BLOG DECISIONS & THE LITTLE WESTERN GHOST TOWN AT THE END OF THE ROAD

To-day’s blog photos are of Chloride, New Mexico.  The little western ghost town at the end of the road.  Hoover your mouse over all the photos to see the captions.  Blog done in Live Writer.  I’m hoping I have my photos sized better to-night.

I was in the Canadian Navy many, many, moons ago so I know what it feels like to be seasick.  Kinda was feeling that way to-day from so much leaning back & forth, back & forth.  First I was leaning to-wards Live Writer & then a comment would come in & I would lean back over the other way to Blogger's New Editor.  Vera's comment swung me back to the Blogger side of the deck  but then a big LAURIE & ODEL wave came rolling in striking me broadside knocking me back over to the Live Writer side of the deck again.  Dear oh dear, this is quite an unpredictable blog storm going on here to-day & these are indeed heavy seas matey!!  Check out Laurie's helpful tips about Live Writer in our last night's blog comments.

RICK ran himself into a big blog block Friday  but did very well at picking himself up, dusting himself off, & finishing up his blog in true blogger fashion form by blogging about blogging with no mind blocking.  Ok, say that one real fast 6 times:))

 

I'm not sure how other bloggers do their blogs but here's what works for me.  I type the blog in an email format in Outlook Express just as I would an email to someone.  I like Outlook's easy to use Spellchecker & that's a big plus.  When finished, I copy the blog, open my Blogger program & paste what I've written right into the blog program's body.  (Blogger's New Editor or Live Writer) From there I click the photo icon & head off into My Pictures & locate the photos I want to put in the blog.  Until a few days ago I would start with the last picture first.   I did that because I always had to drag the photo from the top of the blog all the way through the text & drop it in place.  It was easier to do if I didn't have to drag the photo over other photos already in the blog.  I am looking forward to not having to do that anymore.  After I have the photos in the blog I add the captions & adjust all the spacing.  I then put in the links & title.  A last minute check & whoosh, there goes another blog.  I then read it on our website & I would say about one out of every 4 or 5 blogs I have to go back & fix up mistakes I had overlooked.  Many times I miss the errors I've made & the blog lands on you anyway.........mistakes & all:))

Over the last little while I've been posting some of our ghost town travels in the southwest & have had to search through archived photos for blog pictures.  I've been disappointed in the quality of my photos especially in the exposure & color departments so I'm hoping to kick my photography up a notch & concentrate more on quality this year.  Fellow RVing friend Gordon Wolford is my kind of photographer & I'm always inspired by his work.  Not likely I will ever reach Gordon's level but I do hope to make some improvements in my own stuff.  Check out Gordon's recent central Ontario photography gallery HERE.  Gordon & Sandra's RVing blog site can be found HERE, & Gordon's own Nomads News site is HERE. 

In March of 2008 while boondocked near Elephant Butte State Park in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico for a week we did some day trips around the area & found a sleepy little western ghost town at the end of a long winding dusty road.  The towns name was CHLORIDE & back in the 1800's it was under constant attack by Apache Indians.   Only saw 2 people in town the day we were there & one of them gave us a tour of an old general store that has been lovingly rebuilt & restored as a labor of love complete with all it's original stock.  The blog for our visit to Chloride is HERE & our photos of Chloride are HERE.

Our days are getting cooler & our night's are getting colder.  Most of our front yard bird's are gone now & to-morrow will be another one of my favorite Saturday mornings.  Oh, how sweet it is..............:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And did you know..........If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

MORE SOUTHWEST THOUGHTS & REEVE CHECKS OUT THE BAGO, THE BIKE, & THE JEEP:))

 

WE WILL BE GLAD TO TOUCH BASE WITH OUR ARIZONA DIGS SOON:))

Reading MERIKAY'S post this morning I am reminded of something I have written about a few times in previous posts a few years ago. I am reminded of something we have become accustomed to in the South West. In her post Merikay says, " One thing I find very distressing in the West is the small towns". Merikay goes on to say, "It’s all the old deteriorating mobile homes and shacks that I find disturbing. I would have taken some pictures, but that would be like taking pictures of the poor in a third world country". We just cannot comprehend"………….. I totally understand what Merikay is talking about & I to have chosen not to take many photos. When Kelly & I first began traveling to the South West we were disturbed by what we saw going through a lot of small western towns along the way beginning in northern Texas right on through New Mexico, Arizona, & California. Living & growing up in Southern Ontario we had never seen anything like those desolate little towns with their crumbling vacant buildings. Hard to comprehend the old shacks & crumbling trailers people were living in. Junk & litter scattered about. We were just not accustomed to seeing derelict towns & people living in the conditions they did. And it took us a few winters of traveling to begin to understand & accept what we were seeing. Little did we know we would eventually come to understand & accept what we were seeing so much that we would actually buy a house ourselves in kind of a tumbledown tired little old western mining town just like some of the places we had seen.

In previous posts a few times years ago I wrote about 'seeing with our South West eyes'. Switching our South Western Ontario heads to our South West Arizona heads each winter as we made our trek west. It is the lifestyle difference I often refer to in my writings & it is that drastic difference between our Bayfield area home & our Congress area home that we find so appealing. In southern Ontario everything for the most part is very prim & proper. No litter or garbage strewn about. Very few old shacks or junky trailers to be found. There are no desolate towns in comparison to what we see in the west. Cities, towns, neighbourhoods, homes & farms are, as a rule, very manicured & easy to look at. As I said, for the most part very prim & proper. And it is Ontario's laws, legislations, & building codes that make it so.

CLIMBING A ROCKY RIDGE BEHIND OUR HOUSE TO GET A BETTER VIEW OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

THIS IS A BACKYARD VIEW OF OUR PLACE THROUGH A 300mm LENS & THAT’S GHOST TOWN ROAD OUT FRONT…JEEP AT LEFT & DAMON MOTORHOME AT RIGHT…TAKEN LAST WEEK OF FEBRUARY 2013

Now, before I go any further let me make it clear I am not bashing parts of the South West. Long time readers know how much I love it there. And one of the things I love about it so much is simply it is still the old wild West in many ways. And that is very appealing to me because it is the old West that I am there to be a part of, to see, to experience, & to live in. It is the totally different western lifestyle that peaks my interest. Everything is different from Bayfield. The houses, the people, the landscape, flora & fauna. Different attitude, different value system & a different way of thinking. I always feel much more at home in the West than I do here in Ontario where I have spent the majority of my life. I think there is a little bit of wandering Gypsy in me mixed with some Cowboy yearnings backed up by a touch of Hillbilly hankerins.  And the West is well suited for that kind of personality. Not so much in Ontario though.

KELLY SCANS OUR NEIGHBORHOOD WITH BINOCULARS

Our old ranch style house in Congress Arizona is located on Ghost Town Road. A rather historic road with a fitting name that leads to a dead end at the old Congress gold mine about a mile from our place. Nothing much up there except a couple old cemeteries, a bunch of cactus, some Rattlesnakes, a boondocking area, & some houses built on some pretty tough ground. Congress itself is hard to describe because it is hard to call it a town. There is really no town there to speak of in the normal sense of a town. Two highways converge & a rail line runs through one of the them & alongside the other. That's kind of it. You could practically drive right through Congress without knowing you had even ever been there. Newest buildings are a gas station, a dollar store, fire hall, & a post office. There is a library & a medical center too. Oh & a good RV garage plus a few other small business. But there is no downtown to really speak of. Congress is just kind of scattered around on the desert floor like a bunch of loose marbles.  But it has an old west feel to it with lots of dust & old boards & that is why we like it. It's kinda rough & tumble with no fancyisms………………….except for maybe NICHOLS WEST RESTAURANT.

A MORNING OVERVIEW OF CONGRESS ARIZONA WITH SOME FOLKS BURNING BRUSH…HARD TO TELL YOU WHERE DOWNTOWN IS BECAUSE BASICALLY THERE IS NO DOWNTOWN BUT IF I SAID DEAD CENTER I WOULD BE CLOSE…OUR HOUSE IS JUST OUT OF SIGHT AT THE BOTTOM LEFT CORNER

SQUARE BUILDING NEAR CENTER IS THE SCHOOL WHICH IS TWO BLOCKS SOUTHWEST OF US

OUR HOUSE IS SLIGHTLY VISIBLE RIGHT OF TOP CENTER BUT IT’S TOO HARD TO EXPLAIN EXACTLY WHERE

Ghost Town Road itself is made up of a real residential hodgepodge of dwellings. Starts off with open desert then morphs into a newer fancy high end subdivision on one side. That is immediately followed by modest dwellings, & absolute junk yards. We fall contentedly into the modest dwellings category & we are comfortable in this type of atmosphere. Yes I wish some of our neighbors would make an effort to clean up all the junk & trash around their places but that's likely not going to happen any time soon & we have come to accept that. It is the way of the West. And I certainly feel much more comfortable where we are rather than having to live in the fancy-do community down the road. Did I mention my touch of Hillbilly:))

OUR BACKYARD’S SOUTHWEST CORNER BUT IT SURE WASN’T CLEANED UP LIKE THIS WHEN WE BOUGHT IT

BACK HALF OF OUR SOUTH SIDE YARD

NORTHWEST CORNER WHICH WAS TOTALLY OVERGROWN WHEN WE MOVED IN

Here are 3 links to posts I have written in the past about the different lifestyle comparisons we have observed over the years. If your not interested in reading about that you still might find my South West photos interesting. Especially 'White Sands' near Alamogordo New Mexico. Newer RV folks might find these posts enlightening.  Keep in mind it is just my opinion & that sure don’t make it so do it:))

CAPTIVE WINDS

RUSTY'S RV RANCH

IN AWE

Ok, switching gears…………………………………..

SOMETIMES MY LITTLE PAL GETS A BIT SNOOZY ON OUR JEEP RIDES

- 

WHEN I’M WORKING ON MY POSTS AT NIGHT PHEEBS USUALLY CURLS UP ON ONE OF THE SOFT CHAIRS NEARBY

SHE LOVES HER TOYS

Question in our Shout Box about how we like towing our Jeep. Let me say I like towing a toad far better than I like towing a trailer. I can have that Jeep hooked on in about 3 minutes & unhooked in about a third of that time. If I line things up correctly in the first place that is. Our Jeep is a 6 speed standard so we tow it 4 wheels down. Only thing we really have to do is disengage the 4 wheel drive crankcase & we're good to go. I was never interested in having to use a tow dolly & that is why we bought our standard 5 speed Hyundai Santa Fe when we first hit the road. Towed the Santa Fe for our first 3 years with no problem. With the 33' Damon Class A, the 23' Sunseeker Class C, & the 26' Winnebago Class C we never knew or even know we have a tow vehicle on behind. And we've never had brakes on either the Santa Fe or our Jeep Wrangler. Both tow vehicles towed, cornered, & stopped like a charm.

 

 

We hit 74F today under sunny skies & a light breeze. Just doesn't get any better than that for me. Kelly put in a few hours at DEER PARK. Pheebs & I slipped into Bayfield for a 'Cold Cut Combo sub to go at Subway about 11. We did get ourselves messed up pretty good with some drippy sub sauce on the way home. Kelly's oldest Son Jason, wife Kim, & their nearly 2 year old little boy Reeve are at Deer Park for the week-end. They dropped over in the afternoon to show Reeve the big Winnebago, the groovy Jeep, & the vroooom vrooooom Motorcycle. In typical little boy fashion he liked em all:))

 

REEVE CHECKS OUT THE JEEP WHILE DAD LOOKS ON

 

AND THE MOTORCYCLE

GEORGE in his comment to my email problem hit on something in Gmail I have overlooked. (I've become kind of notorious for overlooking things) It's a simple solution that I'm sure will help me keep track of emails I wish to respond to from here on in. And it's a simple solution. Just 'star' the email. I obviously never thought to click that little box to the left. With that big gold star it will be easy for me to keep track of important emails now. Thanks George, & thanks STEVE for your offer to help as well. Two good guys with two good ideas. And speaking of good ideas, have you seen CHINLE'S finished South West decorative touches to her Gypsy cargo trailer:))

REEVE ESPECIALLY LIKED WINNIE THE BAGO & HERE HE TRIES TO SHIFT IT INTO SECOND GEAR WITH OUR COBRA MOBILE CB ANTENNAE

 

KIM & JASON LOOK ON WITH REEVE AT THE CONTROLS…EASING PAST THE DOGGY

WONDERED WHAT THEY WERE ALL LOOKING & LAUGHING AT…….

TURNED OUT TO BE A FROG IN OUR CERAMIC FOUNTAIN

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Bill was short of money and was out looking for a job. Pastor Nelson offered Bill $500 to buy paint and paint the church. Well Bill went out bought some paint and started painting the church. He discovered that he was using more paint than he expected so he added some thinner to the paint. It still covered but not as well as it did at first. Bill was still using more paint than he wanted to use. The paint was too thin to cover well but Bill still kept on painting. All of a sudden there was a bolt of lighting and a loud voice from the sky proclaimed, "Bill!!"......."Repaint and thin no more."

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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

OLD PEARCE HERITAGE DAYS

 

SUNDOWN AT THE RANCH TO-NIGHT

We ate ourselves up some dust this morning on the old Ghost town trail to Pearce.  We had heard there were a few old ruins left from an old mining town called Courtland along the dusty road east of another ghost town...Gleeson.  A few stone walls & old masonry is about all that is left amongst the prickly pear cactus & Mesquite trees.  One heavily constructed concrete building had iron bars on small high windows which made us wonder if it had once been a jail.  A long cement slab sidewalk fronted what must have been 6 or 7 stores at one time.  Only the low crumbling wall foundations are left showing through the low scrub brush.  I will post photos of Courtland in a later blog & will upload an album on to-day's short hike later this week.  Despite re-sizing my photos I am still reluctant to upload everything to our web album through our Verizon broadband because something is still chewing up our megabytes!!  I will wait until we get to the Elfrida LIbrary again.

OLD RUINS IN THE GHOST TOWN OF COURTLAND

We rolled into the tiny community of Pearce just before noon.  The road runs right through town so we just pulled off to the side where people were scattered about looking at some old farm machinery.  There isn't too much in Pearce but what is there is interesting.  We had been to Pearce this past March & on that day we were the only ones on the street.  But, things were livelier to-day with Pearce's annual Old Pearce Heritage Days in full swing.  Vendors, music, colorful characters, old machinery, & best of all.....the old general mercantile store was open for viewing.  The inside of this store is a treasure trove of old artifacts.  I was very surprised when I walked through the front door to see the excellent shape this store was in & how every nook & cranny was tastefully filled with everything imaginable.  I was immediately attracted to the colors & the way the store was cozily lit.  Old lamps, dated china, glassware, clothes, showcases & shelves filled with history.  We have been through old stores before & I would say this one in Pearce is one of the best.

THE PEARCE MERCANTILE STORE

An small red & obviously antique machine sat by the road whirring & chugging with a wide belt turning a barrel like thing with a bunch of ice cubes inside.  It was a home made ice cream machine:))  Kelly waited nearly half an hour at this spot for the next & last batch of home made ice cream to be made.  In the meantime I wondered off & corralled myself a big double Texas hamburger.  Just finished that up when Kelly walked over with a cup of ice cream.  First time I remember eating home made ice cream & it was really tasty.  Kelly tried on some unique palm frond hats & finally found one on a seconds table for $10.  Live music in a small alley beside the old store had the old timers taping their toes. 

ENTERTAINMENT IN THE ALLEY

My enjoyment at these types of events is photographing things.  I enjoy candid photography & it's fun watching for people doing just ordinary things that people do.  The colors & merchandise inside the Mercantile Store also made for some interesting pictures as well as the old farm machines outside.   By the time we got home I had 3 camera's with 261 photos to download.  Takes me awhile to edit each & every photo in my Picasa photo editing program at the end of the day but I enjoy that just as much as taking the pictures.  It's a fun hobby for me.   It will take me a few days to get all my Pearce photos from to-day into an album & up onto the web but maybe, just maybe somebody from Pearce may stumble across our site some day & maybe even find themselves on the internet:))

A FESTIVE ATMOSPHERE TO-DAY

We were back to the ranch by 3 & it didn't take me long to get my feet up & get some zzzzzzzz's rolling.  It was a good day because we got to see some new scenery, scramble around some ruins, take a few pictures & just generally enjoy another fine sunny Arizona day.  And, of course it was another in a series of great sunsets:))

I THINK SOMEBODY’S PRETTY PLEASED WITH HER NEW HAT

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

MY SMUG MUG (I am finally working on updating this site)

http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

A FELLOW RV BLOGGER STOPS BY OUR CONGRESS ARIZONA HOUSE

MISTY MORNING IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Woke up to a cool graying mist hanging silently in our surrounding Pine forest. I like how foggy mornings cast an an ethereal mood over the landscape giving the tall Pines a ghostly sentinel look. But, the fog wasn't thick enough to hide us as we headed into the forest on our morning walk.  Within minutes, the dreaded Deer Flies had us on the run for home.

QUIET STROLL BESIDE THE POND

Had a few questions about one of my prescriptions so rather than waste my time with a silly phone call to the the Medical Center I hopped aboard the bike & headed for Goderich. Nice warm morning for a ride through the countryside. Inland was clear but I could see a heavy fog hanging over the lake to the west. Rolled down around the harbor & snapped off a couple quick pics without getting off the bike. Only a few minutes at the Medical Center & I was out of town rumbling through the picturesque countryside on the longer scenic road home.

A FREIGHTER IN THE MIST TAKES ON A LOAD OF SALT AT THE GODERICH SALT MINE

Was surprised to see a photo of our Congress Arizona house in RETIRED ROD'S post this morning. Rod had a photo of MIKE & PAT'S winter home too. They are just a few miles from our place.  Rod & Loyce, after spending long hours & days moving into their new house down in Mesa decided to take a break & go for a drive. They ended up in Congress & found our digs on Ghost Town Road.  Rod stopped to take a few photos.  We have a nice Mexican family on our North side there & Rod said the neighbor was keeping a pretty close eye on him. Thanks for the emailed photos Rod:))

NOT TOO OFTEN YOU GET TO SEE A FREIGHT TRAIN ENGINE & A GREAT LAKES FREIGHTER SIDE BY SIDE

It's quite a mixed neighborhood we have there in Congress. At the southern end of Ghost Town Road is a small ritzy & nice looking adobe walled community of new houses. Heading north up the road the properties vary from junkyard scrap heaps to nice looking landscaped homes with just about everything in between. Ghost Town Road ends at the old historic Congress Gold Mine. A neighbor of ours told me our Congress house was built with materials from that old Gold Mine. The fellow who built our house worked in the mine & we think our Cowboy Construction house was built in the 50's. Hmmmm, wonder if he stashed any sacks of gold dust in the attic. We are sooooo looking forward to getting back there this winter & working on the house & grounds. Lots to do for sure & I'm looking forward to the challenge:))

LOOKS LIKE JUNIOR DROPPED HIS JUBE JUBES IN GODERICH’S WALMART YESTERDAY

Going to publish the blog early tonight because I'm meeting a good friend for coffee at 7 in a nearby small town. Our coffee blowouts over the past 30+ years are legendary & tonight's get together will be no different. Actually, Jim quit drinking coffee many years ago & I will stretch out my small decaf for the 3 hours or so we'll be at the coffee shop.

WE ARE SO FORTUNATE TO HAVE THIS SCENIC AREA TO WALK EVERY MORNING

GROANER'S CORNER:(( An elderly couple had been experiencing declining memories, so they decided to take a power memory class where one is taught to remember things by association. A few days after the class, the old man was outside talking with his neighbor about how much the class helped him.
"What was the name of the Instructor?" asked the neighbor.
"Oh, ummmm, let's see," the old man pondered. "You know that flower, you know, the one that smells really nice but has those prickly thorns, what's that flower's name?"
"A rose?" asked the neighbor.
"Yes, that's it," replied the old man. He then turned toward his house and shouted, "Hey, Rose, what's the name of the Instructor we took the memory class from?"

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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))

- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)

- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward

- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com