A Different Sort of Day

I started off my walkabout this morning in a bit of fog. It was really quite different, the shot below is a panorama of my view for much of the ramble. I would say visibility was about 8-10 paces.

It was really quite disorienting in a kind of cool way. When your sight is handicapped your other senses take over and especially your hearing, the crunch of your footsteps, as you wander through the desert. Ghostly cacti appearing out of the mist and the disappearing again. Weird but I am sure welcome for the flora and fauna that call this place home. Those desert tortoises I talked about a few days ago probably depend on these mists and the accompanying humidity to get a sip or two of liquid into their diet.

That is a shot of our rig as I left walking into the mists of time. Brenda figured I should stay home but I thought with all of the technology we have at hand now, the likelihood of me disappearing forever were quite slim. That and the fact that I have walked all over this desert for years and only once saw a tortoise here, I got to thinking maybe they are only out and active on days like this. Sure enough when I stopped and listened I was certain I could hear the sounds of their footsteps and maybe the echos of their shells clunking together as they snuck through the fog in migrating herds. Can't prove it but I am sure they are out there.

I did enjoy the time in a the sensory deprivation tank though, but as I finished my wander the mists started to burn off and the sun shone through.

And by the time I got back to DPA the day was warming up and we were once again tortoise free.

Out and About

Today we decided it was time to renew old acquaintances, a few years back, February of 2018, we crashed the party at Lorne and Sue's hangout north of Apache Junction, today we thought if was time to go back and finish the job. We sat in the sun telling some stories and chatting about life in an RV and all the people we know in common, bloggers all. And while we were there Riley and Deb from a A Long and Lonesome Highway joined the group. It was nice to finally meet them in person after following their blog for years.

As usual my people picturin' skills were sadly lacking and I didn't get any photos of either bunch, to busy telling stories Brenda said. She was probably right, it is not often anymore that I run into folks polite enough to not get up and wander off while I am telling stories. It never fails to amaze us how comfortable it is sitting with folks who we never really see very often or even ever at all. Reading their blogs/journals has given a window into their lives that is rare in this day and age.

The shot above was taken once again from the front steps of Dogpound Anywhere (DPA) and the sun was just starting its morning ascent, while the moon was lingering a little longer. Out of frame is Jupiter which was almost as prominent in that morning sky. I was just heading out on my daily wander through the desert, when I caught this one.

A couple of looks at one of the washes I wander down on my journey. And below is a shot from DPA's steps once we got home from our visit this afternoon.

And if this works here is a Time-lapse of the sunset here at DPA this evening.

And if it doesn't work, well it is pretty cool anyway, this phone continues to amaze me.

Through the Old West

We pulled up the jacks, slid in the slides and racked the dish and headed out of Las Cruces this morning. We had a closet full of clean clothes and a full tank of fresh water, and bellies full of good food from La Posta down in Mesilla.

Maldito buen Mexicano

It was time to roll on west so we blew that pop stand and headed for the boondocks. We had to wander down I-10 for bit but soon we were off on the Old West Highway (70) running from Lordsburg up towards Safford and onto Superior where we knew a great spot to spend a few days decompressing from our trip across west Texas.

Old West Highway somewhere southeast of Safford

The Old West Highway is a two lane lightly traveled road that traverses some pretty nice country between Lordsburg and Globe crossing the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation along the way. Most of our drive today was done under cloudy skies and even the odd rain shower and even though rain is not one of our favourite weather patterns, it was hard not to think of the smiles on the faces of all the cowmen along this highway as that rain nourished the landscape.

We are in a familiar spot near Picket Post mountain and will spend a few days here before moving on further west. Where, who knows, like all RV'ers our plans are written on jello and other than a few folks we want to connect with along the way we don't really have any plan other than to enjoy the winter here south of the snow line.

A panoramic view from our spot

 This two pictures give you an idea of the view from our lawn chairs and probably a good idea of why we keep returning. Till next time, stay tuned.

Now that's Solitude

San Antonio

We wandered our way across Texas and found our friends Deb and Rod Kendall here in the Blazing Star RV Park. We haven't done much since we got here except catching up with them. It is always good to see old friends and this park they are calling home for the time being is pretty nice. Lots of trees and not to busy. Although it is a little closer quarters than we are used to the folks with the rigs on either side of us don't appear to be in residence so it is really pretty quiet here. The dogs are learning all about being tied up and enjoying their visits to the dog park a few times a day. They have even made some buddies down there. This morning we headed over to Pet Smart early in the day and they both got the Black Friday weekend Pedicure special. Those folks over there have it all figured out they were in and out in pretty quick time and didn't even seem to be stressed. In fact I think they enjoyed their first trip into a store. For a couple of old country dogs they are dealing with all these changes pretty well.

Last night we went to Red Robin for their gourmet burgers and although they were good I actually think Brenda and I can do better here at Dogpound Anywhere, but the girls had Fish/Shrimp and Chips and that is not a specialty around DPA.

Early Morning at the Dog Park

Migrating

Last week we finished up all our doctor and dentist appointments. Brenda is sporting new choppers and the implants are working great or so it is reported. Over the last week we had been hauling stuff out to the RV, loading things we needed and unloading things we didn't. Wednesday was the big move day for Brenda's clothes and the remainders of our fridge stuff.

Thursday we woke up early, finished loading and then got hooked up and headed south. We had no destination in mind but were just playing it by ear. We stopped in Nanton for breakfast and a good visit with our old friend Van Greig, before continuing on towards the border. A few questions at the border, where are you going, how long are you staying, how much money do you have with you, are you sure that is enough to last the winter, and we were headed south out of Sweetgrass, Montana. We decided because it was cold we would overnight at Dick's RV Park in Great Falls and continue in the morning. Just yesterday I was reading a Technomadia Facebook post about the new Verizon pre-paid jet pack. It is a truly unlimited device and is only throttled if you get in a crowded area, not our usual habitat, so I ran out and signed us up. It is about $65-$70 dollars a month, considerably less than the $220/month that Telus charges us for only 40GB. Hope it works out, but so far it is doing yeoman's duty here onboard Dogpound Anywhere (DPA).

Friday we were up early and on the road before the sun brightened our journey up the Missouri River valley and then south to those flatlands of southern Idaho. We hit Salt Lake City right at rush hour and a little construction caused some slow going for a while. We holed up for the night at Cabela's in Lehi, it was a little warmer there in Utah. Sadly Cabela's big parking lot that used to harbour a few RV's has been taken over by a new building and it looks like that is coming to an end. Luckily I spotted the construction superintendent and convinced him that we would be decent security for the night so we had one last night in this familiar stopping place.

Again, we were on the road before daylight and headed for the desert. I always look forward to the slide down the hill from the high desert of Southern Utah and through the Virgin River Gorge to the Mohave Desert surrounding Las Vegas. Usually there is a dramatic temperature increase as you make that journey but this year it was only 10F degrees difference. Still warmer is good. We made it to Wikiup and stayed at Dazzo's campground, the campground was ok for what we wanted, to water up and flush out some antifreeze, but it was not Brenda's cup of tea. BUT, the restaurant, was great, the wait staff a little ranchey, but the food was second to none.

Sunday we slept in, till sun-up, topped those tanks that needed topping, flushed the rest and then headed down the road again. We stopped by our friends, K&T's place for a short visit and swapped a few lies before heading on to our final destination for this part of the journey here at Picket Post. This mountain is one of our favourite spots to hole up when we are in the Phoenix area.

Picket Post Mountain

We had scheduled some Scrambler Therapy (Calmare) for Brenda and her CRPS, on Monday but as we were pulling into the parking lot the doc called and had to delay it till tomorrow. She is booked for three days of therapy so hopefully that will push her nerve pain away for awhile.

With our therapy session cancelled we headed over to Walmart for some supplies, and then back to camp for the day. A long way from home you will never guess who came to our camp for a visit.

Libby

Ken and Verna Pohl, along with Vic and Marilou, stopped in for a couple of days riding here on their way to the South Pohl.

I'll leave you with one last pic of our rig in front of the mountain.

Dogpound Anywhere (DPA)

Almost

Sunday the 26th

We are just waiting on a couple of final things and we are out of Dogpound South, Brenda is getting the inside all shiny and clean, I am tinkering in the shed and around the yard to make sure everything is ready for our departure. I have drawn a diagram of the irrigation system and tried to give DPS's new owner a good idea of how things work. For the most part, the manuals are all here so he will be able to figure it out himself. We aren't taking a lot of things with us so about 3 or 4 rubbermaid containers thrown on the little ATV trailer should suffice. We will leave that and our Buick at a friends place and come down late next spring, Mayish, and repatriate it all to Canada.

Well, today we checked the last box of things to do, passed our septic inspection, pumped the tank and with that completed there is only the money to change hands and the papers to be signed. We sign ours on Wednesday morning so it is looking like Thursday is the day we hit the road. For the most part, we are packed and tomorrow will move those few things out onto our trailer, tarp them over and move our gear into Dogpound Anywhere (DPA).

Sunset tonight

I am taking the Buick into the big city to get a trailer hitch, in the morning, and make one last Costco run before we head for the wide open spaces. We have a kind of a plan on where to go to start with but I will save that for a later update. Hate to give too much warning to folks, this way they don't have a long time to plan their escape.

Max likes a good sunset as well.

New Adventures in the Pipeline

Six and a half years ago we made a move that surprised some folks. We were visiting friends in Thunderbird Farms and stumbled on a little single wide trailer that looked like a great base to do some riding around Arizona from. We jumped on it and started hauling our horses south for the winters. We saw a lot of country, met some great folks, had some interesting adventures, and until Brenda's knee surgery in 2014 had a great time. Long-term readers will know that surgery wasn't exactly successful and Brenda has been unable to get back on her pony. I continued riding here the next couple of winters but it wasn't the same without my partner. Last winter we left the horses at home and brought an ATV, Blue II down with us, thinking that would allow us to get out into the desert again together. Well, it is not Brenda's favourite mode of transportation but, she is being a good sport and spending some time bumping around the country with me. We traded off our Living Quarters horse trailer and acquired a toy hauler that allows Blue II to travel with us and converts to a pretty nice dining room when he is on the ground.

Dogpound Anywhere (DPA)

So not needing pens and not needing a place to keep our ponies led us back in time to the days before Dogpound South when we were just wandering the highways and byways finding a lonely desert location and enjoying the winters down here in the Sunbelt. So we rigged up our new Road Warrior and the next thing Dogpound Anywhere was born. I mean what is not to like about spending our mornings with a view like this.

Watching the sunrise along a wash outside of Bouse, Arizona

We took our time getting south this year, something that is not all that easy when you are transporting horses, but Blue II will stand tied for just as long as you want and never a nicker or a stomping foot to get rolling. We started talking about the next chapter a little more seriously, and earlier this week decided to talk to our local realtor. Well, things moved pretty quickly after that, within 24 hours we had an interested buyer, and a day later an offer on the table. His number and our number were the same so if all goes well over the next few days Dogpound South will have a new proprietor and Dogpound Anywhere will shed her ties, lift her jacks and hit the trails again. Still, a couple of things to be done but I am hopeful none of them insurmountable and we will be onwards to continue John and Brenda's Incredible Adventure, down the road from Dogpound. We've got some old favourite spots to visit, some friends to drop in on, and no ties hopefully in a few weeks. We have conditionally sold the place as a turnkey deal, the new owner will just need his toothbrush and he is ready to go.

We loved this place, and it was great while we used it with the horses but those days are gone, and it is time someone else enjoyed it. We will miss a lot of things here, not the least of which is the people, and neighbours we have, and I am sure that unlimited internet will be missed as well, but I know Brenda won't miss keeping this acreage in order.

Chilling

Not much to report today, but what the heck I'm on a roll and this blog will probably double my production for the year, maybe more. We didn't do much today, a fire in the morning to watch the day begin and drink our tea, but no pictures, that passed the pre-publishing inspection, of that event. As usual we are eating like royalty here at Dogpound Anywhere (DPA), but I am not much on food pics so you will just have to trust me that you would be drooling.

Yesterday and today Brenda took a spin in Blue II with me, it is not her favourite way to travel but she is a trooper and trying to look like she is enjoying it. I like this Can-Am but it does have one flaw, it is a mid-engine outfit and that engine sits right between our seats and throws a pile of heat. Those who have followed our journey with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome know that heat is not a great thing, so that doesn't make it anymore comfortable for her either. This is beautiful country and the scenery starts just beyond where you can walk easily. Back in the day Meg and I walked a couple of hundred miles through these hills but now Blue II is doing the moving and I am just along for the ride.

Along the way we came upon this memorial, appeared to honour two folks but the pictures were so sun faded it was hard to tell.

We took about a 6 or 8 mile run through the hills past an old mine site and the memorial and then back to camp to chill for the rest of the day. I spent a little time mucking about with my extension tubes and camera and below is the result of that exercise.

Just a rock but it could be the Grand Canyon

Wouldn't want to step on this little bugger

Every day has to come to an end but here at DPA the end is always beautiful so I'll leave you with this.

There and Back and Again

Since our last entry I have put some serious miles on and seen some country, some a repeat and some a little whiter than I like it this time of year. Our last trip out to Bouse was so much fun and seemed to reconnect us with the reason we started RV'ing in the first place. Our LQ was not as comfortable as we would like for a boondocking rig so that got us thinking about a change. Like usual, with me, change happens in a hurry. We found a rig we thought we would like and it just so happens that the dealer we bought the LQ from had one arriving in the next day or two. We made a deal and all that had to be done was the final walk throughs of both our trade and the new toy hauler. I figured we should fly up and have a look at it, but Brenda wasn't up for another flight at this point, so she put her faith in me. Not entirely wisely as it turns out.

Here she (DPA) is in her natural habitat outside Bouse, Arizona

 The new outfit is nice, but as always there are a lot of things that will need to be changed to make it perfect and acceptable as our new Dogpound Anywhere (DPA). From my point of view it needs more batteries, an inverter and some solar capabilities all things we knew going in, surprisingly there are no 12V power points at all, and the water pump sounds like it is being powered by a Harley Davidson engine, so those issues will have to be dealt with. As for things Brenda looks for, it has great storage for clothes, but not so great for dry goods. And not a towel rack or toilet paper hanger in sight so those will have to be added. The fridge seems adequate though. It has a fancy new Furrion Oven and it, at least on our trial run, had issues keeping a constant temperature and it has a fan that runs the whole time the oven is on, so that will take some getting used to.

There is a deck out back that makes getting outdoors pretty easy, but the garage floor, is well a garage floor and we will probably need to fit a carpet to that to make it more easily cleaned.

After a few days of commissioning at DPS we headed for our favourite spot out near Bouse for a shakedown cruise. As usual in the desert these little fellers were around looking to see if we had a handout for them. Sadly we didn't but that didn't seem to discourage them from hanging out with us.

In flight and hard to track

Sunrise over the desert

Unlike most times in the desert, this time we got company. Kim Johnson an old colleague from my working days and his wife Wendy were on a trial run with their motorhome, seeing what all this sunbelt stuff was about and we managed to convince them to stop overnight with us in the desert. Great folks and a lot of fun, so we are hopeful we will see them again before they head back into the Great White North.

Sometimes it the eastern skies that make the best display at Sunset

We are back at DPS now and working on killing weeds, washing the rigs and getting a few other things done here so that we are free to wander if the mood catches us. The last couple of days have been cool and windy so not much getting done on that front, but I have managed to get a couple of swims in anyway.