The Road to Frying Pan and Other Adventures

Thanksgiving

We've had a couple of beautiful days ahead of the lousy weather we're having now (overcast, rain, cold, with little improvement in sight).  Two days ago we took an excursion to a canyon I hadn't visited...Frying Pan.  Why is it called Frying Pan?  No one seems to know.  Local lore says a woodcutting party from Fort Cummings was ambushed here by the Apaches with loss of all soldiers.

On the way to Frying Pan, there is a grave site which is supposedly a little girl who died out here in the wilderness.  

l to r:  Gilbert, Steve, me, Mike

Mike and Gilbert at Frying Pan

When returned to the Hitchhiker, I released the dogs and they ran to the back ramp and up to the stoop.  When I got to the ramp, I saw they had run right by a (probably young) coon-tailed rattlesnake (Rattlesnakes) lying on the bottom plank of the ramp.  Oooooo dear....I was wearing boots so I scooted past it and secured the dogs on the porch.  Mike encouraged the snake to move on.

Mike and Gilbert discuss the world situation.

And on another wildlife front, I have caught four or five mice in the rig in the past month.  It's getting chilly and they are all hunting for someplace warm and dry for the winter.  One of the guys in the next court has caught probably a dozen.  



We had planned to gather up the mavericks today to go to a local truck stop for an elegant Thanksgiving feast.  With rain, rain, rain starting early this morning, the ranch road is a bog.  At the last big rain, one of the park residents slid off the road into a ditch and needed help to get back out. Another consideration is that the local mud turns into concrete when it dries.  It takes a minimum of $3 at the local car wash to blast it off, sometimes a lot more.  So we are enjoying a quiet day at home.  Looks like pizza tonight.  

Tomorrow the mavericks are going to Palomas, Mexico, for margaritas and lunch and a little light shopping.  It's a fun day and we can't ride the desert anyway.

I have ordered a HAM radio for the Honda, as communication in the desert is iffy.  Wireless phones work someplaces and not others.  One of the guys here set up the HAM repeater and monitors traffic.  It's gotten a lot of people out of bad situations, as they can call back to the ranch for help.  And it's always helpful for drivers to be able to contact each other on the move.

Muppet and Bella