The wind finally let off, the dust settled and come the morning... I sat with my cup of coffee as the sun rise cracked over the mountains back to the east of our desert camp...
 |
| *Plomosa Road Sunrise* |
Sometimes you have to know what time it is in the desert to know if it's a sunrise... or a sunset. Though, if you give it a lil' bit of time... she'll start to reveal the blue of the morning sky.
It's hard to know which moment is the most beautiful. As the minutes pass the light changes and opens up ever more vistas and colors...
Pictures don't do it justice. You have to just get up and watch 'em yourself. You have to start the day with the sunrise so it can properly color your own day.
 |
| *The sun just breaking over the mountains back to the east* |
 |
| *And the new day is well started on Plomosa Road* |
Yup... I think it's a lot better start to a day... to be there when it's born.
Then you're ready to shake rattle and roll on down 55 miles or so south of Quartzsite to the turn off that takes you back into the mining district that was Castle Dome City. and the little bit of History that some folks are working at preserving the memory of...
 |
| *Museum of Castle Dome City, Arizona* |
A little bit of interesting thing on the way in... I'd spotted it several miles across the desert as we were rolling south... We passed a bit closer when we rolled off the pavement. Part of the Department of Homeland Security I guess...
... a Border Watching Surveillance Balloon...
It went a few hundred feet up on its tether an hour or so later... The thing is supposed to be able to see three hundred miles out... Kinda sad really... to have to realize that there is a war going on, several times more deadly than the War in Afghanistan, just across the border, in view of this balloon... and those in control of our "News" want to pretend it's not...
Ah... it is more fun to look at the old history of this place... rather than that which is being made now!
 |
| *Even though some of it's history is pretty dark as well* |
They've done some restoration and collection work here to give a person the "flavor" of what life was like. There's a blacksmith shop, church, a brothel or two... a couple bars, old mining ruins and equipment... lots of old artifacts that can stir your imagination if you let it...
 |
| * Castle Dome Bar room* |
 |
| *Hotel and Sheriffs office* |
They've got a few people there that tell a story or two of Events that took place in the area that adds to the place. If you really look, you can get a flavor of how tough the living was for these old miners... I... would NOT be rootin' around in the ground. They told of four lucky buggers... 450 feet down in a mine shaft... that got drowned, when a flash flood filled the hole... I'll keep to my story tellin'! :)
Lots of times I go into such places and make a quick walk through... Kinda like National Lampoon Vacation! :) You look, you nod and you leave... We actually took better than two hours of walking and looking and poking around. All in all, It was a pretty nice, interesting day.
On the way back we stopped at a roadside stand at a place called Stone Cabin... for some burgers and fries... Uh... I thought they were very good...
How-some-ever... when the proprietor, set Heidi's Date Shake on the counter, stuck the spoon in handle first... says "oops", pulls it out, turns it around, pokes it back in... then wipes the spoons' handle off with a kitchen rag... that was ONCE white... but is a soft shade of gray now... I could see her eyes bulge even though I was standing behind her. I think I sprained something trying to not bust up laughing...
So... the burgers are pretty dang good... but if... uh... having your burgers sizzled in a state of the art kitchen is a need of yours? You juuuuuust might want to pass that one by! ;) But, you will be missing a good burger! :)
Anyway... Leaving you with one last view from this mornings sunrise... I'm off to bed!
 |
| *The Mountains of the Kofa Wildlife Sanctuary at Sunrise* |
Another Day
Brian
7 comments:
The ghost town has an old new look. Never have stopped at the Stone Cabin. I like burgers, but no date shake please.
Hard to beat a desert sunrise.
We were boondocked at Scaddan's Wash Saturday night during the big wind storm. Pretty intense. I agree that the Sat morning sunrise was pretty spectacular. Will be doing more shopping today here at the Q today.
Nice post. Very well written.
One day in our ever changing future these old historical ghost towns will be dust in the wind. Thanks for preserving the past through your photos.
About the burger. I always say, "What ya don't know wont kill you. An' if it does ... well at least ya didn't see it comin'"
I just posted in our blog today that we saw these same balloons in Texas, and wondered what they were for.
http://stoughrvadventure.blogspot.com/2012/01/cocopah-to-kofa-to-q.html
Thanks for doing the research for me!
Paul
Wonder when Govie will start using Drones on our southern borders...
You are getting pretty settled in over by Q. A new winter home? The price is right, tho. A few good boondocking spots south down around KOFA too... and lots of bighorn sheep in there, and further south and west on a passable dirt road. Joshua over in Calif. can be nice too... free boondocking on BLM land on Cottonwood road just before the park entry.
We are in a great county park near Cave Creek... slowly working our way south to Tucson. Maybe via Superstition Mountains.
Hang in there, and see ya down the road... eventually.
Mark and Bobbie... traveling light and fast in our A Frame Chalet.
Box Canyon Blogger said: Wonder when Govie will start using Drones on our southern borders...
They have been for some time and are adding more. Training pilots is the most limiting thing to getting more drones in the air either on the border or anyplace else in the world.
Post a Comment