I’m camping north of Flagstaff, here to help Andrew with his straw bale house and to learn about building such a house. For those who are interested in looking it up, I’m just downhill from the Snowbowl ski resort on Mount Humphreys; you can see the ski runs in the background in this picture.
The site is on the west side of the mountain; the view to the west is awsome. Here’s the view from the berth in the R-Pod when I awaken each morning.
From this vantage point, the sunsets are spectacular.
The pictures above were taken on July 17th. Again on July 20th, the sunset was breathtakingly beautiful.
We spent the better part of the first 2 weeks of July camped out in Manzano Mountains State Park.
It’s a great campsite, 5 miles from El Cerrito, and at 7250 feet elevation temperatures were always pleasant. The R-Pod permits us to be self-sufficient, containing an ample supply of water, propane, and electricity (with the help of our solar panels).
We didn’t have electrical hookup for this stay at the campground; we are able to meet our electric needs by recharging the batteries each day with a 40 watt solar pane. We set the panel out in full sun when we’re around the campsite and it replenishes the battery charge that we used the night before.
The Projects – We worked on two projects: digging Holes for pads on which the shipping containers will sit & preparing posts and the site for our first Buildingproject – a small structure using materials we have at hand.
The Holes
To provide a solid foundation for the 2 shipping containers to rest upon, a 12″ concrete pad will be put in place for each corner of the containers. Like the foundation for a house, the pad must have a footer below the frost line.
The soil is hard clay and hard to dig. I started with the pick but found an easier way to dig using just a spade.
So now there 8 holes, each 22″ deep and 16″ square, ready for the concrete footers and pads to be poured.
Each hole had to be position accurately. Strings were carefully laid out to establish the center of each pad.
A laser level was used to establish the reference for the top of each pad. In this picture, I’m aiming the level from the ‘master’ pad at a target for a pad across the site.
Then using the laser spot on the other side of the site, I set a peg in place at the same elevation as the ‘master’ pad.
The Building
Pat selected a handful of salt cedar trees to be used as poles for a small shelter using materials at hand on El Cerrito.
The first step is to strip off the outer layer of bark, leaving a smooth, light brown surface.
Working carefully with a pull knife and a pocket knife, only the upper layers of bark are removed.
After a day working in the open, under the sun, we set up the canopy Valerie & Curtis had the foresight to know we would need. The three posts leaning against the shipping container have been completed.
Pat selected a site for the building – a grove of salt cedar, pinon, and other trees.
We’re feeling very good, having made our first “improvements” on our land which I will call El Cerrito.
Click on the thumbnails below for an enlarged picture to see more detail.
The Driveway
The first step was to establish the path for the eventual driveway from the entrance gate to our ‘home site’. The red flags wander off through the salt cedar trees, up the hill to the building site.
Flags marking the center of the driveway.
The Roadway
Our second project was to fill in a ‘washout’ in the road from the highway to our gate; a hole 5 feet deep extended half way across the road. Three dump truck loads of rock were deposited in the hole our our roadway,
Then Pat & I rearranged the rocks to make a flat surface for driving.
Now we will wait for the next significant rain storm to see how well it holds up.
The rocks redistributed; now we can drive down the middle of the roadway.
Shipping Containers I
Our third project started out to be setup of two 2o’ shipping containers, 16′ apart with roof over them. Step one was to remove a large clump of salt cedar trees, thus producing a clearing for the containers and working space.
We were left with quite a pile of trunks, limbs, and branches that we cut and moved to piles out of the way of the clearing.
Cutting down the salt cedar.
And stacking the limbs.
The area cleared of salt cedar trees (stumps remaining).
Then we hired “Speedy” Gonzales (yes, that is the name he goes by) with his tractor (with back hoe and front end loader) to remove the stumps and to grade the ground to level. When he finished, we had a pile of stumps and a 70′ square area of dry, fine clay “powder”.
Speedy at work.
The area cleared and leveled.
Shipping Containers II
Because we plan to put a roof over the containers and the 16′ or so space between them, we decided a firm footing would be necessary to resist movement between them. Since the footings will take some time to dig and pour the concrete, we decided to get one of the containers, putting it in a temporary location.
So .. a half dozen railroad ties to get the container off the ground a bit, and voila – our first “enclosed space”. Now we have secure storage space for materials, tools, generator, and other stuff we will need on site.
We’ve been in New Mexico 4 months now and the time has been filled with exploring and discovering many of the things Albuquerque and New Mexico have to offer. Here’s one of them.
Pros Ranch Market
Albuquerque has many of the grocery stores familiar to us and which we favor: Trader Joe’s, Sunflower Market, Whole Foods, and the commissary. And there are some choice stores unique to Albuquerque, such as Kellers Farm Stores which offers excellent meats including a large selection of sausages among them ‘green chilli turkey’ and many “exotics” such as bison, elk, venison, pheasant, and more.
But my favorite is Pros Ranch Market, a supermarket gone Hispanic. It is a very festive place and always busy. All labels are in both languages – Spanish and English, and it helps if one speaks some Spanish. They have produce that one won’t find at Safeway such as nopales (from prickly pear cactus pads), jicama, posole, menudo, and many other uniquely Mexican foods. And ‘la cocina’ serves good eats, with a Mexican flair of course.
We are getting into a routine now and I can give some time to the blog. In the next couple of posts I will be ‘catching up’ with narrative and pictures. We drove twice across the country, from Virginia to New Mexico. On our first trip, from Dec 25-30, we drove our two pickup trucks, hauling mostly things that would go in storage. On our second trip, from Jan 17-24, we drove our Odyssey and a 26 foot Penske rental truck loaded with all our household belonging. Here is a map of our route.
Along the way, I snapped pictures of Welcome signs as we drove into each of the states on the route.In order of our itinerary, here they are:
North Carolina – On our 1st trip, we drove in the rain out of Virginia into North Carolina.
South Carolina – We enjoyed good weather on both trips when we headed west from North Carolina.
Georgia - Good weather continued. On the 2nd trip we stayed overnight in lodging at Fort McPherson, an Army post in the southern suburbs of Atlanta. The post was clearly left over from the Civil War – big trees, old buildings, and winding roads. We stayed in VIP lodging, where the rooms were named after Civil War generals.
Alabama - The highways across Alabama were great – this was clearly a good choice to avoid the mountainous terrain and heavier traffic found on I-40, plus avoiding the detour resulting from the rock slide in western North Carolina.
Mississippi -The road that cuts across northeast Mississippi isn’t an Interstate, but it should be – it is as good as any other Interstate highway.
Tennessee - We passed through only the southwest corner of Tennessee, but it gave us the chance to eat at Westy’s restaurant in downtown Memphis. Pat & Sarah discovered esty’s on their trip a year ago and we stopped there on both of our trips to enjoy their fried catfish. It was a challenge on the 2nd trip to navigate the 26 foot Penske truck around the city streets of Memphis near the waterfront of the Mississippi River.
Arkansas – One crosses over the Mississippi River going from Tennessee to Arkansas. We stayed in lodging at Little Rock AFB on both trips.
Oklahoma - We’re getting close to the Tree Line. We stayed in lodging at Altus AFB on both trips.
Texas - Now we’re in the Open Spaces, clearly we are now west of the Tree Line.
New Mexico – This is I-40, our route on the 1st trip. We drove the last 4 hours in a snowstorm(from Tucumcari and through Tijeras Canyon into Albuquerque). After that experience, on our 2nd trip and learning another winter storm was to hit Albuquerque on the day we would arrive, we detoured to Clovis, NM. We stayed in lodging at Canon AFB, and visited with my aunt and uncle who live there.
Sandia Mountains – We’re almost there, some 20 miles east of the Sandia Mountains.
Albuquerque - There it is, the first view of Albuquerque from Tijeras Canyon.
Albuquerque, Central Avenue (once was historic Route 66) – There isn’t much more to be said about the Trip(s) West.
North Carolina – On our 1st trip, we drove in the rain from Newport News to Rolesville, NC.
