Windmill Ranch Neighbors   Submissions invited - email preferred  -  include up to 3 photos and lots of text.  You will be able to add and revise material by just re-submitting.   Send to: rogerandjoanne@msn.com

Keith & Kathy Hodgkin - Submitted Feb. 15, 2008

How we came to be at 14580 East Bull Springs Drive

            Hello we are Gary and Regina Meese. We are lot 106 on East Bull Spring Drive. Gary is a warehouse supervisor in a pipe supply company. I am an instructional aide at a local elementary school and a noon supervisor. We have two sons, Dan and Scott.

            We are from San Diego. Gary has lived here all his life and I come from Rhode Island. Gary kept telling me about the ads he heard on the radio about land for sale in Arizona. We both love Arizona, we have taken many vacations in that state so we were familiar with the area and were  excited to think of owning land here.

            In the spring of 1999 Gary and I went to look at property on the west side of the freeway. One of our requirements was a south facing hill to take advantage of solar gain. Well what we were shown was property under the high tension wires and a hill that faced east. We really didn’t want to live near those lines so we decided not to buy anything there as it was not what we were looking for.

            After going home we kept thinking of property out there and I found that a co-worker of mine has property in Seligman off of Anvil Rock Road. She told me that there were some acres for sale over by them, so I contacted a person who put me in touch with someone that was selling their property out there. Well we were ready to go out and take a look at the property when the lady called back and said that there was someone else that wanted the property and put a deposit down on it. So we were back to square one. Well this lady said that they were selling lots out in the Aquarius Mountains. That is where we really wanted to go anyway into the mountains where there are trees and a little more greenery. I called to make an appointment to go back out to see what was available.

            In November we took another trip out to look at land up in the mountains. The real estate person asked us a few questions and told him we wanted a south facing hill and trees. He said he knew the exact place that would be good for us. He took us to lot 106 and we walked the property line and it was just what we wanted. There was a knob that faced south exactly what we wanted and a view that goes all the way over to the Hualapis. We did not even look further into the available lots this was our place, we knew it.

            Now nearly 6 years later we call this place heaven. Believe me after living in a big city, and getting bigger, it is so nice to have a place to go that you can actually hear birds singing and not traffic drowning them out. No airplanes so low that you can read the airline on the side as they go overhead, no freeways 24 hours a day.

            We have gotten a few things done out there. When we get out there and are hoping to be able to have a place built by the time we retire so that we will have a cozy place to live.

            This is our story now its time for someone else to pass their story on.

This is a sunset over the Hualapai’s This is an example of the sunsets we get from our place.

Gary’s Hobby is Model Trains and this picture was taken on the property.

This is a picture of what we will see out of our window of the house. Sure beats a freeway doesn’t it?

This is a recent picture of Gary and me. We hope it makes you smile!

Parcel 138.   JoAnne Stackhouse and Roger Thrush

      How did we get here?   It's not that long of a story.  We started coming to the southwest in the later 90's (1990's) so JoAnne could show and market her gourd art at some of the bigger art festivals, including Tubac and Fountain Hills in Arizona and the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.  It was generally the fall or winter seasons and we noticed that it didn't rain all the time, sometimes was warm and usually sunny.   We liked the different types of plant life, both of us having an interest in plants and trees.  We had done a lot of gardening in Oregon.   We probably had the idea that we could be home by now if we lived here, but it didn't seem possible then.
     One late winter we stopped at the Wagon Bow Ranch development in Wikieup.  We were shown property way up in the Aquarius Mtns.   There we got an idea of what was available.  It was not as nice as this part of the mountains as there weren't as many trees.   But was beautiful and had lots of thick brush, almost too thick but by then we had our angora goats to think of too.
     We stopped coming to Arizona every year, partly because of the animals we had to care for.  I remember researching property for sale on the internet once we had a computer.  That was after we moved from our home to house-sit at a place where we could graze our goats.  But that is another story.  Anyway, we found nice farms with old rebuilt farmhouses in New Brunswick that, with the exchange differential, we could actually afford.   Seems no one wanted to stay on the farm after they had been to Quebec, or something.  It was snow-covered for months during the winter, so maybe wasn't for us.  It did make us wonder where else could we purchase property.   Our property in Oregon was off-the-grid, not everyone's dream; but with all the land-use planning and people moving there from out of state, land values were up.   It was a nice 10 acres in the woods in  mild climate next to public land.  We listed it for sale and waited.  When the right party found it and appreciated it sufficiently, we started our serious search for a re-location site.
     By then we had eliminated most of the other interior western states.  I know some won't understand why we would move out of Oregon, where the people never miss a chance to vote in a new law, to move to a place that is more like a territory.    It was narrowed down to Arizona, after considering climate and vegetation type.  We actually consider the monsoon rains a plus as the plants and grass go through a period of new growth, like a second spring season.  This is when the indigenous people plant their corn and other crops.  We first called Wagon Bow.   They had property they would sell us.   We found others through realtors in Kingman.   It was time to get down here.
     We couldn't both go at once due to family obligations, scheduling time off work, and animals giving birth.  JoAnne visited first, looking at Wagon Bow and having a great scenic tour of Fort Rock Ranch.  She also came up Row Water Canyon, passing several hundred yards from the parcel we eventually bought on Windmill Ranch.   I came a few weeks later, looking at the area in general and also getting the tour by the same nice realtor that JoAnne met.   Not every realtor in Kingman knows the back country as well as Diane Pherigo.   At that time about 6 or 7 parcels were for sale on our side of the Ranch.   I looked at them all, liking each one more.   We bought this one from Arizona Land and Ranches as they were selling it for the second time around.  It was the last one I looked at, nice and flat on the bottom and steep and bush and tree-covered elsewhere. The flat bottom land is for future orchard and gardening projects. The older liveoak or scrub oak will be left in place, with just enough brush cleared for the fruit trees and future garden.   It was in the section that JoAnne had seen and liked and the terms were clear and straightforward, not like another ranch development we talked to.
     We moved here in January of 2004.   We finally have our house finished to the point we are living in it.  It took a lot of diligence due to the bad roads, hot sun, and no-see-ums.  When the drought was over last year a spring re-appeared in our south canyon, high enough so the water is piped down to 5,000 gal. water storage.   Gravity then takes over again, giving us about 35 psi water pressure.  We have our livestock contained in the fenced area  around the house and  the east side of our 61 acres.  Fencing the back 40 acres will be an ongoing project.  For now we are looking forward to seeing Cal Bairds Corriente cattle grazing there.
     JoAnne has lots of artsie things she would rather be doing but is working off the Ranch full time for now. As of Feb. 06 we both are.   She is a really good gourd artist and has done lots of shows in the Southwest.  She is a good spinner, weaver, etc. which works out fine as we have 20 angora goats.  We came from Camas Valley, Oregon, where I am from, but JoAnne has lived in Washington, Colorado, California, and South Dakota where her family had a farm when she was younger. 
     I am more on the crafty side.  I would like to have the time and money to try some of the windturbine ideas that I have.  I put together the windturbine that we have from parts bought over the internet.  Our house was built with alternative power from our solar panels, windturbine and small-engine/ alternator combo.  You kind of need that alternative power out here in the mountains  as there is no other alternative.
     We are interested in the history of this area and the west.  We  like the idea of living the life simply like they did in the old days but with modern twists like satellite digital tv, satellite internet, and satellite radio.   Neighbors, you are welcome to stop by and visit us at parcel 138.   You can see more about us at:  www.hideawayhomestead.com