, got his bearings, turned around twice & headed for the hay.  I closed the gate to the pasture & resigned myself to the fact those donkeys were just one heck of a whole lot smarter than me & they deserved to be in the corral with all that hay.  Donkeys-3....Al-0!!

We had heard that Tombstone's infamous Johnny Ringo from the old Wyatt Erp & OK Corral days was buried somewhere over near the base of the Chiricahua mountains east of Sunizona.  Somewhere along Turkey Creek road they said.  Charlene at the Elfrida library had told Kelly this morning that it was a few miles down that road, over a creek, & around a couple of curves.  We knew there was a stone cairn marking the spot because we had seen a picture of it.  So, that was our objective to-day.......find Johnny Ringo!!

It was another beautiful Saturday morning in the Sulphur Springs Valley as we headed north on highway 191 out of Elfrida. At Sunizona we turned right onto highway 181 & headed east.  As usual, very little traffic on these great Arizona roads as we passed by the Paws & Hooves ranch where Carol & Rosanna live.  We had just had supper with them last night in Bisbee.  The highway heads straight east for a few miles before making a sharp swing to the north.  We did not follow that curve.  We went straight through on a washboardy & dusty Turkey Creek Road heading directly for the mighty Chiricahua mountains.  Around the first mile marker we slowed down & began scanning for anything looking like a stone marker.  Passed over the dry creek, around a couple curves but still didn't see anything.  This is a beautiful part of the valley with gently rolling hills leading to the mountains.  Fields of soft yellow grass, large prickly pear cactus, agave, yucca, Mesquite, & other large spreading trees.  Just the kind of setting we would love to have house in.  Passed the Sunglo ranch & came upon another very old looking ranch on the left.  We felt we had gone to far so turned around & immediately spotted a white sign on the north side of the road.  Pulled off to the side into a small dirt track along a fence & stopped.  Couldn't make out what the sign said so while Kelly slipped through a gate to have a closer look I pulled on my photo vest & grabbed the cameras.  Kelly called back, "this is it." 

      

(click pics to enlarge & hover mouse for captions)

A narrow path led through some scrub trees & yellow grass.  We were able to make out the marker a couple hundred yards ahead.  We had found the final resting place of Johnny Ringo alright.   It is not known for sure if he took his own life at this spot or was murdered here but while looking at the pile of stones I couldn't help but think, well if ya gotta die this is probably as good a place to die as any.  It was peaceful here in the shadow of the Chiricahuas.  Only the wind in the trees rustling along a quiet & dry creek bed nearby the grave.  Gently sloping grass covered hills with rocks & boulders surrounded the spot. Yep, I thought, a mighty fine place for a feller to be buried alright.

 JOHNNY RINGO’S HISTORY

JOHNNY RINGO……Wikipedia

AN OLD RANCH SITS NEAR THE JOHNNY RINGO BURIAL SITE

It was exactly 7.8 kilometers back to the pavement of highway 181.  We turned right & headed the car for the town of Wilcox somewhere on the other side of the looming Dos Cabezas Mountains which we can see all the way from the ranch.  I will continue that journey in to-morrow's blog.  The little tumbledown town of Dos Cabezas, their Pioneer Cemetery, & on to the town of Wilcox, home of the last silver screen singer & cowboy, Rex Allen.  Also a familiar town in the growing up life of country western singer, Marty Robbins.

BOWIE PEAK IN THE BACKGROUND WITH FORT BOWIE JUST ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THOSE MOUNTAINS

I couldn't help but think again as we were heading north on the beautiful winding highway between the surrounding mountain ranges how I wished we could be doing this all the time.  The thought of returning home & sitting in one boring spot again for 6 months until we can travel again is almost too much for me to even think about.  Last summer was bad enough so I'm sure not looking forward to this coming summer.  There is just too much in this land to see & do & the time for seeing & doing it is getting shorter all the time.  Traveling & RVing is something that gets into a person's blood & once you have it there is no getting rid of it.  I just couldn't help but feel sadness this Saturday morning as those thoughts came rumbling through my head .  Oh dear, oh dear, whatever am I going to do..............:((

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Ever notice that what people call congestion on a train is atmosphere in a nightclub!!

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS IN THE DESERT

THESE OLD WEATHERED GUNS ARE THE REAL McCOYS

( For some unknown reason to-night's blog would not publish in Live Writer so I have reverted back to the Blogger program for to-night's post,)

My back was tweaking this morning but not as bad as yesterday. I'm not quite out of the woods yet because the upper back muscles have tightened up & bent we slightly forward. Just going to take a little time for things to ease up & settle down. Did not want to just sit around all day again so we decided to take a drive over to the old mining town of Gleeson & see if we could find the Rattlesnake Craft place we had heard about. We had spent a few hours in what's left of Gleeson last March & our blog for that day is HERE. And, check out our PHOTOS of the old ghost town.

HEAD NORTH OUT OF ELFRIDA & TURN LEFT TO-WARDS GLEESON & WATCH FOR THE WEATHER WORN RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS SIGNS

The pavement ends just west of Gleeson's cemetery & the dusty road eventually leads to Tombstone 20 miles to the west. We spotted a large western looking gate with the words 'High Lonesome Ranch Real Estate.' Took a drive through the scenic rolling hills & saw 6 or 7 homes scattered about here & there. Wide open spaces with up to a mile between places & you would need a good set of binoculars to see what color your neighbors car was. I would like it here:)) We continued up the main road a few miles where another old weathered sign directed us onto another dusty & bumpier road. Wasn't long & we rolled into the Rattlesnake Crafts Ranch.

ON THE HIGH LONESOME RANCH PROPERTY

Well, let me tell ya, this was quite the place way out here on the high desert in the shadow of the Gleeson Mountains. As soon as we parked & got out of the car I knew we were going to be there for awhile. Kelly was excited about the number of rocks & mineral specimens. I was fascinated with a whole acre of photo opportunities. This was a step back in time as countless bits of history hung everywhere. Weather-beaten pots & pans, old rusting guns, jars, & well, just too many things to even begin to mention. Somewhere over 5,000 items on display. I'll have to refer you to my photos to give you an idea of this place. Most everything is real & all of it is old, very old, with the exception of the many rattlesnake crafts which Sandy John make.

AND THIS IS THE ROAD INTO RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS

Sandra & John Weber have dragged home a lot of stuff over the years & what they haven't brought home others have brought out to their place. I think these folks were on the 'To-day' show years ago & there are a bunch of newspaper & magazine articles posted about them. They call their little 1 acre place in the desert Rattlesnake Crafts because they have a whole trailer full of just about anything you can imagine made from rattlesnake parts. In fact there are 150+ rattlesnake related items in the jam packed old vintage trailer. Wallets, belts, ties, sunglasses holders, hat bands, cell phone & knife cases, etc. etc. And where do the rattlesnake parts come from?? Usually within about a 20 mile radius of where they live. On warm summer nights during July & August they head out into the desert in search of the rattlers. John said it can take as much as 9 hours to track down a rattler. They have been doing this for years without injury or incident. Kelly asked him if they keep any snakes on their property & John said, "no, they just escape anyway."

LISTENING TO THE WIND TINKLE & JINGLE ALL THE OLD TREASURES

We didn't meet Sandra but she did go by on one end of a table her & John were carrying out to set up a rock collection. John, a very personable & friendly fellow did his best to answer Kelly's many gemstone rock questions. I was busy just looking at everything & taking pictures, marveling at the amount of history packed into this solitary little place kind out in the middle of nowhere. Pretty much everything is out in the open. No specially track lighted display cases or marbled museum floors here. Just the harsh Arizona sun above, cattle wandering by through the mesquite & cactus, & John's big rugged smile lighting up his cowboy boots from under is well worn & weathered cowboy hat. These are real western people & this is a real collection of wild west stuff they have here. No pressure from these folks to buy anything either. John just happened be setting up some stuff nearby when we got there. And everything is on the honor system. He said once they were away for 3 days, just left the place open, & when they returned someone had left $300 for some stuff they picked up. Real trusting down home folks these Webers are & isn't it too bad the rest of the world couldn't follow their example. If you don't mind a little dust on your tires or a bit of sunshine on your face just take the Gleeson road at the north end of Elfrida & follow it west. The placement ends west of the Gleeson cemetery & it's maybe another 5 miles or so to Rattlesnake Crafts. Watch for the signs & make sure your not transporting nitroglycerine or your gonna get blowed up for sure on the bumpy road:)) Check out Sandra & John Weber's website at.......RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS & ROCKS. Tell em the Bayfield Bunch sent ya:))

JOHN WEBER & KELLY.......'ROCK TALK'

Gets pretty hot in these parts by noon so we were back home about 12:30 & spent the rest of the day inside with the A/C on. Took a lot of photos so I will create a separate album for this mornings jaunt to Rattlesnake Crafts & upload it to our Picasa Web Album. Problem is we are almost out of bandwidth but I will probably upload the pics anyway. Sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do!!

THERE WAS A BIRD NEST IN THE FIRST POT ON THE LEFT

Sat out under the stars last night for awhile with my binoculars doing some Stargazing. I am always a little dis-oriented here in the southwest for awhile. Same stars & constellations for the most part but everything is slightly in a different place. No problem for me finding the constellation Pegasus last night but it took me a long time to find the Andromeda Galaxy which is located not far off one of Pegasus's 4 star points. Watched mighty Orion slip up over the Swiss Helm Mountains to our east. The Hyades & Pleiades were in fine form as were many other old familiar pals high in the sky. Could see 2 of Jupiter's moons. Arizona is probably one of the most popular astronomy areas in all of the U.S. & how lucky that is for me to be here in one of it's darkest areas. Stars from horizon to horizon in the cool, crisp, & clean desert air. Will be glad when my forgotten tri-pod arrives & I can pop my telescope on & see if I can find me some alien spacecraft:)) Do I believe in that sort of thing?? Absolutely!! Makes a whole lot more darn sense to me than many other popularly held beliefs.............10-4:))

AL'S SELF PORTRAIT IN A BLUE BALL AT RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS

To see the rest of our Rattlesnake Crafts photos from this morning click…. PICASA WEB ALBUM

And just in case anyone is wondering who AMOS & ANDY was from last night’s blog, just click on their names:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( What do you call a guy on the side of the road with his hand up a horses behind? An Amish Mechanic!!

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

MY WALLET HAD A HEART ATTACK & THE OLD GHOST TOWN OF GLEESON, ARIZONA

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

Woke up this morning & the pain in my knee was gone for awhile until I walked around a bit outside. Definitely better than the last 3 days though so I have had to assign myself a difficult task for the day.....stay off that leg & rest that knee!! This did not turn out to be an easy assignment:((

THIS OLD JAIL IS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING RESTORED BY A PRIVATE CITIZEN

Finished my part of the kitchen cabinet painting project late yesterday afternoon so the framework, baseboard, &cupboard ends are done. A friend is spray painting the cupboard doors so all that will be left to do by the end of the week is put the doors all back on. Not looking forward to that because putting things back to-gether for me is always much harder than taking things apart!!

Had a phone call from the Bayfield garage saying the transmission job on the van is done so we picked up the vehicle this morning & my poor wallet is now $986.20 lighter:(( The motorhome goes in next for an oil change, filter, fluids, brakes & tire check, etc. After that comes the Santa Fe......oh no, my wallet just had a heart attack!!

THESE CRUMBLING STEPS ONCE LED TO A LIVELY TOWN DANCE HALL

As mentioned before, I had been having a few problems with our hotmail account. I have switched most of our RV blogging email stuff over to our Gmail account now & noticed this morning that the MnMnM's blog comment has finally worked. It bothers me to think other people may have left comments in the past that I never got therefore never published them. So, my apologies to anyone out there who may have sent us a comment that we never received. We will still continue to monitor our hotmail account every day.

GLEESON'S OLD CEMETERY

Came across an update in blogger this morning that I wasn't aware of before. Had noticed about 6 months ago that my posting process wasn't working the way it did a year ago. I couldn't seem to regulate the size of my photos, clicking on photos to enlarge them didn't work anymore, & I was having difficulty placing the photos into the body of the blog. It had become an annoying tedious process every night. I hadn't realized that a new updated 'post editor' had been installed by blogger until I stumbled across the update last night. Looks like the new post editor has some great new features so I'm hoping when I add photos to this blog later to-night it's going to be an easier process for me. To check your blog for the new post editor, go......Dashboard-Settings-Basic. Scroll to bottom of page & look for 'Select post editor.' Make sure 'Updated editor' is checked & then have a look at it's latest features.

Some of the southwest's ghost towns we have been to were easy to find & some were not. It was about a half mile hike off the Charleston road on a rocky trail to reach Millville, Arizona. Charleston across the river required a river crossing plus a lot of searching among the thick mesquite to find it. Tombstone & Pearce you can drive right into & Fairbank has a parking lot just off highway 82. The ghost town of Gleeson was harder to pin down because you can drive right through it & not even know you were there. Just a few tumble down buildings scattered along Gleeson Road.

We had checked out Gleeson on Google Earth & noticed a cemetery on the northwestern side of the road so that's where we headed first to get our bearings. Our blog for that day is HERE & you can find our PHOTOS in our web album. Luckily we ran into a fellow by the road who pointed out an old decrepit building which turned out to be a one time saloon in Gleeson. Tombstone's infamous Johnny Ringo was reportedly last seen in this building at the bar. The falling down decaying building is the most authentic piece of the old west we've seen to date. The main door is locked & it was hard to see inside but I was able to stick my camera through a crack & take some photos. It wasn't until later that night when I downloaded the pictures that we actually saw what was inside that room. The roof was partially collapsed as well as the floor. Be sure to see the pictures & the surprise on the wall to the left.

                ONLY THE WALLS LEFT OF GLEESON'S ONCE PROUD HOSPITAL

I made my way through the underbrush around to the back of the building to see if I could get in a back door but part of the floor had tumbled into the basement & I couldn't get any further in. This is a genuine building, no renovations, no glitsy stuff, no phony artifacts, & no attempt to make it somehing it never was. This saloon is the real deal!! It's very unfortunate that it can't be saved & the state it is in now would require major effort & money to preserve it. I couldn't help but feel very sad for the old building knowing it's dark future & imagining it's colorful past. Dance hall girls, miners, cowboys, card games, smoke & laughter, saloon brawls, & lots of the boys bellied up to the bar. If your in the area, go have a look at this piece of genuine old west history because sadly, I don't think it's going to be around much longer.........................:((

ONE OF THE LAST UNTOUCHED & TRUE WILD, WILD, WEST SALOONS

GROANER'S CORNER:(( And remember this as you age.....First you forget names, then you forget faces. Then you forget to pull up your zipper...............and it's even worse when you forget to pull it down.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

IN SEARCH OF THE THE OLD GHOST TOWN OF CHARLESTON, ARIZONA

CROSSING THE SAN PEDRO RIVER IN SEARCH OF CHARLESTON

We have always found the history of America's old west fascinating & it is one of the many things that draws us back to the southwest each winter's season. One of those interests we enjoy is searching out old ghost towns. Real old ghost towns & not the commercialized fabricated ones. Ghost towns can be disappointing if your expecting to find the Hollywood version. Sometimes it's only a pile of stones from an old wall like in Millville, other times complete buildings like an old crumbling saloon in Gleeson. Fairbank has some buidlings restored but the forgotten cemetery high on a ridge is the same as it was back in the mid 1800's. Some ghost towns are easily accessible & others can almost be almost impossible to find & hard to get to. Pearce, Gleeson, & Fairbank were all easy finds on paved roads but Millville & Charleston were much harder......especially Charleston!! ONLY CRUMBLING ADOBE WALLS LEFT OF THE TWENTY OR SO BUILDINGS

While boondocked just west of Tombstone, Arizona earlier this year we set out in search of the elusive old mining town of Charleston long hidden in the scrub & bush along the banks of the San Pedro river. We first hiked north along the San Pedro one morning from the Charleston Road but couldn't find anything. Found out later we were only about a quarter mile from finding the town. A few days later we decided on a different approach which actually began with another ghost town on the east side of the river called Millville. Click on our blog that day here..... FINDING CHARLESTON. Web album photos for that day are HERE & even more photos for the ghost town of Charleston are HERE Another thing that was very special about these ghost towns is the fact we never encountered any tourists. Tombstone is a good example of what happens to an old town when it is commercialized, but then again a lot of people like that razzle dazzle sort of Hollywood spin. We don't!! Walking through the site of an old lost ghost town & it's overgrown cemetery with only the ghosts of past residents to accompany you is quality time to us. Just the folks, your thoughts, & the desert wind. SOME OF CHARLESTON'S WILD WEST HISTORY

We later found the ghost towns & cemeteries of Gleeson, Pearce, & Fairbank in the same area. I will include those towns over the next few days. Also found the hard to find ruins of old Fort Rucker up in the Chiricahua Mountains as well & I'll include that blog & photos shortly. Our drive & hike into historic Fort Bowie through Apache Pass was another good day for us which I will also post shortly. THE CRUMBLING SALOON IN GLEESON WHERE JOHNNY RINGO WAS LAST SEEN AT THE BAR

Just so much to see & do in the American southwest & with every mile comes a new vista. No excuse for getting bored in this kind of country & the west has a real habit of growing on people & anyone we've come across traveling there.....love's it there. We met a fulltiming RV couple last winter in Yuma who are now beginning a trek across country to Florida for a wedding. They have just spent the last few months in Oregon & Colorado. This is an excerpt from DOUG & JOANNE'S blog about how they feel about having to leave the west for awhile. They were both originally Floridians.
(Quote)"Tomorrow we head out across the plains heading for Lee’s Summit Mo.(on their way to Florida) Neither of us want to leave the west and in particular Colorado. We know we are westerners at heart and love the wide open spaces and sheer beauty out here. To head back to the land of wall to wall condominiums, convenience stores at every intersection and big bill board advertising will be quite a let down for us but it will be nice to see friends and family." (Unquote)

SOMETIMES ONLY PART OF CRUMBLING STONE FOUNDATIONS ARE ALL THAT'S LEFT LIKE HERE IN MILLVILLE, AZ.

A few weeks ago or so I posted a blog about our solar system for boondocking. I had a few inquiries about that but didn't have the exact details in front of me. I came across that paperwork this afternoon so if anyone out there is interested in what you need to get set up for solar just email me & I will send you all the detailed nuts & bolts info including cost of everything. We had our solar installation done by THE SUN WORKS in Slab City, California in December 07. Solar Mike is the fellow you want to talk to.

Stayed tuned for more ghost towns in the days ahead.

FAIRBANK'S OLD FORGOTTEN CEMETERY

GROANER'S CORNER:(( What do prisoners use to call each other while in jail........Cell phones.

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.