OK, I GOT IT UP, NOW WHAT

Those of you who follow this blog probably know a little bit about us and what we enjoy doing.  One thing that raised some eyebrows and questions was, what was I going to do with a windmill.  Well, today I got it up.  What did you think I was talking about?

Anyway this project started in November of 09, and finally it's complete.  You can read two previous posts.  HERE'S where it started and here's an UPDATE.  The motor was completely rebuilt, a location to mount it was prepared and after all this time it's finally spinning in front of the house.  I know, I know, everyone wants to know what's it gonna do.  Pump water, make electricity. No it's just going to go around and I'm going to watch it.  It's positioned so I can see it from my chair in the living room, from my office, and the front yard.  We also took into consideration the neighbors so they too can enjoy it.

It took three lifts with a crane to get it into position.  One to lift it onto the trailer, it's use donated my neighbor Willie, one to take it off the trailer and the final lift to set it in place.  Once it was bolted down to the footings, Son Eric volunteered to climb the tower and fill the motor with oil.  If you thought I was going up there, you must be crazy. There's only one of me, I've got extra kids.  So with everything in place, I released the brake and.......nothing, no wind.

In due time is was spinning happily around and I finally got to sit and watch it do it's thing.  Everyone is welcome to stop by and watch too.

FIRST LIFT ONTO THE TRAILER

LOTS OF HELP

ON THE WAY

DO I LOOK EXCITED?

SECOND LIFT

THIRD LIFT

UP AND OVER THE FENCE, WOW!

IT'S IN POSTION

ERIC ON THE TOWER

PUTTIN IN THE OIL

NOW IS THAT SWEET, OR WHAT?

A DIFFERENT KIND OF CAMPING

After two weeks of exploration, it was time to head to the barn.  We took a drive through Monument Valley on our way to Flagstaff, our last stop on this adventure.

We opted to camp in a more upscale location and picked this really nice B&B.  On the Internet the Conifer House looked good, so we decided to take a chance.  This was by far one of the best B&B's we've ever stayed in.  Our hostess Lauren's attention to detail was evident in our room.  It was like a 5 star hotel, with fireplace and Jacuzzi and one of the most comfortable bed we've ever slept in.  No sand in these sheets.

THE CHELSEA GARDEN ROOM

OUR CAMPFIRE

EVEN FLOWER STICKERS ON THE T.P.

A GREAT WAY TO END A TRIP

Here is a short 2 minute slide show of our trip.

THE COMB RIDGE TRIANGLE

There's something about this area.  Like the Bermuda Triangle, bad things happen here.  Well, maybe not that bad, but I suppose it depends of if it's happening to you.

Two years ago when we were here, we came across a couple who's pickup truck had broken down.  With no cell phone coverage and 30 miles to the nearest town, it's not the best place to have car trouble.  We did our good deed and gave them a ride to town.  On this trip, in the same general vicinity, we came across a family with the hood up on their car.  Out of gas, we gave them our two gallons that we happen to be carrying and followed them to town just to make sure they made it.  If that's not weird enough, the very next day we met Bret and his wife Tammy.

While exploring a canyon and its ruins, we came across Bret and Tammy doing the same.  As we were looking at the same ruin, we exchanged info on each other's discoveries.  The ruin we were exploring had a very deep and dark cave behind the crumbling wall.

DEEP AND DARK CAVE

Bret climbed down into the darkness with me following some distance behind.  When it got to the point where I couldn't see where I was going, I stopped.  Bret didn't.  I heard  him fall, so I asked if he was alright.  After a pause, he said he was OK but had dropped his camera.  I waited for a while and he said he was still searching for his lens cap.  I figured he would be ok, so we headed up canyon to the next ruin.  Not being able to get into the next ruin, we turned around and started back towards the trialhead.  As we passed the cave ruin, I looked up and there was Bret and Tammy just coming out of the ruin.  Bret yelled something about hurting his knee. It looked like he was having trouble walking, so I took Cathie's walking stick  and climbed up to give it to him.  He had his knee wrapped in a couple of bloody handkerchiefs, but Tammy had the presence of mind to snap this photo before stemming the blood flow.

THE KNEE

We opted to stick with Bret and Tammy, to make sure they made it back to their car.  After about a 45 minute stroll, with Bret limping along, we made it to the trail head.  Due to this area being in the Comb Ridge Triangle, I was really concerned about their car starting, but our luck held and they were shortly on the way to the local hospital.

BRET ON THE WAY OUT

THE FINISHED PRODUCT

I've been wondering why all these things keep happening.  Do bad things come in threes?  Could it be a coincidence? Is there really a Comb Ridge Triangle?  Perhaps it's the Anasazi gods.  All I know is I'm glad we're on our way home.

THE CITADEL

After breakfast Mike and Nancy headed home while Cathie and I headed out for some more exploring.  We didn't get far as the weather started changing.  It wasn't long before we started getting snow flurries, so we spent the day mostly in the car.

The next day, the sky was clear and the air crisp so we decided to look for "The Citadel", a ruin on Cedar Mesa.  After getting hiking directions from a BLM ranger, we drove to the trail head.  After an easy 1 hour hike along a canyon rim, we arrived at the Citadel.

ALONG THE RIM

THE CITADEL

Looks pretty scary, doesn't it?  Well, what you see in the photo is not the worst of it.  Where the photo was taken is about 300 feet above the narrow peninsula.  You must down climb a veeeeery steep rock face just to reach the peninsula, but in order to down climb, you had to go around this obstacle.

THE OBSTACLE

This is the point were we chickened out.  To get around this pointed rock you had to walk, or crawl along the cliff on this 18 inch wide ledge with an exposure to a fall to the canyon bottom.  We opted to live a little longer.

So the day wouldn't be a total failure, we headed to another area and hiked to a series of ruins.  This one a portion of the roof system was well preserved.

On the way back to Bluff, we decided to take a short cut along the west side of Comb Ridge.  Not too many people have been using this road lately as it was blocked by large piles to tumbleweeds, sometimes piled higher than the car.  Not wanting to go back, we just plowed through.



TUMBLEWEEDS

IS THIS GOOD FOR THE PAINT JOB?

COMB RIDGE

ANASAZI RUINS OF COMB RIDGE

South of Moab in the southeastern corner of the state is a large area where there is a concentration of Anasazi Ruins.  These ruins vary is size, condition and ease of access. Two years ago, we explored some of these ruins, but only scratched the surface.  On this trip we scratched a little more.  Mike, having remembered a photo of House on Fire posted on the blog at the time, said he wanted to see it for himself. 

So en route to our next base in Bluff, we made a slight detour and took the short hike to the ruin. 

HOUSE ON FIRE



Because it is easy to get to this ruin, it is one of the most photographed in the area.  From the trailhead, it's less that a mile on a good trail.  On this visit we noticed some pictographs that we hadn't seen before.

After arriving in Bluff, it was time to start roughing it again, so we found a campsite in town and set up the tents. I'm not sure what the attraction to sleeping in a tent is, but our next two nights showed us what the attraction is to sleeping in a motel. The first night was close to freezing and pretty miserable until Cathie allowed me to spoon. The second night was much warmer, but the wind blew so bad that all the sand on the outside of the tent ended up on the inside.

THE CAMP COOK



The day in between was beautiful and was spent exploring the Comb Ridge.  From the east side there is a dirt road that allows access to many of the Anasazi ruins hidden within it's canyons.  We selected two to visit.  The first, called "Fish Mouth Cave" was a 30 minute walk from the road into the canyon.

THERE'S A RUIN IN THE FISH MOUTH CAVE

THE CLIMB UP

THIS COULD BE BETTER THAN THE TENT

CORN COBS

The ruins we saw were in various states of repair.  Some just a small portion of the walls remain.  This one is pretty typical of one in good shape.  Many fall down over time due to the weather, but many are destroyed by vandals or people looking for artifacts.  The small building on the right appears to be on oven.  It is built with earth and not the stone of the main building.  The black on the ceiling is soot from years of fires.  Most of these sites were occupied anywhere from 900 to 1300 years ago.

Our next stop was Monarch Ruin, again a short 30 minute from the road.  This ruin was really impressive, but due to it's steep access with an exposure on a cliff, we elected to view it from a distance.  Even where we were able to walk, there was evidence of old buildings and human activity.  Lots of pictographs and petroglyphs on the cliff face.

MONARCH RUIN

I should have put  my hand up next to these hand prints because they are really small.  The large prints are about the size of a 10 or 12 year old child.  There we many hand prints at this site.

After 1-1/2 weeks experiencing Gassaways Adventures, Mike and Nancy decided to head for the barn, while Cathie and I headed for the nearest motel.  There as still a couple of places to explore around here, so the adventure continues.