March 13, 2005 - Van, TX - 2 (Outside Quartzsite)

Well, Susie, just because they look fuzzy doesn't mean they are fuzzy!  Leatherman to the rescue again!

Pack rats like the cholla cactus.  And use it to protect their homes.  Almost every time we find a pile of these nubbins, there's a pack rat nest in there someplace.

Beauty and destruction all in the same place.  We found a bunch of these piles of rocks that had to be deserted cabins, or storage sheds, or something.  Broken dreams?  Died with their boots on?  Made their million and took a hike?  These questions never seem to have answers.  Even the book of stone cabins doesn't always have the answers.

The view of the fire pit from our home.....and our home from the fire pit.  Some 22 or 23 rigs joined the circle this year.  Mostly "old" friends but a few new ones as well, and some "old" friends were missing.  Mostly because they were enjoying winter someplace else.  No shortage of wood this year, as John had brought a bunch, Alan had some, Mike brought in a truck load of pallets, and Chuck had a pickup load of wood too.

A couple of unusual shots.  Mike with his video camera (never saw him taking pictures before) and Henk with the biggest grin of the day.  These pictures were taken at opposite ends of the day.  Mike was up just after sunrise, and Henk had come over to join us in some futile attempts to capture another spectacular sunset with the camera.

After we'd come back and talked about all the fun we'd had exploring the cabins and mines, it was decided to take a group and drive to Dripping Springs a few days later.  The road was in the book as "easy" and "moderate", so we talked John into driving his own Jeep this time.  He had Chuck and Mary Lou riding with him, and Chuck has had some 4-wheel stuff, so we were confident he'd do just fine.  And he did, as you'll see.  5 Jeep Cherokees and a Ford Bronco. To begin with, the group took the same road we'd been on a few days ago, and once at the cabin with the strange stones in it's walls, Kay read to the group what the book said about the cabin.  And then I pulled out my "rattlesnake eggs" and played with them.  They're oblong shaped magnets, two of them, and when placed with your fingers between them, and tossed in the air, they make a very distinct buzzing sound.  Of course, they sound remotely like a rattlesnake warning, so it gets attention quickly here in the desert.  So then others had to try, and among them was Ray, in the bright blue shirt standing next to me.  You can barely see the "eggs" that he's watching so he can catch them on the way down.  And since I can't remember everybody's name on this trip (there were about 16 of us) I'll not embarrass myself further by trying to name them all.

 Stopped for lunch, and as I went up the hill to take a picture of the group I found another pack rat nest, complete with it's bathroom!  How do those little guys carry these stickers without injury, anyway?

Alan is watching carefully to see what kind of ATV activity is going on, and whether we're going to be happy about it.  We were.  They were out for a drive to Dripping Springs from some RV park in Quartzsite.  An informal group, some of whom had just met.  We chatted with them a bit, and assured them we'd wait until after they left before we started the ride back.  As you can see, it's a pretty narrow road, and not a lot of room for passing, and these ATV's go a lot faster than we do on these kinds of roads.  Kay's book about stone cabins either didn't have these, or I missed out on learning about them.

And it could be argued that they're not totally deserted, as Barb was able to catch one of the inhabitants sunning himself.

And then the object of our trip.  Dripping Springs.  Sure enough, it drips.  Frank is looking at the main spring, although there were several outlets.  Barb with the sun hat is checking out some strange moss that was growing there.  And then I took a picture of what Frank had been looking at.

You've got to be familiar with my penchant for taking the picture of somebody taking mine, but this time Barb fooled me.  She snapped a picture of me taking a picture of Frank and Susie.

There was this small cave of sorts, and lots of people fooled around in it.  Of course, with Susie and her friend, there was always fooling around going on.  Anyway, when nobody else was in there, I sneaked in for a peek myself, and then yelled at Barb to come see what I'd done.  She'd not even stood up all the way before I got her picture and got myself the heck out of there.  Enough bravery for one day.  Whew!  I was actually in a cave.  Can't believe it.

And here we thought graffiti was a modern problem.  Shucks, people have been scrawling on rocks long before spray paint was invented.  Still, it's pretty cool to find it.

The whole gang.  It was pretty steep going up leaving the springs, and since we've been doing this stuff for a while, it was decided that we'd go to the top to warn anybody wanting to come down, that there were a bunch of novices coming up.  Only person we saw on their way down was a motorcyclist who decided to turn around.  See that little bald spot in the bottom of the picture?  That's the stone cabin that had Barb standing by it, and the "parking lot" where we parked to explore the springs.

A closer shot of the cabin, and a view of the road coming back up.

John is following Ray and Kay, and doing a good job of not knocking boulders all over the place.  That was about the tightest corner on the route, and a bit unnerving for first timers. But he did just fine.  And right at the top, Ray had to show us it could be done with the "Look, Ma, no hands" bit.  Notice his left front tire.  It's actually off the ground!  The shadow makes it look like there's contact, but there isn't.

Then John being careful and doing a great job, and next, Alan and Judy.  Judy was yelling the whole way, because Alan took it a bit faster than some of us.  Not sure if his left front tire is on the ground or not.  Probably not.  There's a good sized rock right there.

And there are those who chose to hoof it, rather than trust their fate to some crazy Jeep driver.  Susie's friend, and Chuck.  They'd been "helping" others by pointing out rocks and laughing.  Good day of good fun.  During the trip, Ray and I had wondered if this would cure John of ever wanting to take his pretty new Jeep out 4-wheeling ever again or not.  It didn't.  It only made him want more of it.  After he caught his breath.