Simple Living and Simple Travel

Initially I was climbing up to the barn roof and jumping off. It wasn’t working. I had no problem with take off and flying to a lower elevation. Gaining altitude, sustained flight, and landing, however, were somewhat problematic. So I started to learn to fly a Radian electric sailplane. That also did not work well. These first two shots are of a friend flying his Radian. Never a problem. The third shot is of my sailplane just prior to the first flight. The fourth photo was taken a minute later. I gathered the scattered pieces so they all fit in the shot. The next day after using Gorilla glue to fix the fuselage, I crashed again in even less time, again breaking the fuselage in two. I was having SO much fun. This time I put the fuselage together with 5-minute epoxy even though the Gorilla glue worked fine. Remember James, from Rodeo, who got me interested in electric sailplanes while down in the Gila Mtns? Well, he was going to be passing through Chama on his way to Col...

Didn’t like working my way up through central NM much. Luckily rt1 parallels I-25 so I didn’t have to do the interstate. Turned off rt1 onto FR 225 into the San Mateo Mountains for a couple days. Six slow miles of washboard to a decent camping spot if one likes open areas. This time of year it was too hot and too windy to roll out the awning. One day we went for a walk down in a wash. Then I moved on to a night at Valley of Fires. I had heard good things about it and had been driving for 100 miles so was ready to stop for the day. Really don’t like these asphalt miles. I know, I know, I actually paid for a camping spot ($12) in warm weather. Hopefully it won’t happen again until November. The gods made sure I didn’t overly enjoy it. Took a site down a cul-de-sac so I could let M/O out. There was no one around anyway, the RVs were all at the electric sites. There was only a mile of trails but they have an informative nature walk, paved for wheelchairs, that’s definitely worth check...

Sometimes I don’t stop and think. I eventually realized that I could not take the route I had planned north this spring, at least the first 150 miles of it. I was planning to take 5 or 6 weeks to hike the area and the route didn’t take me near any decent grocery stores. For one thing, I would need a cooler to supplement my fridge. I don’t presently have the room for one. There would have also been the additional bulk and pounds of dry supplies. And then there’s water. A week’s supply weighs 112 lbs (2gal/day at 8lbs/gal – water’s a pound a pint). My rig is already overloaded. The Cherokee already gets into the edge of the red zone on mountain grades—not a good thing. Weekly water runs with the Jeep wouldn’t have been a problem and I can get a month out of two 5 gal propane tanks so I wouldn’t be looking for propane. Looks like I might break down next winter and look for used 8 cylinder for more power and a design with more carrying capacity so I can stay off the grid for longer p...

The first trailhead I camped near was off rt180 on FR196. Had to camp nearly a mile and a half away, however. Really did not need all that warm-up and cool-down hiking between the camping spot and trailhead. It didn’t get any better. I lost track of how many times the trail crossed the stream. Nowhere could I just jump across it since the water was high from the runoff. I had to step from rock to rock and managed to slip only once, thanks to my trusty PVC staff. Years ago, they used to mine up this canyon so whenever I saw an old mine up in the rocks, I climbed up to take a look. Even being careful while off the trail, I fell three times. I used to be able to feel myself falling and make an effort to catch myself. That seems to be a thing of the past. Two of these falls had me down on the ground before I realized I tripped. Not good—ended up with free-flowing leg and thumb cuts. I swear I’m going to die on a hike. Maybe I should start sticking just to the trails. All-in-all...

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...