THE DOLL HOUSE

 As some of you probably know, I like exploring the Southwest for Indian Ruins.  Oh wait a minute, they are not called Indian Ruins, but Anasazi Dwellings.  Turns out that the term Anasazi means enemy so apparently that term is offensive to the Indians.  So in today's wokeness, we now call them Ancestral Puebloans.  Whatever.  They are old houses where people of long ago and who are now dead used to live.  Don't think they'll be offended.  Anyway, as we have done before, we went looking for these places in Southern Utah around Cedar Mesa and Bears Ears National Monument.  Because there was to be some off-roading involved in finding these places, we hooked up the off road trailer to the 4-Runner and heading out bright and early.

One specific ruin we were interested in has been given the name, Doll House.  I have seen on-line posts about it and a YouTube video or two.  Directions were either non-existence or lacking in any clarity.  All I knew was that it was a long way from pavement on Forest Service Roads going up over 9,000 feet.  Finally by doing more research I found some detailed directions that looked like they would get us there.

We set up camp on Cedar Mesa near Sheik's Canyon, which has it's own ruins.  We attempted to find one called Yellow House, but never did.  We hoped for better luck with the Doll House.

Local Traffic

Camp

First thing the next morning, following my discovered directions and my Gaia Gps on the iPad, we headed out.  The directions I found turned out to be pretty accurate.  We were soon in the dirt, on some pretty well maintained Forest Service roads, climbing up and between the Bears Ears.

Photo taken from camp

Up in the higher elevations, the trees were tall and the grass was green.  A big difference from where we started.  We saw lots of deer and a couple of elk, in addition to amazing views overlooking the Dark Canyon Wilderness.  

It wouldn't be a true adventure if there weren't some hic-ups along the way.  A few days before our arrival, there were strong winds in the area.  It turns out we were the first to travel these roads since the storm.  We encountered two trees that had fallen across the road.  Luckily they had been dead a long time and were light enough for me to move them out of the way.

 

After 26 miles and 2-1/2 hours we arrived and the trail head.  Yes there was some walking involved, down into a canyon to the ruin.  Actually less than 1/2 mile.  Here are the photos.

On The Trail Down

As you can see, this is a very well preserved ruin.  Set deep in an alcove in the cliff face, it has been protected from the elements.  It's distance from pavement also protects it from idiots who unfortunately have a tendency to destroy things.  It its believed that the building was not lived in but used as a grainery to store corn.  It is divided into two rooms, each with their own opening.  The ceiling is in perfect condition as well as the ridge polls supporting the roof.  It is estimated that the structure is between 900 and 1200 years old.  It was great to be able to find and see.

We did a little more exploring of Cedar Mesa, but no more ruins.  After three days without a shower it was time to head to town.  Here's a link to the place we stayed in Blanding Utah.  A great restored Auto Court with a good breakfast thrown in.  Stone Lizard Lodge

After a loooong shower and a good nights rest we headed south back to Arizona and the eastern side of the state.  Camping near Alpine, we spent a couple of days exploring the high country.  No ruins here, just beautiful forest at above 8,000 feet.  Some photos.

Beaver Pond

Just a little more and it's coming down

Elk

What's This?

Who's washing the car.

EXPLORING ARIZONA-OFF ROAD

We've traveled to and through Arizona many times, mostly through, on the way to other parts of the US.  Only scratching the surface in previous visits it is now our duty as residents, to begin to see the many wonders of this beautiful state. In that endeavor, we decided to check out three different off road routes in Central and Southern Arizona.  Not the rock-crawling, try to make it off road trail, but more sedate roads in the National Forests of Arizona.  So we spent three nights and four days with our off road trailer camping out in the boondocks with no one around.  Beautiful weather with clear skies, making for starry nights and only the sound of the coyotes and owls to keep us company at night.  I should mention that in the southern part of the state on the Mexican Border, we did hear the US Border Patrol passing by throughout the night.

First up on this adventure, just north of Tucson, we explored the Ironwood Forest National Monument.  After turning off I-10 at Red Rock, we were soon on good dirt roads.  The Silverbell Copper Mine has been in operation for years and is still producing copper to this day.  Our first stop was at the Sasco Cemetery to pay our respects to past residents who worked and lived here.  The cemetery is still accepting new internees, mostly local residents.  We had hoped to stay at the Silverbell Rockland Hotel, but as was no longer accepting guests, so we opted for a side road in the Saguaro Cactus to set up camp.  Nice quiet location, but we were discovered by the local sheriff who was out and about seeing what was up.  He told us that many illegal aliens pass through and want to make sure I was armed.  That's Arizona for you.  Never did see and Illegals.

Speaking of murder, in April of 1919 Charly Coleman's wife was living in Sasco and apparently was being hit on by other men.  Charley, who lived in Tombstone at the time, got wind of this and decided to head to Sasco to settle the score and kill the two men hitting on his wife.  Upon arrival to Sasco, Charley got into an argument with his wife. (Go figure)  The owner of the saloon who had already heard about Charley's intention to kill the two men, heard the argument in process and fetched his 30-30 rifle and shot Charley on the spot.

We had a peaceful night sitting around the campfire watching the stars come out.  With the local Sheriff in the neighborhood and Charley out of the picture we slept well and comfortably in our roof top tent. The next morning we continued our loop through the Ironwood Forest and after "airing up", we headed south to the small town of Patagonia.

Located just north of the Mexican Border, Patagonia is near the southern terminus of the Arizona Scenic Trail.  It traverses Arizona from south to north or the other way around if you like walking south.  Anyway, lots of pilgrim looking folks carrying large backpacks.  We opted to stay in the 4X4 as we weren't equipped for a 800 mile walk across the state.  Anyhow, just south of town is the 50 mile Ghost Town Loop, which we intended on exploring.  Now, most of the ghost towns in these here parts only consist of a buildings or two, so mostly we were here for the scenery.  First up is the Patagonia Mountains which separates the town from Mexico.  As it was getting late, our first priority was to find a campsite.  Most of the roads in the area are well maintained dirt roads.  Because of the close proximity to Mexico, they are well traveled by the Border Patrol.  We felt completely safe as most of the illegal aliens are harmless and tend to travel away from the BP and roads.  As the previous night we never did see any illegals.  Anyway we found a secluded campsite just off the road.  At about 7,000 feet it got a tad chilly that night.

The next morning after breakfast we continued south stopping on occasion for a photo of another "ghost town".

HERSHAW

DUQUESNE SCHOOL HOUSE

LOCHIEL SCHOOL HOUSE (restored)

Some people still live in Lochiel, but the school house is now a museum.  Situated at the south end of San Rafael Valley it is a stones throw from Mexico.  The plaque on this monument reads:

By This Valley of San Rafael

Fray Marcos de Niza

Vice-commissary of the Franciscan Order

and

Delegate of the Viceroy in Mexico

Entered Arizona

The First European West of the Rockies

April 12, 1539

Here we turn east and then north, passing through the San Rafael Valley and it's vast grasslands.  Beautiful gently rolling land that reminded me of the Mesita in Spain.

Miles and miles of open range with a few cattle ranches.  I would love to see this area during the Monsoon when the grass is green.  Guess we'll have to go back.  But now we head north to our last area of exploration.

North of Phoenix off of Interstate 17 is an off ramp to Bloody Basin Road.  Since our home in Prescott is nearby, we have passed this off ramp numerous times.  Now was the time to check it out.  It was late afternoon when we made our exit from the freeway and entered the Auga-Fria National Monument. So, first up was to find a campsite.  About 5 miles down the nice graded dirt Bloody Basin Road, we found a perfect spot beneath a large Sycamore Tree.  The evening was spent around the campfire, being serenaded by a couple of owls, then off to bed. 

The next morning we're up early and out of camp at a decent, for us, 8:30.  The road goes for about 38 miles to the Verde River and Sheep Bridge, where for all intensive purposes the road ends.  I did some research on this road and it is described as an easy 4-wheel drive road.  As we leave camp, the road is a nice pretty well maintained forest service road for the first 28 miles.  A few stream crossing and over a high pass, but a nice scenic road none the less.  The last 10 miles or so is rocks.  Lots and lots of rocks.  Still doable with out a 4X4 as long as you have a high clearance vehicle.  But it's slooow going.  Seldom more than 5 MPH.  The main issue with me was that we had to turn around and drive over all those rocks to get out of there.  Would I do it again?  You would have to give me a really good reason to spend another 6 hours driving over those rocks.  The rocks, I might add, we placed in such a position that you had to drive over everyone of them.

SHEEP BRIDGE AND THE VERDE RIVER BELOW

NOT MY PHOTO, BUT YOU GET THE IDEA

We made it out ok, and headed home for a dinner out and a well deserved shower.  We saw new places for us and I discovered that 3 nights in the tent is my limit.  Cathie could go 4, but she's tougher than me.  We'll be going again as there are so many remote places to explore in our new state, Arizona.

 

 

HOW' IT GOING IN PRESCOTT?

So you ask, “how’s it going in Prescott?”  Well, here’s a report on how things have been going.  We have been in our new home since the last week of September and have been getting settled in, unpacking and organizing.  We’ve got most stuff put where it belongs and we are actually able to get two cars in the garage.  We held a open house and invited the neighbors and others that we met in Prescott.  With the help of our friends Duane and Shari from San Diego we had a great little party.  The neighbors seem to be happy to see us as there was apparently bad blood between them and the previous owner.  Most of our neighbors have lived here for years, and several met each other for the first time.  Different times than when everyone knew all their neighbors.

We’ve been learning our way around town and finding the short cuts.  I have been walking on nearby trails, which are plentiful.  Now that’s it winter, it’s cold walking just before sunrise, but I’m getting use to it.  But I must say walking at 14 degrees with a frozen water bladder is a little unnerving.

Are there pluses having moved to Arizona, you betcha.  There are a few minuses too, the biggest of which is medical care.  We had to change our medical insurance and our new carrier is no way close to what we had before.  We had  insurance with Kaiser Permanente for years but they’re not in Arizona.  Our new insurance with United Healthcare doesn’t come close to the service we received from Kaiser.  When United assigned us doctors, a different one for each of us, neither of them were accepting new patients.  So I called to find a doctor who was taking new patients.  80-90% of their doctors we not accepting new patients.  I went around and around with them over this and finally gave up.  A friend recommended their Nurse Practitioner and luckily she was taking new patients.  They assigned me Cardiologist but I couldn’t get an appointment for 4 months.  I raised hell with them, and finally got in to see a doctor.  But luckily that's about it for the bad news.  Everything else has been positive.

Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley and Humboldt-Dewey make up the Quad Cities.  With a combined population of 130,000 we don't lack for most services.  And if need be, Phoenix is 80 miles away.  People for the most part are friendly and welcoming.  We have not encountered any negativity about all the Californians moving here.  Not to say it doesn't exist, we just have not experienced it.  And there are a lot of new people moving here, the place is booming.  Lots of new construction, and the cost of housing going up.  So, I suppose, depending on how you look at it, there is both good and bad.  If you're looking for someone in the trades to do some work for you, plan on waiting.  One side effect of the growth is people in the construction industry are busy, really busy.  Here's an example:

We needed to move our propane tank as it was right in the middle of where I want to build a shop.  So we need to run a new gas line from the new tank location to the house.  100 feet of new line.  So I started calling plumbers to get bids.  The first problem is getting them to return my calls, but finally one company said they would come out and give me a bid.  And they did.  $8,300!  I looked the guy straight in the face and said, "that ain't happening".  So after several attempts, to find a plumber, I gave up and called the local propane company.  They came out, looked at my situation and said if I dug the trench, they would lay the pipe for 3 bucks a foot and $100 an hour.  How long would it take? I asked.  "Oh, 2 to 3 hours."  This was becoming a no brainer, but I still had to dig the ditch.  I started looking for someone with a backhoe to dig the ditch.  I called 6 companies.  3 never called me back, 2 said they could get to me in 2 months, and, as luck would have it, the one guy I text a message to, texted me back within 15 minutes and said he could be there the next day.  How Much, $400.  So in the end when all was said and done, It cost me $2100, and that included 400 gallons of propane.  And as a bonus, they hauled away my old propane tank, which started leaking on the day of the switch.  A far cry from $8,300.  So, the shop will take a while.  The 1st step is in process as the plans a being drawn.  After that I'll have to wade through the process of finding a contractor.

OUT WITH THE OLD

IN WITH THE NEW

We're finding new friends and getting to know our neighbors.  Dan and Martha from next door invited use to one of the local hang-outs to a blues jam, which was fun.  We trade picking restaurants with them for occasional breakfasts.  

We've been experiencing the seasons here, with monsoon rains, hail storms, summer heat (not too bad) and snow with temps in the teens.  A far cry from Southern California's two seasons, Sunshine Season, and Tax Season.

Speaking of the government. I made a trip to the local department of motor vehicles to take care of registering our cars here in Arizona.  What a pleasant surprise.  For those poor souls who still have to deal with the DMV in California, I feel sorry for you.  I made an appointment for the following day.  In California you're lucky if you can get an appointment.  I arrived at the appointed time and found this....no line.  I was offered a chair, in California, they don't have chairs, and my business was concluded in no time.  I thought it might have been a fluke, but no.  On a return trip I was greeted with the same, no line and a pleasant and competent clerk who took care of me.  And if you register your car for 2 or 5 years at a time, they give you a discount.

Next week we head back to California for two reasons, one to do our California taxes for that last time, and so we can congratulate ourselves for making the move to Arizona.

Till next time........

NOVA UPDATE

About a year ago, I posted on the blog about my Nova and since then much has be done in it’s restoration.  I’ve posted updates on facebook, but nothing on the blog.  So if you’re not on facebook you’ve been missing all the work that has been done.  Not going to rehash everything here, but here is the current update.

It’s been awhile since I posted a “More Progress” update on the Nova.  Because of the silence, people keep asking me, “What’s up?”  So here’s what happened.  Motor complete, in the car, rebuild the carburetor, and troubleshoot some minor wiring issues.  The car starts right up, but runs a little rough.  Not an issue, right?  More troubleshooting. We, mostly my car garu Bill, take the temperature of the exhaust manifold and one side runs hot and the other runs cool.  This was the same issue we had when we ran the motor in an engine stand.  We figured we had solved the problem with the carb re-build.  Well, that wasn’t the case.

So we ran a compression check, and the hot side was normal, but the cool side had NO COMPRESSION.  Valves not closing, holes in the pistons, broken piston rings, what was it?  We had completely gone through the engine, new pistons, rings, valve job, new cam, polished the crank, all new bearings, what the hell was wrong?

Bill feeling responsible, said if it was something he did wrong, he would fix it.  So one again the car is transported on a tow truck, this time to Bill’s shop.  Now with me having moved to Arizona, it was problematic for me to get to San Diego every time Bill wanted to work on the motor.  Not to worry, said Bill, he would handle it.

So off come the head on the cool side, the one with no compression.  Happy to report that there were no holes in the pistons, which was a great relief.  With the head off, Bill was able to determine that some of the intake valves weren’t closing properly.  So, it seems that the machine shop who did the valve job screwed up.  This was good news as we are pretty sure this was the only problem and Bill is relieved that it wasn’t his fault.

So true to form, Bill will follow up with the machine shop, get the valve issue taken care of and put the car back together.  Boy I’m I glad I know Bill.  He’s been a lifesaver with his knowledge and willingness to hold my hand, as I am in over my head when it comes to engine re-building.

Once the car becomes drivable again, a decision will be made as to where the upholstery gets done, Arizona or California.  The seat covers are completed in the original fabric and need to be put on.  The door panels are at a shop in Oregon waiting to be completed.  Hopefully in a few months we’ll be cruzin the the streets of Prescott in my Nova.