SUNRISE TO SUNSET

THIS IS WEDNESDAY’S JANUARY 17TH POST
Sure am enjoying the warmer nights and mornings and it wasn’t until we reached the Ajo Arizona area that temperatures were such to make that possible.  Another nice morning walk around our mountainous desert neighborhood.  Both mornings we started off with a jacket on and both mornings we had to peel those jackets off before we got back to the rig.  By 9:30 the Sun was already hot but luckily the air was still cool enough to save the day.  Like I have said many times about the Southwest winter weather, if it gets too hot on the sunny side of the coach just walk around to the shady side.  It’s kinda like going from summer to winter in just a few seconds. 

KELLY SCOUTS THE WAY AHEAD ON OUR MORNING WALK
 
THIS AREA IS LACED WITH OPEN PIT MINE DIGGINGS SO ONE HAS TO BE VERY AWARE OF WHERE THEY ARE WALKING

OF COURSE OPEN PITS ARE NOT THE ONLY THING DESERT HIKERS AND WALKERS HAVE TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT

IT’S EASY TO SEE WHY THE SONORAN DESERT IS REFERRED TO AS THE GREEN DESERT AND YES THEY HAVE RATTLESNAKES AND SCORPIONS HERE BUT NOT SO MUCH IN THE WINTER MONTHS

THAT’S OUR RIG TOP LEFT OF CENTER AND YOU CAN SEE ONE OF OUR TWO NEIGHBORS AT TOP RIGHT….PHOTO ABOVE IS DONE AT A WIDE ANGLE SETTING OF 18mm WHILE THE PHOTO BELOW IS A 300mm TELEPHOTO SHOT WITH THE SAME LENS


NICE TO SEE A FEW RED OCOTILLO BLOOMS

PHEEBS HAS SWITCHED TO HER WISE AND WILY ‘DESERT DOG’ SELF AND NO LONGER BLUNDERS INTO CACTUS STICKERS

THAT IS BLACK MOUNTAIN ON THE HORIZON

KELLY’S ALWAYS CHECKING THE GROUND FOR GOLD NUGGETS

LOOKING BACK TOWARDS OUR RIG

YEP THAT WHITE DOT IS US AND THAT IS OUR IDEA OF BOON-DOCKING:))

OUR CLOSEST NEIGHBOR HAS HIMSELF A NICE SET-UP ON A VERY RARE CEMENT SLAB

OUR  HAPPY LITTLE DESERT DOG JUST A BOUNCING ALONG THROUGH THE SONORAN DESERT

BACK ALONG THAT ROW OF SAGUARO CACTUS ON THE LEFT IS WHERE WE BOON-DOCKED JUST OVER A YEAR AGO FOR NEARLY A WEEK

THIS IS A YOUNG ORGAN PIPE CACTUS AND THERE ARE MANY OF THEM IN THIS AREA
I didn’t have enough room in my Tuesday night post for Tuesday night’s sunset photos so I have had to put then in tonight’s post.  With no clouds in the sky tonight there wasn’t much of a sunset anyway.

A SETTING SUN SHINES ON CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN

BLACK MOUNTAIN ON THE RIGHT

THE DISTANT AJO MOUNTAIN RANGE RUNS ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE MEXICAN BORDER OFF TO THE RIGHT

CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN ON THE LEFT AND BLACK MOUNTAIN ON THE RIGHT
It was about 10:30 when we took ourselves into Ajo the back way.  From where we are boon-docked Ajo is only a short dusty road hop into the north end of the town.  Olsons grocery store was our first stop.  Everybody who is anybody and ever been in Ajo (pro-nounced A-ho) has for sure been to Olsons.  Not only a supermarket but an Ace hardware store as well.  I’ve always liked Olsons.  Second stop was to throw a little gas in the Jeep and from there it was down to Ajo’s beautiful one of a kind town center.  Kelly popped into the a Thrift Store and the Ajo Library while Pheebs treated ourselves to a nice green grass walk around the town center.  I have written much about and taken many photos of this downtown area and if anyone types ‘Ajo” in our search bar you can probably find my Ajo posts and photos going as far back as January 2007.  Ajo is one of our many favorite Arizona towns.  It’s kind of a tumbled down little place with a rather remarkable Spanish town center.

DOWNTOWN AJO STILL HAS THEIR CHRISTMAS TREE AND DECORATIONS UP

ON OUR WAY TO GET OURSELVES ONTO SOME GREEN GRASS

NOTICE THE ARCHITEXTURE IN THESE PHOTOS

IF YOUR WONDERING WHAT THAT DOMED BUILDING IS BE SURE TO READ MY POST…..ALRIGHTY THEN LET'S HAVE US A LOOK AT AJO ARIZONA SHALL WE…..CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN IN THE BACKGROUND AS SEEN FROM DOWTOWN AJO

We were back to the rig about noon and headed inside out of the heat.  With windows and door open we had the nicest cool breeze wafting through the coach and it made for a relaxing afternoon.  With the way both Kelly and I have been ‘creaking’ around on this trip I said to her ‘maybe when we get back home we should trade our Motorhome in on a wheel chair van’.  We’re quite the pair at the moment with our growing mobility issues.

AJO MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND

AHEAD OF OUR RIG IS CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN WITH THE TOWN OF AJO RIGHT ON THE OTHER SIDE….WE ARE MAYBE 2 MILES AS THE CROW FLIES FROM DOWNTOWN AJO OVER THAT MOUNTAIN AND WE DRIVE INTO AJO AROUND THE LEFT SIDE OF IT

Here’s a little info I lifted off Wikipedia about where we are located in the Little Ajo Mountains::  The Little Ajo Mountains is a mountain range in southern Arizona, in extreme western Pima County, Arizona. The city of Ajo sits on the northeast of this small mountain range. Both the mountain range and city take their name from the Spanish word for garlic.  The range is a 13 by 13-mile (21 by 21-km) long range and is connected loosely northwest to Childs Mountain a northwest-southeast small mountain at the south of Childs Valley. Ajo, is in the center-east of the range, and is famous for the New Cornelia open pit copper mine located in the Little Ajo Mountains.  The peaks in the Little Ajo Mountains include the isolated Black Mountain which lies to the south of Ajo and has a peak elevation of 3,008 feet (917 m).^[1] Cardigan Peak at 2,922 feet (891 m) lies in the main mountain mass to the west of Ajo. Ajo Peak at 2,619 feet (798 m) and North Ajo Peak 2,776 feet (846 m) are isolated peaks to the southwest of Ajo. Camelback Mountain at 2,573 feet (784 m) lies just south of Ajo and overlooks the New Cornelia pit just to the east.<sup>[2] 

BRUSH UP AGAINST THAT TEDDY BEAR CHOLLA CACTUS AT THE RIGHT AND ONE IS IMMEDIATELY IN A BIG WORLD OF HURT!!</sup>

Sitting outside this afternoon under the awning enjoying a welcome breeze I was suddenly aware of a fast approaching unidentifiable sound.  It was coming in from my left.  An A-10 Warthog fighter jet??  No!!  An ATV?  No!!  A vehicle of some kind??  No!!  It was a sound not in my memory banks.  I was confused but all of a sudden there it was about 50 feet in front of me moving fast from left to right.  It was a small Dust Devil and it generated it’s own sound unlike anything I’ve heard before.  A sort of staccato rushing of air.  A pulsing swoosh, a gathering of quiet whooshes.  A whispering of souls in search of something as I sat transfixed watching it’s journey.  When it reached Darby Well Road a short distance away it appeared to stop, then move a short distance up the road before swinging around back down the road then hesitating before continuing it’s journey west into the greenery of the Sonoran desert where it promptly disappeared.  It was an uncanny experience that lasted maybe all of 10 seconds.  Thought to myself how fortunate I was to be in the right place at the right time to see this and hear it as well.   I was reminded of something Hickiwan Ray once told me about those dust devils in the desert.  He said they were Indian souls picking up their tracks in the desert.  And Hickiwan Ray believed that to be so…….

Hickiwan Ray was the RV Park manager/host at the Hickiwan Trails RV Park in Why Arizona where we first hung out for awhile in our early traveling days.  Never did know Ray’s last name and I always referred to him as Hickiwan Ray.   He’s long gone from Hickiwan Trails now so don’t know whatever became of him.  Hickiwan Trails RV Park is owned by the Tohono O'Odham Indian Nation.
GROANER’S CORNER:((  Two babies were sitting in their cribs, when one baby shouted to the other, "Are you a little girl or a little boy?"  "I don't know," replied the other baby giggling.  "What do you mean, you don't know?" said the first baby.  "I mean I don't know how to tell the difference," was the reply.  "Well, I do," said the first baby chuckling, "I'll climb into your crib and find out". He carefully got himself into the other baby's crib, then quickly disappeared beneath the blankets. After a couple of minutes, he resurfaced with a big grin on his face. "You're a little girl, and I'm a little boy," he said proudly.  "You're ever so clever," cooed the baby girl, "but how can you tell?"  "It's quite easy really," replied the baby boy, "you've got pink socks and I've got blue ones."
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Billy Brown decided it was time to buy a new house, so he decided to sell his old house and put the matter in a real estate agent's hands.
The agent wrote up a sales blurb for the house that made wonderful reading. After Bill read it, he turned to the agent and asked, 'Does my house have everything your ad says it does?'
The agent said, 'It certainly does. Why do you ask?' Bill replied, 'Cancel the sale. It's exactly what I'm looking for!'

OUT CATCHING AN EARLY SUNRISE IN MY GUMMY BEAR PAJAMAS THIS MORNING

Majority of today’s photos were all taken right around sunrise this morning.  What a fine way to start a very relaxing day spent lounging around the rig.  And I may add all the sunrise photos were done while rustling about outside in my blue and gold Gummy Bear pajamas and floppy old green housecoat.  Oh, and cheapo falling apart Walmart sneakers.  No, being anywhere around our rig around sunrise is nowhere anyone really wants to be.

We first boon-docked here along Darby Well Road as far back as 2008.  This area was love at first sight for us of course and it still is today.  Except for the years we had our Congress house we have repeatedly returned here to revel in the peace and quiet of the surrounding desert beauty.  Instead of mountains far off on distant horizons we have them so close by we can almost reach out and touch each one and that has always been one of the big attractions here at Darby Well.  That and the fact we are in the Sonoran Desert which I consider to be the prettiest  of all deserts.  Everywhere one looks one sees the color green and that is what makes the Sonoran desert so very special.  With any luck maybe some of my photographs over the next little while will show that and convey the feelings we have about where we are.

From our location we can set out and walk in any direction we like and this morning we chose to walk on Darby Well road itself.  My favorite though is to head off across the rocks and gravely sand of the natural desert floor following nearby arroyos or scrambling and clambering over or through tumbled boulders.  It ‘s all here at Darby Well as are the endless Jeep roads leading to all kinds of fascinating places. Hopefully we  can get us in some real good bumpity morning Jeep scrambles.  

THOSE ARE THE AJO MOUNTAINS ON THE FAR DISTANT HORIZON

It’s been nearly a year since we last set up our Shaw TV satellite dish so this morning we thought we’d give it a whirl.  Imagine how surprised we were when after setting up the dish and searching for the satellite it all came together and worked without too much of an effort on our part at all.  Even the television programming stuff came off almost without a hitch.  Will wonders never cease.  Of course the downside when we turned it on was all all the same old-same old extremely nauseating stupidly annoying TV commercials again.  So glad when Kelly finally snapped it off and we got back to our relaxing Sirius Satellite Radio music channel 068 ‘The Spa’.  Now that Kelly can watch her shows at night again I will be back to living in my Sony stereo headphones with the volume up.  But that’s Okay, I’m a music buff and I enjoy wandering off down memory lane and getting myself totally lost in my headphones.

OUR CLOSEST VISIBLE NEIGHBOR ABOUT A QUARTER MILE AWAY

OUR CLOSEST UNSEEN NEIGHBOR ABOUT HALF A QUARTER MILE AWAY AND WE ARE THE ONLY 3 AT THIS END OF DARBY WELL ROAD

It was so warm overnight we didn’t even need any heat on and with the morning’s sun up over the horizon temperatures began climbing.  Setting up the satellite dish and putting our awning down I was plenty warm but luckily a high thin cloud cover moved into the area and for me that  cooler air was a welcome break.

I was outside under the awning tipped back in my lounge chair contemplating the unlikely future of a pesky fly when I heard tires approaching on the desert’s rocky surface.  Confused as to which direction the sound was coming from I heard a car door and before I figured it all out a fellow walked around the end of our Jeep.  My thoughts are always the same in circumstances like this.  Oh-Oh friend or foe.  Well luckily as has always been the case it was friend and that is how I got to meet Peter from Ottawa Ontario, one of our blog readers and occasional commenters for the past few years.  Nice chap with an easy going manner.  He was out Jeeping the area with another couple and popped in to bid us a quick Hello.   Peter and his friends are currently camped out at Coyote Howls East in Why Arizona.  Like us, Peter is a dyed in the wool great American Southwest Canadian Snow Bird.  Thanks for being a reader and commenter Peter and thanks for dropping by.

DARBY WELL ROAD

A JEEP ROAD LEADS OFF INTO THE DESERT’S WILDS

THERES A PHEEBS IN THIS PHOTO

KELLY CHECKS OUT AN ORGAN PIPE CACTUS ALONGSIDE DARBY WELL ROAD

Sat outside under the awning reading for awhile and that’s fhe first time I’ve done that this year.  How nice to be reading along and glance up over my kindle and see Saguaros, Ocotillo, Organ Pipes, green barked Palo Verde trees, Creosote bushes, Teddy Bear and Fruit Chain Chollas and Barrel Cactus back grounded by mountain ranges to the south.  I will sure miss all this someday.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A businessman on his deathbed called his friend and said, "Bill, I want you to promise me that when I die you will have my remains cremated."
"And what," his friend asked, "do you want me to do with your ashes?"  The businessman said, "Just put them in an envelope and mail them to the Internal Revenue Service. Write on the envelope, "Now, you have everything."

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"The eight Saddam body doubles are gathered in one of the bunkers in downtown Baghdad. Tariq Aziz, the deputy prime minister, comes in and says, 'I have some good news and some bad news.' They ask for the good news first.
"Aziz says, 'The good news is that Saddam is still alive, so you all still have jobs.'
"And the bad news?" they ask.
Aziz replies, 'He's lost an arm.'"

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Late one night at the insane asylum, an inmate shouted, "I am Napoleon!" Another inmate asked, "How do you know?" "God told me!" A voice from another room suddenly shouted, "I did not!"

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