PNW shots from the last few months of 2018...

Cactus Cowboy

Well-Known Member
Hard to believe it has been two years already... in the fall of 2018, I flipped my home in Show Low, AZ, and went roaring off to the PNW (or Pacific Northwest) to check out fixer homes. Spent six months camping on the beach and in the forest, then I took a cheap rental flat for three months while I inspected roughly two dozen homes. Never found a fixer worth buying in my price range, all the homes on the west coast of WA were bombed out & moldy, not worth the trouble & money it would take to fix 'em up. One home was in good shape, priced at $35K so it was well within my price range as a cash buyer, but the property already had five full-price offers and I didn't want to get caught up in a bidding war. The rains set in for three straight months while I was in the rental flat, so I decided to return to Arizona and try my luck in a different county... that's how I wound up back in the Sun Belt (where I belong). Anyway, here are some shots taken in coastal WA, starting with a scenic drive & beach cruiser bike ride along the boardwalk in Westport. :cool:

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Nice bike ride, weather was pleasant... a couple weeks later, I attended a surf contest right in this same location, and some contestants drove at least two hours from Seattle in order to participate. Weather was good for that event too, I had fun hanging out with some surfers and commercial fishermen, drinking craft beer out of a cooler and watching the action on a day when the surf was a bit larger than seen here. There was a good break right off that jetty... twin jetties bracket the entrance to Grays Harbor, and the last two shots overlook that harbor. You can see part of Westport in the penultimate shot, while the last shot shows a ship riding at anchor just inside Grays Harbor. Nice sailing here when the weather is pleasant... :rolleyes:
 
Next, we head into Westport, a cool fishing village where one can buy some of the best seafood... the homemade clam chowder is awesome too, I macked that on a regular basis during my stay in coastal WA. Lemme throw down a few pics of Westport, then we'll visit a CLASSIC ship chandlery where I met a real hand, funny as hell, the owner of that joint. But first, an overlook of the village... :cool:

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Damn, I had a phone call that lasted awhile, but these are just a few shots of Westport, a cool little fishing village way out on the west coast of WA. That observation tower overlooking the village and harbor was pretty cool, open to the public for free viewing... the surfing mural cements Westport's claim as the "surfing capital" of Washington State, LOL. Again, I enjoyed the surf contest, I even shared some craft beers with the MCs running the show, I brought a couple of cases of good beer because I knew I'd meet folks there, aye? Hey, those last two black & white posters seen in Chamber of Commerce windows show young anglers and jackpot money in some fishing contest of yore... nice 'FISTFUL OF DOLLARS' (or larger denominations, no disrespect to Clint Eastwood or Sergio Leone, LOL). :rolleyes:
 
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Okay, now I have a special treat for y'all... a trip back through time as I share my visit with a ship chandler in Westport. I was cruising past in 'The Mighty Camry' (beach cruiser already back on the cargo carrier behind my vehicle), when I saw the old beat-up trawler in front of this metal warehouse. Pulled in to park, just to check out the boat, then I saw the sign and I walked into the building... met some CLASSIC older hand who had spent his life in this area, he was the owner of this chandlery and we got along famously, since we were both familiar with the sea. We talked for awhile, then he casually invited me to take a solo grand tour of the warehouse... I had already roamed the aisles in the shop, but this guy had the building set up like a museum as well. I literally spent another hour or two just trippin' on the whole museum scene, and the totally unexpected bonus which I discovered behind one wall of the chandlery... more on this in my next post. For now, kick back and enjoy the tour... oh, yeah, the cat followed me around as I wandered through time, keeping an eye on me, no doubt. ;)

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Okay, this place was SO FULL of CLASSIC MEMORABILIA, I'm gonna break the tour into three posts, but bear with me, because the ultimate reward lies ahead... and I ain't jokin' either, in the rock & roll words of ol' BTO, "YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET..." :eek:

Granted, some pics aren't as clear as they could be with better lighting, but that was part of the charm on this unexpected trip back through time... the upper floor of the warehouse was dimly lit in places, and I didn't want to touch ANYTHING (including dusty light switches), as some of this stuff was worth real money, LOL. I just wandered through the upper floor of the building, the cat following me and keeping me company... every now and then, the cat would leap somewhere and jostle some artifact, maybe an expensive curio, and I'd stop and take a deep breath, thinking:

"IF THAT DAMNED CAT BREAKS ANYTHING, THE SHIP CHANDLER BELOW IS GONNA THINK I DID IT..." :confused:

But it was all good, the cat literally set objects rockin' & rollin' as we made our way through the museum, but those objects would gradually settle back into place, LOL. Some kinda 'TWILIGHT ZONE' action as I carried on with the EXCELLENT TOUR... truthfully, this sort of tour is the best kind, as one has no expectations whatsoever, only a casual invite to explore the unknown. And as a truck driver, as well as a lifelong sailor, I found this place to be interesting, I may have spent an hour-and-a-half on the upper floor, I really don't remember since I was so caught up in the history of it all. ;)

QUICK BREAK, THEN WE CARRY ON WITH OUR EXCELLENT TOUR... BILL & TED HAD NOTHIN' ON THIS PLACE, LEMME TELL YA, LOL. :rolleyes:
 
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Here we continue our tour of the museum which doubled as a ship chandlery... :rolleyes:

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Got cut off, guess we'll find out why... granted, some shots are a bit fuzzy, but the lighting wasn't spectacular, and better shots lie ahead. ;)
 
Alright, we've seen some shtick and we've seen some classic memorabilia, but my tour wasn't over yet... I had entered the building, talked to the owner and his gal for a bit, then explored the loft or upper floor of the warehouse with the cat for company, right? But when the cat & I descended the stairs (or ladder in the shipboard sense) and I spoke to the chandler again, things REALLY got interesting. You see, as a truck driver I naturally mentioned all of the automotive memorabilia, and pinged on that rack or shelf of classic tail lights seen in one photo... well, that lead to a guided tour given by the ship chandler himself, into another area of the warehouse which I had not even seen yet. And HERE the time-traveling tour hit WARP F#%NG SPEED, PRONTO... :eek:

Oh, first we have two shots taken in the chandlery itself, guess I didn't want to break out the camera right when I walked in and met these fine folks... ;)

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Y'all understand it was a working man's ship chandlery, stacked to the rafters with gear needed by mariners & fishermen, and those shots only show one little part of the chandlery. Alright, now we step behind the scenes to the most glorious part of the entire tour, I'll let the photos speak for themselves... :cool:

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Damn, those CLASSIC CARS were BAD@$$... not in perfect showroom condition, but pretty darned close. Hell, I offered that ship chandler good money for the Packard Caribbean, that ride was F#%NG SWEEEEEEET... and I had $90K in the bank too, but the hand wouldn't sell it, too many good memories wrapped up in the rig, I suppose. I don't blame him either, it was a STYLIN' CONVERTIBLE, no doubt about it. The T-Bird and the Hudson didn't suck either, that Hudson was probably worth more money, I don't know... but the Packard Caribbean had my name written all over it, LOL. I have to admit, the shots wander from Packard to T-Bird to Hudson and then back to the Packard, but I was like a kid in a candy store, don'tcha know? And you older hands out there in cyberspace, you know the feeling... pretty sweet rigs right there in that impromptu and wholly-unexpected museum, that classic ship chandler really rounded out my primo day, we actually went and ate a meal at the nearby Fish Shack after he and his gal locked up the joint, LOL. :rolleyes:

ALRIGHT, HOPE Y'ALL ENJOYED THE TOUR, TIME FOR ME TO HANDLE SOME BUSINESS... Y'ALL LIKE THAT CAT IN THE PHOTOS? LOL... :eek:

Edit: I actually helped the ship chandler uncover those three classic rigs, just so I could take some photos... later, we covered the vehicles again for protection, I guess this hand kept hoods & trunks cracked open for a reason, maybe due to the climate. But those cars were mighty sweet, I never expected to see such rigs in the back of the building in a ship chandlery, AYE??? Meh, that's how truly experienced seamen are, ya never know what ya might discover while you're talking to 'em, LOL. Perhaps I flatter myself, but I'm thinking that NOT every customer gets to take the classic tour I did on that day, after a primo beach cruise and prior to sharing a meal with the ship chandler. Pretty good time overall, rated highly among good times had up in the PNW. ;)

Edit #2: HEY, HOWZABOUT THAT CASTLE & GALLEON ACTION IN THE HUDSON LOGO?!? BAD@$$, AYE??? THE PACKARD LOGO DOESN'T SUCK EITHER, AND THE CARIBBEAN MODEL IS A F#%NG CLASSIC, BUT THAT HUDSON LOGO IS SWEET, YA GOTTA ADMIT IT... LOL. :cool:
 
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Okay, now I see an 'error' or deliberate bullsh!t in my initial post: six WEEKS camping in the forest, not six MONTHS, and I'm fairly certain I put six weeks down at the outset. Meh, makes me also wonder why the glitch occurred in a later post... f#% it, I'm off to better things. :rolleyes:
 
Forgot that I had these chart shots, I actually bought these charts when I thought I was gonna relocate in that area, but once I decided to go back to Arizona, I donated the charts to a commercial fisherman I had met up there. A Native American who knew a bunch of other fishermen, so I figured the charts would find a good home where they would be put to good use... :cool:

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Er... don't mind the cat toys, TV remotes & whatnot used to weight the unrolled charts, LOL. Those green shaded tidal areas are extensive in the 'Twin Harbors' and are often exposed mudflats at low tide. Both harbors or bays are known for their oysters, but Willapa Bay is cleaner according to hydrologists who check water quality on a regular basis. Beautiful area, a paradise on earth when the sun shines, but that doesn't happen so often... it rains at least nine months out of the year, this area having a temperate maritime climate and actual rainforest on shore. Bruceport (where I camped for a total of nearly five weeks) lies on the prominent headland just left of the uppermost compass rose on the Willapa Bay chart... the view from my campsite was friggin' awesome!!! I did spend ten days at Grayland State Beach, which lies between the Twin Harbors... another cool venue, you can hear the surf from your tent, LOL. Willapa Bay had the largest Bald Eagles I have ever seen in my life, those things were the size of warplanes and they made my cats nervous... :confused:
 
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A few more shots, taken on the coast between Twin Harbors... very nice area, especially when the sun shines, but the rains literally put a damper on one's spirits & recreational activities. :confused:

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Here's a typical PNW rig, some of those dirt (and mud) logging roads are great for offroad action, including dirt bikes, but ya need a 4WD truck... even 'The Mighty Camry' would bog down in that mud, pedal mashed to the floor, LOL. Don't ask me how I know this... ;)

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I think I saw that truck in Westport, looks like it with those buildings in the background. Here are a couple of classic T-shirts which I bought while I was up there in the PNW, I still have these and I wear the pirate shirt on a regular basis... this being the high desert in southeastern Arizona, I get some funny looks now and then over the fishing reference, LOL. :rolleyes:

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That second shirt is a blatant rip-off of the 'STAR WARS' flick title, LOL... pretty funny shirt, with a monster, little trawlers in space, a wandering sea lion, and even a 'Death Star' complete with dished-out concave bowl area!!! I don't recall the original 'Death Star' having those spikes, though... they make this 'Death Star' look more like a naval mine, LOL. :eek:
 
Gonna look for some bivouac site shots, I may have 'em on a computer (tablet) which went kaput around this time, but there's a guy in town who can retrieve the pics for me if I simply donate the computer to him aferward. Suits me, I actually have that tablet and an iPad tucked away, the iPad still works but I never use it, maybe I'll pull the pics off it too and donate the device. Might be a mission for later today... I'm moving slowly this morning because I got FREAKIN' HAMMERED last night, LOL. :eek:

On the flip side, I had the best night of sleep I've had in MONTHS... slept right through till 0700, which is very unusual, but I guess I needed the rest after all the stress this year. Oh, yeah, I had a call about my ad too, some hand who might be the one to watch my cats if I go trucking... but that hinges entirely upon whether I actually go, I won't need anyone to look after the cats (or my home) if the county comes through with a job, or if another local job turns up and I get hired for it. We'll see what happens... I ain't no fortune teller, I'm grounded in reality, LOL. ;)

Alright, lemme see if I can find some bivouac site shots... I was living like a f#%ng king in the forest, eating all kinds of gourmet food (including fresh seafood), drinking craft beers out the wazoo, enjoying roaring fires every night & often every morning, it was 'The Life of Riley' in the field, LOL. And I know about spending time in the field, having camped throughout my life... not to mention the USA INF, sheeee-it, ya spend a week at a time in the field every time ya go in uniform. Meh, my friends & I still had some good times out there, oddly enough I chose Fort Lewis in the PNW after Fort Benning. More on that later... :rolleyes:

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Okay, those forest shots must be on the tablet, so I'm gonna see about retrieving them today. Meanwhile, I found some shots taken after I returned to Arizona, I was still in limbo at this time, with my stuff in storage and yours truly camping with two cats... those same cats spent over a month with me in the field in the PNW, so they knew the drill, LOL. This was my free bivouac site on the west side of the Dragoon Mountains, where I spent a week or so while waiting for escrow to close on my home. Awesome views there, those crags, domes & spires are only one small part of the Cochise Stronghold complex, the huge natural stone fortress covers square miles of ground. As you can see, there is excellent offroading here, and the views don't suck either, LOL. Oh, yeah, after I set up camp I realized that the rain fly for the larger tent was still in storage... sure enough, it rained one night and I had to dry everything out, hence the sleeping bags and whatnot on the friggin' car, LOL. Hey, that marker for some hapless Mexican was only a stone's throw from my campfire... but I've never been afraid of ghosts, in fact I would've offered that ghost some tequila if he had shown up by my fire. ;)

Note: For those interested, free camping is available on BLM land on both sides of the Dragoons, which is kinda cool... there is also a developed campground on the east side, right by the main Stronghold area, but it has been closed for awhile due to the phony plandemic, PFFFFFT. Meh, the free camping is actually more fun, just gotta bring everything with ya, including extra jerry jugs of water for bathing and whatnot. I had a blast out there, but I had to put the cats in the car every night for safety, due to the serious coyote action... even during the day, the cats had to be careful, but they already knew the drill from their time in the field up in the PNW. Sage is now gone, but Crackhead is still with me, and that cat has done some serious camping in his own right... gotta watch the furry little b@stard in camp, he likes to steal beer out of my cooler when I'm not looking, the BLASTED VARMINT!!! :eek:

ALRIGHT, TIME TO GET CLEANED UP AND SEE ABOUT RETRIEVING THOSE EXCELLENT FOREST BIVOUAC PHOTOS... :rolleyes:

Edit: Forgot to mention the stars at night... this area of Arizona is known for its stargazing, there's even an observatory on Mt. Graham (which is not that far away), and that peak rises to 10720 ' or so in elevation. The Dragoons aren't as high, but some peaks rise over 7500' so they're still impressive. When skies are clear, you'll see a million stars overhead, it is so cool... and the moon is incredible too, when full it bathes the high desert with light, you can totally cruise around with no headlamp or anything, LOL. But the shadows are dark, so ya might wanna carry a weapon as you roam... there ARE mountain lions and other alpha predators in these mountain ranges of SE Arizona. BTW, other nearby ranges rise to 8000' or 9000', Miller Peak down by Sierra Vista is something like 9500' in elevation, so these are NOT small ranges, but the high desert floor sometimes makes them look a bit lower. :confused:
 
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Okay, I drove to town and talked to the computer man, dropped off both tablets so he can see about retrieving my camping photos. Last time I talked to him, he retrieved my book file off an old HP laptop, and I got to thinking: "Damn, what if my camping photos were on that laptop?" He might still have it, as I gave him the laptop for pulling my book file, ya know? Today, I left a working iPad and a seemingly-kaput RCA tablet, the camping pics MIGHT be on the RCA tablet, guess we'll find out when the computer man gets around to it. I hope I can find those camping pics, I had 'em posted elsewhere and I'll keep trying to find those web pages, but it's a cr@p shoot... I never really write down WHERE I post shots. And I think Truckforum.Org went kaput, though if you can access that site, I have a $h!tload of trucking & camping photos posted there, heaps of 'em in a thread titled "Got Chrome??? How about Armor???" :cool:

I might have those forest shots posted at lilhonda.com too, and I can check even though I've been banned from that site, LOL. Might find another cool thread there on my little offroad rocket, it started life as a Honda Z50 but I tricked it out to the max, dropping a Piranha 140cc motor in it, extending the forks, slapping on some insane aftermarket shocks, I even had a carbon fiber can on the exhaust, it was so f#%ng over the top it was ridiculous, LOL. Gnarly little dirt bike, though, it handled a lot of rough trails... I even had spare wheels set up with impromptu "sand paddles" for riding at Glamis, which I did as a tribute to my mom who had recently passed away. Of course, nobody made sand paddles for 8" rims, they start at 9" for quads and whatnot, but I tried some Carlisle X-Trac tires in lieu of actual sand paddles and they worked great, though they were ONLY good for the sand, not road or trail use. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I'll see about finding a link to a thread or web page with PNW camping shots in it. Grayland State Beach was primo, but Bruceport was more off the beaten path, and I had that whole spur road through the forest to myself, which was awesome. Other campers stayed in sites along the main ring road, but I naturally gravitated toward that remote spur as a means of having more privacy. The Bald Eagles over Willapa Bay were radical too, I already mentioned how large they were... those things lift 25-or-30-lb. salmon out of the rivers and bays up there, so they're powerful birds in prime health, my cats were nervous whenever one soared over the forest. Luckily, such large birds don't do well flying through a forest of 300' tall Sitka Spruce trees... but I know both cats got swooped on down by shore, because they were totally clued in to the whole "Death From Above" scene, LOL. :eek:

ALRIGHT, I'M ON A MISSION TO FIND MY PNW CAMPING SHOTS, Y'ALL DON'T KNOW WHAT 'GLAMPING' IS UNTIL YA SEE THESE SHOTS, LOL. ;)
 
Wow, THAT was a blast from the past... I just spent hours going through my thread titled "Z50 monkeybike with a few mods..." at lilhonda.com, in the Projects/Builds Forum of General Minitrail Talk. I actually started that thread as 'Sidewinder' but eventually changed my name to 'Coastal Redneck' when I moved to coastal WA for a few months... the avatar with the beat-up trawler is actually newer than much of the thread material, LOL. Meh, I didn't find the glamping pics, but I found some other cool stuff, including offroad videos on my little rocket bikes in Show Low... including footage of riding on Rim Road 300, which streches over 100 miles along the scenic Mogollon Rim. Any dirt bikers at this website, find that thread and work your way through it to see some killer offroad shots, including venues in CA and AZ... the Otay Mountain shots are primo, try Page 6 of that thread. Close-up shots of my little offroad Frankenbike can be found on Page 24, Post #468. In the meantime, here are various video links culled from the thread, I tried to choose those NOT laced with profanity, but bear with me, LOL... there are some nice views in those videos, the White Mountains of Arizona are a paradise on earth!!! :rolleyes:

ALRIGHT, HERE WE GO, THIS IS WHAT DIEHARD LASER SAILORS DO WHEN THEY'RE HUNDREDS OF MILES FROM THE OCEAN, LOL... :eek:









Birthday Ride 9

Minisaurus 8

Double-Nickel Dinosaur

Anytime ya hear me say "PEGS!!!" in the videos, it means I'm standing on the footpegs of either bike while negotiating rough terrain... and that cheesy Hero Cam also made the foot-deep ruts look like little wrinkles in the dirt, PFFFFFFFFFT. I threw in some BMX footage from the skatepark, that's the "Double-Nickel Dinosaur" video... taken when I was 55 years of age. That's why I'm not getting air over the spine, LOL. ;)

ENJOY!!! I'M OFF TO DRINK ANOTHER HAIR OF THE DOG THAT MAULED ME LAST NIGHT... SOME SORT OF CROSS BETWEEN A VICIOUS DOBERMAN, ROTTWEILER, GREAT DANE & NEWFOUNDLAND, LOL. :eek:
 
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Gonna check another thread to see if I can find those shots of Bruceport & Grayland State beach in WA... hopefully I haven't lost the photos forever, you diehard sailors & campers out there will dig the shots of bay & ocean. The Twin Harbors area is very nice in good weather, just too damp and cloudy the rest of the year, but I highly recommend a visit when the weather forecast is good, there are spells of magnificent weather up there when the PNW is golden. :cool:

A word or two about my Frankenbike seen in the last post: it started life as a Honda Z50, but after I made some serious mods and dumped money into the project, that Mini sported a 140cc Piranha motor, the best chain available, extended forks with better springs, primo aftermarket shocks, custom seat, mini-thumper tank from Clarke Racing, and a ridiculously-over-the-top carbon fiber can on the exhaust, LOL. :rolleyes:

Thing was a friggin' beast, a little offroad rocket which was fun (but also dangerous) to ride, LOL. Whenever I arrived at a trailhead where other dirt bikers were present, they would immediately walk away from their thumpers and freestyle MX bikes to get a closer look at my little offroad rocket. Kinda funny, really, these hardcore dirt bikers all taking turns sitting on the bike and saying, "DAMN, I GOTTA GET ONE OF THESE!!!" ;)

I've ridden dirt bikes all my life, mostly full-sized MX bikes and thumpers, but as Breeze Bender so often says, "I LOVE MY MINIS!!!" Well, that 125cc pit bike was just the usual ThumpStar number, no mods whatsoever, but it was still fun, though I bashed my knee during that one wipeout caught on film. Funny thing, I could transport both bikes with the Camry, the pit bike on a hitched cargo carrier and the Mini in the back seat, LOL. :eek:

Somewhere in that thread I mentioned earlier, there are classic shots of moi assembling the pit bike in the living room of my house in Show Low... brand-new carpet down too, but I covered the work area with a Mexican blanket, LOL. No way I EVER could've done this with a nagging wife, it's a confirmed bachelor activity. Definition of a confirmed bachelor: one who never makes the same mistake once, LOL. :D

Well, guess I'll finish doing my laundry, get cleaned up and eventually look for those glamping shots... I'm in a holding pattern right now, waiting for this county job announcement to close in a few days. I don't want to go trucking yet, not until I exhaust every local job opportunity, because trucking (though enjoyable in itself) means either rehoming the cats or taking in a roommate/house-and-pet-sitter, and I'm not ready for either of those options. :confused:

If I wound up rehoming the cats, I'd be just as likely to flip the property and head to the coast for awhile... maybe live aboard a boat on a mooring, or just hang out with friends & camp while I check other property listings back here in Arizona. Throw my stuff in storage if necessary, it'd only be temporary, but I'd rather find a decent job here in Cochise County, and this county job is just the ticket, it has my name written all over it... no roommate, no need to rehome the cats. :)

SO, THAT'S WHERE THINGS LIE AT PRESENT, WON'T BE LONG BEFORE I KNOW WHICH COURSE TO TAKE... IF I LEAVE AT ALL, IT'LL BE AFTER THE ELECTION, SO I KNOW WHICH PLACES TO AVOID, LOL. :cool:
 
Whoa, I just saw the coolest thing from my view deck... I was sitting out there with a cold one, enjoying the fall weather and my million-dollar view of the Stronghold, when I witnessed this event. We have heaps of songbirds in my hillside neighborhood, as there are plenty of trees & bushes which offer cover, nesting sites, etc. Many folks also have bird feeders, myself included... so there's no shortage of wild birds here, aye? Well, as I was looking across the San Pedro Valley at the Dragoons & the Stronghold, I saw this blur---this living streak---dive out of the sky right in front of me: it was a peregrine falcon going after some small bird, but the lucky songbird was close enough to some tall bushes to take cover. It was a narrow escape, but the little guy made it, though he probably had a freakin' heart attack while scrambling for safety. :eek:

I've heard that the peregrine falcon can dive at 200+ miles per hour, and this one must have been doing at least 150 or 160, if I'm any judge of speed. I mean that thing was FAST, but I reckon the prey got a glimpse of it at the last second... or soon enough to take evasive action. I know raptors of all sizes don't like flying into trees or bushes, as they can easily break a wing (or two) and then they're SOL. But that little songbird just made it into those branches, I'll tell ya... and the raptor took off, covering ground like you wouldn't believe. There used to be a nesting pair of peregrine falcons under the Bay Bridge in San Diego, and I'd see 'em while I was out sailing, but this dive was right there in front of me as I looked out over the hillside and valley... pretty awesome sight, that blurry streak as the falcon dove at high speed. Meh, no shortage of rodents, songbirds, etc., in this valley, I reckon the falcon will have his dinner soon enough. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I spoke to that computer expert who is retrieving my PNW pics from the kaput tablet, won't be long before I have some cool shots of coastal WA. I'm pretty sure I have pics on that tablet, the timing is right... you know these computers only last so long, at least in my home where I bang the keyboards hard, so I gotta replace the computers every so often. The way I figure, the computers go kaput just as soon as the warranties expire, LOL. That seems to be the case with every computer I ever owned. Meh, they don't cost that much anymore, so no big deal... I reckon it's the cost of doing business. Whenever that hand gets my pics out of the kaput tablet, I will post some nice shots of Bruceport, Willapa Bay, Grays Harbor, etc. My bivouac site in Bruceport was awesome, with views of the bay & ocean as seen while looking out from a forest of 300' Sitka Spruce trees. :)

WELL, BACK TO THE VIEW DECK... THIS TIME OF DAY IS EXCELLENT FOR VIEWING THE SUNLIT GRANITE CRAGS, DOMES & SPIRES OF COCHISE STRONGHOLD. :cool:
 
Damn, that was a nice spell on the view deck, and that rising moon is something else... sucks that a perfectly good full moon will go to waste on Halloween, but this plandemic bull$h!t will soon be history. Can't wait till this election is done and in the books, we'll see some changes then, no doubt. Here in Arizona, some outfits & organizations are still throwing Halloween parties for the kids, so those kids will have to make the most of this year's Halloween. In the meantime, I ride out the days as the clock ticks down, and look forward to better times ahead... :rolleyes:

Guess I'll finish watching 'THE SAND PEBBLES' with Steve McQueen, I started it last night but decided to read a book instead, so I'll pick up where the film left off and see the rest of it. I've already seen it before, but the boat shots are pretty cool, nice scenery in those days... now it's all smogged out, thick as pea soup but nowhere near as nutritious, LOL. Birds in those Chinese cities sound off every morning: "CHEEP, CHEEP, HAAA-A-A-AACKKKK!!!" And you thought American cities were bad... try the air quality index in those Oriental hellholes. :eek:

MEH, AS ADULTS WE ALL MAKE CHOICES: COULDN'T PAY ME ENOUGH TO LIVE IN ONE OF THOSE SMOG-RIDDEN ASIAN DUMPS... NOT THAT THESE 'SANCTUARY CITIES' IN THE STATES ARE ANY DIFFERENT, LOL. ;)
 

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