TODAY WAS AN 'INSIDE JOB!!'

VIEW FROM THE CLIFF TOP AT DEER PARK LODGE

The rains began sometime in the night & continued non stop through the entire day.  It was a good rain because it kept me inside at the computer.  It was high time I buckled down & took care of  some long overdue email correspondence.  I think I had emails here dating back to 1836.  Carol M south of Lake Ontario, Wilf in Kirkland Lake, my Aunt Jean in Sarasota, Florida.  GYPSY in Sacramento California & RICK in Cowichan Bay BC to name a few.  I have more to go but had to fit a blog into the line-up here somewhere too.

THIS IS THE UNDERBRUSH AREA I WAS CUTTING THE WILD GRAPEVINE OUT OF A FEW DAYS AGO

Karen from SMALL HOUSE BIG BACK YARD is selling their 60+MPG Scooter complete with helmets & carrying bar for attaching to the rear of an RV.  She has photos & all the info on her blog site.  Looks like a nice clean street machine & Karen describes it as having a Barcalounger ride.

RETIRED ROD is facing  surgery very shortly & is going to be out of blogger action for awhile as he takes time to recuperate.  Might want to drop by with some encouragement & wish Rod well.

Ivan from ROADTRIP 2010 is on the move again this time up in Saskatchewan.  I always enjoy following Ivan's adventures because he is a true outdoors man & ventures into places with his RV that few of us will ever get to see.  His narrative & photos are always great & informing.  Be sure to drop by & see Ivan's cutey pie travel partner & chief navigator, Hailey:))

And, could there be a 'Jeep' addition at Mike & Janna's TIN TEEPEE/LOG CABIN ranch out there in Montana:))

MORNING DEW

Had a surprise email from a lady at the Gold Rock RV Park west of Yuma, California this morning.  She had stumbled across our 2008 blog from the time we stopped into the Park to do laundry one day.   We were boon docking about 4 miles south of there at the time.  We walked around the Park while laundry was drying & I actually took some photos of her yard & when she described her property I knew exactly which one it was & the day I took the photos.  An old truck with a pumpkin head driver:))  It only happens rarely but every once & awhile we'll get an email from someone who has come across one of our Bayfield Bunch cards or heard of the Bayfield Bunch from someone & it always makes my day when that happens.  You can see our two visits to Gold Rock Ranch & it's historical mining artifacts here..... GOLD ROCK RANCH 2008 and GOLD ROCK RANCH 2010  This was an area General George Patton used in the training of U.S. Army troops during WW2 & there are some pieces of military equipment here that were found in the surrounding desert.

JUST OFFSHORE FROM DEER PARK LODGE

And let me just wrap up today's post by saying I have been getting some opposition from unexpected sources about my decision to remove my blogs 'comment' section.  And some things have been pointed out to me today that I hadn't considered when making my decision to do that..............:((

DEER PARK LODGE'S CABIN CALLED 'THE HUTCH' OVERLOOKING LAKE HURON'S BLUE & GREEN WATERS

GROANER'S CORNER:((  I was thinking about how a status symbol of today is those cell phones that everyone has clipped onto their belt or purse. I can't afford one. So, I'm wearing my garage door opener.
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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

Until one has loved an Animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

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

MORNING CAMPFIRE & COFFEE OUTSIDE ON A BEAUTIFULLY QUIET SUNNY MORNING

SPOTTED THIS 'FAIRY DUSTER' ALONGSIDE THE ROAD

What a treat it was this morning to open the Motorhome door to quiet & calm air.  The mountain sunrise & warmer temperatures had us outside within minutes relaxing in our pajamas with coffee in hand.    Cactus Wrens were twerbling in the Mesquite trees & a hummingbird dropped by to say hello.  Dragon Flies were in the air & we saw several butterflies.  Wasn't long & we had nice little morning campfire going.  Just might delay our Saturday departure for another day or two now.

GOLD ROCK RANCH LAUNDRAMAT

Happy to report that Kelly's Dad has been moved from the hospital to a re-hab center & is doing reasonably well.  My Uncle Harry is still in the hospital & is slowly regaining strength.  With a little bit of luck he may be back to his 'assisted living' facility sometime early next week.

   

SOME MEMORIES FOR OLDTIMERS

Having been in this area before we are familiar with where things are so headed up the road a few miles this morning to, GOLD ROCK RANCH RV RESORT.  We had a load of laundry to do & we've used the laundromat there before.  A lot of mining artifacts have ended up here in this RV Park & I took a lot of pics of things in December of 08.  You can see those pics here at...GOLD ROCK PHOTOS & the blog for that same day here at...GOLD ROCK BLOG   I also took a few more this morning while we were there & I will include them in this blog.

  

Last time here we also explored what was left of the old mining town of Tumco which is about 3 miles up the road from where we are camped now.  An organization in El Centro later emailed me seeking permission to use some photos I took that day & I said yes.  Never saw their project so I don't know which photos they used but you can see the photos of that day here... TUMCO PHOTOS (check out the large Cyanide tanks & old graves) & you can read my blog from that day here... TUMCO BLOG.

We've decided to stay another day so tomorrow we might see a few jets in the sky as the Blue Angels perform at the El Centro air show west of our location.  We won't see the heart of the show but we might get some F/A 18 Hornets making some rather loud & sweeping turns out over the desert here closer to Yuma.  I went to a lot of Air Shows years ago in London & Hamilton Ontario but I can't take the crowds anymore so we'll watch from the desert.  First aerobatic team I ever saw was the Golden Hawks flying F 86 Saber jets way back in the 50's.

All & all we had a quiet afternoon just relaxing under the awning & soaking up this beautiful wind free & warm California day:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Did you know that England doesn't have a kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

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

A RETURN TO GOLD ROCK RANCH

Went to bed last night at 8:30. One hour later I was on my feet as the rig was buffeted by repeatedly heavy wind gusts. It had been a windy day but the weatherman said the winds would subside by evening, which they did, but now they were back for round 2. It was pointless trying to sleep with all the howling & shaking going on so I fired up the tv & buzzed around on the computer for awhile. Winds finally quieted down around 10:30 so back to bed I went. Two hours later we were on our feet again as the banshee winds returned & ripped at us from the southwest. Sounded like it was going to blow the tires right off the rig. Heard a nasty rattling sound on the roof that was getting louder. Oh, oh, solar panel panic. The thought of having to climb up on top of the rig at 1 a.m. in the morning in a howling cold desert wind wasn't to my liking but I had no choice. It was either that or run the risk of having an expensive solar panel torn off. Jumped into my warmest Canadian winter clothes, grabbed an open end wrench & headed out into the night, up the rear ladder & onto the roof. Wow, was it windy up there!!!! Carefully crab crawled across the roof to the first panel where I discovered one of the bolts on the 4 support arms was very loose. Cinched it up tight with the wrench & that immediately solved the rattle problem. I also tightened all the other 7 nuts & bolts as well just to be on the safe side. Getting back down the ladder wasn't as easy as coming up & despite getting a foot stuck under the air conditioner & ripping my right leg completely off at the hip in 3 places, I was finally able to get down the ladder & head inside to bed somewhere around 2 a.m. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz:)) Slept in till 6 a.m. Jeeeeeezzzz, almost missed half the day!! The cool stiff breeze hung around all morning but the sky was clear & the sun felt warm as long as one kept out of the wind. Good morning to do laundry so we headed off up the road a few miles to the Gold Rock Ranch RV Park. While the laundry was doing it's thing we walked around the park having a look at stuff. Always interesting to see how people live & fix up their places. Certainly is different from southern Ontario, Canada. Took some more pics but I'll include them in maybe to-morrow's photo album. No photo album pics to-night. On the way back from doing laundry we headed off on some old mining roads back to-wards the mountains & came across some nice sites for future boondocking if we are back this way again. The site we are at now is better than the first one we had here, but the sites back closer to the mountains are even better. The desert area here isn't quite as nice as the areas around Ajo or Tucson over in Arizona simply because there are no Saguaro cactus here & the Sonoran desert over there is much greener than here with a larger variety of plant & animal life. We haven't heard one coyote since being here. But, what the heck, it sure beats 3 feet of snow, sub zero temperatures, & the horribly boring endless days & nights of a miserable Canadian winter......................

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