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 March 12th - It has always been my plan to include random photos
from the road as part of RoadNotes, but given that my only digital
camera is in my phone, I have always been less than pleased with
the quality it produces...
Well after numerous requests to provide visuals to accompany my
ramblings I have now decided to ignore the quality and go for the
effect... so...for what it's worth, here are a few 'day in the life'
images, so you too can feel my pain...oh! And though many of the
notes , found below now seem dated, I decided to include them as
well.
DEC 28th - Well, well...a new year and it's SOS as the trailer continues
to haunt me. I was scheduled to give a presentation to the Arizona
Pioneer's home in Prescott (a retirement home for life-long
Arizona residents) today and when I left to head north, my trailer
unhitched itself...I had travelled about a mile but was slowing
for an intersection, so I was only going about 15 miles an hour,
but 13,000 lbs on the bed of a pick-up can make quite a dent.
I immediately thought 'you jackass...you forgot to put the pin in,
but when I got out to survey the damage, the pin was in fact in,
so I now had another million to one shot on my hands. I won't go
in to all of the maddening details as to what happened next and
how I got re-hitched, but once I was on the road again, I immediately
headed north as planned, my new destination however was the rv service
center in Flagstaff, AZ.
I had some other warranty issues that needed looking at anyway,
but I now had a major repair staring me in the face. The service
manager made me feel a bit better at the repair shop when he said
it's not all that uncommon for the trailers to come unhitched, but
the warm and fuzzy wore off real quick when I acknowledged to myself
that I was homeless AGAIN!
Given my experiences over the last year on the road, I've become
very adept now at thinking three steps in advance...and with that
in mind, (and once they pried the tailgate from my truck) my first
call was to my friend Bonnie who lives in Mayer, Az about a half
hour outside of Prescott...we were both doing a show in Sedona that
weekend and I asked if I could possibly pitch a tent in her yard,
build a tree-house, or just bury myself in a shallow grave in her
back-yard?
Thinking more clearly than I at the time, Bonnie said, 'Why don't
you just stay in the shop?' Being that it was not yet even open,
I hadn't thought about it, but Bonnie was just a few days away from
the grand opening of her High Desert Flowers, floral shop. 'It has
heat and hot water, stay as long as you like'.
Well the any port in a storm philosophy quickly came into play and
without hesitation I said yes. If nothing else, should I decide
on the shallow grave option, the wreaths and bouquets would be in
good supply.
I'd like to avoid the details here once again not only because they
have come to bore me, but they quite frankly only serve to inflame
me all over again...suffice to say I stayed the better part of two
weeks in a flower shop with 3 dogs and lived to tell about it.
December 31st - I say the better part of 2 weeks, because after
my first two nights at the flower shop, I spent New Year's week
with my friend, Mark Tahbo, you may remember Mark is one of the
finest potters out at Hopi and more importantly has always been
a very gracious friend.
I was supposed to visit Mark during this time before the "incident"
to watch a Buffalo Dance on New Year's day, but the timing now was
extremely fortunate and it turned out to be one of the most relaxing
weeks I have had in a long time...the dogs were in heaven, and at
the end of it all an offer was extended to live at Hopi by Mark
and his Grandmother in a VERY historical house at First Mesa Village.
But more on that later as details are still being worked out.
January 12th - Well as a I sit here tonight, the trailer is back
in my hands and my hat is off to service team at Flagstaff RV which
did a standout job...in the end it cost a bit more than I expected
because in addition to my $500 deductable, I did not anticipate
that one of my warranty issues was actually a vermin issue...more
specifically, a no-good rat chewed through a good deal of wiring
in the underbelly of the trailer...my first inclination is to call
it an infestation, but one oversized rodent does not constitute
and infestation...it does constitute a problem and in this case
a $250 problem. The score was now Rat - 250 Jim - 0
 Now given what I had just been through and the foul mood I was in,
this was not going to fly (or so I thought)
I could only think, 'Where was Scout (the Bengal cat I left with
my ex when I went on the road) when you needed him?' But to borrow
him for a short time on an extermination project would never fly
either so that left me in search of the proverbial "better mouse
trap" in this case, I didn't want the better trap, I wanted the
best so I got the largest glue trap I could find. Why? Because the
box says that's what the "Pros" use. Good enough for me...I bought
six. And I've put them everywhere...it's my version George W's SURGE
January 14th - I needed to get I-Movie for a multi-media presentation
I want to work on so I ventured into the posh Biltmore area of Phoenix
where the Apple store is located.
The store is like no other store I've ever been in, technology everywhere,
cash registers nowhere, plasma bigs screens abound, unisex employees
dressed in black throughout, but at least now I know who wears all
those old government issue eye glasses from years gone bye.... but
I digress...anyway, as I entered and I'm not 100% sure of this,
but I think time may have stood still as 1/2 the store watched Jethro
(me in dirty jeans, boots, cowboy hat and 4-day beard) enter the
building.
Not being a shopper unless there is a gun to my head, I quickly
picked out the copy of I-Movie I needed and tried to find someone
to pay...(this is when I noticed that there were no registers),
so I approached the "Genius" bar. Apparently this is Apple's
version of a custommer service desk and it was manned with a long
line of (what I presumed to be) young Einsteins.
Finding a particularly bright looking "Genius", I asked
how I could actually pay for something, when my hand picked my handpicked
genius asked if I would pay with cash or card?' (Hint to all RoadNotes
readers) When given a trick question, answer with another question..."Which
is easier? ", I asked...' I can help you here with a card' he said...'A
card it is' I said. As we both battled for "Genius" status.
Well no sooner said than done, because the genius quckly grabbed
my card slung a mini-credit card maching from a chain around his
neck, swiped it, and had it back in my hands faster than Clint Eastwood
can level a bar full of bad guys....'Well what do you know', I thought...'Now
this is customer service...'
'Maybe this kid is a genius?', I thought...but that was short lived
because he next asked me whether I would like a paper receipt or
emailed...now that is genius I thought and quickly opted for the
emailed version. 'What is your email address?', he asked...
'Why
that would be jim@thelastfrontier.net', I proudly told him... the
genius with so much technological knowledge and understanding at
his finger tips looked at me sheepishly and said, "Uh, how do you
spell frontier?"
Jethro- 1 Genius - 0
January 15th - Okay, the traps have been out fore 2 days now and
nothing.. this rat is on to me, the traps or both I tell ya...I'm just
wondering if a Pro has to set them as well.
Things I've Learned:
So much of America needs to see so much of America.
They say bad pizza and bad sex are still worth having..that can't
be said for a bad Western.
No one outside Arizona and those crossing the border illegally seems
to know what Cholla or "jumping cactus" is...find it pictured here...doesn't hurt
much when it goes in, doesn't hurt at all once it's in...well...comes out hard.
Around the holidays casinos fill up and truck stops clear out.
I missed seeing “A Christmas Story” for the first time
since it was released.
I did see a sand storm on Christmas
but it is a poor replacement.
Coyotes are far more curious than they are aggressive. This one
was almost on top of me as I snapped the owl below on Christmas
Day.
Nothing gets my dogs up faster at
2AM than a quality coyote call
coming from my computer. It seems
to put a smile
on all our faces too.
Don’t eat Flanders hamburger patties from Walmart...'Them things
have no taste and you’re up all night!" At least that is what
the very large black man told me after almost ripping them from
my hands and saying“Oh no, don’t!”.
When informed they were for
my dogs he said, "They's ok for dogs.", and walked away.
Everyone should do at least one good deed a day...even if it isn't
appreciated.
I don't think there is a recreational golfer left in America who
doesn't use a cart.
Television news anchors can deliver any story with a smile... stories
about complete devastation from tornados should not be...
 A friend sent me this about dirt roads...nuf said.
Random thought #1: On Christmas night I heard the voice of an angel
singing opera....
if I hadn't been quite sure I was wide awake, I
would have ventured that I had checked out permanently....but no,
it was coming from the other side of the buffet line at the casino
where a petite, elderly Chinese woman was carving up a prime rib.
I told her she had a beautiful voice and besides thank you, she
said she had been a an opera singer in China before coming here...opera
singers from China punch
a clock at buffets on Christmas...kids
from across this country report to no one....
I might be getting in a foul mood again.
January 20th - Oh boy all just broke loose in the cupboards, the
dogs have no idea what just happened, but to me it sounds like the
sweet sounds of a glue trap at work...
Ok...nothing worthwhile ever comes without a fight and it is clear
that I now have a very worthy oppenent in this rat... but should
he choose to continue call my trailer home, it is now clear that
he shall do so without half of his tail as I am now in possesstion
of the other half in one of th traps...
To some this may seem to be a victory for the rat, but I shall rest
easily tonight knowing he will not be resting at all...
Rat - 250
Me - 1...ok 1/2.
 Random thought #2 - Do they teach kids about the big dipper and
little dipper anymore... I quizzed a few kids lately and they were
all befuddled.
February 10th - You know I love nothing more than a good "Big City
Family Moves to the Country" story and the newest one comes from
just outside Wickenberg, Az where a local rancher told me about
his new Califonia neighbor has crossed the line...there were some
really cold nights out here in the desert a few weeks back which
just happened to coincide with some baby chicks hatching on this
gentleman's ranch.
In an effort to get the brood some much needed heat, the ranch owner
brought in some heat lamps to get the brood through the night. They
of course fared just fine, but the next morning the man recieved
a message on his voice mail from the new neighbor who said he understood
the need for the heat lamps, but asked that he move them to the
other side of the house as the shadows thrown by the active chicks
were scaring his wife to the point that she couldn't sleep...oh...and
the houses are 2 acres apart.
February 28th - Pulled into one of my
favorite campgrounds, Catalina
State Park just North of Tucson and undertook the always unpleasant
task of emptying the water tanks...this time around it immediately
became more unpleasant than ever before for as I pulled the release
on the "Blackwater" tank, it became clear that my rat of a roommate
had chewed through the sewage hose...I won't go into any gory details,
but suffice to say, once again he had achieved the upper hand...and
on this night, he would be resting (better that than chewing) more
easily than I, but more on our battle as it continues...
March 9th - I just got finished repairing the trailer toilet...wouldn't
flush, wouldn't hold water, so the list grows longer...but I was
distracted by a phone call which came in as "Restricted"...now I
never answer these, but I decided to only because this one felt
safe...when I answered the phone I was almost giddy, which if you
know me is a state I haven't been in since I got the COMPLETE Hot
Wheels set up one Christmas when i was eight.
On the other end was my good friend Gary Alchesay...Apache Cowboy
and one of the truly Great Men I have ever met...I had been waiting
for his call for months now as I had lost my cell phone with his
ever changing phone number in it the same week I had my near hit
with the train in Indiana.
After a round of pleasantries that included our discovering that
we had been 1000 feet away last weekend as his son Evander rode
and won the Bull-Riding event over at Rawhide, he told me that the
environmental group that maintains the Mexican Wolf pack on the
reservation has asked him to provide "wolf tours" starting in 09.
Now that may sound like a long way
off, but there shall be renewed opportunities for cowboy tours before then...I'll keep you all abreast.
March 11th - Ok, with any luck this edition will be in shape enough to get sent tonight or tomorrow and I
again must apologize for it's delay...I will leave you with this guidance however...I sense good things are
afoot...I am working on the aforementioned multi-media project which will include not only traditional native
songs but those that brought life to the west and kept the cowboys lonesome at night.
And lastly, the cougar I mentioned in an earlier RoadNotes is still
in the area...though this image I shot on my hike today while up
at Lynx Lake in Prescott (pictured above) may not be for the squeamish,
it pales in comparison to the one the Fish & Game guy showed me
when he pulled this 2-point buck out of the water as it was still
alive...just a reminder that nature can take your breath away in
more ways than one.
Until next time....be well and as always, please excuse any typos
(and you know who you are) and most importantly, "Save a Horse,
Ride a Mustang."
Jim
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