Tombstone, Arizona!

Looking northeast from my rig, these are the Dragoon Mountains at dawn.

Afternoon light on the Dragoons.

In the Saguaro National Park on the west side of Tucson.

In the Saguaro National Park on the east side of Tucson. 

Hello from Tombstone, Arizona! Actually, the mailing address for this RV park is in Huachuca (pronounced Wa-chu-ca) City, Arizona but I think it's a little closer to Tombstone than Huachuca City. I arrived here on the first of October but, rather than setting out to explore the area as I normally would, I immediately sat up shop and started painting. The NatureWorks Art Show in Tulsa starts in late February and I needed to get several paintings ready for the show.

Every once in awhile, I'd put down my paint brushes and go for a drive. I found that neither Tombstone nor Huachuca City have much to offer in the way of restaurants, grocery stores or anything else for that matter. If you need something, you'll have to drive south to Sierra Vista, approx. 20 miles away. It's a nice little town and has a good variety of restaurants, grocery stores, hardware stores, barber shops and so on. I found myself making this drive at least once a week, just to get out of my rig for awhile.

There are two Saguaro National Parks not far from here, one on the east side and the other on the west side of Tucson. I visited both while here and took a few pictures. Unfortunately, the main road thru the western park was closed for resurfacing but I was able to get to the dirt road "loop" and see at least some of the park.

My plans were to spend the entire winter in southern Arizona but, as usual, my plans are a-changing, as they say. The furnace in my rig is giving me problems again, and, with temps now dropping down into the 30's at night, I'm getting kind of chilly. The warranty expired a long time ago but the dealer where I bought my rig has agreed to give me a little break on pricing so I'll be packing up and heading for Tulsa by the end of this week. Once the furnace problem is fixed, I think I'll probably head down towards San Antonio, Texas and spend the rest of the winter there.

Until next time!

Why can't I get this wood to burn?

I spent one day going thru the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. I discovered one thing while there...the wood does not burn well so don't even bother trying to start a campfire!

If I had been successful with the campfire, my plans were to cook this baby!

One view from the north rim of the Grand Canyon.

Some views, like this one, make my feet tingle. 

After leaving Taos, New Mexico, I continued west into Arizona. Since I limit the number of miles I drive each day while towing my rig, I stopped in Holbrook, Arizona and spent two nights there. On the day in between, I visited the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. The next morning, I was on my way again, this time for northern Arizona.

I camped for a couple of weeks at Jacob Lake. I chose this location because it was centrally located between the north rim of the Grand Canyon, the Vermillion Cliffs and Zion National Park in Utah. I suspect all three of these locations will end up as subject matter for some of my paintings.

When I went to Zion National Park, I was surprised that, even though I have an annual pass for all the National Parks, they charged me an additional $15 fee since my truck, which has dual rear wheels, is considered "oversized". At first, I thought the additional fee was unfair but it didn't take long for me to understand why the fee was necessary. What I didn't know was that there are two tunnels on the drive thru the park. If you enter from the east, as I did, the first tunnel you encounter isn't very long and is wide enough for "oversized" vehicles so, no problem there. The second tunnel, the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, is a different story. It's 1.2 miles long and isn't wide enough for two way traffic when an oversized vehicle is passing through. So, when I arrived at the entrance to the tunnel, they stopped me as well as the traffic which was entering the tunnel from the west. Once the traffic in the tunnel had cleared, I was given these instructions and then allowed to enter. "Drive no faster than 25 miles per hour, drive down the center of the road, turn on your headlights and remove your sunglasses." Driving 25 miles per hour through a tunnel that's 1.2 miles long takes a little over two minutes. So, for over two minutes on that day, I "owned" the Mount Carmel Tunnel in Zion National Park! That, to me, is well worth  $15!

The Vermillion Cliffs are beautiful. Since I was in the area for two weeks, I got to see the Cliffs at different times of the day and under different weather conditions. I'm anxious to see what compositions I can come up with.

The Grand Canyon is spectacular from any vantage point. This was my first time on the north rim and I don't regret coming here but I would say I was a little disappointed in the limited number of places where you can actually view the Canyon. You can see it from the Visitor's Center as well as Point Imperial and also Cape Royal. Along the road that goes to Cape Royal, there are a few "pull outs" where you can view the Canyon. Had I not visited the north rim, I would have always wondered what I'd missed but I'm certain that on my next trip, you'll find me wandering the edges of the canyon on the south rim.

Once the two weeks were up and knowing that cold weather was right around the corner, (We had a light snowfall one night at Jacob Lake and it was still September!) I hitched up and headed south. I'm now outside of Tombstone...but I'll tell you more about that next time!

New Mexico!

The distant mountain is El Salto, just north of Taos.

This doorway is adjacent to the San Franciso de Asis Church in Ranchos de Taos.

This is Pilar, located on the low road between Santa Fe and Taos. Notice the small dirt road in front of the building. I'll talk more about it in the blog below. 

This is also on the low road between Santa Fe and Taos.

Let me try this again! It's been ages since I've updated my blog but I'm determined to do better in the future. I have a legitimate excuse for not doing any new posts, at least for part of the time. I bit the bullet and had both knees replaced in 2015. My right knee was replaced in mid-June and my left knee on the first of September. After each surgery, I endured two and a half months of physical therapy...and let me tell ya, that was no fun. (But you HAVE to do it, otherwise the surgery is for naught.) Add in a few more months of walking very slowly and carefully and, before you know it, the better part of a year is gone! Here, I need to thank my friend Rita and her fiesty little Havanese dog named Lily Rose, for letting me recuperate in their home. I could not have gone thru the surgeries and therapy without Rita's help. Thanks, Rita!

I had fallen behind on creating new artwork so, once I was able to travel, I made my way to the Texas hill country. I spent four months in the area, creating as many new paintings as possible. All my new work went to the Whistle Pik Gallery in Fredericksburg since they had been very patient with me during my down-time.

Once I felt like I was "caught up", I hitched up and headed to Taos, New Mexico. (Actually, first I stopped in Tulsa, where I got a thumbs-up from the orthopedic surgeon on my knees. He told me no additional check-ups were needed. That was great news!) I'm now in Taos and have put many miles on my trusty Ram long-bed, crew-cab, one-ton dually pickup, always searching for good subjects to paint. That brings me to the picture of Pilar, above. You know, if a guy were to take a long-bed, crew-cab, one-ton dually pickup down that small dirt road, thru many tight turns and thru places that were so narrow, the side view mirrors had to be folded in to avoid being knocked off, that same guy might find himself in an area too small to turn his truck around! Not that I know anyone who'd be crazy enough to do that!

Until next time.....