Once again it's been awhile.
Since I've been playing in the Southwest I figured this was not only a really cool picture but representative as well.
I spent Dec and Jan in Alaska enjoying daughters and two special birthdays. December 21 Imogin turned a big ol 1 and Jan 20 Ruby turned 3. Then down to Montana where Taylor turned 5 and back to Arizona where the RV & Jeep was waiting.
I met a father (Bill) and son (Nick) who are fellow travelers from Washington that have a Jeep and enjoying going out and playing as much as I do.
The good thing about off-roading with friends besides safety is that you can get more radical than you might being alone. Afterall you have someone to laugh at you when you do something really dumb, and winch you out when that really dumb gets really really dumb. (good thing we both have winches LOL)
Our first adventure was west from Catalina across the Rail-X Ranch. It started out easy enough but then got challenging then ,,,,
even more so. At least me rear axle thought so. Seems it sheared off the retaining pin at the Spring Perch allowing the axle to slide back 6" or so. A couple hours lying in the dirt later we got it together enough to get back and to the shop. Several hundred dollars later it's as good as used. LOL But I got to appreciate first hand the benefits of playing with friends.
After traveling several miles over some rough 4 wheel road we found this trailer. Though heavily vandalized the site was level with a rock wall around a patio area in the front. The issue was of the two roads one was a definite 4 wheel low crawl and the other was worse. How did they get that here?
One week it rained for a couple of days and just like a kid we had to go play. Some places were slippery, some places, wet,
but all places were muddy.
We tried a lot of areas around Tucson and Catalina. Found, usually by accident, some really interesting places. You know those "oh oh ohhhh crap" moments then a big sigh a nervous laugh and "that was fun lets do it again"
See where the road goes over the edge? Well it made a sudden left turn and a significant downslope. I was standing on the brakes and sliding, turning sideways, to bounce into the wash, the Jeep tilting like it was going to roll. Ok, that was fun but there was no going out that way so we drove the wash for maybe 1/4 mile and found a place to try and exit it.
the exit. Bill and Nick slid a lot and spun the tires. I, on the other hand, slid cross ways on those rocks and fell into that cut. The end result my right front wheel was 3 feet in the air and when I opened the door it was 6 feet to the ground. I couldn't try forward because if I slid anymore I'd roll over and couldn't back out for pretty much the same reason. So Nick grabbed my winch and went up the hill and anchored to their Jeep and we winched it out. My second opportunity to appreciate off-roading with friends. LOL
Sunsets are always beautiful in the Southwest and not always requiring the sun to be in them.
We were running shy on places to go near the RV's. Bill and Nick hasn't seen much so we decided to go south on our last excursion before heading to the mine up in Salome.
In Patagonia we stopped at the Stage Stop Inn for brunch. Since I used to live there we of course had to see the old house and other old haunts.
There use to be a restaurant called The Home Plate that we always ate at. That building was now the Patagonia Ovens and to my surprise my lunch receipt said The Home Plate. The food was good and surprisingly inexpensive. Our waitress was an old classmate of Jessica's which was nice.
Johnny Depp, Jerry Lewis, and Fay Dunaway was shooting Arizona Dream and the girls met them here getting an autographed Edward Scissorhands photo from Depp.
We headed south of Patagonia into Harshaw valley rather than San Rafael where all the movies are shot. Found out a new Silver mine was opening up outside of the ghost town of Duquesne. As a result some rough roads and abandoned buildings and mine equipment were no longer available.
The US / Mexico fence It's made of railroad track rails welded together and sank into the ground. Quite formidable.
As we got closer to Lochiel (an abandoned border crossing with ranch's and a couple of families living on both sides) the Border patrol had added the steel mesh wire. Notice the tires making the fence for a corral on the Mexican side.
Lochiel School. The red building on the right was the school the other was the teacherage.
It was a work in progress. But some nice memories. The girls and I lived on a ranch nearby and I cam this way over the mountain to work most days while they went the other way to Patagonia and school.
My 6 weeks in Arizona this time was full of interesting things.
Off-roading was a major thing especially since I had some friends to enjoy it with. This allowed them and I both to get out and have more fun by going places and trying things that otherwise we would not have.
I took a week and went down to Douglas (where I finished High School). While there I took a ride that I had always wanted to but never had. From Douglas, along the border to Cloverdale then up to Animas, Rodeo, and back.
While here that may just sound like a fun trip as there were some amazing terrain I crossed. At one spot was a monument for The Mormon Battalion I had heard about but never read much on due to laziness.
In 1846 Col. Cooke was assigned command of 550 volunteers and their families to carve a Southern road from the Council Bluffs Iowa to San Diego California. This was the only religious based battalion in the Army and came about because the Mormons had just been chased out of Illinois and approached the govt. for help relocating west.
The arrangement was that they would volunteer and via that service be moved west thus the families were along for the mission to carve out the Southern Route.
When the reached a point on the East end of Sycamore Canyon they were facing grades of over 50% downgrade up to vertical. They disassembled their wagons placing all their food etc. on mules and lowered the wagons by rope, reassembling them and moving on.
I've had fun visiting and exploring and will be leaving in a couple of days to the mining claim near Salome in the Harquala Mountains for some pretending mining and serious off-roading.
Bill & Nick waving goodbye. 8)
