POPPED THE CLUTCH ON MY KEYBOARD BEFORE PUTTING MY BRAIN IN GEAR AGAIN!!

ALL OF TO-NIGHT'S PHOTOS ARE FROM CITY OF ROCKS STATE PARK, NEW MEXICO.

Our 'after the rain' photos of the park are HERE

Was reading Joe's blog SOMEWHERE IN TIME this morning about the difficulties they were having finding a decent RV Park in Hope Arkansas. Some other bloggers had commented as well about deplorable parks so of course I had to go & put my 2 cents worth in as well ending my comment with the words, "RV Parks?? Bah Humbug!! Sometimes I am much more opinionated than I really need to be & that thought stuck with me this morning as I made a paint connection to Joe's blog while sitting on the floor painting our kitchen cabinets. Thought occurred to me that I have a habit of negatively painting all RV Parks with the same brush & that just isn't right on my part!! We have actually stayed in some nice RV Parks & would you believe I even had some nice things to say about them. Manzano's comes to mind in Silver City, New Mexico. We stayed there for a few nights & liked it so well I even wrote up a good review for a campground review site. We were there the first week in December of 08 & if anyone is interested they can find our blogs for our time at Manzano's in our archives under December 08. Before moving to Manzanos for a few days we had been at City of Rocks State Park just south of Silver City New Mexico Here are the photos I took of MANZANO'S RV PARK. It always annoys me though when I see RV Parks with sites jammed so close to-gether folks can hardly get their slides out. That smacks of pure greed by the RV Parks owners with no consideration whatsoever for the RVer. Jam as many people onto a plot of ground as humanly possible & then charge them astronomical rates for their stay on top of it. I do understand the need for RV Parks because without them there would be no RVing whatsoever for hundreds of thousands of people. It's just too bad that so many of them offer a minimum amount of comfort for a maximum amount of money!! I am a very fortunate fellow in that Kelly & I are alike in our RVing thoughts, ideas, plans, & dreams. Kelly comes from an RV snowbird family & as kids her Mom & Dad would load the family up in the old station wagon for camping & fishing trips into Canada. Kelly is actually from Spencerport NY where here parents, brother, & sisters still live. Her Mother & Dad had went to Florida every winter in their trailer, Class C, & Class A motorhomes so the RVing life comes natural to Kelly. Having raised 5 kids she came from a very hectic, busy, & socially active lifestyle & by the time we met back in 93 she had had enough of all that & was ready for a complete change of lifestyle. So was I & we've been pursuing the quieter, roads less traveled way of life ever since. We love the remoteness of the desert with all it's peace, serenity, & tranquility. Stars from mountaintop to mountaintop, only the sounds of the desert winds in the cactus. Morning walks in beautiful natural surroundings. No sides of buildings or RV's to look at, no traffic, no screaming kids, no noisy neighbors, & no people problems of any kind. I know we are in the minority with this kind of thinking but I'm glad we are because otherwise if people really understood the wonderful experience of boondocking they would for sure all rush out to the desert which would just turn it into a massive RV Park with paved roads, potted palm trees, pink flamingos, & golf carts. We would then be back to the place where I was when I originally started this blog. Oh dear, how did I get so off track again. Sorry Joe, I was just wanting to say a few words & apologize about my comment..........RV Parks?? Bah Humbug!!
Oh, & how's my day going?? Well, now that I asked.............it's not going worth a hoot. My right knee is killing me, my left leg is now sore from trying to compensate for the injured right leg, I got more paint on me than I got on the cupboards, our van is in the garage undergoing a transmission change & my planned blog for to-day about another ghost town will have to wait because.........I popped the clutch on my keyboard this morning before putting my mind into gear again & here I am!! Just read Jerry's comment from, OUR LIFE ON WHEELS & had myself a light bulb moment as to why I couldn't get RV DREAMS in our rotation list. Went back, made a simple change & Walla.............they are now in our, 'Blogs We Follow.'
GROANER'S CORNER:(( In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England , when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down." It's where we get the phrase......."mind your P's and Q's"

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

FELLOW BLOGGERS, PAINTING BLUES, OUCHY KNEE & ZION CANYON

COLORFUL ASPEN TREES ALONG MEADOW CREEK IN ZION CANYON, UTAH

Well, so much for my NO PAINTING idea to-day. By noon I was up to my elbows in paint, brushes, rollers, trays, & whatever else all this messy business requires. Figured I'd get myself a little smarter to-day & only paint the upper cupboard framework & leave the bottom sections until my knee is feeling better. I think it was that getting up & down off the floor performance on Friday that somehow did my knee in. I'm hobbling around with the aid of a cane now trying to be patient because I know this ouchy knee will take a few days to clear up. I also know that I am probably in for a knee replacement somewhere in the future but I'm just not there yet. Got to get a few more miles out of the original equipment first!!!! ONE OF THE THREE EMERALD POOLS

Fellow RV blogger GYPSY has finally finished up her backwoods camp host job at Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California & is back on the road blogging again. She had a nasty encounter with an immovable object at a fuel stop near Vale, Oregon & is now having to deal with a damaged 5ver. Gypsy has a true pioneering spirit & is handling life's challenges well but if you have a minute you might want to drop by her site with a few words of encouragement.CAN YOU SEE THE 2 ROCK CLIMBERS....ONE IS DIRECTLY ABOVE THE OTHER

Been having a few problems with my RV Hotmail account lately. WANDERING WILLY & I have been emailing back & forth with info regarding some satellite equipment. I'm getting his emails but he's not getting mine. Another couple, MnMnM have had trouble posting comments to our blog as well. The comments come into hotmail. I'm now concerned that some emails I've sent to folks lately never got through so if fellow bloggers, MIKE, K&D, & Borrego David L, could let me know if they received an email from the Bayfield Bunch this past week I would appreciate it. Hotmail has been acting kind of grumpy lately so I may switch our RV email stuff over to our Gmail account. I'll post that if I do.

ZION CANYON IS A DRIVE THROUGH CANYON WITH MANY HIKING TRAILS TO STOP AT

In last night's blog I posted a photo of the moon taken from our front yard. I had meant to add to add an explanation of how I did that but forgot. The actual moon was of course smaller so I had to crop a lot of sky out thus enlarging the moon. I added some contrast to bring out more detail on the moon's surface & then added some color to the otherwise black & white picture. All this was done in Picasa 3 & shows once again what can be done with Google's easy to use free photo program. In all those colorful pictures you see in magazines with photos of planets, galaxies, nebulae, etc. color & digitizing has been added to produce those striking images. Those pictures did not just pop out of a camera looking like that. THIS IS A VERY MAJESTIC CANYON

My sore knee these past couple days reminded me of when this knee problem reared it's ugly head enough to grab my attention. Been aware for 3 or 4 years now that it hasn't been up to par but while hiking in ZION CANYON, Utah back on November 19th of 2007 I must have done something to really tick it off. It was a long hike for us & the next morning my knee felt swollen & was very painful to walk on thus ending any further hiking in Zion Canyon. Very disappointing so we moved on from there down to Kanab & did a driving tour down to the north rim of the Grand Canyon a few days later. Our ZION CANYON BLOG & PHOTO ALBUM for that day can be seen by clicking these colored capitalized words.

ON OUR WAY DOWN FROM THE HIGHEST EMERALD POOL KELLY STOPS TO BUILD AN INUKSHUK

Wandering Willy made mention in one of his emails a couple days ago that TIOGA GEORGE had made mention of him in his blog called, Intertwined Lives. WW has spent time in Mexico during the winter where Tioga George is now & had mentioned a great place for Shrimp Burgers. To be mentioned in Tioga George's blog is a feather in the cap of any RV blogger because Tioga George is kind of thought of as the great Grand Daddy of all RV bloggers out here. TG was one of the earliest blog people years ago & has been going strong ever since. Another very well known blogsite in the 'who's who' world of RV bloggers is the RV DREAMS people, Howard & Linda Payne. They have a very large following & their blogs are loaded with lots of helpful tips & RV information. They have a forum as well & hold some rallies every year I think. A scheduling conflict prevented us from meeting Howard & Linda in Benson Arizona this past winter. We almost met Tioga George near Gila Bend one time but he was a few days ahead of us in his travels. We have all these people in our, 'Blogs We Follow' so you can find any of them there anytime. The RV Dream site can be found at the bottom usually because it isn't a Blogger format so doesn't show up in our daily list. We have a few other blogs we follow that can be found there as well. If anyone knows how we can get them into our daily blog rotation I'd appreciate it. COLORS ARE VIBRANT IN UTAH'S AUTUMN

And not to worry, we'll continue our ghost town explorations again this coming week. Maybe even some photos of a wild west gunfight in Old Tucson too:)) GUNFIGHT IN OLD TUCSON

GROANER'S CORNER:(( And remember, don't let your mind wander......it's too small to let out on it's own!!

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

ANOTHER PAINFUL PAINT STAINED DAY:((

A NEARLY FULL MOON AS SEEN FROM OUR FRONT YARD THROUGH MY NIKON D40 & 80mm REFRACTOR STELLARVUE NIGHTHAWK TELESCOPE LAST WEEK...... Should have mentioned that I cropped, enlarged, & added some contrast & color to the picture as well. Don't know why horizonal & vertical lines appear in the photo except it might be pixelation from enlarging)

My whole day was spent inside with my nose to the paint brush. When having to do something I'm not fond of doing my idea is to just get on with it & get it done so I can move on to something else I do like to do. I should also mention that yesterdays blog comments about the cupboards being outdated, old, & dark were all placed in my mind by my lovely wife, Kelly. Women are more attuned to cosmetic changes than men are & the decision to paint the cupboards was definitely a cosmetic one. I WILL BE SOOOOOOO GLAD TO GET THIS PRIMER COAT FINISHED

Now, let's have a look at this from a totally realistic man's perspective. First & foremost, there was absolutely nothing wrong with those kitchen & bathroom cupboards. No cracks, no broken parts, no old paint peeling off, & no wood rot. We had replaced the knobs on all the doors about 3 years ago so I thought that was sufficient to bring them into the 21rst century but a woman's mind knows no logical restraints & so sure, change was afoot. Puts me in mind of the old saying, "if it's not broken-don't fix it, but it was too late.....the decision had been made & I am but a bit player here in the Bayfield Bunch's grand scheme of things!! LILY PADS FROM ATOP A COUNTRY ROAD BRIDGE

So, with those thoughts in mind I have been diligently painting away changing perfectly good dark woodgrained cupboards into, well..........that remains to be seen. At least the two hardest tasks are finally over with the long boring preparation & primer painting behind me. Now I can begin to put on the first coast of melamine paint which at this point I have no idea what shade of white it is going to be. I'm a man so white is white....right!! Kelly picked it out at the paint store & went with a 'warm' white. What's warm about white I ask!!!! I probably would have went with a brilliant fuscia orange or something. White is not my favorite color & I guess that's why this blogs background is a dark gray & you can tell by the looks of my blog that I see the world in bright color.......not black & white!! And if the Canadian Tire store ever has a sale on colored spray paint I'm gonna get a hundred & fifty five cans of something & spray our big white motorhome orange, green, blue, burgundy, yellow, khaki or whatever paint they have most of in stock!! A HUMMER

After the past 2 days of contortionist scrambling around on the floor & up down the stepstool my troublesome & very painful right knee is totalled, I'm in my recliner with a cane propped against the chair & I'm down for the count. Definitely NO MORE PAINTING to-morrow!!!!

SELF PORTRAIT IN A DIRTY VAN WINDOW

Kelly's on the way home with a burg & fry's (only my third burg & fry combo in 5 months) from the Docks & all will soon be well in the paint stained world of the Bayfield Bunch's Rembrandt AL:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Blessed are the cracked for they are the ones who let in the light!!

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

PAINTING!!!! NOT MY FAVORITE THING TO DO:((

GOTTA GET ALL THEM THERE CUPBOARD DOORS OFF:((

Our mobile home was built back in the early 80's when the wood grain paneling & cupboard look was still hanging on from the 60's. My trusty roller & paint brush took care of all that wood grain paneling about 5 years ago but our bathroom & kitchen cupboards were still dated & dark. Kelly informed me a couple days ago it was time to make some more changes!! It was time to bring those frumpy old looking eyesores from the dark age's into the dawning new age of the techno pop future. In other words.......paint the darn cupboards!!!! NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS PROJECT!!

I probably wouldn't mind painting so much if I could just snap open a can of paint, get a big gob on my brush, & swoop it on the wall....once!! No fuss, no muss, no bother. Boom, boom, boom, all done. But, oh no....not as simple as that of course. Gotta do all that time consuming & ultra boring preparation baloney. First comes the task of taking all 25 cupboard doors off. That is 25 cupboard knobs, 50 hinges, & 250 dinky little screws that scurry their way under the refrigerator, stove, & whatever else they can scurry under. BUT, AS YOU CAN SEE.........CUPBOARDS ARE JUST TOOOOOOO DARK

Fortunately a neighbor is going to spray paint the doors in his garage but all those 25 cupboard doors have to be thoroughly cleaned first so the paint adheres evenly. Next, get a bucket of warm water, add a dose of TSP & begin scrubbing them all down. Follow that with a thorough rinse & drying to make sure all the TSP is washed off. Why did I have to put it on in the first place!!

HEY, WHERE DID ALL THE CUPOARD DOORS GO??

I will be painting all the cupboard framework here so next comes the lovely task of tedious masking tape madness. So what if paint gets on surrounding stuff. I figure it gives things a Picasso look. And besides, I have to take all that tape off again later anyway. Don't figure!! TAKING KNOBS OFF THE BATHROOM CUPBOARD DOORS

With these dark cupboards I am told that a primer paint has to be put on first. Well, there goes my quick once over theory. I absolutely hate having to paint something twice but I am told I will likely have to paint all this monster framework stuff at least 3 times. And then there's the bone grinding business of getting down & back up off the floor about 6 dozen times while getting lower doors off, taping, washing, & hunting for screws under the refrigerator, stove........ well you know. Bones just don't flex anymore. Forgotten muscles & tendons are called upon to perform Herculean lifting & lowering tasks & grunting loudly is the norm now. The louder the grunt, the easier the move. There appears to be a fine line between grunting & screaming these days too!! And then there's my troublesome disintegrating right knee........but I'll complain about that another time:((

Just finished the first primer coat in the bathroom & if that's any indication of things to come I'd say I'm going to end up having to paint this monster 25 times!!!! It's not a latex or water based paint either so everything is extra messy. The primer didn't go on worth a snoot. I think it's time to chuck the paint brush, fire up the motorhome, & leave this totally rotten & boring paint project in the dust. Hi-O Silver awaaaaaaay!!

GROANER'S CORNER:(( And did you know that it is impossible to lick your elbow:((

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

MARCH 11/09....THROUGH THE APACHE PASS TO HISTORIC FORT BOWIE, ARIZONA

REMAINS OF AN OLD BUCKBOARD AT FORT BOWIE..... HORSES WERE KEPT IN THIS AREA

As kids watching western movies we always saw the mounted cavalry riding in & out of their Forts. Big high wooden log pole walls with an assortment of buildings inside & an American flag flying proudly in the middle. It's a picture we carry in our minds every time the word Fort is mentioned. Just as in real ghost towns we can easily be disappointed when we finally reach an old town site or Fort. We're hoping to see a setting just as we remembered it from the movies. But time, the elements, & reality have taken their toll. Several buildings & a water tank still remain somewhat intact at Fort Rucker but historic Fort Bowie is only left with it's walls & foundations. I would recommend anyone going to Fort Bowie to eat an extra bowl of Cheerios in the morning, drive through the Apache Pass from the north or northwest as we did & begin your long historic hike into the Fort from a parking lot on the south side of Apache Pass road.

TROOPS WERE HOUSED WITHIN THESE BARRACK WALLS (Note: You will notice that the tops of the old walls are rounded & a different color. To prevent the elements from eroding the original walls any further a mixture of special cement had to be applied to the tops of them to prevent wind & rain from breaking the walls down any further.) ALL THAT'S LEFT OF THE ONCE ELOQUENT POST COMMANDER'S QUARTERS

As with walking the grounds of old ghost towns I find there is an overall feeling that comes over a person. If your with a group of people though you will probably not pick up that feeling. I suppose it's akin to wandering through an old cemetery. Very quiet, very peaceful, & your always aware of a presence & a time in history that you have been reading or hearing about since a child. Try as you may you cannot comprehend the magnitude of events which took place on the ground you are standing upon or the walls you are seeing or the scattered bits of weathered wood & broken foundation stones laying in the tall grass at your feet. To think that a mighty Fort once stood here, or a complete town or a huge battle took place on this very spot many years ago can be overwhelming. When I visited Custer's Little Bighorn battlefield in Montana back in 1993 I felt that. And on March 11 of 2009 I felt it once more as we headed through the Apache Pass to a parking lot & then off on a long winding path in search of old Fort Bowie. APACHE LEADER GERONIMO WAS HELD CAPTIVE WITHIN THIS BUILDING'S WALLS

Might be a mile into the Fort but the path leads you through a valley of history. The old Butterfield Stage line ran through here on it's way from the east to California. Wagon wheel ruts are still visibile in the ground. Running gun battles & confrontations between the Cavalry & the Chiricahua Apache Indians took place here in this scenic valley. A meeting with the Apache leader Cochise was arranged. A cemetery, the foundation ruins of an old stagecoach stop near where the meeting & battle took place between Indians & Cavalry. It is a path through history. Go alone or with one other quiet person & let the trail through the little valley whisper you it's tales. STONE WALL RUINS OF THE 'FIRST' FORT BOWIE

Wikipedia info on FORT BOWIE

My blog of our day can be found here...... FORT BOWIE BLOG
My photos of our day are here.........FORT BOWIE PHOTOS

FORT BOWIE CEMETERY AS SEEN FROM A HIGH RIDGE TO THE SOUTHEAST

INDIANS & SOLDIERS ALIKE BURIED HERE BUT MANY SOLDIERS HAVE BEEN MOVED

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Everyone seems normal..........until you get to know them!!

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

A TELEVISION DECISION FOR THE SOUTHWEST THIS WINTER

EARLY SIGN OF AUTUMN

Late getting to the computer to-night so I have a feeling it may be short blog. A friend asked me yesterday what we were going to do for television this year in the southwest so I proceeded to tell him that we would just take our chances with the rig's antennae again. We used it last year & went with whatever signal we could pick up. Most we ever picked up was maybe 3 or 4 that were clear enough to watch. While 7 weeks at the ranch this past winter we had 1 channel. It was NBC & it was grueling. Explained to my friend that "who needs television, just a lot of garbage on it anyway." So, with that all said & done........to-day we decided to go with a Star Choice television satellite dish program. Just don't figure do it!!!!!! A RASCALLY SQUIRREL MADE OFF WITH KELLY'S SUPPER TO-NIGHT

We have the heavy duty tri-pod from our previous satellite internet system & a new (last year) StarChoice receiver already. Star Choice will ship us a free 30" dish so why not go with some decent television channels this winter. Anything's better than one NBC station!! We'll grab the cheapest program package they have & be satisfied with that. So how's that for knocking garbage television programming one day & then signing up for a multi channel package the next day. That's what I like about my mind......nothing is ever for sure!!!!

A TEN EYED ALIEN FOREST MONSTER

I'm still moving frogs from our little front yard pond to the bigger pond across the road about 300 yards away. I think the little green buggers are hopping back under the cloak of darkness & crawling into the front yard pond every night again. I takes them down & they hops themselves back!! I've noticed a change in the bird activity out front too. Not seeing the Goldfinches & Grosbeaks. Even the Grackles have disappeared & very few Robins around. I have a feeling the great bird migration south has begun & it won't be long & we Snowbirds will be heading south ourselves. CHECKERS TAKES A MORNING DIP IN THE BIG FROG POND

I think we have set our departure date for Saturday October 17th. Just not enough time to take the Colorado route so we're going our usual way down through the Ohio Valley. I always like to leave early on a Saturday morning & take advantage of the lighter traffic on the week-end. We can make it to just north of Indianapolis by late Saturday afternoon & then rip through Indy early Sunday morning with little opposition or heavy fire. I don't like to be anywhere near a large city around early morning or late afternoon rushes. Been there, down that.....no more!!!! From Indianapolis it's clear sailing all the way to just east of Dallas, Texas. We then take a northwesterly route through Sherman & Gainsville around Dallas & hook up with highway 380 around Jacksboro for the easy cruise to Roswell New Mexico. It's an easy climb up & over the mountains through the Apache Pass. When we reach Alamogordo on the other side I consider us having arrived in the great American Southwest & the relaxing part of the lifestyle begins from there. I feel as if we have arrived in our second home. And home is wherever we park the rig. Ya just gotta love it:))))))

SOME BIG DARN 7' TALL FLOWERS IN OUR FRONT YARD

GROANER'S CORNER:(( If you want breakfast in bed........sleep in the kitchen!!!!

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

SEARCHING THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS FOR OLD FORT RUCKER

OFFICER'S QUARTERS AT FORT RUCKER

Our beautiful warm sunny weather continues here in southwestern Ontario & what a treat that is for everyone as we head into the finest time of the year. A month from now we should be peaking with our splendid autumn colors. Two months from now it will probably be dull, depressing, drizzly, wet, & cold, with long gray days back to back. Three months from now Christmas will be just around the corner so who cares & four months from now if you go outside without being all bundled up.......you will probably freeze up & die!! Some of you may remember this past winter that we had ourselves a cushy little 7 week ranch sitting job in southeastern Arizona. We were located in a great area rich with western history & were able to take many interesting day trips in the car. Located just a couple short miles from McNeal, Arizona we were about twenty minutes to Bisbee or 25 to Douglas. Tombstone was about half an hour & another 15 minutes took us to Sierra Vista. The Chiricahua Mountain range started about a half hour's drive to the northeast of the ranch & that's where we headed off one sunny wild west morning in search of the elusive & hard to find old Fort/Camp Rucker. BUILDING RUINS

Before we had ever heard anything of a Fort Rucker though we had taken a drive one day along a scenic winding road up into RUCKER CANYON. We told some folks later about that drive & they said, "did you find the Fort??" We were lucky to find our way back to the main road let alone a Fort but our interest was peaked at the thoughts of finding an old army camp somewhere in the Chiricahuas. Looked on the internet for information regarding Fort Rucker's location but it was vague. FRONT DOOR TO FORT RUCKER'S BAKERY

It was a couple weeks later while touring around Coronado National Memorial (OUR CORONADO BLOG) (OUR CORONADO PHOTOS) south of Sierra Vista on the Mexican border that a chance encounter with a park ranger shed some light on the exact whereabouts of old Fort Rucker. RUINS OF THE COMMISSARY WITH BAKERY BUILDING IN THE BACKGROUND

Click on this FORT RUCKER BLOG for our search in the Chiricahua Mountains & FORT RUCKER PHOTOS for our web album of pictures that day. OLD BARN IS STILL USED TO HOUSE CATTLE

Shortly we'll have us a look at the ghost towns of Gleeson, Pearce, & Fairbank.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A woman is like a tea bag......you don't know how strong she is until you put her in hot water!!

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

IN SEARCH OF THE THE OLD GHOST TOWN OF CHARLESTON, ARIZONA

CROSSING THE SAN PEDRO RIVER IN SEARCH OF CHARLESTON

We have always found the history of America's old west fascinating & it is one of the many things that draws us back to the southwest each winter's season. One of those interests we enjoy is searching out old ghost towns. Real old ghost towns & not the commercialized fabricated ones. Ghost towns can be disappointing if your expecting to find the Hollywood version. Sometimes it's only a pile of stones from an old wall like in Millville, other times complete buildings like an old crumbling saloon in Gleeson. Fairbank has some buidlings restored but the forgotten cemetery high on a ridge is the same as it was back in the mid 1800's. Some ghost towns are easily accessible & others can almost be almost impossible to find & hard to get to. Pearce, Gleeson, & Fairbank were all easy finds on paved roads but Millville & Charleston were much harder......especially Charleston!! ONLY CRUMBLING ADOBE WALLS LEFT OF THE TWENTY OR SO BUILDINGS

While boondocked just west of Tombstone, Arizona earlier this year we set out in search of the elusive old mining town of Charleston long hidden in the scrub & bush along the banks of the San Pedro river. We first hiked north along the San Pedro one morning from the Charleston Road but couldn't find anything. Found out later we were only about a quarter mile from finding the town. A few days later we decided on a different approach which actually began with another ghost town on the east side of the river called Millville. Click on our blog that day here..... FINDING CHARLESTON. Web album photos for that day are HERE & even more photos for the ghost town of Charleston are HERE Another thing that was very special about these ghost towns is the fact we never encountered any tourists. Tombstone is a good example of what happens to an old town when it is commercialized, but then again a lot of people like that razzle dazzle sort of Hollywood spin. We don't!! Walking through the site of an old lost ghost town & it's overgrown cemetery with only the ghosts of past residents to accompany you is quality time to us. Just the folks, your thoughts, & the desert wind. SOME OF CHARLESTON'S WILD WEST HISTORY

We later found the ghost towns & cemeteries of Gleeson, Pearce, & Fairbank in the same area. I will include those towns over the next few days. Also found the hard to find ruins of old Fort Rucker up in the Chiricahua Mountains as well & I'll include that blog & photos shortly. Our drive & hike into historic Fort Bowie through Apache Pass was another good day for us which I will also post shortly. THE CRUMBLING SALOON IN GLEESON WHERE JOHNNY RINGO WAS LAST SEEN AT THE BAR

Just so much to see & do in the American southwest & with every mile comes a new vista. No excuse for getting bored in this kind of country & the west has a real habit of growing on people & anyone we've come across traveling there.....love's it there. We met a fulltiming RV couple last winter in Yuma who are now beginning a trek across country to Florida for a wedding. They have just spent the last few months in Oregon & Colorado. This is an excerpt from DOUG & JOANNE'S blog about how they feel about having to leave the west for awhile. They were both originally Floridians.
(Quote)"Tomorrow we head out across the plains heading for Lee’s Summit Mo.(on their way to Florida) Neither of us want to leave the west and in particular Colorado. We know we are westerners at heart and love the wide open spaces and sheer beauty out here. To head back to the land of wall to wall condominiums, convenience stores at every intersection and big bill board advertising will be quite a let down for us but it will be nice to see friends and family." (Unquote)

SOMETIMES ONLY PART OF CRUMBLING STONE FOUNDATIONS ARE ALL THAT'S LEFT LIKE HERE IN MILLVILLE, AZ.

A few weeks ago or so I posted a blog about our solar system for boondocking. I had a few inquiries about that but didn't have the exact details in front of me. I came across that paperwork this afternoon so if anyone out there is interested in what you need to get set up for solar just email me & I will send you all the detailed nuts & bolts info including cost of everything. We had our solar installation done by THE SUN WORKS in Slab City, California in December 07. Solar Mike is the fellow you want to talk to.

Stayed tuned for more ghost towns in the days ahead.

FAIRBANK'S OLD FORGOTTEN CEMETERY

GROANER'S CORNER:(( What do prisoners use to call each other while in jail........Cell phones.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.