Are the border areas safe?
The weather's been warm and wonderful, just like the desert is supposed to be in the winter. Highs are in the 70s and 80s, lows are in the 40s and 50s, and humidity is in the teens, which makes the weather just about perfect for me.
One of the places I was thinking about going to when I left the Phoenix area was Ajo, Arizona. There's lots of free boondocking there, and quite often, Air Force and Marine fighter planes fly over low enough for me to get pictures of them. So, Ajo, even though very close to the Mexican border, has become a favorite place of mine. The border patrol has stopped most of the illegal border crossings, so I was starting to feel a bit safer.
But on the news of late, I'm seeing that there's fighting going on at the border between the border patrol and the Mexican drug cartels to keep the drugs flowing. More US military are now being sent to the border to calm things down.
It doesn't sound like we're in danger of having an open border like we did a month ago, but it does sound scary enough that I may have to rethink my hopes of boondocking near the border anytime soon.
But today is Sunday, the last day of the End of Trail cowboy shoot. I will need to give some thought to where I will head next one of these days. Right now, I don't feel like going anywhere since I'm comfortable here boondocking on Arizona trust lands.
But one of these mornings, I'll wake up feeling that I need to put on my traveling shoes and go somewhere else. It won't matter where as long as it's warm, peaceful and a few Saguaro’s are nearby to keep me company.
Theboondork
A late afternoon snapshot I took from my boondocking spot of the humongous chip manufacturing plant across the road from Ben Avery gun range.
You will see contestants all over the cowboy shooting contest carrying their weapons this way, it's the rule. Whenever you've got this many people dealing with loaded and unloaded weapons you have to be very concerned about safety so the rule is, anytime you're moving a weapon away from the firing line the chamber has to be visibly empty, and the weapon must be pointed up if you're carrying it.
Another safety issue is all the contestants have to wear safety glasses, and hearing protection. This Isn’t much of a problem because like me, most of these old folks can’t hear anyway, And your regular prescription glasses are suitable for safety purposes.
I wish I could've talked to this guy but I never got the chance, so it leaves me wondering where in the world did he come up with a costume for a cowboy that has gold lame, and diamond studded holsters, and a shirt with spikes on it.
Even in the most fanciful cowboy movie, I've never seen anyone dressed like this. I could offer a suggestion, but it would probably be deemed completely inappropriate in this day and age.
When I was dressed in old west costume in my Cripple Creek restaurants every day, I also Waxed and twisted the ends of my mustache like this old cowboy
This old-timer must fear the wind with a hat like that. But actually, large hats were pretty common for cowboys since they copied the Mexican vaqueros that wore sombreros.