Dome Rock, and more Quartzite

 

                    

There’s a large hill, or small mountain across the desert a ways that has a cross on top.  You can only see if from our area if you know where to look.  I decided to see if i could find the trail up to it.  After scrambling aroud a bit without finding the trail, I figured to just head for the top on the least vertical part of the mountain.

It was a partly cloudy day and the pictures were dull.  This is the view toward the South.  Not much out there but desert and atv trails.

And the view Eastward back toward Quartzite.

The cross itself is only about five feet tall.  Nothing to tell about who placed it there that I could find.

Dome Rock in the background.

On the way down i saw this little guy, or gal.  Showing off, if only two inches high.

On another afternoon we strolled through the real flea market of Quartzite.  No new stuff here, but there were some good looking used items.

And then, there was stuff.  How about an old water pump, or some disk blades?

 

Wagon wheels or pop art?

 

Lots of old iron for sale. 

Fishing gear.

Bathtubs and barbed wire.  Just so you know, that ball of wire was priced at $50.00.

 

Homemade toys and milk cans.

 

Even a sleigh.

And, if you didn’t see exactly what you were looking for, there were dozens and dozens of these bins you could dig through. 

There’s definitely something here one could put to use, if they only looked hard enough…jc

BeBe to Q

 

We left the Big Bend area last Friday morning.  Stopped at the rest area dedicated to the Marfa Lights.  The state of Texas has created quite a facility with overnight parking for viewing.  Not sure how often they appear, but they have been doing it for quite some time.

• After bypassing El Paso to the North, we planned to spend the night in Las Cruces.  We arrived there earlier than planed, so after a Walmart shopping experience we decided to head on to Deming.  Met a friend (Eileen) from Pheonix while checking in at the RV park in Deming. She was on her way to Lajitas to direct the Casitas in Lajitas Rally. We had a good visit before spending a windy and cold Friday night.  Saturday found us in Gilbert Ray campground in Tucson.  Had a wonderful visit with a dear friend that fulltimes in his Casita.  It’s always great to see Ed (Dutchman to many of you Casita Forum readers).  we also experienced our first Arizona sunset.

Leaving Gilbert Ray late on Sunday morning had us arriving at Quartzite just in time for a Dome Rock sunset.

Shortly after arriving, we received the news that there was to be a wedding on Tuesday, and we were invited.  The two people most responsible for giving us the courage to try  desert boondocking were getting married.

                          

Shortly after the ceremony we gathered at the Yacht Club for a reception dinner.  It was fun for all.

There’s one in every crowd.

Wednesday morning, Wanda and I made our way into town and to the local flea market.

Love all the bright colors.  The lighting wasn’t that good but they all still stood out. Scarves, shirts, and I’m not sure what they were.

Bags and hats.

Beads and food.

And of course, don’t forget the concrete statuary for your RV.

And, if you had an ache or pain, relief was just minutes away.

We’re just loafing, visiting, eating, and hanging out in general with five other couples; just East of Dome Rock…..jc

A Drive through Big Bend.

 

Having made a couple of good hikes for someone from an altitude of 380 feet, it was time for a rest day.  We decided to spend the day just driving through Big Bend.  We have been here twice before, and blogged about it, so there aren’t many pictures accompanying this post.

We started by entering the park from Study Butte. (Stewdy boot, or so I’m told.)  We just drove the main road all the way down to Rio Grande Village at the Southern end of the park.  We stopped along the way at a few sites with the Hot Springs being the first place I took the camera out.  Free enterprise has always impressed me.

This display of trinkets and walking sticks was placed here by the guy that stays here.

Across the river in Mexico.

They were priced from six to ten dollars each.  If you liked one you were to put your money in the plastic bag sitting in the display.  After a sale or two the guy would cross the river, retrieve his money, and restock his wares.

The kicker here is that you have just broken the law, and are now in the possession of illegal contraband. 

Another unusual thing we happened upon was this.  American ingenuity at it’s best.

It seems to me that there was nothing that the engineers of the eary 1900’s couldn’t accomplish.  It must have been an awesome sight to see 90 of these buckets swinging away along a six mile cable.

And one or more of the cables are still laying on the ground.  Amazing to me that it hasn’t been stolen for its scrap value, as It was only a mile or so from the river.

 

As mentioned earlier, we mostly drove and looked.  Checked out all the campgrounds, and enjoyed the beautigul drive up into the Chisos Basin.

I’ll end this post with the picture of another entrepreneur.  Returning to Mexico from restocking his wares at Boquillas.

Homeland security??….jc