Up & Over Montezuma Pass

One of my first trips I took was up and over Montezuma Pass. I had a vague idea where I was going, so I grabbed the camera but left the hounds home on this trip since I was going to make a couple of stops. They enjoyed the air conditioning sleeping the day away while I went out on an adventure.

My first stop was at the visitor center. For some odd reason I didn't take a picture of it outside nor when I was inside. I was too early and had to wait about 20 minutes before they opened it.

This was the start of my drive over the pass.

As I was inside reading all of the history I glanced out the window facing the back of the center and had someone staring at me. Of course the hounds would not have been in the building if they had come but I am sure Stella would have been howling from the 4Runner in the parking lot as she picked up the scent of any size of deer. Instead she was stretched out in the house sleeping in the cold air conditioning ... no deer around.

The road going up was not nearly as narrow as the one I drove after this trip but blogged about the other day on Car Canyon Road. There was plenty of room to stop and take photos of my progress. I took all of these photos with different cameras ... the iPhone, Cannon G9X and the Nikon D3200. I don't remember which camera took what photo.

Sorry for the dirty windshield.

It was quiet and peaceful at the top of the pass. That didn't last long when a car pulled into the lot, slightly speeding. I thought some Sunday morning alcohol might be involved but it turned out to be two loud young kids, a couple of small yapping dogs and an adult that looked like he was the one that needed adult supervision. Maybe alcohol was involved?

Do you know sometimes how you have a gut feeling that you need to leave ... that was me. I left sooner than I wanted or planned but I wanted to get as far ahead of this group as I could. I could sense potential trouble going down the western side of the Montezuma Pass and I didn't want to be involved.

It was beautiful up there as I looked down through the valley towards Mexico, many miles away. All I could think of during the last part of the drive, if this is the place the illegal immigrants want to cross the border ... I could not see anyway they would survive. It was extremely hot and it wasn't even 12 noon yet and there was no way they could carry enough water to keep hydrated. The two 32oz containers of water I brought with me, were going fast as I drove with the windows down enjoying the environment.

With many miles of land to cover for surveillance, the tall tower of cameras and other monitoring equipment was not a surprise to me at that location.

Do you see what I mean when I say no one could carry enough water with them to survive this kind of terrain on a 94° day. I did see warning signs along the way of possible illegal immigrant crossing, telling me not to pick up any hitchikers and beware of any possible unlawful activity. During that stretch of road on the downward side of the pass I met three different border patrol trucks on the way going in the opposite direction than I was. With that many trucks I assumed I was traveling through a popular place to cross the border.

As I came up on one of the healthiest cows I had seen, I couldn't believe she/he was out here finding enough food to eat. Just as I was about to pass him across a dry river bed I glanced to my right and there stood a herd of 10-12 more cows standing under a big shade tree.

I am not sure how many miles I had driven nor how long ... but when I glanced in my rear view mirror the dust is flying from a high speed vehicle. Guess who was coming up behind me? I had a large lead on them, many miles head start when I left the top of the mountain pass.

I pulled off to the side of the road to give them plenty of room to get by me. Speed limit was 25-30 mph through this flat land ... I'm guessing they were doing around 60mph. It would not be the last time I would see them though.

I still had some hills and tight turns to go down before the paved road showed up. The speed limit sign's had dropped to 10-15 mph, warnings to not use your breaks but to shift to a lower gear. That meant nothing to the idiot that passed me with a car load of kids and two dogs. It was really steep in some spots with hairpin switchbacks going down into Parker Canyon. They rode their brakes every step of the way ... never let off of them ... brake lights on bright red for miles and miles and miles.

With my window rolled down all through this trip ... yes I even drive around town in the middle of the day with the windows down or when I go to Bisbee ... I like the heat. Anyway, with my windows rolled down I could smell the fresh burning smell of their hot brake pads. Luckily I didn't see anything bad happen to them or the car.

With no plans on the agenda to see Parker Canyon Lake I made the right turn instead and headed to Sonoita to pick up Hwy 82 back to Sierra Vista. I still had some miles to go to get home, the lake would have to wait for another day trip.

Hwy 82 is a nice highway to travel. Plenty of southwestern scenery and little traffic. I noticed as I drove back to Hwy 90 this drive kind of filled the urge I have at times to drive cross country. It wasn't like driving the two lane highways back in southern Indiana ... this felt more like I was out in the west, miles from nowhere as if I was driving cross-country. It was great. Yes ... the windows still down.

When I returned of course the hounds were excited to see me. Probably not so much that I was home but "there's that guy that feeds us food" as they were more than ready for the lunch ... that was past due.

As I drove through this countryside, seeing the mountains on the horizon, I knew I had chose the best part of the USA to move to. I love this type of country, the mountains within view and high heat most of the time during the summer. Don't worry, I did enough research on different potential places to live on Climate Data to know it will be nicer winter weather than what the hounds and I are use to. It will still get cold at night in the winters.

It's a cool 87° right now as I write this. I need to pick up some medical supplies as Barney suggested in his comments last night on yesterday's blog post. Then I have a couple of places today that I want to check out and will find out later if they are blog worthy in the next few days.

The hounds are in dreamland for the rest of the afternoon. I guess this post will have a little past and present tense. I'm not going to go back to correct things to make it sound like I've written this last part at the end of the day.  LOL

Life is better than good here in the Wild West.

Our First Tarantula Sighting

Normal routine this morning at "oh dark thirty" when I hear a bloodhound whining so slightly I can't believe it woke me up. The longer I lay there making a decision to get up or not, the whining gets a little louder each time because she has seen me move. If my wrist moves the Apple Watch will light up ... Stella then knows that her first food of the day is just minutes away. That is all she wants, food.

I was happy she woke me up this morning because I was able to see soon after letting the hounds outside this amazing sunrise. I went back in the house to grab the Canon G97 and hoped to capture what my eyes were seeing. To wake up and see things like this happening every morning is pretty amazing and a great way to start the day.

If I lean forward or look around the corner of my patio wall ... I see the sun rising in the east. I wish that tree was not there.

I decided this morning since there would not be a school bus pulling into the neighborhood by 6:15am, that I'd have a cup of coffee this morning before Stella and I would take off for our daily walk just after sunrise. Remember those times where Sadie use to whine if we were not walking by what time ??? 8:00am ??? I don't think there is anyway I can sleep that late living here.

As the fog started to clear from the brain cells as the caffeine of SE Arizona's Arbuckle's coffee hitting all circuits, I could see my plan of the day taking form. I've been searching for just the right coffee lately as I have tired of Starbuck's and Seattle's Best Coffee. So I have a few different blends/companies to choose from in the cabinet. I'll not throw any of it out in the trash but I have checked off a few from my next coffee shopping list. It is almost easier anymore to order stuff from Amazon than making a trip to the store.

By late this afternoon the temps had warmed up and climbed out of the 70's. The hounds and I had a pretty uneventful day but at least I was able to buy groceries this morning and had them unloaded and put away by 7:30am. The only bad thing was, I needed a couple of non-food things from Walmart that Fry's Market would not have ... so I thought I'd make one trip for that and for groceries.

Bad choice.

I have a cart full of groceries, 30 million cashier lanes available, and the only lights turned on to let me know which lanes were open ... were the "self checking" lanes. I could feel my pulse rate increase just a little but it almost went off the charts as I moved through my stack of groceries ... scanning and bagging them. I guess all young cashier "monitors" see white or gray hair and instantly think we are all computer illiterates. When I heard the question "Are we doing okay" ... I tried my best to keep my mouth shut ... but you know me.

With 30 million cashier lanes available and all closed what else was I suppose to do?

I blurted out "you know if I wanted to be a (*##$^@&*@ cashier I would get a (*##$^@&*@ job !!!!" I guess she figured out I WAS doing okay checking out my groceries because she walked away. So the next time I will go BACK to Fry's Market and buy groceries in the early morning hours and then have the fastest checkout cashiers in the world (from my experience) scan and bag my groceries. I'll not have to do anything but load the moving counter and slide my debit card in the reader to pay. Plus they give you a discount on gas for the car based on how much I spend.  :)

The efforts to change policy about the new couch are still going strong. Heidi and Stella will not give up their vigilant efforts to get me to change my mind and let them on the couch or small loveseat. I did not measure the old leather couch before I moved so I am not sure but by the looks of the new couch as I sit in the middle ... it does not look as long as the old leather couch I use to share with the hounds since 2003. There is enough room for them ... barely.

When Stella begs for anything ranging from wanting my food, more of her food, cookies, candy, pizza crust, dog treats, ice cream, steak, chicken, .... ah ... you get the picture ... she almost closes her eyes and looks downward with a feeling of rejection. Still ... the policy is not going to change on this. I am looking at some options since friends I text hound photos to are making a lot of suggestions ... they think I am cruel. All ladies from our college years and all have dogs ... small dogs ... like 4 lb dogs. HUGE difference between a 4 lb dog living on a couch and a 85 lb dog living on the couch with a 45 lb roommate.

While I have been watching Reds baseball games usually between 4:10pm - 7:??pm almost every day ... I like to step out on the patio between innings and check out that crazy sky again. Sometimes I take more photos and depending on what is going in the game (Reds losing), I will pull up that ugly chair and sit outside and enjoy the sundown and the mountain views.

After their failed attempt last night to get me to change my mind, I walked back inside from one of those patio trips between innings and they had decided 71° with blowing wind coming through the open windows in the house was too cold for them. It was the first time I've seen them sleep side by side out here. You will notice the iPhone camera took a much more accurate picture of the rug compared to the bright colors the Canon G9X took the other day.

Yes our first tarantula.

With a big mystery. I saw it off to the right of the patio if I am looking out toward the fence. It's the area that Heidi usually pees in so I was happy I had checked the yard like I always do before letting the hounds out. I saw two strange things though when I keep staring at it from the patio. It wasn't moving and what was that strange black thing next to it ????

I slowly tiptoe'd toward it ... it didn't respond. I dropped a few of those small rocks on top of it and it broke apart as if were nothing but dust !!! Then I started looking at that small black stuff. It was something I had never seen in my house, my trash, or the yard. I have no idea where it came from. It looked like a black rubber chain of some sort.

Any ideas what would kill a tarantula ??  Where did that small black plastic/rubber chain come from?

Since I am basically obsessed with the sky that I can look at from the patio or the kitchen windows and the bedroom window, I thought I'd show you some of the different changes I witness from day to day. Some of these were taken before I returned to blogging. I am not sure if Blogger loaded them into any specific order. I really find it interesting to see all the different changes. I am positive these same type of changes occurred back in 'the tropics' but for some reason they were just not as dominant.

There is nothing like a wide open western sky.

With the weather forecast showing the rain has passed through, I have almost a week of sunny weather ahead this week. There will be a very good chance I'll be doing some local road trips this week after I return from my morning bike rides. I have a few trails I would like to hike also. It will be my first attempt at hiking in this area. I'll be sure take plenty of water with me if nothing else.

As I put this post together the hounds are in their normal blog writing positions ... Heidi sleeping in the corner of the room and Stella is sleeping pressed up behind my chair so I cannot slide it away from the desk. I can't move 85 lbs of dead weight, even one that snores a little.

It was a beautiful day here in the Wild West.

Plans Changed On Saturday

Once again this morning as we got up it looked like rain was just minutes away. Would Stella get her daily walk in? What about my bike ride? I decided to let time move a little, fed the hounds breakfast and fixed some coffee to see what was going to happen. By the first cup of Volcanic Red Deep Roast Stella and I decided to take off for her daily walk under dark gray skies and some wind.

By the time we got back 17 minutes later things had not changed much. For once the daily forecast was showing possible thunderstorms early in the morning instead of late afternoon or this evening ... not really ... early morning, all afternoon and tonight is the prediction for rain. Yet it's was cool enough to open the windows, slide the blinds over and enjoy some fresh air all day.

Stella decided the best thing to do in all of this bad weather was to sleep as close as she could to my desk chair so I could not sit down or if I did squeeze into my seat I could not get out. I saw a little white dried bloodhound drool on the chair after I downloaded the photo so it's time for me to walk around the house looking for dried drool spots to clean off the walls IF there are any. There will be.

Heidi didn't want to sleep, didn't want to take a walk, didn't want to go outside ... she just wanted to roam inside today. I saw an open space of sunshine in the late morning and took off on my mountain bike for a short 12-13 mile spin around town, using the bike path most of the way. I knew there was a chance I might get rained on but all the heavy rain looked like it was south of us in the mountains. I'd head north toward town.

I was almost the the Sun & Spokes bike shop when the rain came out of nowhere and drenched me before I could ride the three blocks to get inside. I stayed inside there until the rain lightened up and then headed out in light rain for my 30 minute ride home. I was already soaked and knew I was going to get wet again ... plus with all the rain a lot of the streets were flooding along the sides and the intersections.

When I have this much water puddled around the ugliest chair in the world, I know it rained a lot while I was gone. It was time for lunch for the hounds and I. For some reason I had the urge to eat something healthy besides a cheeseburger and fries so I postponed my trip to the diner south of me on Hwy 92, then ate at home.

As the afternoon progressed, the hounds slept, moved from spot to spot to sleep even more and then finally got up for a little aerobic exercise inside.

Stella came out off a deep sleep when she heard me in the kitchen. She was licking her lips and there wasn't any kind of food involved, maybe in her mind but not in reality. I was just pouring me a glass of cold water.

Heidi itched her eyes and ears on each side ... did a few 360° spins that my camera could not catch, barked a few times ... then laid down. That is usually the extent of her exercising everyday. She does do sprints around the house but that is usually late morning after I get back from bike riding.

I bought that rug to add a little color to a room with walls and ceiling painted the same color in a nice light tan. I like the colors they chose. One color throughout the house, neutral enough that I could add whatever color I wanted, where I wanted.

Remember while she is doing all of that movement she is growling to herself and just finished barking in the photo below.

Even before the couch was delivered, this was one of Stella's favorite sleeping spots. It still is since she has figured out she is not allowed on the couch.

When I see Heidi walking this way toward her dog bed in the bedroom I know she is calling it a day ... she is still on Eastern Daylight Savings Time. Stella and I are on Arizona Standard Time.

Getting close to the Reds game and it looks like more rain here. Hopefully it is not raining in Cincinnati Ohio.

No sounds of thunder today, and the closest lightning strike was over 60 miles away based on WeatherBug. Stella decided to do an afternoon inspection of the backyard.

I could stand on my patio for hours and hours and take a million photos of the skies from the Mule Mountains all the way over to the Coronado NP. The skies are always changing. Yet there is one thing that I have never seen in the short time I have lived here ... passenger jets in the sky above me.

After some deep thinking, Stella decided there was nothing else to do but go inside. She will follow me to whatever room I sit in and lay down and sleep near me. I still need to do a post on her separation anxiety that increased a little during our move. That is a post in itself with all the stories I will tell and 'some' photos, not all.

It really was a nice day in the Wild West. I hear it's Pirate Weekend down in Bisbee.