Friday, February 14, 2014

Valentine’s Day and Ajo in Pictures

Friday, February 14, 2014

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!  Today has started out to be hot.  The weatherman is talking about record breaking temperatures over the weekend.  I am glad it is warm, but 70’s would be fine with me, but I better not complain or I will get in trouble back home.

After exchanging Valentine’s cards, we had breakfast, then put all the dirty clothes, empty water bottles and garbage in the jeep, and headed for town.  Started the generator before leaving so we would be fully charged by the time we return.  I am tired of that thing and will be glad to have solar panels so I don’t have to listen or smell that thing each day.

Washing Day!

  Looks like Pugsy’s Place could use a new owner.Closed bar.

After we finished with the laundry, we took a small tour of Ajo.  On the south side, there appeared to be new apartment homes that were brightly colored.HousingColorful housing There were several blocks of them with only one road in and one road out.  Kind of like a gated community for the average folk. 

They have a large Catholic Church.Large Catholic Church

There is a beautiful full wall mural that meshed with the roof angle of the adjoining building. Wall mural If you look at the mural closely you will find many different subjects within.Wall mural Look closely at the clouds and you will see cowboys on a cattle drive; different animals in the mountains scene, etc.  We stopped by the home/art studio of Mike who did the mural.  Wasn’t sure if he still lived there, so did not stop in.Lone Wolf Studio There is a lizard engraved in concrete on the side of the building.Desert Lizard

The obligatory mountain initial. "A" for Ajo

There is a huge open mine pit right on the southern edge of Ajo.Ajo Mine It is closed now but it is deep and wide. 

Here is Dolly next to a large Organ Pipe Cactus, to give you an idea of how large they are.Large Pipe Oran Cactus

Caught this just as the sun was setting.  This mountain is just southeast of our boondocking home.
Sunset on the mountain. 

See you later.

5 comments:

  1. We know the fellow (Wanderwolf) who had a hand in doing that big wall mural on the town's local newspaper office.. You will see other wall murals around town that he did as well. The notes on the big wall mural are notes from the song, Ghost Riders In The Sky. Where you saw the big wall Lizard was his former studio. Be sure to drive the 21 mile loop drive in the Ajo mountains when you get down to Organ Pipe. Visitor center right there has lots of info about the area. You will pass through Why on your way to Organ Pipe. There is a small Casino there on the highway to Tucson & behind that Casino is Hickiwan Trails RV Park. This is where Kelly & I really got our RVing feet wet when we first started out. Many memorable morning walks in the desert here. Also this whole area you are in right now is highly military & maybe you have already seen the A-5 Warthog ground attack planes buzzing low overhead. Occasionally you may hear a double sonic boom from the high flying unseen fighter jets as they break the sound barrier at times in their maneuvers. If you see yellow flares in the night it is either Border Patrol or military. And if you hear a puzzling 'whooooomp' sound during the day it is the firing of Gatling Guns on the Barry M. Goldwater Military Grounds right next to Ajo. Always lots of military stuff going on around Ajo. Especially in the air,,,,

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    1. I wonder if the Wanderwolf still lives at the studio. idn't see his van and did not look like any activity around. I did hear the whoooomps and thought it was coming from the pit mine near us. But after seeing inside it and seeing that it is closed, I didn't know where the sound was coming from. Now I know. We may go to Why tomorrow and the Organ Pipe Monument.
      I would love to go in the old hospital on the hill.

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  2. What a cool little town! Wall murals are so cool!

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    1. Hello Dawn. Thank you for stopping by. Ajo has a lot of interesting art work and beautiful desert scenery. Little different than your green northwest. There is also alot of military and border control activity here, so never dull. They have a museum here I will write about once I visit, so stop by again.

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  3. thanks so much for the tour of Ajo! That lizard on the building rings a bell, I think we saw that when we were there too. Sooo when are you getting "solared up" ?? You won't regret it seeing all the boondocking you are doing. We sure love the flexibility it gives us!

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    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
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