Coyote Boondocker

This picture below is where we stayed in Salina Utah.   This is a sunset at Little Pine Reservoir for near Carey Idaho.  This picture is another portion of the little pine Reservoir. This shot is looking over towards Sun Valley Idaho where all the movie stars live. The Big Lost River near Mackay Idaho This is a rest stop near Jackpot Nevada. The turnout is too small for semi trucks. This made it a very quiet place. We slept overnight here.  This is Pass Creek in Idaho. It is about 8000 feet in elevation. The road getting up here was very steep. This area is like every national park in the country all put together in one place. It is very beautiful. love you all

Kristina Mikkelson Casanova Dec 20,2018 Within a few hours we were in Sanpete county..the place we had lived for a few years and had considered it home. Mt. Pleasant had been a nice place to live but because of the Russian nap weed we could not stay and after being in this area for just a short time I was already breaking out. We had planned on staying in a near by camp ground thinking it was far enough away from this weed but distance was not the problem for it was in the air and they all landed in my face. Pete said that we would have to go and after putting some unneeded things in storage and taking some other things out (like a few of my paintings) we bought some items at the health food store .restocked our fridge and cupboards,stopped by a few friends who were not home, we left and headed for the town of Salina where our friends James and Amanda were living. Driving down to the Salina area we found the countryside looking stranger and stranger....miles of barren m

Kristina Mikkelson Casanova Dec 19,2017      So many mountain passes to go over entering into Utah..some 8000 to 9000 thousand feet lugging that 32 foot trailer behind us in our old truck of the same age. Sometimes going down to twenty miles an hour. I wondered sometimes if we were going to make it to the top. Then we would have to brake going down the other side and at times the brakes getting red hot and we would have to pull over and let them cool. It seemed to never end.   Finally a vast plain of sage brush was before us and mountains were far in the distance. A reprieve from all the mountain passes that also suck up your gas. We decided to camp over night on this BlM land and call it quits for the day even if it was early afternoon. So we found a road and some level land and stopped. It was so nice. Cool with a slight breeze and familiar sounds and the strong odor of big sage that I so loved.   In the evening we sat outside and watched the sun set a

Kristina Mikkelson Casanova Dec 18,2017 We left Carey and drove back to Arco ..which was our very first destination and drove until we came to the rest stop as it was getting dark. Now this rest stop is in the middle of Idaho Lab area which I talked about earlier in Part One and well we were sure that we were on someones camera. The area is a 850 square mile underground lab. A very spooky place and felt very ill at ease being there .but..well you know we took what we could get when it was a free camping area. Despite the freaky feeling of being there .nothing much happened but the next morning we noticed a car (the only other vehicle besides ours) in the parking lot ..suddenly take off ...drove quickly across the highway and then disappeared into a dirt brim. We suspected that it was a lab spy. Heard horror stories of the lab police but at least they did not bother us. We set off south west for Twin Falls thinking we might stay a night or two in that city perha

Kristina Mikkelson Casanova Dec 17,2017    Carey was a strange little town..no grocery store or much else but they did have a gas and goody store that provided fresh water for campers and Rvs as well as a trash bin (which we found very hard to find at times) and a black water dump. If we wanted to buy groceries we would have to travel 50 miles north to the famous SUN VALLEY IDAHO (had always wanted to see it).  We looked at he map and asked questions as to how to get out to the free campsite that was on the site of a reservoir . After a drive on a dirt road (which was not too bad) we arrived at the reservoir. So beautiful and so well kept. We hoped that it would be a quiet place to spend the next two weeks. We were always hopeful but it had never happened and always full of quads and dirt bikes, boomboom music and parties. We had not found the quiet that we had so wanted. The first day was so lovely and really all of the two weeks was lovely except for an in

Kristina Mikkelson Casanova Dec.16,2017    We stayed at WalMart for three days and believe it or not the same people were still living there....the man in the bushes and the young man in his car. There were others...living in their cars and vans...these were these peoples homes. Never thought that America would come to such a state...but it has. Reminds me of what my parents said about the Great Depression...wonder if we are actually in one. But the time came to an end and we moved to Cabellas which said we could stay three days as well. We did..although each night the teens got together and partied right in the parking lot. I guess it was a common practice. Noisy ..yes...but we did not have much choice as spots to stay. Anything out of the city would have been disastrous for me...remember the buffalo Flies...yikes did not want to leave the city. The three days were up and we headed back to Walmart....we had to decide on what we were going to do as we could not

Kristina Mikkelson Casanova Dec 14, 2017 part three     We decided to hangout in the Idaho Falls Walmart for awhile as they let you stay for three days and so we did. Met some interesting people while parked there. One being an old gentleman who lived in the bushes near the Walmart. He would sleep in those bushes at night and come out in the morning ,buy some breakfast at Walmart(liquor) and go panhandle on the road. Walmart knew he was there but did not seem to mind. He told Pete that he was a Vietnam vet and this was all he could do. He did not look too well. I hope he is still doing alright.   Another person we met while staying on the premise was a young man who lived in his car. Every night sleeping in it and everyday going into Walmart as an employee. His car was his home and he could not afford any better. This kid in his mid twenties seemed as if was at the end of his life instead of the beginning.  After seeing those two and others it made m

Kristina Mikkelson Casanova Dec.13,2017  Part two We made it to Arco Idaho where we had a place to stay so we thought...but it seems as if there is always little gremlins in the way. The gremlin was the gentleman who was going to let us stay on his 8 acres Mr. Honeypot..I will call him. As soon as he opened the gate to let us in we knew that we would not be staying as we had a very bad feeling about him.   Right away he let us know that his dogs were cat killers and not to let them out. I never let them out so that was not problem..but it did bother me that he did not tell us before hand of such a thing. He advertised his place as a free camp spot for a day or the summer but I think he had only wanted certain kinds of people and we were not it.   He kept wandering around our trailer and peering into the windows and was just creepy. When he said that he had a doctors appointment the next day we decided to make our escape at that time. B

Kristina Mikkelson Casanova Dec.12,2017 Part One   It started a few years back when we were living in Spanish fork Utah and taking care of my mother in our home. That was a very hard time as she had become quite senile and hardly knew me let anyone else. Those were very difficult days and if you knew the way in which the whole thing came about.....well maybe will tell you sometime but not now. She was becoming harder and harder to manage and then one day she collapsed and died in my arms. Was a nightmare from that point on. Within a week Pete was laid off and has internet business went out of existence and we were broke . We both tried finding jobs but when you are our age it is almost impossible and so it was. We had no choice to but to sell our house or it would have been foreclosed and we did not want that on our records. So we sold it and moved down to Sanpete county Utah on five acres of land in a old 1980s trailer.

   This small town of less then 2000 people is truly amazing and I fell in love love with it immediately. The more I explore what it has to offer... the more in love with it I become. It lies ten miles from here in Coyote Howls and Why and to the nearest grocery store..(.as we have only a gas and goody store here) Also Ajo has a Family Dollar and Dollar General which has become our new Walmart so to speak. It also has the beauty shops,rock shops,second hand stores and restaurants and a number of art galleries. Have not explored all that it has to offer but intend to at some point. The major part of the city is in the town square which is white adobe Mexican styled buildings which include more art galleries,post office,coffee shop and churches. You would swear that you were in Mexico. What I love about this town is that it hold within its boundaries such a mix of people all getting along which amazes me in this day and age. Everyone has been so kind to us and it makes my hear

    12/10/17 Kristina Mikkelson.Casanova The village of Why...which Coyote Howls has to thank for its existence ..in many ways is quite unique. An unincorporated village with no post office ...but does have a few businesses which I find interesting and unique.   The main store called Why Not is the typical gas and goody store for the tourists passing through on their way to and from Mexico (which is only 28 miles away and the door to the beach called Rocky Point the sea of Cortez) Actually it is not so much a typical store but seems more like Disneyland and the daughter of the owner is a fantastic artist and designer and has painted the whole outside of the building in wonderful works of art...breath taking actually. She has also brought in local plants and trees and taken an old car from the desert...turned it into a water fountain and plays music. Pete and I will often eat a Mexican Ice cream bar ..while sitting in front of this car an

     Pete and I have been living in Coyote Howls for almost two months now and I have to say that I have grown to love the place. Not so much because of the scenery and vegetation which is not so good but for the people that live here in Coyote Howls, the village of Why and the small town of Ajo (pronounced Aw hoe). True to the name the coyotes howl at night several times a night....and they prowl around hoping to make our chihuahua Tilly a meal...so we are very careful with her. It seems that all the trees,bushes and plants have thorns on them..the ones that are native to the Senora desert....and many of the creatures are poisonous like rattle snakes, scorpions, and Gila monsters. Truthfully have not come across any of these. Besides the coyotes ...are wild burros, and javalina pigs which I have not seen yet but have heard the burros heehawing in the distance ….there are also pronghorn antelope and tiny deer ,as well as jack rabbits and white tail rabbits. As for