California Dreaming

We headed out of Gila Bend a few days back and made for the California line. After getting through the traffic congestion at the Fruit Police stop on the border we made our way out to Grays Well Road and exited the freeway for a moment then headed back east to Ogilby Road. The overpass at Ogilby Road is having some work done so it is closed so there is no exit from the westbound lanes. We found us a quiet little spot north up that road about 4 odd miles and got set up for a stay here.

Blue and I took a spin looking for some folks that Ivan had told us were in the neighbourhood and met Skip and Jean and then Wandering Willy and had a visit with those good folks.

The next day our friends Mike and Shaunna Lewis and their horses/mule and well-trained mutts joined us here.

We headed south of the border to Los Algodones to order some glasses for Brenda and I and a new sign for Mike and Shaunna. Along the way, we managed to find a lunch and a Margarita and a Cerveso or two. Our glasses wouldn't be ready till the next day so we decided to pop back down the next day to have lunch and a few more Margarita's as well as make another run into Walmart for some necessary supplies.

Camp dogs

Back Yard

Lewis's sign

Algodones is always a great place to visit, the people are friendly, and so accommodating and very enterprising, it is nice to see, although the culture is a little different than north of the border. Good food, good music, and apparently good Margaritas.

Back in camp we enjoyed chewing the fat around the campfire both morning and night and were sad to see Lewis's pull out to start their journey north to the northern ranges this morning. Happy Anniversary you two.

Beginning the long journey home

Sunrises and sunsets in Arizona are spectacular and change so quickly, these two were taken with moments of each other this morning.

They are both panorama's made up of 3-5 separate shots but the colours are pretty much straight out of the camera. And this last one was taken just a short while later. Later in the afternoon Ivan himself came by for a little chin wag.

The Outpost at the South Pohl

We spent a couple of nights at the Clarks near Sunsite and then it was time to move on to the South Pohl. Ken and Verna have a nice spot in the shadow of Cochise's Stronghold and we moved into a little piece of heaven they have just down the road. Our friends Mike and Shaunna Lewis have a place right next door so we took advantage of having access to two great dog trainers to work on a few things with Max and Maya. I don't think they are going to head over to the police dog academy anytime soon but a few of their more annoying behaviours are less noticeable now anyway.

The view from the Outpost at the South Pohl

The weather here is a little different than down around Why, not long underwear cool but close, and if you were hanging around outside once the sun went down at 4:22PM, here in the shade of the Stronghold, you would probably rethink that statement pretty quickly.

One day we took a run down to Bisbee for a look around and stopped in at the Bisbee Breakfast Club in old Bisbee for a late breakfast. It is an interesting place with a lot of character. Pete Hanson suggested I read a series of books about a fictional sheriff in Cochise County by J.A. Jance and I took his advice so as we drove around Bisbee and the rest of the County it almost seemed familiar. Brenda was thinking I was going to drive into say hello to some of my fictional folks.

Another day I took a drive up to the actual Stronghold for visit. Interesting rock formations and easy to see how a whole band of Apache's could make themselves hard to find in there.

If those walls could talk I am sure they would have some tales to tell.

Cochise Stronghold

Another day Blue II and I took a run through the Dragoons and over Middlemarch Pass. We got far enough over that we could see Tombstone and the west side of the range. Lots of old mining trails and diggings in there and a pile of trails still to be explored.

A look back from the Pass across the valley towards the Chiricahua's

A big Century Plant 

I wasn't the only one out for a look around.

I made a trip into Wilcox to pick up a few baking supplies for Brenda and she whipped up two kinds of tarts and a couple batches of shortbread cookies so we enjoyed Christmas baking. Christmas Eve we gathered at the Big House and shared a plethora of appetizers including Natcho's, Chili Dip, ribs, sauteed shrimp, jalapeno poppers, and some of that baking then Verna treated us to a movie night.

Christmas Day we chilled around the campfire, and then it was back to the feed trough at the South Pohl for a Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings with Verna, Shaunna, Mike and new friends Micki, and Zach.

This morning we loaded Blue II after our morning fire and headed west. We had a supply stop at Costco in Tucson and then moved on to Gila Bend for the night. We are spending the night at the KOA here and I have to say, over the years we have stayed in a bunch of KOA's and this is far and away to nicest of the lot. Great Wifi, landscaping, dog parks, laundry, pool, showers and clubhouse, all top shelf facilities. We will flush our tanks, empty those that are full, fill those that are empty and then head further west into California tomorrow.

Sunrise from the Outpost of the South Pohl this morning.

Moving On!

We had a great time hanging out at Gunsight Wash, just chilling and watching the world go on by. The weather was great and we had a couple of good meals, one at Estrella's in Ajo, a great burger, and then down to Why to Granny's Kitchen where I had some pretty good chicken enchilda's and Brenda had another great burger. They are only open Sunday to Friday 6AM to 2PM though.

We are still getting used to being back on the road, and all that comes with it like laundromats and somewhat limited internet. Amazing when we were last footloose and fancy free, 5GB was doable, but now it seems like that is not enough to get us through the week let alone the month. Feeling our way around the rig and figuring out our water usage, those skills never go away it seems though, we had things pretty well timed our black tank was just about full and our water tank was empty about the same time. Coincidentally we were moving on today so we stopped in the Coyote Howls park in Why and dumped the tanks and then headed East.

We have friends here in Pearce, Mike and Janna, and we are living it up here tonight, full hook-ups, even mooching their wifi connection, after a great dinner, and visit. It has been a couple of years since we got together with them but what with Janna's great blogging and Facebook we never missed a beat, felt like we could pick up our conversations just where we dropped them way back when.

Why Not

This morning we thought we should wander around the neighbourhood a little. We loaded the muttski’s in the truck and headed south for the Organ Pipe National Monument.

Ajo Mountains

Thought we better give it a look see before Donald Trump turned it into Walmart distribution centre or something. It bumps up against the Mexican border and just across the border the Mexican government has a couple more of these protected areas creating a pretty good sized biosphere. We poked around in the Visitor Centre but passed up on the 21 miles drive through the heart of the monument, we did that back in 2008 and I am sure not much has changed since then. We had to cross through a Border Patrol checkpoint but it was pretty relaxed, just a couple of young fellows wishing us a good day and waving us on through. In the past here at Gunsight Wash we were struck by the frequency of the Border Patrol vehicles roaming around but today was the first time we have seen any in the area. Not sure what that means either folks are not coming this way or maybe they are just not coming anymore.

We stopped in at the Why Not Travel Store to see if they had any potatoes but just chips, not much else there when it came to groceries. But they do have some beautiful murals there. And then it was back to Dogpound Anywhere to while away the afternoon.

Ajo

It was a windy, but sunny day down here at Gunsight Wash today.  Temps in the mid teens Celsius I guess around 50F, but the wind made it seem much cooler. We just hung out in camp for the most part although I did run into Ajo to mail some Christmas cards and pick up a little BBQ sauce for our country style ribs. Not sure why they call them that, though they were good, there were no ribs to be found anywhere in them.

I had took a couple of shots of two of the murals that are around Ajo, there are many more.

 And then stopped for a visit at the mine pit museum. The fellow/historian who was there reminded me of my Dad, he had a story for every picture in the place and was one of those fellows who probably was pretty good at filling in the blanks when the record was a little short on details. He made it almost sound exciting to work at the bottom of that big hole in the dead of summer when it was about 160F down in the pit. Not sure at those temps if you need to smelt the ore to get the copper out, or if it just runs out and you ladle it into buckets.

A couple of visits today from our friends from the Air Force, but nobody right down on the deck pretending to shoot us up. Got a couple of responses from Al and Ivan about boondocking near Bisbee and it seems that is not as easy as it sounds. We might just have to stay a little farther afield and just make day trips down into that country. The Queen Mine RV Park in Bisbee apparently has a low bridge to go under to get into and Dogpound Anywhere is not exactly a low bridge kind of rig, but we will figure out something.

Why, of Course

Blogging is a little different on a Mac than a PC when you are away from the internet. Sure miss Live Writer so I am trying writing this in the note App on my Mac and copying it over to blogger when I get online.

Well the deal is done, Dogpound South is no more, and Dogpound Anywhere has slipped her bonds. We pulled out of Thunderbird Farms early Saturday morning and headed for the desert. We started our boondocking adventures back in 2008 with friends at Gunsight Wash near Why, Arizona and thought why not go back there. It is on the road to Rocky Point/Puerto Penasco, Mexico just north of the Organ Pipe National Monument. The highway south is a little busy throughout the day but at nights there is nothing here but the foxes and a few high flying fighter jets using the range to the north.

A-10 Warthogs

Once in a while the A-10 Warthogs make a run on our rig, I do think they use us as pseudo tanks as they sometimes are only a few dozen feet above our satellite dish. We have a few neighbours here but as usual in the desert they are a couple of hundred yards away as most folks out here are refugees from RV Parks and like their space. A couple of days ago we wandered over and had a visit with some folks from Alberta who were hiding out here in the desert to kill a week until they were allowed back into their membership park over at Yuma Lakes.

We also ran into Ajo to do a little grocery shopping although I think the prices there drove Brenda away. She said butter was over $6.00 a pound and as our longtime readers know Brenda does know her butter so it she says that is outrageous it is outrageous. The only thing I noticed was a bottle of Crown Royal that was $19.95 in the Walmart in Maricopa was going for $30.95 at Olsens IGA in Ajo, pretty high markup so I am glad I didn’t need any.

I took a run about 10 or so miles west up the wash yesterday with Blue II, it is a nice drive, smooth, if a little dusty. Lots of shady overhanging trees but nothing that got in the way. I didn’t see a soul out there but did spot some far off dust that might have been Border Patrol folks. One thing that is different than a few years back, we are not seeing many Border Patrol units heading out into the desert here. Years back when it was full moon they were back and forth all night, even hauling horses out past our rigs. Maybe the traffic has moved elsewhere or slowed down considerably.

We are not sure how long we will be here or really where we are heading next although we have never really been down around Bisbee country before so might like to wander over that way for a look see. Time to figure out where the Bayfield Bunch and Ivan and Hailey hung out down that way. Close enough to see the sights but far enough off the beaten path to miss the crowds at night. One thing about the desert the sunsets and sunrises are pretty nice as well as the Super Moon

Sunrise

Sunrise

Super Moon setting

Sunset