Happy Easter everyone

The journey is my home, so click the pics of my home.

This is the way most boondocker's live, parked near their friends, or soon to be friends, enjoying a campfire, and endless talking, not much listening, but lots of talking.

I don't know why that's not me. Even to me it looks like a good way to be. I can   to be that way... But not for long.

When I woke up this morning and realized I didn't have anything I wanted to do since there was no team roping going on today, I decided I should head for New Mexico, which I was going to do tomorrow or the next day anyway, so head for New Mexico I did.

Instead of going the shortest way on I-10 through the nightmare that is downtown Phoenix traffic, I was going the longer route, dropping down out of Wickenburg and hitting I-8 going East It takes longer, but there's hardly ever any traffic.

But somehow, I wasn't paying attention and missed my exit. It took me the wrong way, and I ended up on I-10 the way I didn't want to go. But instead of turning around and backtracking, I noticed very few cars on the highway, so I figured, what the heck? I'll go through Phoenix and deal with the traffic.

I kept telling myself the traffic would pick up any minute now. Soon I'll be close to Phoenix, and it will be stop-and-go. But then I remembered that it was 8 a.m. Sunday, and who in their right mind is driving to Phoenix on an Easter Sunday morning? And the answer turned out to be... nobody.

I whizzed through Phoenix at 65 miles an hour on I-10, and there weren't enough cars around me to have a decent stock-car race. It would have probably taken 45 extra minutes of driving if I had gone the long way. And if this was Phoenix traffic on a normal workday, I doubt I would've saved any time at all. So my mistake went from a bad news event to a surprisingly great one that started my travel day off just right.

I didn't go very far, only about 100 miles, and hove to at the Picacho Peak State Park for a record third time this winter. I'm only staying for one night since I'm in no hurry to get anywhere; tomorrow, I'll probably stay at either Rockhound State Park or the City of Rocks State park. Both are New Mexico state parks and at least if they don't have any room for me, I'll be able to buy another New Mexico Park pass since mine expired the end of March.

Theboondork

Mines have a lot of machinery that has to be repaired, and this is where those repairs happen.

Can you imagine pulling an engine out of a raggedy old truck during the summer when it's 120°, and the tin roof on this shack is hot enough to fry a catfish, but you have to get that truck fixed or you may find yourself back in the mine with a shovel in your hand once again.

But maybe there's some hope for the poor mechanic.......

Maybe a cool breeze will come along?..... In the desert? Not a chance.

Maybe it will rain and cool things off; that's only in the monsoons during September, but it doesn't cool anything off, September is one of the hottest months.

Turn on the air conditioner? Possibly in a 100 years or so.

Let the young man your training as an assistant do it while you go for a beer... Yep!

A pickup truck from yesteryear. It was primitive so there were a lot of things you didn't have to worry about.

Power steering? Nope, strong arms.

Power brakes? Not on your life, strong legs.

Flat tires? No air, solid rubber.

Protection from the rain? You're in the desert !!

Speeding tickets? Not unless they drop you and your truck out of an airplane.

A chick magnet? Maybe; if you filled the truck bed with hundred dollar bills.

Flower gardens at the vulture mine? Everything you see growing here is wild. Miners had other things to do with their one day off than putter around in a flower garden. There was a nearby saloon, and there were a few girls that didn't go to church on Sunday, so there Sundays were free... Well not actually free, more like available.

Another one of the gunslingers shooting up the Vulture Mine last Friday.

It's pretty much a requirement that if you're a boondocker you going to be sharing your boondocking area with horses, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, hikers, and bicycles. I have no problem with this because it's public land, and the public should be able to use, but not abuse it.

My Last Wickenburg sunset until next Fall. I love all my sunsets because after I take the pictures I get to go inside, kick off my shoes, put on my slippers, and settle in for the night, where I can think about all the things I enjoyed about my day and what I can do to make tomorrow even better.