Wednesday, September 29, 2010

ATV Ride/Geocache Hunt.

After a long hot summer, finally an ATV ride.

Wanda, Wanda’s Brother, his Wife , a fried named Bobby,  Stu and myself (oh yeah and Tigar). went on a combination ATV ride and Geocache hunt. We were after 3 caches out in back of Hidden Valley. We left from Wanda’s house around 9:00 AM. Stu’s ATV was not running so he took his truck and met us out at the slabs off the Green Leaf Mine Rd. He beat us there. After a brief break we headed down the road towards the first Cache. It was about 4 miles ahead of us.

P9280497 

We made it to the cache found it and took a break. Now it’s off to the next one about 2.5 miles ahead.  P9280503

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Slabs.

P9280510

 P9280512

 P9280513

 

 

 

 

 

Dillon makes a find.  P9280527

Contemplating the next move.

100_0388

After the 3rd Cache it was decided that we needed to find some shade for lunch…..Good luck out here…….Found a small tree that afforded enough shade for lunch so we ate.  As we were going to head back home, Stu said he and Tigar were going to do some more Geocacheing out toward 549 So he left us. The rest of us headed back for Wanda’s. Had an uneventful trip back and made it in about an hour. We were all tired dusty and done for the day.

Here is the GPS track for 1/2 the trip, we took the same route back. Total 32.6 miles. That’s enough for this day.

GreenleafTrk

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Claude Close Howard Sept 24, 2010

 

From the Deming Headlight.

A rededication ceremony to Claude Close Howard, the first Luna County resident to fall in World War I, was performed Friday, Sept. 24 at Luna County Courthouse Park. The plaque dedicated to the young man who gave his life on a French battlefield on Sept. 24, 1918, will forever carry his message of selflessness, sacrifice and honor.

"It's so important to us, to our sense of community, to have this link, this visual connection to history," John Sutherland, Luna County manager, said during the rededication ceremony. "It's so very important for all of us to keep this link alive."

The plaque was refurbished by Mike Ochoa and Dave Close of the New Mexico Granite Company. The plaque was first erected at the Luna County Courthouse in 1918, by friends and family of Howard, who is believed to have died during an artillery bombardment. Subsequently, the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1477 was named after Howard.

"Our post is consistently humbled by the generosity of local residents and their support of veterans," Charles Ramsey of the VFW Post said during the rededication.

Locals Totsie Slover and Miguel Bresino have each spearheaded the event after Slover found a yearbook from Deming High School which featured Howard as a member of the senior class.

In addition to the refurbishing, workers with the Luna County maintenance department painted the monument and installed lighting to illuminate Howard's memorial, a true sign that the light never fades for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

IMG_1078pho by Matt Robinson

   

image Photo by Matt Robinson

 

  A Claude Close Howard Memorial Walk from the Veterans park to the Court house was planned and as members of the local VFW Post 1477 we were invited to attend as well as the other local vets groups. In my own opinion there was not a very good turnout and I was disappointed, but hey that’s just me. Others said that it was a fairly good turnout.

P9230482 

For me the walk was a tough one but I made it. The local National Guard lead the walk.

IMG_1034 Photo by Matt Robinson

P9230464

We gathered at the new memorial and several of the local dignitaries spoke. As the Junior Vice Commander of Post 1477 I  did my little speech and was presented with a 8X10 picture of Claude Close Howard to be posted in the VFW Post. They unveiled the new memorial and I must say it was really nice. The work was done by the New Mexico Granite Company.

IMG_1095Photo by Matt Robinson

 

 

P9230490

IMG_1097 Photo by Matt Robinson

Taps were played at the end of the dedication.

 

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Mini Vacation

I guess it’s time to update the blog as it has been quite some time since the last one.  I have been doing fairly well with the new prostheses but still am not able to walk on it all day. Things are looking up though. Been dancing on the weekends and in general having a ball.

The latest news is that I have a new girlfriend. Her name is Wanda. We have been together for a couple of months now and some how she manages to put up with me so far.

 

Monday September 13th 2010

Wanda and I decided that we needed a break from all the doing’s at the VFW. We will be going to the VFW District meeting in Williams burg next week so it’s time to get the hell outta dodge for a couple of days.

Left Deming around 9:15 AM heading North on Hwy 180. First stop was Bill Evans Lake just above Gila. On arrival there were a bunch of firefighters there with their trucks. One was parked on the boat ramp and was testing the trucks water pumps.

P9120307 

A geocache popped up on the GPS so we headed for it. It happened to be down over the back. Wanda had sandals on so I started down. First try at this so things went kinda slow but made it to the cache. Oops no pen. Wanda threw a pen to me but it only made it about half way so back up the bank I went, retrieved the pen and got back to the cache.       It was a might easier getting back up the hill than down. Got back to the car and had to rest and patch wounds from cactus and tree.

We then hit the road again and had planned to spend the night in Glenwood but when we got there the 3 restaurants that were there were closed and we needed to eat. Again we hit the road and headed for Reserve. Picked up 3 more geocahes on the way and stopped in Alma and had a wonderful lunch. Service was very slow but the food was excellent. Got into Reserve sometime in the late afternoon, checked into a motel then headed for Aragon to get a cache. On the way we made a turn onto a forest service road to find another cache that was 10 miles in. The road was a typical forest service road that was graveled. the going was slow but a very beautiful drive, too bad we were unable to get to the cache once in the area. 

P9130314

P9130318

P9130322 

P9130324

P9130321

Too rough for the car to make it the rest of the way. We again got back on track and heading for Aragon. It was 20 miles to the cache and when we got there we could not find it so turned around and headed back to the motel. Got in around 8:30 PM.

We found this in Reserve.

P9130313

A sign we also saw in Reseve but did not get a  picture of was.

Didn’t miss Taxidermy” You gotta love it.

 

After spending a dinner less night (Nothing was open) We had a really good Green Chili and Cheese omelet at the restaurant across the street from where we stayed. We then headed for Snow lake which is about 50 miles across the mountain on gravel roads.

P9130327 P9130326

After stopping at the lake and looking around we headed for Mogollon an old mining town. It was around 2:00 PM when we got there. Here are a couple of pictures..

 

P9140336 P9140330 P9140331 P9140333 P9140335

 

We arrived back in Glenwood around 3:00 and there were no restaurants open so we headed to Alma to eat there. Nope not today they close at 3:00 PM. Bought a tube of crackers, a chunk of cheese and a Dr Pepper  $8.00 plus change………………………..That was dinner.  There are 2 motels in Glenwood. One is cabins the other is where we stayed. First key the lady gave up opened a room that had not been cleaned yet. The second had 3 beds all of different sizes. This is a real classy place, but it’s only for the night thank god.

After a night of not so much sleep we were up early, had a nice light breakfast and headed for the  Cat Walk Glenwood New Mexico We arrived at the parking lot and not another vehicle in site. Gathered out goodies filed out and paid our parking sticker and were on the trail.

P9140344

Not really sure if we could make it or not here we go.

P9140350

P9140355

P9140360

P9140366

P9140370

P9140374

P9140413 

Total trip 1.1 miles each way and we both survived! Now for some well deserved rest. 

Red heart  

Til next time, BYE! Crying