does Boondocking at colossal Cave, and visiting the Pima County Fairgrounds in the daytime, actually work?

Click the pics.

My $30 a night boondocking spot... and hopefully my last, at the Pima County Fairgrounds.

I've almost caught up with my blog but I'm still a day or so behind. So I'm going to put up some rodeo pictures, and Picacho State Park pictures today, which is Sunday, to try and make this one blog post catch up everything I've been doing, so tomorrow I can write a blog post that's actually up-to-date. So this post is a long one.

I spent Saturday night at the fairgrounds, and I'm now at Picacho Peak State Park on my way to Ajo Arizona.

Now that I'm finally out of New Mexico, which has all too often been too cold for me during the winter. And I'm down from the high country of Tombstone, and lower still, the mountains of Colossal Cave, the temperatures have been getting warmer.

And looking at the 10 day weather forecast for Ajo I'm seeing high 60s low 70s every day. With night times in the high 40s low 50s, and accompanied by low humidity I can now officially declare the weather today, and for the near future as ....PERFECT.

I drove to the Pima County Fairgrounds yesterday morning, and it took me exactly half an hour to get from my boondocking spot at the Colossal Cave to my boondocking spot at the fairgrounds. So I parked next to the rodeo grounds as soon as I arrived and had a great time taking snapshots of the rodeo.

After lunch, I went to the office and registered for one night of boondocking. I spent an outrageous $30 to spend one night in a parking lot, but I doubt I'll ever do that again. If I could find a nearby boondocking spot, like, just down the street from me, there's a Walmart, but they've got the dreaded no overnight parking signs up, and I never spend the night when I see the signs. But if I could find free boondocking that close to the Pima County Fairgrounds, it would solve many of my traveling problems.

So it doesn't make any sense to pay $15 a night to Boondock at Colossal Cave and have an hour round-trip back and forth, and I'm sure as heck not going to pay $30 a night to Boondock in a parking lot... Think about it: that's $900 a month they could make having just one person sleep in the parking lot, and it doesn't cost them a dime.

So, I think I'll probably scratch the Pima County Fairgrounds off my "to-do" list and find someplace else with things like rodeos or horse events. How hard could it be? It's Arizona for crying out loud, and in the winter Arizona is the cowboy capital!

I wish that me leaving the fairgrounds would make them regret raising their prices so high, but it won't. The county government that runs the fairgrounds Is not known to be concerned about what the public thinks, or wants... As long as what the public thinks doesn't hurt the honchos In the county government.

Remember how I've always told you that I'm frequently the only one boondocking in the boondocking area at the fairgrounds? Well, that must mean that very few people boondock there, and we don't spend enough money, so they're probably glad we're gone.

Theboondork.

My $15 a night boondocking spot at the Picacho peak state Park. According to the Internet the Campground was full, but I always stop in anyway just check with the people that actually know what's going on and they found this nice boondocking spot for me.

I call todays snapshots Rodeo Faces. Rodeo is not actually about horses, although they play a big part, rodeo is about people and people's lives. I think Garth Brooks summed it up pretty well when he said rodeo is about "the joy and the pain", which also sums up life pretty well, so the rodeo teaches folks, and especially young kids a lot about life and how to live it.

Like this young lady who's working as hard as she can to achieve her dreams of being the best that she can be.

Here's a young girl walking out of The arena, and you don't even have to ask her how she did. The joy is written on her face. The rodeo has lots of joyous moments.

This young cowgirl is just learning about life by watching her big sister competing in the rodeo.

But her big sister Isn't doing all that well, and there's a different message written on her face. She's feeling the pain which everyone sooner or later has to deal with in life, and the rodeo is a good place to learn.

This guy is my favorite. He's a pickup man, his job is to ride down a bucking wild-horse that has a kid aboard and get the kid off the horses back and stop the horse before he can hurt somebody.

I think he's a real life Hoss Cartwright on the TV show Bonanza. I'd be willing to bet he's the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet, and yet he could whip a  room full of Wildcats without getting a scratch.

When sitting on the back of a bucking bronco you can either fear the horse, or he can fear you, because fear and how to deal with it is a big part of life... I think this kid has the right idea.

This guy is a judge, he even looks like a judge doesn't he? his job is to stand in the arena dodging raging bulls, with a clipboard in his hand And judge how strong the bull looks and acts, and how In control is the Bull-rider  sitting on him.

he looks like a man whose tough but fair, and no amount of whining from the bull rider is going to change his score.

That's all part of life, doing the best you can with the hand that you're dealt. And the first rule you learn about rodeo when you walk into that arena...there is no whining allowed by anyone for any reason.

You've heard the old saying, "Taking the bull by the horns"?  Well this high school kid takes it literally, and does it for fun.

Jumping off a galloping horse, onto an 800 pound steer, that wants absolutely nothing to do with you, and throwing the steer to the ground is not for everyone, and yet this kid makes it look like he does it every day, which come to think of it he probably does. But he looks so serene and composed as he's doing it.  He's doing his job and he doesn't let it get to him...a good life lesson If there ever was one.

So that's the rodeo, the joy and the pain. You learn about life and how to deal with it...it's the cowboy way.