http-equiv='refresh'/> Tin TeePee/Log Cabin: Hassayampa Jim

Monday, March 17, 2014

Hassayampa Jim

Arizona has its share of characters and we met a true one today, Hassayampa Jim (this link will take you to more information about him.)  He is about 80 years old and lives alone, and I do mean alone—it is a ride/drive over rough non-maintained roads, traveling through dry washes and desert.  He travels to town one day a month!!  Jim lives with no power company provided power only a generator which powers the pump for his water from a well and also powers his satellite TV and Sirius Satellite Radio!  He enjoys having people stop to visit and loves Pepsi—so if you go to visit, take a six pack of Pepsi!  Jim also won’t turn down cookies or other food items.  We ate our lunch in the shade of his yard visiting with Hassayampa Jim. 

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I think Larry and Geri are trying to make a true ATVer out of me!!  We rode almost 40 miles today and were still back home before 3pm.  It was another great day—Tom and Sandy along with Cathy and Mike joined us.  We traveled in the Hassayampa River bed at times--it is always good to see water in the desert—the Hassayampa River is flowing in spots but disappears again both above and below where we were.  There were families parked along the water’s edge enjoying the coolness of the rare desert water.

And we saw two crested saguaros today!!!  We were close enough to one for close ups!

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Back at the park we attended a meeting for the North Ranch Outdoor Group—I mistakenly labeled this group the North Ranch ATV/Jeep Club in a previous post—the group participates in other activities other than ATVing and jeeping including hiking and golfing.  Thursday the group is hosting a jeep/ATV poker run out through the desert.  You are being given no map, just GPS coordinates for where each playing card can be found—one of the objectives of this run is to teach us novices how to use a GPS and Michael and I need all the help we can get!!!

IMG_0332We are managing to get the Garmin Montana GPS to track our route—this is today’s trip. 

Thank you, thank you to all who responded to my request for help with the lip sunscreen issues.  I’ve stopped using Vaseline, today used some Blistex Five Star Lip Protection SPF30 which I all ready had, ordered some HerpacinL lip protector and a hat!!  And yes, John, the hat comes with a “hurricane string” or a “stampede string” as they are called in our part of the world.  Today I used one of Geri’s disposable dust masks which kept my lips covered all day—they do feel better tonight. 

This having fun is exhausting—I hear my bed calling me!!  A jeep adventure awaits us tomorrow!!

9 comments:

  1. :Put a red ball on the nose of that crested saguaro and you will have your Rudolph for your Christmas Photo! You're having waaay too much fun...

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  2. Getting any calluses yet from all the riding? lol Hassayampa Jim sure is an interesting character.

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  3. Does Jim live in the desert all year? Must get pretty hot in the summer time!

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  4. So glad you got your lips feeling better. When mine are chapped, it is all I can think about.

    I am so jealous of these wonderful desert adventures!! But I am enjoying myself following you around. Get all rested for the next trip out!

    Thanks for the beautiful photos of the crested saguaro:)

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  5. Did you notice the likeness to a camel's head in the right side of the left cactus? I've noticed that a couple times in the crested cactus over here near Florence, AZ. Good to see you guys getting lots of ATVing in.

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  6. The saguaro are very cool. I think I only saw one that was crested. There are characters in the desert for sure, he sounds very nice though.

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  7. You two are certainly seeing a lot of territory with the high level of quading you feature in your blog. What a great way to get out in the wilds of that area.

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  8. Now you just need to get waypoints marking those crested Saguaro's so us slow riders can find them.

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  9. ATVing can wear you out. What an interesting day you had. I did enjoy reading Jim's story also!!!

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