Who would've guessed

 

…that after driving through all that desert, here in Southeastern Arizona there would be wooded trails to walk,

 

 

Or that we would have an almost-all-day rainstorm, puddling our campground?

 

Double digits

 

We made it to double digits!  We’re still in Arizona, but we’ve made it out of the triple digit heat.  We’re at Kartchner Caverns State Park, south of Benson, north of Sierra Vista.  4,750 feet of elevation helps.

 

2016 Summer Trip Map

 

Kartchner Caverns State Park.

 

We’re very happy to be here.

 

Oh Lord

 

Stuck in Lodi (Yuma) again.

 

The air conditioner took an all-day tweaking.  We should be good to go tomorrow though.  We backtracked a little into California to get to a nice RV Park for the night.

 

2016 Summer Trip Map

 

While we were in California, we saw all the Southern Californians we were looking for:

 

Sister-in-law Barbara

Sister Sue and John

 

California gnatcatcher

California gull

California quail

California thrasher

California towhee

 

Nineteen more birds and we’ll have our four hundred for the year.

 

Sent to me by my brother:

 

Funny thing

 

Taking off clothes at a nudist resort, or being around the pool with other people who are naked, is not nearly as provocative as an R rated movie, or a lingerie commercial on network television. 

 

Meanwhile, we’ve rejoined the textile world.  We’ve gone as far as Yuma.  It’s pretty freaking hot here!  No worries though.  It’s supposed to cool off to 85 degrees sometime tonight.

 

We stopped to get an air conditioner tweaked tomorrow morning.

 

2016 Summer Trip Map

 

That trip report I wrote last night; it was about the desert in general, not just one spot.  Everything we found was just serendipitous; going for a walk, topping a ridge and there are the old train cars parked on a siding; going for a drive to find a bird, walking about and finding those old wooden cars near an old train station.  The metal art was in the same park as the bird pond.  We looked for a grocery store and drove past the old mechanic’s shop in Boulevard, and a candy store where the same family has been making candy for generations.

 

I expanded the map I sent out yesterday for the train cars, to show where we found each thing in relation to the others.

 

Desert treasures map

 

You can zoom in and out on the map to see more detail.  (There might even be naked people around the pool at De Anza Springs Resort.)

 

Yesterday I wrote about the stuff in the desert until it seemed like time to stop, not because I was out of things to say.  I didn’t mention the last car in line in the abandoned string of cars.

 

I don’t even have a guess for what that used to be.

 

I didn’t mention the Institute of Perception, with its serious signs of counterculture, or the mysterious metal pyramid in the distance.

 

 

I googled it though and came up with a couple reports:

 

http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/travel/sam-mcmanis/article11234969.html

 

http://hiddensandiego.net/institute-of-perception.php

 

Yes.  There is serious counter-culture stuff going on out there in the desert.

 

 

The desert

 

 

The desert is a time capsule.

 

There might be signs for hazards that no longer exist.

 

Abandoned train cars.

 

On sidings that will never be used again.

 

How many people walked through these doors?

 

 

Seating for four across below.

 

A tiny stairway.

 

…leading to the best-view seats in a single row along the top.

 

When we came across this train, I thought no way they really parked these rail cars here right on top of the switch track so it’s blocking both sidings.  There is enough room at the end of this siding.

 

Before it runs into the rocks.

 

They could have put the cars all the way at the back.  I surmised that they must have put these cars away neatly, then after a number of years, the cars just rolled forward and derailed.

 

I looked it up on Google Earth.  Abandoned train.  There it is, right where it’s supposed to be.  I guess it’s been a while since this map has been updated.

 

There in the distance.  Another abandoned rail car.

 

These cars are so old, they’re made out of wood.

 

 

 

 

 

An abandoned garage that looks straight out of the 50s.

 

With a car still on the hoist!

 

Tin cans from when tin cans were made out of tin.

 

 

An old house

 

That hasn’t fallen down yet.

 

What must this old tow truck have towed?

 

A metal sculpture

 

Made out of found metal.

 

And an old vinyl.

(Tennessee Ernie Ford.)

 

We've begun the march back to the east

 

De Anza Springs Resort, Jacumba, CA.

 

2016 Summer Trip Map

 

A clothing optional resort.  We’re taking a Nacation for a couple days.

 

I promise, we won’t send pictures.

 

 

Did I mention we've moved back to Champagne Lakes RV Resort?

 

2016 Summer Trip Map

 

 

Nice spot tucked away in the oaks.

 

Nice view.

 

 

Judy has a new plant project

 

 

Tiny little cactus.

 

For tiny little cactus gardens.

 

 

The House and the Senate

 

There are two measures about gun violence to consider.  One limits gun sales to people on the terrorist watch list, and the other excludes people on the No Fly list from buying guns.  Neither of these measures are particularly controversial, and are reported to be favored by 80% to 90% of Americans; the voters that congress is elected to represent.  How is it that one body of Congress can’t get a vote at all, and the other body votes but the measures are defeated?

 

I understand that even in a democracy, majority doesn’t always rule.  Sometimes minority interests have to be protected against the tyranny of the majority.  I also realize Republicans are the majority and they get to decide what business to take up; but when there is such overwhelming public support for an issue, how does one party stand unified in not considering it?  So unified in fact, that the US House of Representatives rejected an amendment that would have allowed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the underlying causes of gun violence.

 

We hear how powerful the NRA is, and that they oppose any legislation limiting guns, but really, are they more powerful than essentially every voter in the U.S. combined?  Are they the minority interest being protected; a minority of one?

 

 

Angelo's

 

 

Hot pastrami sandwich please.

 

Yesss.

 

Yum.

 

And poor Judy.

 

All she got were these crummy taquitos.

 

 

Olive Avenue RV Park

 

It’s an okay place.  It’s right where we want to be.  But it is a little odd.  Every site slopes downhill.

 

It’s hard to level, so they place blocks at every site.  You can drive the front wheels of your RV up on the blocks.  (It makes your doorstep high, so you need to set out an extra step.)

 

 

Or you can put the blocks under your front jacks and lift your wheels clear off the ground (not a good idea).

 

 

I’m happy to report we got away without the blocks.  We get just enough drop in the rear and lift in the front from our air suspension to get level.