LEAVING OLD MEMORIES BEHIND AND FINDING A FEW NEW ONES AHEAD

It was a busy night sky again as I stood transfixed under a sea of diamond like stars watching the U.S. Air Force flying mock combat maneuvers over the Barry M. Goldwater Military Range.  I saw as many as 7 what I assume to be F-16 Falcon fighter jets all in the sky at the same time.  When I say I saw them I mean I saw their blinking aircraft lights.  They were so far up and distant I could not hear them at all.  If they with their bright pulsating strobe lights were not moving they would be totally invisible among the myriad of uncountable stars.  I would say these military skies northwest of Ajo Arizona are the busiest I have ever seen.

DISTANT STRING OF LIGHTS ON THE HORIZON IS AJO ARIZONA

SKIES WERE BUSY AGAIN WITH MANY SWIRLING JET TRAILS IN THE NIGHT SKY

I WAS REALLY FORTUNATE HERE TO CATCH A JET COMING IN FROM THE RIGHT AND RELEASING 3 BRIGHT YELLOW FLARES THEN EXITING TO THE LEFT

Not a cloud in the sky on this cool Arizona morning as dawn broke over the eastern horizon.  It was a travel day for us and travel we did.  My favorite driving time is mornings from about 8 a.m. to maybe 11.  Shadows are still in the canyons and stretched across mountain sides.  Morning light has a softer hue to it before the harsher sunlight of late morning and mid day flattens out all the shadows leaving few darkened contours to give the land depth.

<<< CAUGHT MYSELF A BIT OF THE MILKY WAY HERE COMPLETE WITH A TURNING JET AT THE BOTTOM

We had the big wheels rolling by 7:40 a.m. Arizona time leaving the Ajo Equestrian Center - Ajo Regional Park skirting along Ajo's east side on North Ajo Well Road picking up highway 85 south at Ajo's southeast corner.  Always a bit sad leaving many of our favorite areas like Ajo when one never knows if they will make it back for another winter season or not.  This year more than any other I have thought about that..................

WAVED US GOOD-BYE TO AJO ARIZONA

A big morning sun cast long shadows across the road as we waved good-bye to Ajo,  and a nod to Darby Well Road as we went by.  So many great memories over the years as we turned left in Why heading east on 86 past Hickiwan Trails RV Park which gave us so many of our best early RVing day memories.  Still feeling sad as I watched all our favorite Sonoran Desert scenery passing by.  That feeling stayed with me all the way to Tucson.

SO-LONG TO ANOTHER ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOUNTAINS...THE AJO RANGE

TRANSPORTING A WINDSHIELD FULL OF BUGS TO TUCSON

AND OH HOW I ALWAYS LOOK FOR AND LOVE TO SEE THE KITT PEAK OBSERVATORY ON THIS MOUNTAIN TOP

Some construction on Tucson's west side to slow down for, a couple coffee's to go at a McDonalds and we were soon on our way through some more construction at I-19 before finally reaching and swinging ourselves up onto I-10 with the Big EEE's nose pointing south.

STOPPED AT THIS TUCSON McDONALDS FOR A COUPLE COFFEE'S TO GO

Highway 83 is not too far south of Tucson and in the lite traffic we weren't long in exiting I-10 onto 83.  It wasn't long before we began gaining altitude through a sweeping landscape of gently rolling hills filled with yellow grasses topped by distant mountains.  And one of those mountains had snow on it.  Topography the southwest never gets boring as we transitioned from the lower Sonorans green desert into a higher altitude plain.  Not our first time through this area but it is our first time looking for a boon-docking here.

YES WE ARE DEFINITELY GAINING ALTITUDE HERE AND THOSE ARE THE SNOW TOPPED SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS

Fortunately we had a pretty good idea where we were headed thanks to a past post by fellow RV friends and fellow Bloggers Nina and Paul over at WheelingIt  (one of the best blogs out here by the way) We also had an Escapee Club's book called Day's End with additional directions from folks who had travelled this way before.  Found the turn off from highway 83 and headed off into the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area  Even with great directions we still managed to get ourselves turned around on the dirt roads somehow.  No problem we just stopped, got out and banged our heads on the road a few times.  Everything was crystal clear after that and we soon found us a nice reasonably secluded campsite on a high piece of ground with a magnificent commanding view all around.  Did check out the Cienegas campground first but the 4 good sites we saw were occupied.

BEHIND THE SIGN TO THE LEFT ARE THE WHETSTONE MOUNTAINS, STICKING OUT ON THE RIGHT SIDE ARE THE MUSTANG MOUNTAINS AND TO THE FAR RIGHT ARE THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS....WE'RE IN GOOD COMPANY

YEP I THINK WE ARE GOING TO REALLY LIKE THIS PLACE AND THANKS FOR THE RECOMMENDATION NINA:))

KELLY LEADS THE WAY IN OUR JEEP AND IS JUST ABOUT AT OUR SCOUTED OUT CAMPSITE

ONLY THING MISSING IS A NICE TREE OR TWO

On distant grassland horizons we are bordered by the snow topped Santa Rita Mountains to our West, the Empire Mountains to our north, Whetstone Mountains east of us with the Mustang and Huachuca Mountain ranges to our southeast.  Directly south of us towards Mexico is a low mountain range known as the Canelo Hills.  Also south of us a short 7 miles is the town of Sonoita Arizona at the highway junction of 82 and 83.  We will probably slip down that way in the morning to pick up some Jeep gas before checking out where some of these grassland Jeep roads go.  The town of Patagonia is on our list as well as a drive over to Medera Canyon to see what we can see over there on the other side of the Santa Ritas.  Not all tomorrow of course but in the coming days.  We did overnight in Patagonia State Park one time 10 years ago.  By the way we have an excellent Verizon signal but no cell phone coverage as of yet. 

KELLY SPOTTED THIS PRONGHORN DEER A FEW HUNDRED YARDS AWAY AND I TOOK THE PIC THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD KNOWING SOON AS I OPENED OUR SIDE DOOR IT WOULD BE GONE...HOPE TO SEE MORE

THERE ARE 45,000 ACRES HERE WITH MUCH OF IT BEING GOLDEN GRASSLAND

MUSTANG MOUNTAINS ON THE LEFT WITH THE HUACHUCAS ON THE RIGHT

THOSE ARE THE WHETSONE MOUNTAINS EAST OF US

Looking forward to some very dark skies tonight and thanks to the folks for reminding us about the NASA International Space Station sighting program.  When we lived in the rented farm house near Fullarton Ontario 20 years ago we had a site on our computer which told us when the ISS would be visible and I fondly remember many nights we would go outside and wait for it to come over.  I have the NASA site on my desktop now and all I have to do is remember it is there:)) 

PHEEBS AND I HAD WALKED DOWN TO THIS TREE LOOKING FOR A POST HEADER PHOTO BUT LITTLE DID WE KNOW SOMEBODY HAD PICKED UP MY TELEPHOTO LENS CAMERA AND TOOK A FEW SHOTS OF US 2 BUMS

I THINK KELLY DID REALLY WELL WITH THAT  CAMERA AND BIG HEAVY TELEPHOTO LENS AND ESPECIALLY WITH THESE 2 ZOOMED PHEEBY PHOTOS

<<< 'OMG' IS THAT REALLY ME, I THINK I HAD BETTER THINK SERIOUSLY ABOUT KEEPING MYSELF INDOORS MORE:(( Reading Doug's Wednesday Post about dropping into a placed called Desert Center on I-10 between Indio and Blyth California I was reminded of the day Kelly and I stopped there and had breakfast at the old historic Café which Doug discovered is closed now.  Even when we were there Desert Center was a pretty sad looking little place that time and progress had forgotten.  We spent a couple days exploring around the area and here is the day we dropped into that old tumble down quaint and rustic Café.  As I recall I think we had breakfast there.  It was February 15th 2012 and my post title for that day started off with He Dug His Own Grave.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A man was giving a speech at his lodge meeting. He got a bit carried away and talked for two hours. Finally, he realized what he had done and said, "I'm sorry I talked so long. I left my watch at home."A voice from the back of the room replied, "There's a calendar behind you..."

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Ohio!
Ohio who?
Ohio Silver!
Knock Knock

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Okra!
Okra who?
Okra Winfrey!

There's a man named Ralph that goes into a bar, looking very depressed. A friend approaches him and asks, "Why the long face, Ralph?"
"Oh, I'm just bored. I know every person in the entire world now, and there's just nothing left to challenge me." His friend says, "No, you can't know everyone. Do you know Paul McCartney?"
He says, "Sure, Paul's an old friend of mine. Here, I'll show you." He goes over to a phone, dials a number. His friend overhears a British accent, "Hey Ralph, how ya doing?" He talks for a while, but when Ralph hangs up, his friend is not really sure that it was Paul McCartney on the other end of the line, so he asks him if he knows the president.Ralph says, "Sure, we go way back." This time he lets him listen in as he calls a private number. It sounds like the president on the other end of the line, and they go into a big discussion of the current economic scene, and Ralph offers a few suggestions. Drawing the conversation to a close, Ralph wishes him well and hangs up.
His friend is a little dumbfounded at this point. "Well, there must be someone that you don't know." He goes over a few more people in his mind, and thinks, 'He can't possibly know the Pope. After all, he's a Protestant.' But Ralph claims to know him, so to convince himself otherwise, his friend decides to fly both himself and Ralph to the Vatican to get positive proof of Ralph's conviction.  So they arrive at the Vatican, and Ralph suggests that his friend wait out in St. Peter's Square until Ralph has cleared things with the Pope. He's standing in the courtyard, when who walks out onto the balcony of the private residence, arm in arm with the Pope, but Ralph.
Ralph looks down, sees that his friend has apparently passed out, and runs down to see what can be done for him. "What happened to you? Couldn't you accept the fact that I really do know the Pope?" "No, I'd begun to accept that possibility. But what really took my breath away was some stranger standing next to me who said, 'Who's that guy standing there with Ralph?'"

WE HAD TWO GOALS TODAY, LAUNDRY AND TRAVEL....AND WE DID ACCOMPLISH ONE OF THEM

When I woke up Wednesday morning I had no idea we would have the big wheels rolling a couple hours later but that's not unusual for us when it comes to travel plans.  Kelly asked me what my plans for the day were and I told her I didn't have any.  She didn't have any plans either and that started the ball rolling.  Well Okay if we don't have any plans maybe we'll just head out then.  And that's what we did.

ENJOYING WEDNESDAY NIGHT'S  SUNSET ABOUT 165 MILES AWAY FROM WHERE WE ENJOYED THE MORNING'S SUNRISE

Sorry about the irregular spacing of photos and text sometimes but this finicky Blogger platform can be and is a real frustration for those of us who prefer our blogs to look the way we want them to look!! 

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It was about 9:30 when we waved good-bye to the Muchacho Mountains and headed south on Ogibly Road to I-8 heading east.  Quick stop at Walmart on Pacifica Ave in Yuma for some groceraries and that was it.  We soon had Yuma disappearing in our rear view mirror.

THERE ARE NO COLOR ENHANCEMENTS ON THESE SUNSET PHOTOS

Traffic is always light on the section of I-8 between Yuma and Gila Bend so we had us an uneventful drive on what turned out to be a mighty fine weather day.

Stopped at Gila Bend's east end Shell station for gas, water, and propane.  Dumped the gray and black tanks as well.  The big orange and black Gila Monster in Wednesday's post was taken here.  It was early afternoon when we made our way from Gila Bend down highway 85 to north of Ajo Arizona and pulled into the Rodeo/Roping Park area east of the highway.  There is a dry camping RV section here but with half a dozen rigs parked around we decided to boon-dock in the parking lot near the roping arena.  There is actually no arena building here just an open air corral type of arena

Nice sunset and soon as darkness fell I was outside with my binoculars and camera marveling at all the activity going on in the night sky over the Barry M. Goldwater military range.  Many twinkling aircraft lights in the air plus the mysterious bright hardly moving amber lights.  At one point I saw 5 of them in the sky at the same time.  Sometimes they would be single lights and sometimes in pairs.  My first thought was flares because I've seen military flares before but with my binoculars I was able to determine these were not flares.  Flares move vertically in a downward motion and these flares were moving horizontally across the night sky and way to slow for any winged aircraft.  Helicopters maybe but I thought even too slow for helicopters.  They basically hung in the sky moving horizontally.  Some kind of military craft no doubt but for me they were Unidentified Flying Objects simply because I myself could not identify them.  Should mention these objects were in no other area of the sky except over the Goldwater range to our north and northwest. 

STRANGE SIGHTS IN ARIZONA'S SKIES OVER THE BARRY M. GOLDWATER MILITARY RANGE

THIN SINEWY LINES IN THESE PHOTOS ARE FROM JET AIRCRAFT TWISTING AND TURNING IN VARIOUS MILITARY MANUEVERS

PLANET VENUS AT LEFT WITH THE GLOW BELOW FROM YUMA FAR OFF TO OUR NORTHWEST

ALL THESE NIGHT PHOTOS ARE VARIOUS TIME EXPOSURES AND THE LONG WHITE HORIZONTAL STREAKS ARE ACTUALLY THE MYSTERIOUS AMBER LIGHTS....BECAUSE OF THE TIME EXPOSURE THE AMBER LIGHTS ARE ELONGATED AND THEIR AMBER COLOR APPEARS AS WHITE

THE LONG THIN STETCH OF LIGHT AT THE PHOTOS BOTTOM IS A CARS HEADLIGHTS DRIVING BY ON THE ROAD BUT IF YOU LOOK CAREFULLY IN THE SKY YOU CAN PICK OUT SEVERAL SMALL SEEMINGY STATIONARY AMBER LIGHTS VERY FAR AWAY

THE SOFT GLOW AT BOTTOM RIGHT IS FROM AJO'S MUNICIPLE AIRPORT'S BEACON LIGHT ABOUT HALF A MILE TO OUR NORTHWEST....SOME MAY REMEMBER WE OVERNIGHTED AT THE END OF THE RUNWAY ABOUT A MONTH AGO WHEN TRAVELING FROM SIERRA VISTA BACK TO YUMA AND BORREGO SPRINGS

VENUS WITH A WISPY CLOUD HAIRDO

TWIN AMBER LIGHTS MOVING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT

AGAIN, THE AMBER GLOW OVER THE MOUNTAINS IS YUMA ABOUT A HUNDRED MILES AWAY AS THE CROW FLIES

THIS GLOW ON OUR NORTHEASTERN HORIZON IS FROM PHOENIX ARIZONA

THIS GLOW TO OUR SOUTHEAST IS TUCSON

Wednesday night under the stars was windless and warm while early Thursday morning stepping out with Pheebs under the stars we were greeted with a cold north wind and it kind of hung around for most of the day.

LOOKING CLOSELY ONE CAN SEE THE EARLY EVENING LIGHTS OF AJO ARIZONA

THESE ARE THE LIGHTS OF AJO ARIZONA TO OUR SOUTHWEST AFTER DARK

Our two part goal was to hit the laundromat in Ajo this morning then continue our journey in a southeasterly direction.......and yes we do have a definite destination in mind somewhere in southern Arizona.  Well we at least accomplished half of that plan by getting our laundry done.  We were soon back to the rig with plans to hook up the Jeep and head out but gol darn it

our plans changed again.  I did get the Jeep hooked up alright but think it was somewhere between our egg salad sandwiches and my peanut butter sandwich that we decided it was already too late in the morning to go anywhere and that was that, we decided to stay a second night north of Ajo.

CAMPED OUT NEAR THE OPEN AIR ROPING ARENA

And a coincidence for us this morning when Kelly and Pheebs were out for an early walk.  Another dog came running excitedley over to see Pheebs and Kelly thought the dog looked familiar.  The owner walking nearby his small Scamp trailer came walking over and Kelly recognized him.  It was Rick and his dog Lady whom we had met over on Darby Well Road back in early December of 2011  How nice to see him him and Lady again after all these years.  Truly a nice fellow Rick has been spending his winters here in the Ajo area for the past 17 years.  Like us, he prefers the quiet solitude of the desert and generally boon-docks in areas away from people.  An experienced desert dweller Rick is a good 'go-to' guy for answers to many many questions and this morning he explained those high altitude slow moving amber lights in the night sky over the Barry M. Goldwater military range.  He said they are indeed flares and the reason they sometimes travel horizontally is due to the winds aloft at higher altitudes.  Made perfect sense to me so my UFO sighting quickly switched to an IFO sighting.  Identified Flying Object.  Still doesn't explain just exactly what purpose they serve for the military but at least the wind drifting flares made sense to me.

DECEMBER 2011 FILE PHOTOS OF PHEEBS, LADY, AND RICK

When we talked to Rick first thing this morning we mentioned we were on our way into town to do our laundry.  Well by cracky that's right where he was headed too so we all had us a fine old chin wag at the laundromat.  Here's one of my posts from when we met Rick and Lady on Darby Well Road entitled Schmoozing With Our Neighbors

TOOK THIS PHOTO FROM IN THE MOTORHOME WHEN I SAW PHEEBS PLAYING WITH ANOTHER DOG LITTLE KNOWING THAT WAS OUR FRIEND RICK

THAT'S RICK'S WHITE PICK-UP TRUCK AND SCAMP WAY OVER THERE ON THE LEFT

AND OF COURSE NOT ALL OF MY LAUNDRY MADE IT HOME DRY AGAIN

A lazy afternoon for us with the only excitement being a lady who drove in pulling her horse trailer with  2 horses aboard.  She unloaded them and gave the beautiful horses a big run in the roping arena.  She had bales of hay on the trailer's roof and we think she may have stayed the night with her horses overnighting in a covered corral beside where she was parked.

THESE HORSES WERE SO HAPPY TO BE OUT RUNNING AND KICKING UP THEIR HEELS

NO THIS HORSE DID NOT FALL IT JUST STOPPED AND FLOPPED ITSELF ONTO THE GROUND FOR A BIG OLD ROLL AROUND DUST BATH

THAT'S RICK ON THE LEFT WATCHING HIS FRIEND'S HORSES RUNNING

HERE'S A COUPLE OTHER FAMILIAR LOOKING COWPOKES

Our plans are to roll out in the morning seeking out new green pastures but of course you know what kind of planners we are so who knows where we'll end up Friday.  Maybe nowhere..............

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A young woman, pursuing a graduate degree in art history, was going to Italy to study the country's greatest works of art.  Since there was no one to look after her grandmother while she was away, she took the old lady with her.  At the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, she pointed to the painting on the ceiling. 'Grandma, it took Michelangelo a full four years to get that ceiling painted.'  'Oh my, 'the grandmother says.  'He and I must have the same landlord.'

WE ARE ON THE MOVE AGAIN:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( The district attorney stared at the jury, unable to believe the "not guilty" verdict he'd just heard. Bitterly, he asked, "What possible excuse could you have for acquitting this man?" The foreman answered, "Insanity." The attorney responded, still incredulous, "I could understand that, but... all twelve of you?"

- There is one big difference between genius and stupidity; genius has limits.
- Things could be worse; suppose your errors were counted and published every day, like those of a baseball player.
- And did you know that things go right so they can go wrong.

An elderly woman had just returned to her -home from an evening church service when she was startled by an intruder. She caught the burglar red-handed, and yelled, "Stop! Acts 2:38 (meaning, repent and be baptized...)!" The burglar stopped dead in his tracks. The woman then calmly called the police and explained what she had done.
As the officer cuffed the burglar, he asked, "Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell a scripture to you." "Scripture?" replied the burglar, "I thought she said she had an axe and two 38's!"