Brown Canyon Ranch House Tour

With the afternoon clear of any potential rain (just as I typed that I hear it raining at 1:36pm) I left for the ranch soon after feeding the hounds and arrived 11:15am ... with no one else there, just the way I like it. It was just as beautiful going out to the house driving as it was yesterday riding my mountain bike.

For those with slow internet speed ... I apologize. For me to show everything at the house there are 61 photos loading in this post. For those that signed up to follow this blog by email .. I apologize. I have been publishing old posts that I transferred from the WordPress blog and I am pretty sure you are getting an email each time I publish the edited post. There are over a 1,000 of them where I have to resize every photo so they fit on this template. Not sure when that transfer project will be finished, so bear with me on all the extra emails for those I publish.

I thought I could find a dirt road to get me closer to the aerostat. There is a way to do that but cameras are not allowed and if they see a parked car just looking at it, they will assume you are taking photos of it ... so I kept my distance.

You can see the house up ahead. The whole time I rode there yesterday down that mile of gravel/dirt road I kept thinking to myself "this would be the place to live" ... I thought the same thing today sitting on the front porch after I was finished with my self-tour.

Here is a little background on the previous owners to get us started.

 

One of the articles on the history of the ranch says this was once a bunk house.

I'll let the pictures tell the story.

I went counter-clockwise around the property.

I counted three different marked hiking trails from the property. I'll be back this fall when the temps are cooler. Dogs are allowed so the hounds might be in for a surprise.

I kept wondering if the house is over a 100 years old, is the metal roof the original?

A gate leading into the small fenced backyard.

 

Not sure what this structure was or what it was used for ... at least the "Good Luck" horseshoe was still there.

I did not have to use the door in the back porch like the instructions stated. I walked in right where the sign was. None of the floors I walked on were rotting but did move a little in certain places.

Now that is what you call an iron ... what a design!

The only bedroom. Where did all the kids sleep?

Yes, for picture purposes I took the sign off the seat telling me and others not to sit in the chair. I laid the sign back where it was after the picture was taken.

One of the previous owners like to invite friends out for dancing. This living room was as large as the photo shows, perfect size for a dance hall. Notice where two large rugs once were.

 

I assume that some of the renovation was staining the ceiling throughout the house. Maybe not.

From my seat on the front porch not only had a great view but a nice breeze. I could have sat there for the rest of the day. The only sound I heard was one fly ... otherwise, complete silence.

The inside of the porch roof taken from my bench seat. I guess I have my answer about the original roof.

I'd like to have some of this cactus in my yard but I'm not sure if Stella or Heidi would care for it. As you know they are curious animals and have to smell or sniff everything.

After the mile drive back to the paved road, this 1955 Chevy pulled out in front of me. How do I know it's a 1955? The license plate told me.  :)

Turning left on Ramsey Canyon Rd.

That rain I heard only last a few minutes but hard enough to have a lot of water flowing down the street. The hounds have slept through it and since my Reds game isn't on until 4:10pm local time, I have time to post this .. then get back to my new book on Kindle by Chinle Miller called The Cessna Cafe ... her 10th book in the Bud Shumway series. I forget which book it was, two or three back that mentioned this crazy guy from Indiana living in an RV that had a bloodhound and basset hound. We are still waiting on our royalty check.  (that's a joke Chinle)  LOL. Type her name in the Amazon search and you'll find all the books she has written.

Are the days in retirement just as laid back in the Wild West as they were in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana??

They sure are ... minus the bugs and humidity. 

Transferring those old posts from the Wordpress blog brings back a lot of good memories as I resize every photo and see all the past hounds. Nice green trees, grass .. but those photos of ice and snow shakes me back to reality. 

Another fine day in the Wild West.

Brown Canyon Ranch House

I did not intend to ride out to the Brown Canyon Ranch House but I did want to ride up the slight incline that goes forever. Plus I wanted to ride my mountain bike today instead of the road bike and get some other climbing in. I also planned to ride on some dirt/gravel roads. This bike path not only goes 7 miles out of town but all around the town and through the town. Over 30 miles of devoted bike paths wide enough for two way traffic or enough room for walkers and bikers.

This is to the right of the path, so when I am tired or panting for air at high altitude, just glancing around at the scenery helps distract me from any pain I might be feeling. By the time I got to my destination and was about to turn around and enjoy the high speeds on the highway during the slight downhill for over a mile ... A sign said "Brown Canyon Ranch House .. 1 mile". There I went.

You can see this road up ahead but off to the right is the Aerostate, anchored to it's parking spot. I had no idea that is where they anchored the Aerostat. I have mentioned that on some of my Facebook photos showing the mountains after sunrise.

It is the "eyes and ears" for border patrol. I was told by someone that worked on it in the past it can focus in "on an eyelash on I-10" if it has to. This is what it looks like when I see it from my patio.

This road was a good experience. One mile of lose gravel, sand, and some sharp rocks to steer around, plus one really steep hill. The house is up around the corner to the left. Off the top of my head I do not remember the history of it but I will return in my car later on so I can take the tour inside and take photos of it. No time to look up the history ... my Reds game started 7 minutes ago.

I took this photo of my bike for the local bicycle group that posts photos on Instagram and Facebook.

Today I got in 24 miles of riding with 2 miles of that on the gravel / dirt road. Strava app told me I climbed over 1,026 feet worth of hills and at one time was over 5,600 ft elevation ... no wonder I couldn't find any air to breath.

Back home it was time for lunch, the hounds lunch, some book reading and then a short siesta ... Stella jumped up from the floor during our siesta when she heard the loud thunder for our daily afternoon rain. Quite a contrast in skies from the sunny morning and late afternoon.

Another find day here in the Wild West.