Our First Trip with the Trailer Rocinante

We are off!

Set up just outside of Clint’s Well

Bourbon and a Book

Camping beverages- Bulliet Rye and Moscato

The special place…

Journey- not really digging the camping thing She’s a princess too.

An old man reading and two princesses

The Week

My mom was born on the 19th of February. She died on the 22nd. This is a week full of memories.

On February 22nd, 2007 I got a call from my dad after 10pm. I knew what he was going to say before he said it. Kerry was in San Diego for the Quad A (the big national allergy specialist’s meeting). Just by coincidence she left for this year’s Quad A meeting (in San Antonio) on the 22nd, (I told her on the way to the airport that if me or my dad passed away while she was gone, I wouldn’t call her) and she won’t be back until this Thursday the 28th. She’s going to Austin to visit some of her family members. So it’s me, the little dogs–sleeping beside me as I type–and my internal monologue. I make lists of what I need to do, then promptly forget most of the items that seemed so important they were “note worthy”. I’ve got a midterm on Monday, jobs to look at via Kerry’s Monster/Career Builder/Jobing and Indeed.com searches. I’ve got a storage/workshop room to organize, groceries to buy, birds and dogs to feed and water, clean the house, an Ooma phone system needing a good looking at, and whatever else I can pile up on my sore shoulders.

Of course, I am always talking to myself in my head. I get distracted very easily and end up bothering my friends by texting them too often for no specific reason. I’ll take too many pictures of the pups and send them off to these friends and Kerry. A waste of their time and mine, I suppose. I could be studying, or organizing, or looking for gainful employment, or ???

WARNING: CROWBAR ENTRY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. SCHRECK!

So, today came and went with the only significant accomplishment being a trip to the dog park so the pups could run around, socialize and make other dog owners say ooooooh, and awwwwww.

The week is over, almost. Life goes on and nothing really seems to change; The assholes of the world get their way and nice people keep on suffering because of it. Kids grow up and parents grow apart. The night falls, I sleep a little and wake up making popping and cracking noises like someone walking across a floor of dried twigs.

Hmmm, a fresh pot of good coffee would be nice, but I forgot to wash the carafe since I last made coffee a week ago. I guess I could do that in the morning, right? After I go for a walk, feed the dogs and the birds, turn out the night time lights, turn on the day time lights, look around the house and make my temporary mental lists… then get disheartened as the list overloads my short-term memory…

Moved

My dear and very few readers…

papaspoint.wordpress.com is now exclusively at papaspoint.com

thought you may like to know.

My writing method…

This is my writing notebook.  It’s a little thing that takes up a minimal amount of space, yet it can hold the world for me.

I like the fact that I can slide material in and out of the front and back cover.  This bit on the front cover now is the inside of a card my wife gave me on my 39th birthday back in 2003.  It has a quote from Emerson that  I love. 

If you can’t read what she wrote, here is the quote attributed Emerson:

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

Inside I keep photos I like.  I use them to inspire me, take me to forgotten place or to elicit a feeling. 
(by the way, I’m the TINY cowboy in the Old Tucson photo)

As you can see, I have the notebook broken into tabs.  This is not an original method, and as I write this I am unable to recall who invented this method, but I find it is a good and true way to consolidate the story’s world into a small space.

Here is an example of one of the tab sections: the calendar.  It is simple to follow and I keep it in the front to guide my “motivational spirits”.

Sequestered (sort of)

It’s the wife’s “Crafty Girl’s Book Club” night and rather than the usual meeting spot, it’s been located to our house this evening.  As much as I can remember, this group reads a book and discusses it over alcohol, tons of food (as seen on my kitchen counters), while they work on crafts.

So, needless to say the house is full of the smell of a variety of foods (including the pizza and chocolate dippers I ordered–ooops), and the sound of women laughing, telling stories, making book talk.  Me?  I am in our bedroom. Roxy is sleeping and snoring next to me on the bed.  On the TV is Stargate SG-1 (my go to companion during the evening–but now Netflix has made Magnum PI available for streaming and Magnum trumps all, but I like to give Magnum my full attention).

For the remainder of the evening I have Tina Fey’s “Bossy Pants” to finish, some of my notes on writing for me to peruse, and my new Edward Abbey book “Desert Solitaire” to begin.

Not too bad.

What?  Okay! (I gotta run. The chocolate dippers are calling my name!)

Cactus Ed, a break from the ordinary!

Edward Abbey's "Black Sun"

I’m pleased with my 2011 reading list progress, but I didn’t finish it. Call it laziness, call it too ambitious a list, call it what you want, I did not finish it. Since January I have been reading text books and technical things for school. However, one afternoon while sitting here at my desk I happened to look over and see the above book angrily glaring at me as if it was saying…

“Listen you son of a bitch, you put me on your list and you only got into 12 pages of me. Get to it and finish me or I’ll send Hayduke your way!”

I picked it up and got sucked back in immediately. I enjoyed the diversion from the school work. You have to admit Abbey was one of a kind. His writing is what Thoreau or Walden might have written if they had been married five times, got drunk and very slowly pulled their nasal hairs out one by one.

I would love to hear Abbey describe our new iWorld. He died in 1989 before the birth of the soulless internet, the iPod, and WiFi invaded the world like a technological kudzu. I could imagine him walking in the Sonoran Desert seeing people texting and wondering OMG…WTF! I think he would have shat if he saw my Jeep group as we watched a video about the Mojave Road on a Macbook while “camping” at the Hole In The Wall Campground (fellow Jeepers and campers checking email on smart phones). He’d probably take a nearby rock and crush everything that had a processor…If he did, he’d be really busy.

One of my professors is an Abbey fan, and saw me reading “Black Sun”. He told me he met Abbey shortly before the author died from complications due to surgery. He recommended I read “The Fool’s Progress”, and “Desert Solitaire”. So I went to the trusty amazon.com where you can get everything from front bumpers for Jeeps to used and collectible books by eclectic American authors. They’re on their way! I’m looking forward to reading these new entries to my library. Currently, I’m finishing “Bossy Pants” by Tina Fey. Hey, it’s light, it’s funny, and it actually hits home with me. I’ll explain in another post so as not to anger the spirit of Edward Abbey.

Abbey killed a TV

;

;

Edward Abbey's headstone.

an excerpt from…

Outside Magazine (October 2003)
Wednesday, October 01, 2003

Forever Wild
by Jason Daley

“On March 14, 1989, the day Abbey died from esophageal bleeding at 62, Peacock, along with friends Jack Loeffler, Tom Cartwright, and Steve Prescott, wrapped Abbey’s body in his blue sleeping bag, packed it with dry ice, and loaded Cactus Ed into Loeffler’s Chevy pickup. After stopping at a liquor store in Tucson for five cases of beer, and some whiskey to pour on the grave, they drove off into the desert. The men searched for the right spot the entire next day and finally turned down a long rutted road, drove to the end, and began digging. That night they buried Ed and toasted the life of America’s prickliest and most outspoken environmentalist.

Abbey’s grave, a closely guarded secret for 13 years, has become a legend. His friends broke several laws by transporting Abbey’s corpse without a permit, interring him illegally on federal land, and forging a death certificate…”

Blessed

I must say that I feel very blessed.

Friday was a special day.

A party was held in my honor and it was hosted by many of the doctors and nurses and staff that I called on for the last ten years.

I’ve had parties thrown for me before by fellow employees when I was transferred or moving away like with any company.  Even in Alaska I had (and still have  when I go back “home”) docs take me out to dinner or have me to their homes for old scotch, good cigars and conversation, but I never have had a group of competing professionals get together and throw me an “appreciation party”.  One of them gave me a bottle of vodka from her native Poland, while another gave me season 6 of “Deadliest Catch”–a show we used to pick apart during our meetings.

It was a calm and casual night with great conversation, sharing of stories, and I believe it was the first time many of these people had met each other.  Some knew of each other via phone conversations over the years, while others only knew of each other through reputation or hearsay.

I am very grateful for these people, these friends.

Thank you.

The Mojave Road: March 9-11, 2012 Part Duex

Map to Lava Tube

Above is the location of the Lava Tube from the previous post.  You can also find “The Mailbox” and Marl Springs on this portion of the map.

Trail to the Mailbox

After lunch at the Lava Tube, we got back into our Jeeps and made way for “The Mailbox”.  It’s just a spot with a guest book, a place to get, leave, share information, and the American flag.  Just beyond the flag are two tiny memorials “honoring” some odd pieces d’art.

The Mailbox

The Frog Monument at The Mailbox (not shown is the Troll Monument)

Off to Marl Springs

According to Dennis Casebier’s book about the Mojave Road, it was Lt. Amiel Whipple (the VA Hospital in Prescott is named after him) who named Marl Springs (March 7, 1854).  Marl Springs was a major watering point on the Mojave Road (and still is).  It is 30 miles in either direction to reach the next spring.  There was once a small army camp here, and it was attacked by the native indians on October 17, 1867. Three US Army soldiers and up to 30 indians.  The soldiers were able to hold them off through the night because of their weaponry.  In the morning 150 US Calvary soldiers came over the hill and the indian attackers retreated.  Not much is there now.  There’s the ruins of an arrastra,  a circular trough, timbers from a long abandoned corral and fence line.  There is also a place where someone had built a brick support for a plaque of some kind, but according to my research it has been gone (stolen most likely) since before 200.9

Fence line at Marl Spring

Empty trough at Marl Spring

Arrastra at Marl Springs

Abandoned Corral at Marl Springs

Arrastra at Marl Springs

Bone near Marl Springs

The Trail

Leaving Marl Springs, we take the pole line road (the vertical dashed line in the center of the map below) into Kelso to visit the historic Kelso Depot.  The Pole Line road took us down into the valley near the base of the Providence Mountains.  The road itself was extremely straight and at first it looked like the poles were still in use.  There were glass resistors on the upper-most cross beams with wire stretched between the posts.  But, the further we traveled, the poles looked more and more in need of repair.  They were bent, some of the cross members were broken off, and some of them had snapped in two.  A bit further on we noticed all the cross members were missing.  It was now just a line of creosote soaked poles standing against the desert.  A little further in all that remained were stubs of poles courtesy of a chainsaw trimming.

Kelso Map

Pole-Line Road to Kelso

Kelso Depot

Tracks at Kelso Depot

The reading room at Kelso Depot. LOVE these chairs.

The Kelso Jail (used up until 1985 to sequester drunks overnight)

Kelso Passing

Kelso-Cima Road

s

The Old Rock Springs Land & Cattle Company water trough at Government Holes has been available and in use for over 100 years

On the right edge of the photo used to be a cabin where two men (Matt Burts and J.W. "Bill" Robinson) shot and killed each other in 1925.

Original photo of Government Holes soon after the double murder (from Harold & Lucile Weight Collection: The Mojave Road Guide by Dennis G. Casebier)

On November 8, 1925 Matt Burts and J.W. Robinson shot each other in the cabin pictured above.  As the story goes (according to Dennis Casebier’s book) both men were gunfighters.  Robinson worked for the cattle company and it had placed him at Government Holes.  Burts used to work for the company, but rumor had it he was making bootleg liquor in the desert (it was prohibition at this time).  The story was the cattle company hired Robinson the kill Burts and another man named Bob Hollimon.  The catalyst to the fight was apparently the gossip that was going on in the valley about Burts and Robinson.

November 8 was a Sunday in 1925 and Matt Burts showed up at Government Holes not on a horse but in a Model T Ford.  IN the car with him was Lucinda Riedell and her grandson Harold Fulton.  Inside the cabin pictured above was Robinson.  According to Casebier, Burts yelled up at the cabin that the vehicle needed water.  Robinson then yelled back his “okay”, he then invited Burts inside the cabin while Reidell and Fulton put water in the car.  Reidell reported hearing voices from inside the cabin then what could only be described as an old west firefight.  Both men carried .45 caliber pistols and both men emptied their guns into the other man.  Both died from their injuries

Gunman Matt Burts.
(from the Paul Shonafelt Collection: The Mojave Road Guide by Dennis G. Casebier)

Gravestone of Matt Burts. One of the Government Holes gunmen.

JohnPa showing the how he won the state championship of Windmill Climbing for U of A

Map of Hole in the Wall campsite where we stayed saturday night.

Sundown at Hole in the Wall

We arrived at Hole in the Wall campground near sunset.  They allowed us two Jeeps per campsite and with the average age of the Jeep Expeditions (active) member being over 50, most sites got the senior discount– $3 per camper.  We set up our respective tents then sat around a campfire where Russ set up his MacBook and played videos of the next day’s trails and an episode of “Pimp My Ride” featuring a Grand Wagoneer being destroyed (i.e. PIMPED) by some outfit in LA.  Everyone shared popcorn.  I brought over a bottle of Knob Creek bourbon but no one partook of my gift of booze.

What a Jeep Wagoneer SHOULD look like

NOT(in my opinion) what a Jeep Wagoneer should look like.

Morning moon over Hole in the Wall

The beginning of the Rings Loop Trail

Hole in the Wall

Hole in the Wall. The "holes" are caused by gasses trapped in the lava 18.5 Million years ago.

Hole in the Wall

Teetering boulder at Hole in the Wall

The "rings" of the Ring Loop Trail. You use these to climb up the trail.

Big JohnPa coming up the Rings.

Russ and Ziggy climbing the first part of the Rings Loop Trail.

The last part of the Rings Trail. Vertical! Thank goodness I wore my Ropers! Perfect for climbing metal rings and slippery rocks.

Me helping the ever-energetic Dash up the vertical rings

Dash coming up from the last bit of the Rings Loop Trail at Hole in the Wall.

Mesa

Mesa behind Hole in the Wall

Most of us bugged out at Lanfair at 3:00 and headed into Goffs to make our way home. It was going to be a long drive back home with another 2 hours left to get to Ft Mojave.

It was a great trip–especially for my first one with the group.  Our next trip is Canyon de Chelly.  K will be coming with me on that one.

The Mojave Road: March 9-11, 2012 PART ONE

The trip began with a wonderful little hike before I even got on the road.

1:30pm Friday, March 8, 2012

I’m a member of Jeep Expeditions.  The group had scheduled a trip across the Mojave National Preserve for March 9-11.  I was excited to go since it would be my first trip with the group.  Over the past week I prepped the Jeep by taking it to the mechanic for service then busting out the camping gear and loading it up into the Jeep.

On Friday I packed up my food, but I needed to get some stuff for the cooler (snacks and fruit).  I parked at the Safeway and immediately became preoccupied with some of the electronics in the Jeep.  I picked up my items: 4 organic bananas, 3 Fuji apples, and a six-pack of Boost Protein drink.  Then I couldn’t find my keys.  They were, of course, in the ignition.  I called Brent (my friend who was coming down to watch the dogs and house–Kerry was in El Paso with her family for Hammy’s 90th birthday–HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAMMY!!), but he was still on I-40E heading to I-17S.  I had to walk home.  Thank goodness I had on the perfect shoes for any job.

After my post-shopping hike, I went to a neighbor who has a key to the house.  I got inside, grabbed Kerry’s set of Jeep keys and asked the same neighbor to drive me back to the store.  Thank God for good neighbors!!

I got back into the Jeep, and then filled up my tank and two jerry cans with gas.  I drove back to the house, and finished loading up. The ETD of 12:30pm was now 3:00pm.

After hooking up my old iPod to the Jeep’s radio I selected my tunes for the weekend–a compilation of:

• Johnny Cash
• Old Crow Medicine Show
• Don Williams
• Hank Williams
• The Dixie Chicks
• Lyle Lovett
• Alison Kraus and Robert Plant

Barstow, here I come!

(stopped and filled up with gas at Chiriaco Summit–home of the General Patton Museum–at $4.55 a gallon)

Barstow, here I am!

How much for a room at the Holiday Inn Express?  Proud of your motels aren’t ya???  (Well, I actually had booked a slightly cheaper one via Travelocity, but I made the mistake of not checking how far Palmdale is from Barstow.  I called Travelocity and asked to change the reservation, but they refused and told me if I did I would forfeit the pre-paid hotel charge for the Palmdale hotel.  Anyway, I missed my exit and the next one was 40 miles away.  I was already so close to Barstow that I just decided to go on into town.)

6:00am Saturday, March 9, 2012

 After a semi-restful sleep, I got up, cleaned up and got back into the Jeep to drive to the Afton Canyon Campground to meet up with the rest of the group.

Afton Canyon Campground

I stopped to get gas at an ARCO just off the freeway.  Our trip leader happened to be filling up there as well.  I took off for the campground while he went to Jack in the Box to secure some breakfast.  I dined on one of the wonderful Boost Protein Drinks. At the campsite I met the other Jeep Expeditions members going across the Mojave Desert.  Most were traveling alone in their Jeeps like me, while a few brought along family members… human and canine.  The canine comrades were:  a one-eyed Miniature Pinscher named Ziggy, a 6 year old Pug named Gypsy Rose, and a 14month old I can only describe as a mix of greyhound, lab and Weinaramer named Dash.  Dash is an appropriate name! After a briefing of the team where everyone (except me) aired down their tires for better traction on the soft sand and a smoother ride across the washboards, we set off.  A line of majestic Jeeps rolled out into the Mojave Desert.  We drove out of Afton Campground and followed the railroad tracks to the Mojave Road.  Not more than five minutes into the trip, a train roared past us in the opposite direction.  I’ve never traveled parallel to a train in the opposite direction a car length away from the tracks.  It’s an interesting experience. Not long after getting on the Mojave Road, we parked under a railroad bridge for a photo opportunity. After the brief photo op, we climbed back into our Jeeps and drove toward the Limestone Mine and Soda Dry Lake.

The soft sand of the Mojave Road.

Trail into the Limestone Mine.

Ziggy

Trail into the Limestone Mine.

The group exploring the Limestone Mine

man-made wall at the limestone mine

Limestone Mine

Here comes Soda Dry Lake:

Back on the trail and away we go to Soda Dry Lake.  Near the north part of the lake is the Desert Studies Center.  It is an interesting story how the Desert Studies Center began as a Health Spa, and before that it was originally a “mining claim”.  The route across the lake is very focused and you aren’t allowed to stray off the path.  If you do, chances are you will get stuck…

Off to Soda Dry Lake

Following the trail.

A happy Jeep Owner

Heading across Soda Dry Lake

Soda Dry Lake

Ziggy at the Soda Dry Lake Traveler's Monument

The Jeeps

The 2004 Rubicon

The Traveler's Monument in the middle of Soda Dry Lake. The tradition is to leave a rock at the monument each time you pass the monument. There's a plaque there as well, but it's a secret--you have to go to find out what it says.

Next Stop:  The Cinder Cones and Lava TubeAfter we left our tribute at the traveler’s monument at Soda Dry Lake, we made our way across some rough roads and washboard trails towards the Cinder Cones and Lava Tube where we stopped for lunch.  At Kelbaker Road two members took off north to Baker to fill up with gas.  The rest of us went off to the Cinder Cones and Lava Tubes.

Cinder Cones in Mojave National Preserve

It's like the lava flow hit a barrier and stopped.

An sediment layer between eruptions

The notch at the top is a lava mine.

Trail up to Lava Tubes

Inside Lava Tube

Inside Lava Tube

Inside Lava Tube

To be continued…

Yawn…

Had a midterm today in Web Development. Hope I did well because I was the first one done. It took me all of 10 minutes to finish. Confidence has now been crowded out of my little elevator-like brain and replaced by doubt.

Got home and began packing for my trip along the Kit Carson Trail aka, the Mojave Road. Should be fun. A little camping, a bunch of four-wheelin then home. The Mrs. has gone to El Paso for her grandmother’s birthday.

After the midterm I came home, and
I packed up the Jeep with some camping essentials; a tent, a sleeping bag, an Oracle Database management book, and so on, then I sat down for a yummy frozen supper. I took the Jeep to my mechanic on Wednesday for a once-over before going off road. Everything checked out? I even finished installing the quick-release front sway-bar disconnects.

I’m beat. I’m taking advantage of the king-size bed, which I have ALL TO MYSELF, by going diagonal!! I’ll try to post some pics from the trail!