I end up taking too many pictures today. I think soon I will try my hands on a video camera… I just feel bad for the readers that are still on Dial Up… don’t laugh… I was on Dial Up for 16 months in Georgia… great country living they say… I truly was not going anywhere today, I did not even take the rig off the trailer this morning as there was not much sense to that. It had been raining all night and this morning the clouds were still around with a heavy fog. I had thought about leaving for Tucson a day early, trying to find another place to spend the night, but with only 80 miles to go, I can still leave at 7am and make it through by 9 or so! Dwayne is working alone at SouthWest Moto anyhow… he already promised me that it will be an all day affair to mount those tires. And that is okay with me, I have plenty of errands to do… refill the old man’s prescriptions… that would be me… find a hardware store and buy some material to hang a couple shelves in the camper to liberate more space for more indoor cooking… always more and more! Ah!… my 4 Hellas are out!… 2 have been for a while, I think I pinched a wire when I put the tank back on after having my Ohlins redone the last time before I left… now… the other 2 are out leaving me only with my regular headlight and the 2 PIIA’s on the car… and you thought I had too many headlights! So Spirit and I go for a walk… my only mode of transportation this morning… Quiet town, we might be on the bad end of it, even though the Park here is very nice… the cleanest park I yet have to see… pleasant people… but my camper still looks minuscule next to the giant RV’s hovering around… It has not given me a complex yet… have not had any strange looks… but if I stayed too long I get I would!… The manager actually told me that it was the… I cannot use that word… “nicest”, I will translate, “little” camper he has ever seen… maybe he said that to make me feel better… since we are both sailors… he did give me a discount even thought I do not belong to any group or club… he probably figured that I am only using one 5th of the space of the other residents here! So we went for a walk, I would say we walked a mile each way, clouds in the sky but no rain. We stopped at a gas station as the cashier came out when she saw us. They have little Air Force jackets for kids, with the patches and all and I might buy one for Spirit tomorrow before we leave, that is since I cannot find a doggie coat for him anywhere! The train passes again. I did not tell you that we have many trains passing by, at least one every hour, going fast and sounding their horn, loud! I am already used to it… it is kind of nice as the one in Sanderson on the way to Big Bend, that one was only a few feet away! We found the tracks on the way back, a little detour in the mud, and I started fooling around with the camera and the tracks… I am trying to be artistic now!… but I am sure not unique… keeps my mind busy to figure out many ways to take pictures. Today I did take too many pictures and this Blog will have two parts! Sorry… you will have to come back to see the rest… But of course I am not done yet! We are back… catching up on some E Mail, Internet stuff as we have a great connection here… it is amazing the number of Internet connections available, better than cell phone I think! The hard part will be when in the middle of nowhere trying to post these Blogs. I am already thinking about buying my own antenna, a resident in Big Bend had one and gave me a demonstration, nothing to it… would be able to broadcast anytime and anywhere… It is then time for a nap, a light lunch… not for long as through the roof’s porthole suddenly the sun is intense and wakes me up… It is only one o’clock, these are my old stumping grounds as I spend 16 weeks here are about two years ago. Wilcox is in the middle of it all. Ft Bowie is 32 miles away, Cochise Stronghold 32 miles, Benson 36 miles, Tombstone 62 miles and I realize that the Chiricahua monument is only 35 miles from here. With this weather there is no way I can sleep. A fresh cup of coffee and for some reason I times myself from start to finish as to how long it will take me to get ready to roll… 15 minutes! Off the trailer… boots on… earplugs… gerbings… and Spirit! The skies have opened up… we are rolling and such a great feeling to ride as yesterday was a no riding day. If, I said “if”… you ever get tired of riding, just park your bike for a day or two… and then go, you will understand what I mean. Easy find is the road to the CM (abbreviation!), we pass the “Buffalo Sisters” store, the one with the skeleton up front… The wind feels great, the bike is purring… I don’t talk too much about Old Faithfull… she has now about 162K on her, I hate to say it… she runs better than ever! Ah! She will get some fresh oil also tomorrow… AMSOIL is what I use… every 3 to 4000 miles… I know, lots of controversy on that subject but I am not ready to change a thing! It works for her, let it be… It is pretty much a straight road, a few curves, sweepers, a left hand turn and there we are with the mountains in front of us.. I know those Mountains like the back of my hand… I lived there for 16 weeks sometimes riding the road going over on a daily bases. Nothing over 40 feet is allowed because of its switchbacks, but overall nothing is too drastic! Impassable right now because of the snow, I thought, after seeing the Park I will try it… figure out how far I can get… bring back some old memories. When I left, 18 months ago, I never thought I would be back so soon… even if it is just for a day… I feel having accomplished a big circle… I don’t know its meaning yet… just a big circle… The Ranger, she, is very friendly at the welcoming booth, the road goes up for eight miles and she warns me about some ice on top the last few miles… nice!… love black ice… as in Big Bend coming down from the Basin one day… avoid at all cost! It all looks so familiar, and yet, there are so many rocks that none are the same… either from the present or past.                              The rest of the story… the views from the top… next Blog. Friday night, from 9pm to 11pm the Blog will be down as TypePad is doing some maintenance… repairs… just thought I would warn you just in case… Till then… will be writing from Tucson… you be all well. Ara & Spirit

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 11th, 2007 at 10:36 pm and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.