Greetings from the White Mountains of Arizona...

Arizona has some water issues. It is so dry and uranium mining has poisoned some places. Good luck with wherever you go!

 

Okay, I made it back, that was my friend "T-Bone" (or Tommy), we've known each other for decades after he came over with friends to skate the big ol' ramp in my backyard. In the days of my youth (nod to the Mighty Zep here), I used to build big ol' wooden skateboard ramps with heaps o' vertical... friend Jon Richmond [now deceased, he has been dead for 16 years] and I also built a huge 11-foot ramp with 6 feet of perfect transition, 2-1/2 feet of pure vertical, and 2-1/2 feet of gradually curving overhang. We built a platform up top for weightless elevator drops, LOL. That ramp was the finest & smoothest ramp ever built in that coastal burg, though there were others that came close, LOL. Hey, are links permitted at this website? I have just the link to post for alla youse heroes, it's a secure and entirely spam-free link to an older site where I have some shots posted in a thread. I don't use this site anymore, think I was banned years ago, LOL, but the pics are still up... the guy who created this site went on to create the "American Adventurist" site, that one also has some good photos taken by folks who spend time in the field. Anyway, here's the link, I hope it goes through, y'all can see some cool trucking photos as well, not to mention some island shots taken in offshore wildlife sanctuaries:

Random outdoor adventure shots... - Outdoor Adventure USA, LLC

Lemme see if that link goes through alright, then I'll get back to the replies... slow day here, just waiting for more lookie-loos to tour the property, 10???

Edit: There are cool shots on BOTH pages of that thread, two sets of pics per page, just scroll past the text between and you can see some awesome photos, LOL.

 

Yeah, I've heard some bad stories & rumors about the water here, and I don't like the endless stream of refugees pouring into the state (I was one of 'em not so long ago). With the population increasing and the drought not ending, there could be real trouble for homesteaders & off-gridders in the near future... that's why I'm looking to the Northwest, along with a couple of other areas. Funny you should mention mining, my second choice for relocation (roughly two years ago) was Silver City, NM, but there are water quality issues (or questions) for the very same reason... plus it's (New) Mexico and the minimum wage is also $7.25, if I remember correctly. Beautiful country in places, but natural beauty doesn't offset the negatives, and a guy who recently left that burg told me that there's now a huge drug problem, meaning meth, of course. Last thing I wanna do is move to some methed-up ethnic $h!thole, that sounds like a recipe for disaster... and I get along with most Native Americans, so I'll let y'all figure out that statement, LOL.

Did I tell y'all that my family is related by marriage & blood to the Boone Family? As in Daniel Boone? That ain't no Interwebs Bull$h!t either, me beloved mum (now deceased) used to be Registrar for our local chapter of the D.A.R., and she drew our family tree with all of the resources available to that organization. Turned out some ancestor of mine married an older sister of Daniel Boone... evidently Dan'l also came from a large family. So, following that marriage, every one of their children was related by blood to both families, right? I reckon that's where all the outdoor action comes from, as well as the antisocial attitude, LOL. Meh, somebody has to do it, and the island pics prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Boone Blood courses through my veins, AYE??? I also sailed the length of the Salton Sea aboard a 12' Minifish, right down the centerline of that bad boy, even though I consider myself to be a diehard Laser man.

I'LL HAFTA POST SOME PICS LATER OF SALTON EXPEDITION II, THAT WAS ONE HELL OF AN ADVENTURE... ALLA YOUSE PREPPERS & OFF-GRID HEROES WILL CERTAINLY APPRECIATE THOSE PHOTOS, LOL.

LARGEST LAKE IN THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIK OF KALIMEXIFORNIA, AND I HAD IT ENTIRELY TO MYSELF, LOL... LARGEST LAKE IN TERMS OF SURFACE AREA, TAHOE PROBABLY HAS IT BEAT IN TERMS OF VOLUME, SINCE THE SALTON LIES IN A SHALLOW DESERT PAN AND MAXIMUM DEPTH IS NOW AROUND 50'.

 

Er, I'm okay with flogging, as long as the latest Penthouse Pet is doing it, LOL...

Might even PAY her to do it, "10-DASH-FO'???"

 

Found a link to a few shots from Salton Expedition II, you off-gridders in BFE will love these shots, LOL:

The Three Amigos... Sage, Dixie & Wingnut!!!

Click on that first pic and you'll be taken to a separate reality, ain't no place on earth like the Salton Sea, and that's a fact. Heller primo sailing venue for those hardy & intrepid mariners willing to forge past the heinous foul-smelling muck & shoals of rotting fishbones which line the lakeshore... that $h!t can gag a f#%g maggot too, lemme tell ya. But look at the bright side: NO OTHER CRAFT ON THE LARGEST LAKE IN THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIK OF KALIMEXIFORNIA, NO DIRTY BADGE-SPORTIN' GREASEBALLS, CORRUPT ROBED SODOMITE JUDGES OR SLIMY SCUMBAG POLITICIANS IN SIGHT!!! WOOHOO, CALL IT PARADISE!!!

P.S. Long after I'm dead and the Salton Sea has vanished, that Crudweiser shot will make me famous, Boyz!!! Woohoo!!! WTF, better late than never, AYE???

 

Welcome to the Monkey tree!

 

Sister used to own property in Show Low years ago. I was unaware of fracking in the area, but water can be an issue mainly because it can be deep due to the local geology.

There are spots around Seligman where it's a couple thousand feet to the water table. That's commercial drilling and pumping territory, not for the homesteader / prepper types. I own property SE of Kingman and some other like-minded individuals in the area have hit water at 180 feet at up to 60 GPM. I haven't been that fortunate but supply on my plot is adequate. Lab testing revealed my water meets EPA standards for drinking.

So there are areas of AZ that are still viable as far as water goes that don't have (yet) the influx of the nutty left. Also, New Mexico has some beautiful areas

Another alternative to Oregon / Washington, is Alaska. Plenty of water, open space and the kooky San Fran types, if they go there, don't last long (they think Brown Bears are cute and cuddly). Check with a fine young fellow named BT Post. He's usually somewhere around here.

 

The fracking is slated for areas along the Little Colorado River, areas outside Petrified Forest Nat'l Park, and a few other places in Northern AZ, I forget exactly where... I don't think any fracking is slated for Rim Country. I looked into NM pretty hard while pulling web research, plus I've driven through every corner of it, and there are indeed beautiful areas in the mountains, but the economy isn't so hot and I have to take that into consideration. The farther one gets from the cities (where one does NOT want to live), the thinner the economy gets, so to speak... again, I'm not retired, so I have to be able to find work.

I also know about the well-drilling situation in Northern AZ, courtesy of Joel Skousen... in his book he mentions a website where one can see a map or chart of operational wells in the area. If I'm gonna have a well at all, it'll already be in place, or I'll drill one where the water table is near the surface, such as near a river or lake... friend of mine had a well in the mountains of San Diego County, but the filter would regularly get gunked up with mud, like the well was improperly drilled or something. I never drank from it either, neither did he or his live-in girlfriend, the water was only used for cleaning up, showers, etc.

I'll have to take another look at Idaho later today, in past property searches I found the prices and taxes to be rather high, but I was looking at existing homes, not undeveloped properties. Another option for me personally is to buy an inexpensive home in eastern OK or the Ozarks, and simply limit my ties to the grid... but I'd prefer what Skousen calls the Intermountain West, as I really like living in this magnificent pine forest and I'd like to find someplace similar, ya know? But with more water, no ongoing drought issues, and less people streaming into the area.

I value the opinions of those hands who used to live in WA, sad to hear it has gone downhill so badly, I sure liked the look of some of that forest property in the NE corner of the state. I guess the coastal strip is a write-off, even in those areas I singled out... too many political refugees, I suppose, and some of 'em bound to be liberal morons. I'm about as conservative as one can possibly be in this country, which in liberal parlance means that I'm a "racist" and a "redneck." Then again, as a patriotic and conservative white male, I'm gonna be labeled a "racist" no matter what I do, LOL.

Anyway, I gotta get cleaned up and run into town to pick up a few things, including more beer... that's something I want to look into later as well, making my own brew and shine, a friend here in the White Mountains makes really good shine right on top of the range in his kitchen, the stuff is excellent. He flavors the mash too, using various berries and whatnot. I mean real berries, so he winds up with Raspberry Shine, Strawberry Shine, Blackberry Shine, etc. Damned delicious, but definitely sipping whiskey, LOL... he was showing me how he makes it all atop that range I mentioned.

GOTTA GO, BE BACK LATER... HASTA LUEGO!!!

 

The oilfield is making a comeback in job offerings, Even the greenest of hands can ask for 20.00+ per hr. Just say'n

 

Copy that, I was a big fan of Geology & Physical Geography courses in my school daze... had my life panned out a bit differently, I might have been a geologist, but I had too much other cr@p on my plate, and I'm older now so I want to stay focused on what I can realistically do with the money from the sale of this home. I own this place free & clear, I won't ever apply for a mortgage or otherwise go into debt, that's just not my style... I'd rather live within my means and buy what I can outright, paying cash as I go, no need to bring filthy banksters into the equation, the dirty swine. Well, for "cash" you can also read "legitimate check or wire transfer."

I've reached a point in my life where I no longer want to conform to "societal norms" and bull$h!t bankster propaganda, I've seen too many good honest hard-working folks get screwed and mired in credit card and/or home-buying debt following that phony "American Dream"---no white picket fence & massive debt for this kid, I'd rather own a humble cabin in the woods and see wildlife cruising freely across my property, the cabin and land all bought with cash, 10-4? I'm also open to bringing in a large RV or similar wheeled rig just to dodge all the permitting hassles and other bureaucratic bull$h!t. Put up a shed or two and keep the gate to my property locked, aye?

Maybe even rig the solar power system on a trailer, if that's what it takes to dodge the bureaucrats, permits, stinking ZOGubmint fees & taxes, etc. Come to think of it, having the panels on a trailer might actually be better, it'd allow me to position them in the optimal location as the seasons turned, right? I suppose any well would automatically be registered by the driller? I think there are laws concerning the drilling of wells in each state... maybe I should just buy property near a river or lake and secretly dig my own well. You know, an old school well with masonry, the kind that'll bring Lassie charging to the rescue, LOL.

DAMN, GOTTA HIT THE LATRINE, MIGHT AS WELL POST WHAT I'VE WRITTEN SO FAR, BACK IN A MOMENT...

 

Oh, man, that was a much-needed break... I didn't buy beer after all, I'm kinda beered out, so I bought a big ol' jug o' vino to make wine coolers with lemon-lime soda, same way we did in high school in the '70s when the gals wanted to party, LOL. Meh, file it under "Reliving My Youth"---I just turned 56 a couple weeks ago, so I'll take all the "youth" I can get. I'm not talking high-dollar vino either, that's outta my league, I'm talking a big ol' 4L jug o' Paisano cr@p at 12%, LOL. If I'm gonna do the goddam wino number (which I don't do very often), I'm gonna do it on the cheap, you understand.

Alright, where was I? Oh, yeah, the whole "using an RV & other wheeled rigs to dodge bureaucracy" thing. I've spent up to a month at a time living in the field in such a manner, and I'm not referring to the INF here either... my friends & I were serious technical rock climbers back in the day, as well as dirt bikers & remote campers on BLM land, so we brought everything we needed to live in a wilderness area for weeks at a time, making the occasional runs for water, fresh ice, more beer & liquor, all that good $h!t. I also pulled many voyages to offshore islands in the past, where resupply wasn't even possible...

"AIN'T NO LIKKA STO' ON THOSE UNDEVELOPED NORTHERN BAJA ISLANDS, AND NO FRESH WATER EITHER, BOYZ!!!"

Those voyages were awesome, I'm SO GLAD that I went out there when I did and had all those adventures, same way I'm glad I went trucking before the whole industry tanked & went south, with companies trying to cram two foreign f#%tards with fake CDL-As into every truck, thereby endangering the American Motoring Public while RUINING the whole scene. Meh, I digress, but I still have my CDL-A, which might come in handy for putting wheeled rigs on my next property. Maybe that's the way to go in this Brave New Third World, AYE??? Just go camping as in the old days, but with sliders, sheds, well, solar power, etc., LOL.

HEY, I WANNA SHARE A FEW LINKS TO THE STORIES I WROTE ABOUT SAILING TO THOSE ISLANDS, YOU HIGHLY-MOTIVATED SELF-SUFFICIENT OFF-GRID HEROES WILL CERTAINLY APPRECIATE 'EM, LOL...

Y'ALL DIDN'T KNOW I HAD WORK PUBLISHED IN THE PAST, I EVEN WROTE A CLASSIC & HILARIOUS BOOK ABOUT MANY OF MY OUTDOOR ADVENTURES, BUT I HAVEN'T HAD MUCH LUCK LATELY IN SLINGING IT, TOO MANY PC QUEERS IN THE LITERARY MARKETPLACE TODAY, DON'TCHA KNOW???

 

Okay, here are a few links to those stories I mentioned... and NO, this isn't SPAM, though the Reader is a $h!thouse rag now run by liberal trash, LOL. I had half a dozen stories published in this rag about a quarter-century ago, the lowest earnings at $500 per story and the highest at $1000... that was the classic skate saga "TRIX ARE FOR KIDS" (which appeared in botched or edited form and was given an idiotic title, courtesy of some Gay Bay pogue who never skated at all). Meh, these are unedited versions of the stories which I posted in the "Weblogs" section of this $h!thouse rag long after the original botched versions were published, so disregard all of the distractions and simply focus upon each story as it unfolds... once ya get started, you'll enjoy the heller wilderness action, LOL. Here we go:

Laserium

Isla Norte

Illusion Dweller

You admin folks, no worries, I won't post any more links in this thread, and I'm NOT trying to redirect whatever web traffic you have, these are just factual accounts of my visits to all four islands in the group... some people refer to them as Islas Coronados, I always called 'em Islas Los Coronados, with the honorific "Los" given to the four Coronado brothers, and I don't mean Coronado the noted explorer, this was a separate outfit, if you dig deeply enough you'll discover the facts, LOL. I believe I will make all further inquiries about off-grid living in the appropriate forums or threads, I don't wanna spend the rest of my life in this one, yeah? One last tip: if you click on that little "Tales of Adventure" line above the title of each story, you can access two pages of other stories I wrote or observations I made back in the day, including "TRIX ARE FOR KIDS" and other narratives. ENJOY!!!

 

Roger that, and I'll try to comply with those guidelines, just wanted to add that the island pics found in the very first link I posted in this thread are the same shots I took during those initial voyages... if a reader takes time to identify or distinguish the shots from each voyage, he or she can stand right where I stood in each narrative, a good example would be the summit shot taken on Isla Sur. With all the bad international blood and security measures nowadays, I don't think a hand could make such voyages today without major hassles... unless that hand was a REAL 007 STEALTH MASTER, LOL.

P.S. I just read a favorite line from my "TRIX ARE FOR KIDS" story, it goes like this: "The general level of proficiency dramatically rose as new gear was aggressively employed in vertical terrain." Sounds like a PRIMER for true survivors when the Second American Revolution hits the fan, LOL...

 

Hi Sidewinder,

Robert Rogers from the White Mountains of Northern New Hampshire.

Live Free or Die

 

Howdy.

I assume you're a fellow Harmony Church man?