Land Search part 2

Another wonderful weekend, and a great trip out of town. We a reserved spot at a BLM campsite so we wouldn't have to hunt for a spot (and the camper is best to use with the dogs). We didn't like the reserved spot, no shade and right next to the bathrooms but down the road was another open site, so we back the camper into it and started to unhook it.
The ever observant camp site host pulled in with his ATV to give us a friendly hello. We explained what site we had reserved and that we instead wanted this open (as was posted on it) site and would be happy to pay for this site and give up the old one no problem. He said it was no problem at all, walked around both rigs to get the license numbers, looked at our dogs and said to make sure they were kept on leash "based on how people think of pitbulls" and that they had cell phone service and he could call in if there were any problems. Friendly huh...

WTF, we just showed up. Asshole. I'm tired of people seeing us thinking were some angry young people with monster trucks and mean dogs. We are in our early 40's and in the woods camping, what are we going to do, open up a disco bar in the BLM camground?

The next morning there were notes on all the reserved spots that said "don't change sites, ask first". lol

While we were having dinner the next day, more dinner came by:

There were a lot of deer in the area and I saw massive Elk off in the distance a couple of times. Made me regret not having my really good camera and zoom lens.

 One of the roads we went up while looking for property that might have been for sale.

 Lunch time in the woods! Forgot the insect repellant but it wasn't too bad. A lot of moisture bring more bugs, but I just tend to ignore them and they leave me a lone. Someone else, like always, got bit to hell and back.

 View from up top of a mountain, gorgeous view of the valley floor and all the ranches. The entire area was settled in the early 1800's by Germans but most of the cattle ranches have turned over to haying operations or are simply not in operation at all.

Blind dogs have more fun! He has a great time and wags a lot when I describe what were looking at. Rock has to be on leash all the time, he chases meeps, chip's, birds, ant's... he is a great "something is over there" dog.

We found a few places we liked, not all of them were for sale but sometimes you fall in love with anyhow. Unfortunately the kind of land we are looking for is expensive, an example was: 1br/1ba cabin with well and septic, year round high volume creek on tree'd property, 2 acres: $189,000
Since we aren't in a hurry and it's more of a cabin/retreat project for the future, we will continue to be patient. You can get stuff for cheap but the terrain is more like the picture with my dog Luke in it, dry, rocky and pinon/small pine with no water. Acreage is important, and of course the stuff we liked ended up being 1000 acres or more... couldn't win this trip but at least we looked.

We had a great time, got some ideas on who sells the type of land we are looking for, and got to get out of town for a few days. Guess who gave the camp host the biggest problems: a large family with 3 small screaming kids and barking dogs. Yup, not us, but that's ok... profile away.

I got a mile hike done with my get home bag, I was worried it would be too heavy but it was riding great. With the rifle slung and the magazines properly placed elsewhere, the bag will work out great. Now I need to get another bag as a gift, our anniversary is the next gift day unless I decide to do it before then. I know a mile isn't much, but it's the first opportunity I had to get out and about with it 100% loaded, people freak out about my leg drop pistol, they would freak out bad over the rifle and magazines on my back.

On Saturday at home a monsoon hit, and it's been raining for over 12 hours. Our garden is loving life and the nutrients only the rain seems to bring. We have over 60 tomatoes waiting to ripen and everything else looks amazing. Amazing like this high altitude view I'll leave you with: