Jackson family hits the high desert in Arizona

November 6, 2004

Photos

Kristine, Emily, Dane, and I took an American Airlines
flight from Nashville, Tennessee, through Dallas, to Tucson, Arizona,
where we were picked up by Tony. Tony was carrying a sign with the Fun
Guy and the saying, “I do what I love” made from a T-Shirt
I sent him, very cool. He rented a 15 passenger van to carry both his
family and mine at one time, although we were headed for the mountains
to his ranch for a day of seclusion, without the rest of his family.

It was a three hour drive from the airport to his ranch,
with the last 90 minutes on dirt roads. For me it was about a 15 minute
ride since I fell asleep early on. We arrived with enough daylight to
get the tour of the grounds surrounding the houses. He has a guest house
and the main house of which both were beautifully crafted fully functional
long term living environments. We gathered some wood from his pile, and
I even got to split my first piece of Arizona wood, not much different
than splitting TN wood, but all of his Mesquite was already split. We
made a fire in his outdoor grill with nothing but Mesquite, and then made
a fire in our wood stove at the guest house, and the fireplace in the
main house. He checked the battery gauges in both houses, which are both
100% solar powered, and his water is brought down from a spring up the
hill by a pipe, that fills up about 15,000 gallons worth of personal water
tanks, both are very impressive works of self-sufficiency.

Tony opened the refrigerator and pulled out more steak
than the five of us could possibly eat, from a heifer he slaughtered recently.
I cut up the vegetables and put them on aluminum foil to throw on the
fire. Guinness Stout and red wine was flowing already, and I was unwinding
in a perfect setting. We set up the chairs by the fire outside and cooked
the meat and vegetables like they cook best, over mesquite on an open
fire, outside.

Tony refused to let us help him clean up, so we hiked
the few hundred yards up the hill to the guest house and were in bed by
9pm. I kept the wood stove burning all night and the house warm, quickly
falling asleep between trips to the wood pile. The first morning light
was just creeping in when I decided to go outside for a walk, where I
got some photos of the sunrise and the grounds. I didn’t photo the
main house, but you can imagine a ranch house done right.

Eggs and bacon from the ranch, some strong coffee,
and we were ready for a 4 hour hike. Tony’s “cowboy hand”
rode by while we were eating breakfast. Talk about looking the part. He
was riding a stout looking quarter horse with a well used saddle, rope,
a black cowboy hat, hunkered over with his hands in his pockets. He had
a green jacket on, was Mexican, with weathered face, and three dogs running
around the horses legs, ready for their ritual ride in the hills. What
a cool sight at sunrise. After breakfast we hiked up to Mud Springs, and
then through a little canyon, back around to the ranch. We were able to
check all of the grazing grounds, track a bear, deer, and find his cattle
in the hills. We also checked on his springs which provide water for the
cows and talked a lot about free range cattle. On the way into Tony’s
ranch it was dry and nothing edible on the ground. That was the neighbors
ranch. As soon as we passed into his gate, there was grass everywhere.
It was like night and day. Tony explained that having an appropriate amount
of animals on an open range, and managed properly is good for both the
wildlife and the land. If it is abused, then all of the feed gets eaten
and the water is gone, making it bad for the cows and wildlife. I could
see with my own two eyes the difference. Tony is a good rancher.

The hike was good exercise and it took a solid 4 hours.
It was uphill for two hours as we crossed over and around a canyon. We
were in trees, under the shade, and in the open. Here are some photos
from the trip.

I am now in Tucson at a hotel with Kristine and I in
one room and the kids in another. We are going to tour the town today,
then tomorrow, we are heading to Phoenix where I will be paddling with
Arizona paddlers in a wave pool. There is also another potential paddling
opportunity but I don’t see how that one is going to happen unless
we leave for Phoenix today.

Time for breakfast with the Lunt family. The Jackson
family and the Lunt family are very similar.

Tony started dating Dominique when he was 21 and she
was 16. Kristine was 17 and I was 22. They now have 14 and 11 year old
boys, while we have 14 year old girl and 11 year old boy. Dominique’s
birthday is the same day as Dane’s, we have almost the same anniversary,
and our approach to live is quite similar. I am looking forward to spending
the day with them.

🙂 EJ