Simple Living and Simple Travel

I worked with Donna in Kanab three summers ago. She stopped at C of R on her way back to St. David, AZ from a line-dance jamboree in Artesia, NM. Donna and her 3 felines have been full-timing for a number of years. Her rig is a bit bigger than mine, I don’t know, maybe a 19 or 20 footer. At the site, we had 5 felines cruising around. Way cool. The site was off in the back with no one else around so the little ones didn’t cause any problem and they all were caught up and brought in each night. I went back to Bisbee for a week towards the end of April. Hit some restaurants and most mornings climbed my 1200 stairs. Took Lynn’s dog, Chica (pit bull/boxer mix), with me 2 mornings. That was a treat. When I lived in Bisbee and had friends visit, I provided them with clear blue skies and warm, sunny weather. One morning towards the end of the week, I took these shots to document the weather Lynn was providing for me. Ya think maybe, she was like telling me to leave town? If you are in ...

Surely Onyx is not going after the duck. Spent another week over in the Burro Mountains. I was able to hike up to Jacks Peak a few times. The sand had mostly dissipated at the top so I could see where the trail went. Nice easy hike with only a 1600’ elevation gain in 4 miles. Took me about an hour and a half to hike up. There are radio towers up there and old foundations. Most of our dusk walks are meanders where there are no trails. We came across this gravesite off in the brush. There was a plastic box, about the size of a small shoebox, buried under these rocks. Maybe someone buried a small pet out here. Onyx is like an early warning system. If he hears or sees someone coming near our camping spot, he’ll start to growl, even if they are over 100 yards away. It gives me a good heads-up whether we are inside or out. It’s pretty cool. Then, however, he runs and hides and leaves me to fend for myself. Well, geocaching.com wouldn’t post my cache since I do not live in the area and would ...

Forget it. Go get a used 22’ Airstream with decent insulation and double-pane windows, hook up to 120V every night, and run ceramic heaters. I’m talkin’ cold here, not merely the 20’s and 30’s—but single digit and teen temps at night without electric hookups in small poorly insulated rigs. Most RVers just keep the furnace running and have a generator supplement one’s solar panels but the noise would drive me up the wall. It’s not why I go off to the Outdoors. First off, small fiberglass trailers are not designed for these temps. Maybe the Oliver with its double shell construction and double pane windows would be okay. I don’t know anyone who dry-camps at these temps in one for extended periods. My casita is an absolutely stellar camper for three seasons. A part of each winter off the grid can be a tad nippy. This winter, since I left Moab in October, I had 72 days with 120V. 22 of them while at Lynn’s in Bisbee but that was mostly for my MacBook. The other winter days I was eithe...

The first time back to Silver City in January, I went to my favorite place to eat, Vicki’s Eatery, and they had closed. Guano. I tried another place on Bullard next to the food coop and left half my lunch on the plate (and no, I did not upchuck it). Later I noticed in an issue of Desert Exposure that Vicki’s moved to the corner of Texas and Market. It was snowing the day I first went to their new spot and I was pretty wet having walked over from the library. The waitress recommended some hot cider and it really hit the spot. As I was waiting for it I took out a bandana and dried off my hair. Got a few looks with that move. Sat at the table in front of the electric fireplace and was in heaven as I ate lunch. I really thought I was making progress with my mountain bike riding. A while back I went for a ride with Tim, one of the hosts at City of Rocks. An EXTREMELY humbling experience. And he’s my age! Maybe I will get one of those 2-cycle Spooky Tooth bicycles the next time I am in Bi...

I camped near the trailhead to Jacks and Burro Peaks. Four miles to the peaks, nice and easy, and not all that much elevation gain. Open range so I was coming across some cows from time to time. When I got near the top, there was this white stuff. Since I head down to southern New Mexico to keep away from snow, it must be some type of sand. In this photo we are just about a half hour from our camping spot on our dusk walk along the Continental Divide trail. Those are my bike tracks from earlier in the day. The ride was pretty good. I rode on a section of the CD trail east of the section I did with Tim. Fell twice and had a bit of a problem at two stream crossings. Got down the inclines to the streams and crossed them fine but couldn’t get up the steep sandy banks on the other side. I don’t know, I have such fun biking 15 miles or so at City of Rocks most days on the different loops and switchbacks and feel I’m making progress then I go out on single tracks like I use to ri...

Back to a spot we like. There’s plenty for me to do here and Meadow and Onyx seem to enjoy the rocks and long grass—and probably the kangaroo rats. The jackrabbits we come across on our dusk walks kind of always startle these two fierce hunters, though. I met a guy in his 70’s who had his RV in the park for a few days. John was out walking the trails with a CANE! I was impressed. He was walking about two miles a day, not on the road, but on the trails. Way to go. This is the third scratching post I had to make for these two since we moved into the casita. Couple of little shredders. Three 100’ spools of rope! Came back to the camper after a ride one day and found a note on my door. Dennis (remember the ‘LET’ERRUST’ entry from last winter?) came into the park, was walking around, and saw my rig. He left the bus up in Oregon and turned his Chevy van into a camper and is cruising around down here for the winter before heading back up to Bend. Biked...

I turned off rt80 onto a sand road in the Peloncillo Mtns. for some disperse camping. There were some spectacular granite and limestone formations. Found a nice spot up against some rocks and stayed for a few days. Saw a couple filling the back of their pickup with sticks one day, another day a couple just cruised through, and a couple javelina shooters came in later for awhile. Other than that, no one. On one of our dusk walks, I came across a couple of blankets and a day pack. The thing I do not enjoy about disperse camping down here is how often I come across sign of UDAs. It’s not an area where I sit around a fire at night and relax. I’ve never had a run-in with any but it’s hard for me to feel safe. Meadow and Onyx loved being allowed back outside. I don’t let them out when in Bisbee. The photos are of the road going in, some clouds on a morning run, the UDA rock, a working windmill with pump that I came across while out mountain biking, and my camping spot. Ther...