Been camping ...

I've been camping in the White Mountains -- north and west [CORRECTION: what am I thinking, the White Mountains are north and EAST] of Tucson. Sometimes one just finds the right spot at the right time and that was the case. I stayed until the holding tank indicated 'no more.'

Some photos, of course -- click on image for larger view.


This picture is at the top of the page (for today). It was taken from my campsite. If only I could move my house there. Sigh.


Just having some fun manipulation the image. I call it Lucy's Ghost.


This is the original image of Lucy's Ghost ... well almost. With digital cameras there's really no such thing as original. The only real question is how accurate the image, and even that is much in the eye of the beholder.

Arizona High Country Campground ...

The pictures to the left are from the Arizona High Country Campground which is nice and un-parkinglot-like (which is my main complaint about RV joints). The park is under construction and at this stage looks like it has been well designed. I tried to suggest that I had some photos that would look good on their web page but did not raise any interest. I was not able to connect with Verizon broadband at this place. I was in the National Forest somewhere off road 504 (I think) when I posted that message (higher in altitude and closer to Phoenix).

Ha, it's working, sort of ...

The post is being written from somewhere in a National Forest, with real pine trees and such, between Show Low and Phoenix.

A break for me perchance and for you my wish that you may have an entertaining Halloween ...

Going camping for a few days and will not be posting ... unless my new Verizon wireless broadband will work from the campsite, which I do not expect to be the case ...

Some photos taken in the Stoneman Lake area ...

Stoneman Lake Area

Stoneman Lake Area

Stoneman Lake Area

That's a crow center left. There were quite a few crows holding a talk-fest in some trees off the trail. I tried to get close enough to take a picture but when I raised my camera they took off --this is a hunting area, after all. Some of them did return to the area but refused to pose.
Stoneman Lake Area

Stoneman Lake Area

Stoneman Lake Area

Northern Arizona ...

I've been camping in Northern Arizona and I would still be there if I could take my computer with me.

Politically I'm a void except:

• I finished reading The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared M. Diamond.
• I saw, first hand, the magnitude of the damage being done to the area by off road vehicles (logging, ORV's and the various impacts of global warming are not doing these areas any good, to put it mildly).
• I also read 1634: The Baltic War by David Weber and Eric Flint having previously read 1632 (Eric Flint) and 1633 (Eric Flint and David Weber). As alternate histories the first two books of the Ring of Fires Series (1632 and 1633) are pretty good, in my opinion. The author(s) set their extremely human heroes on a course to correct some of history's tragedies (slavery, the Holocaust). On the other hand unless these same heroes have more insight and skill than we have in this day and age, they are going to move the global warming fiasco much earlier in earth's history.
  
• While filling up my truck at a gas station in Florence, a former (self proclaimed) rodeo guy commented on my camper, the price of gas, the price of campers and that we might as well go ahead and invade Iran. I don't know how much of his sentiment was for real and how much was a general feeling of depression or hopelessness with the way things 'are.' The impression I got was one of vicarious aggression masking hopelessness (my 2-minute psychoanalyses). When I suggested that such actions could lead us into WW III he said well, yeah, it might be disastrous but there are too many people (or those people) in the world anyway. When I said they may feel the same about us that was the end of the interaction.

The weather was really nice. I first camped in the Stoneman Lake area. When it started getting warm I drove on into Flagstaff and stayed a couple nights at a KOA camp so I could get rid of unwanted stuff and fill up on needed stuff. Then I camped a couple nights north of Flagstaff. Then I drove home.

Here are two pictures that I hope you enjoy (click on the images to see a larger version):

Stoneman Lake Area North of Flagstaff