OFFGRID FIREWOOD
We called and got somewhat better directions. We drove through gates and farms, went up hills and down. Then we came to the steep wash we were told we would need to go down. The van is snub nose and I could not see over it. I stopped the van and told Ron he would need to drive down. We drove down and around and up and down. Finally we came to the property. We were staring at scrub oak for our offgrid firewood. Ron was expecting tall oak trees where one tree would do us for the rest of the winter. I was laughing. Nothing in the desert that is natural grows tall.
It was time to leave and see if we were going to get out with the extra load. We got out just fine and sparingly used the wood. We still had to buy wood. At $385.00 we went to get the cord of wood with our new pick up (1979 Chevy) to save on delivery charges.
We did try the state land permit. After driving 60 miles up the mountain, our chain saw would not work. It cost us $50.00 for one piece of wood. We never went back.
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There is no experience like cutting firewood for heat in the Arizona desert. This winter we found a couple who lived offgrid who wanted trees cut down on their property. They were oak trees. We got the directions and headed out in the morning. When we got off the road to go the the property we drove up and down embankments, ruts and some pretty scary edges off the mountains on an old dirt road. We went the wrong way. We had to disconnect the trailer to back up the van to get it out. 
After four hours of cutting and fighting with the chain saw to say running we had cut down four trees. We barely had enough wood to fill half of the trailer.
The trees that we cut are bushy and the limbs were small. Arizona does not allow any wood to be cut from state land except once a year with a permit. You have to find a private individual who wants trees thinned. These trees had been dead from the drought for several years.
