Big Wind Comin' to Madera Canyon... Listen to the Hummin...

I can hear Johnny Cash now. Another storm on the way, this one predicted to put maybe 6" on the spot we're camped... sooooo... we're planning on not being here when it fully arrives.

This morning we got up to a rig rockin' wind... which is really sweet... cuz I gotta get up on the roof and put the Solar Panels Down... I'm pretty good about tippin' 'em up to maximize electrical production in the winter time.

Well... at least with the wind them bees won't be harassing me while I'm laying the panels back flat!

The idea is, we'll either be ready to pull out late this afternoon or first light in the morning. We're not far up this Proctor road, but as much as it's washed in the past, it looks like it could get kinda nasty in the real wet... and I've been on Arizony roads in the mud... not my idea of shining times and high livin'... draggin' a fiver through that crud! ;)

We've taken a few short walks in the lower end of the canyon as we slowly climb back out of the hole that damned flu put us in. Went maybe two and a half miles the two days ago, from our camp on up to the Santa Rita lodge where we'd driven the other day... and then a few shorter walks yesterday...

 ... where I found a Yucca Spike out of which to carve another of our "Natural" hiking staffs... ;)

The thing is super light and stiff... and will carry with it the memory of this place... so how awesome is that? :)

It's been a lil' tough to make myself step outside and walk though...

Writing has been getting in my way! :)

The latest book has now changed names. What I was calling Tears of the Hunter is now... Stalked by a Shadow. It will be the #2 book in my Ben Jensen series.

I'm hopeful, though I've been 'behind' on it that it'll be out this summer. It's really caught fire in my imagination the past few days; with some storyline mysteries getting solved for me. ;) Now, I'm as anxious as anybody else to see how it ends!

So anyhoo... in amongst the weather and spinning a modern western flavored mystery I've been out trying to capture some images to show more of the flavors of an Arizona Sky Island Canyon called Madera...

This redhead was hiding back in the naked branches of a cottonwood just as we turned off the road away from camp... onto the sweet trail they've built in Madera.

This sort of trail is perfect for most of our meandering. They say that an easy strolling hike is better for you than pushin' and straining. To this Ol' drifter it makes sense. If you're the sort that has a tendency to let their shorts get too tight... putting pressure on yourself to forge ahead against the mountain, against the wind, challenging yourself all the time... rather than just moving along, sweet and easy... it makes sense that all you'd really succeed in doing is adding to the pressure.

Now... bein' a lazy sort to begin' with... strollin' easy... for my health is a perfect fit! :)

*High Rise Bat Condos in the lower Canyon*

In the lower canyon... just outside the mouth of the canyon actually we discovered a few hidden places that I expect most never see...
  

This don't look much like a trail head does it?

There's nowhere to park but back up the road a bit...




Do that and walk back. There's a trail there... and if you follow it... 

... you'll find a mangate at the bottom to slide through...

... Then... work your way back through the mesquites and cottonwoods...

and you'll find a sweet little spot... This would be a pretty fine shady respite on a hot summer afternoon...

... at least if the rains had come and the water was still flowing...

Entering the hidden nook... and once inside...

Above and below the shady falls is an oasis that would be a sweet summer haven for a pic nik with all those cottonwoods leafed out...

This Madera is another of those special places... with its own quiet personality...I wonder if a part of that isn't because people have lived on and loved this land for so long?

The Papago, Yaqui and Apache... The Spaniard and the Mexican... and the Americans who followed have been here, and come back here for hundreds, even thousands of years... and the land is still strong and beautiful... not consumed as some would claim "Humans" do...

Hidden in and sheltered by a thicket of mesquite at Madera Canyon... is a sacred place...

A Mother and Bride (BRD), sleeps here with her child...

~ "Yeah Though I walk through the valley of the shadow..." ~

Fitting end of day was a soft and quiet sunset leading into what just might have been our last night in Madera Canyon for a while...

The Gypsy Cowboy is Prepping to Move on Down the Road Again...
Brian

Looking Back... and Looking Forward.

I've been doing a bit of a a cowboy cranial RV Boondocking review of the past couple years, nearly three now, of my restless gypsy living. Yeah... that's what all that smoke you've been seeing on the horizon has been about. ;)

This has been a curious winter. After all of our wide RV Boondocking circles, this has been the winter of a guy 'bout my age walkin' up kind of tentatively, where we're sittin on a bench, or in the truck or where ever we're walkin' and askin'; "Are you Brian?" ;)

... and then a Grinning;"I thought so! That HAD to be You!" 

Sunday afternoon it was Rich and Kay from Ohio!

Hell, I'm even gettin' better at recollecting names 15 seconds after they speak 'em! Maybe this'll all help ward off the continuing onset of Old Timers Syndrome.

It's a strange feeling for a guy that's always had strong bits of the hermit recluse as his major parts! My discomfort in crowds and "unexpected situations" is a strange feeling that leaves me stammering and diggin' his toe in the dirt like some kid. ;) (Heidi has to bail me out on occasion)

... and it's likely a contribution to a lil' more well rounded personality. ;) You can't have no idea what a deep impact it has been for a man who's been a loner out on the fringes his whole life. It is something for which my appreciation is deep; and the sense of honor I feel for receiving such kindnesses carries with it the need to ensure that I accept those greetings and words with proper and true humility... and humility isn't one of my strong points! ;)

... It all gets me to thinkin' a lot...

Yeah, I know. That's a dangerous place for me to wander! But, people write me all the time thanking me for inspiration and guidance... Wow... That people take the words I write and make decisions based on that was startling and scary at first. "What have I done to 'em?!!!"

To claim it a heavy burden would be arrogance... Yet it is one for which I appreciate the responsibility involved... and it's reshaped my thinking over the past few years.

What's rattlin' 'round the Ol' Brain Pan now is; When people read here and then start off on their own, What is it they want out of this gypsy life? What do they expect when they step off on a full time RVing or RV Boondocking life? and how many actually succeed?

By success, I mean; How many actually Find what it might have been they were searching for? and how many turn "Home" in disgust and boredom? In there somewhere lays something I fret over a bit here and there; How many turn away believing I misled them? When they failed to find the "picture" I painted... am I to blame?

I'm the first to say, in a lot of respects I've not yet succeeded. What I wanted was a measure of quiet contentment. What I expected was mixed results. In THAT I am succeeding brilliantly! :) but you have to understand, when you're dealing with such as me, you're dealing with a guy who'll question the arrangement of the clouds if he makes it to Heaven! ;)

Now, if you measure it by the lack of pressure on my heart and soul... I am also succeeding brilliantly. I am where I have always belonged; Nose to the wind on the open road... A man, drifting across the face of the earth in what HE sees as his Freedom. Like the Red Tailed Hawk just soaring and watching... doing his thing in the place HE belongs. In that, my success is towering in my own eyes.

Where I still need work is in finding that spiritual place where the combat with the un-ceasing efforts of the world at large, to turn bunch quitter loners like me back into the obedient herd... is a more subconscious muscle memory thing... rather than the grinding, emotional, shorts-in-a-knot thing it often becomes. I need to polish my Cowboy Zen parts juuuuuust a mite more.

ahhh... what can I say... at sixty summers I remain a work in progress. On these questions I can only offer a few bits of advice;

If you are one who isn't and hasn't been driven (like this writer has been) by a restless urge to just always keep moving on... his whole life... but traveling Full Time in an RV seems to have captured your imagination, I'd suggest starting out with a Specific Time Frame in mind; One year, two years, whatever.

Go so far as to post some future date in your journal or on a sticky on your refrigerator.

Plan at the end of that time, on that date, to re-evaluate where you are... and where you are going. Don't start out with the idea that THIS is a how it will be, cast in concrete, can't change a thing end of discussion decision. 

Don't box yourself into a place where you keep on pushing yourself down the road, because you're embarrassed to admit it doesn't work for you, if over the miles you've determined that it's something that just doesn't fit.

Many are going to find that the place that fits them best... is the place they left behind. You didn't fail. There is NO Shame... You Learned. There is no need for embarrassment. Go back there, go home. With your new found knowledge and experience, and many fine memories, go back and change those things that pushed you to leave.

Many are going to find that they've stimulated something deep inside and the thought of taking off their tires and putting the rig up on blocks just makes their heart ache.

Many are going to find that the wandering gypsy way isn't something that jumps them out of bed in the morning laughin' and gigglin'. They simply climb out with the calm, serene feeling of belonging right exactly where they are. Their breath comes deep and full... and in their way, content.

One thing I can tell you is... out here on the road, that negativity and effort to turn you from your chosen way that you experienced when you first started out will never go away. It might fade a lil' bit and it might become more coy and shaded... but it remains.

You will still, on occasion, find yourself questioning your choices. Forewarned is forearmed.

You already know I spend a lot of time... too much time... wondering and questioning... I find myself trying to convince myself that I should go back to some version of the "Old Life"... that world where you serve the man and Soh-sigh-uh-tee.

Feelings of what a selfish person I must be for my wandering ways float around and bite in unprotected moments.

Then I realize, and not in arrogance... but a clear and pragmatic view... I AM serving society and the community. We all are. By preserving our free choices, options and dreams... we preserve the possibility for other people to pursue theirs.

Guiding our OWN lives onto those shining sunny slopes where we are fulfilled and our self-worth is healthy and whole, where ever those Sunny Slopes may lay; we contribute to a stronger and more complete society. It is Not selfish. It is what is right and proper. Making our lives a strong thread in the fabric of the world around us is THE right and proper thing for us to be doing.

Just A Gypsy, Weaving a Life
Brian

Our RV Solar Power System Passed an Anniversary

... and I'm takin' a lil' risk, if you're the superstitious sort. The anniversary of our moh-bile power station passed last September/October. I installed the final bits of our RV Solar power system and it went into production in mid October of 2006. That makes the current system just two months shy of 6 1/2 years old.

*Our Intitial RV Solar Panel installation*

In fact, it's so old... I wasn't even blogging yet! I disremember just how long the batteries had been in place. I believe the RV battery bank went in the month before. Just a short time after the install I had to go back and re-do the battery cables, as my initial work had been less than my "inspector" approved of.

*The RV Battery Bank with the Upgraded Battery Cables*

You might remember that I'd originally planned on having at least four panels, hopefully more. Our real estate debacle, and other resulting di does along the way have kept that from happening.

Just the same, I spend as much time fiddling with the electronics on this rig... writing my sites, blogs and books as anybody, plus we generally read well into the evening requiring the lights to be on... and then after the furnace keeps us from freezing in the night I get up and fire up the coffee maker in the morning.

That RV Solar Power Battery Bank of ours has seen juuuuust a few ampere hours of juice flow through it over the years.

I remember folks warning us that it'd need replacement ... um... quite a while ago. That replacement has been planned and aborted due to "circumstances" of the difficulty kind... on a couple of occasions. I've decided that it's kinda like cowboys. When I was a kid, just startin' out ~ Cowboy ~ I got told; "What are you doin' that for boy? Cowboys are a dyin' breed!"

Uh Huh... and today, we're STILL busily dyin'! :) and that aged RV Battery Bank of ours, after ALL these many years of lighting my RV Boondocking life are STILL, busily wearin' out! :)

I was told two panels ain't enough. You need more. Don't get me wrong, I'd LIKE two more panels. With two more I'd likely not even have to fire up the generator after the Cloudy Days! But... those two 130 watt Kyocera panels have powered us just fine, with HOURS each day on the computer, an hour or two of morning coffee maker and HOURS into the evening of Illuminated reading....
 
... or at least she reads while I tap tap tap on the keyboard... If I'm not reading.

... and I don't have to worry about the generator growin' legs when we're not at the rig... or worryin' about the price of gasoline for it, or even having gas for it much... or... even running it beyond some top off runs in poor weather in the winter. After say March... it seldom gets run until down into November... and then only when the weather blocks charging.

When it comes to frugal living... RV Boondocking on Solar Power is 'bout as cheap as a fella can go. Think about it... sure you've got to crack the piggy bank to get it all set up in the first place but then...

When you keep yourself as far from the benefits of deep pockets as I seem so skilled at doing! ;) Parking out where the rent is Zero... and having your own power plant just hummmin' away making essentially free power... unsupervised... while you go off and take a walk in the park is pretty damn fine!

When we get up against it... we just find a good place to set up for a few weeks and settle in. Our expenditure for camp fees, diesel fuel, generator gas and all those nicks against our income that go along with being on the road... pretty much come to a screeching halt! That's juuuuust 'bout as frugal living as it can get and still not get frost bite!

Yes Sir! When it comes to RV Boondocking... our RV Solar Power System is likely the shiniest  investment we made... and one of the best You'll ever make.

Squeezin' The Last of the Good Out of Our System
Brian