Chapter 11 - New Mexico and Arizona

Quick now. Which state was the 47th admitted?

August 29 - September 1 - We came down from the mountains and stayed at a county RV park in Bernalillo, NM. Nice place, W&E, and great wifi for $25. We ate at a New Mexican restaurant called Arbulita's. Small place, good food. We got there at 11:20 and got the last parking place.

September 2-6 - We moved to an RV park in Albuquerque that we have used almost every year. One of the reasons we came to Albuquerque was to pick up our mail that I had shipped here. I usually have it sent General Delivery to a town that has only one PO. Very convenient, no hassle. I thought since we would be here for several days I would have it sent to the RV park. Well, they were doing a little road work on the interstate exit and the carrier did not want to deal with it, so he quit delivering mail to everyone on the road for two weeks. Several businesses, homes, and an RV park. Complaints that the road was open fell on deaf ears, the kid did not have the through rain and sleet and snow creed. He finally relented today. Government worker and did not get fired!

Another reason to be here is to eat at three New Mexican restaurants. I am not sure what the term New Mexican really means. One thing is that every dish is offered with either red or green chile sauce. Being that NM is the chile capital of the US, the sauces are damn good.

Still up in the air about staying out or heading home. The last few days have not been bad. Could it have been the altitude - we were above 8,000 for over a month. Maybe my misshapen red blood cells had problems with the altitude?

You folks back east have probably long forgotten about the forest fires in California. We see smoke every day, sometimes as dense as a bad pollution day in Birmingham in 1960. 

We seldom stay in RV parks. This year has been the exception. First for the heat dome, now because I wanted to descend to a lower elevation and that meant electricity for ac. 

We get a kick out of the newbies setting up after they park. A couple in a new Airstream took over an hour to hook up. Almost two hours to get ready to leave.

We have noticed that almost all the new 5th wheels and trailers are gray, black, and white. Camping World next door to where we are staying has no other color schemes.

In other RV observations, we are seeing more than a few B+ rigs on the Mercedes chassis. The owners opt to spend $50,000 more to "upgrade" from a Ford chassis. What do they get besides prestige? I suspect the handing is suburb. I know the cost of maintenance is several times what the Ford would be. I suspect the reliability is poor like most every MB made.

I decided this morning to continue the trip and continue west Tuesday. I have been doing OK the last week. And who knows if I will be able to travel next year.

Tuesday, September 7 - Dear Blog, we got away by 9 and headed south on I25 turning west on US60 headed for Datil Wells. This place had been on my list for years. There is nothing there. But people go. I decided I wanted to go just because. Besides, it was a new way to get to Arizona and it was through some mountains.

Dorothy drove for a while and I used the time to study the large-scale New Mexico map. My eye was drawn to a road with many switchbacks. I noted there was a campground at the base of the mountain. So I plugged Water Canyon into our route. It seemed an agreeable place, so Dorothy fixed lunch and we had a nap after our long 2.25-hour drive. After lunch, we drove the seven-mile many switchback road up to 10,500 and had a great view. Not picture-worthy due to it being another California fire smoke day.

So why the road? What's on the top of the mountain? It seems that back in 1980 some professor at UNM convinced Congress to fund building an observatory and atmospheric research facility. It was not open, but what is these days? I suspect smoke from fires might have some effect on stargazing.

Wednesday, September 8 - We got away a 7 to drive to the highway to get cell service so we could surf. Dorothy made breakie while I checked mail. We paused at the Very Large Array. A sign noted the VC was 4 miles down a dirt road and it was closed. 

We continued 10 miles to Datil where there is a really great BLM CG. Three sites have electricity. The camp host said it is experimental. We have a large level site with ramada and juice for $2.50. The downside is no usable cell signal, even amplified. The CG even has a small VC. But it is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Isn't everything?

History lesson. In the later part of the 1800's the route US60 traces was a cattle/sheep driveway from Springville, AZ  to Magdalena, NM, where the stock could be loaded on a train. About every 10 miles there was a well. Datil Wells was one of the wells.

We did the tourist thing and had lunch, a green Chile cheeseburger, at the gas station, general store, RV park, and restaurant complex. It turned out that the restaurant served pretty good food.

We noted that many of the gas customers were in camo. It was opening day for Elk taken with a bow.

Thursday, September 9 - Based just on a remark made by a guy at the restaurant yesterday, we went a little out of our way to Arizona by way of Reserve. It was a rewarding drive with an ever-changing landscape. There were vast flat plains, probably ancient lakes, now used by grazing cattle and elk. The forest floor south of Springville in the Luna Valley is beautiful.

Only in New Mexico

No passing areas have the usual yellow lines, but also signs on both sides of the road announcing No Passing. The zone is terminated with a single sign Pass With Care. So three signs every time. I wonder how many thousand signs there are in the state? Locals ignore the signage.

Vehicles used in highway construction, ambulances, etc. have red and blue emergency lights. LEO vehicles use red only. I think NM is the only state to use those color combinations.

Pull offs are rare, road shoulders are narrow.

Friday, September 10 - We drove around to see what was around us. We had heard about a restaurant in Greer that serves prime rib. It must be really swell beef as they want $35 for the small prime rib. It will be a cold day before I pay that much. We buy it on special at home for $6.99 a pound. Dorothy ages it for 10 days and we enjoy it. The grand dog gets the bone which she enjoys for the 15 minutes it takes her to pulverize it.

We found a fine dispersed camping site and moved our home. We are parked in a meadow with yellow and purple flowers. We now have sun for charging the batteries, can run the genset before 8 to make waffles and save $12 a day. That said it was a superb Forest Service campground.  

Our afternoon entertainment was being in a cattle drive. Two cowboys with two cattle dogs were moving a herd of about 100 beeves down the road. The beeves preferred the meadow to the road, surrounded us, and mooed loudly and for a while resisted the cowboys whoops to move along. I thought Oh Boy Prime Rib!

After finding that Page, AZ will be in the high 90's for the next 10 days we have changed our plans. We will hang in the Arizona mountains between here and Flagstaff until it cools off some.

In other news, we have been above 8,000 feet for the last four days and I am not experiencing the low energy days I was having two weeks ago. Perhaps the elevation was just a coincidence.

Saturday, September 11 - Yeah, it's that day again. It was 46 this morning. 

We needed a few groceries and I wanted to check out the Casa Malpais Museum, being only one letter different from my name. Malpas is bad pass or bad step. Malpais means badlands.

The museum, named for a nearby pueblo, was more than expected. While the few artifacts from the dig were interesting, the rest of the museum was of more interest to us. Art and history.

Springerville and Eager adjoin. There is a marked difference between the two. We guessed due to LDS. Turned out that a Springerville resident believed that Mormons could not be killed due to their sacred underwear, so he shot one. That led to the town of Eager being founded by LDS.

Sunday, September 12 - It was warmer this morning, a low of 50. We took a short drive on 273 seeking scenery. We got it, but it was all the same. We went up a thousand feet and were on a vast flat plain. Spent the afternoon reading and vegging.

Monday, September 13 - File under what you don't know can mess you up. We left our pleasant boondock near Greer and headed west in search of new vistas. I did not know we would be losing so much elevation - the natural ac. By the time we got near Show Low, we had lost 1,200 feet. It was warm and we needed electricity.

The other thing I did not know was that we would leave the rural forest and be in a tourist destination. Miles and miles of stores along the highway from Lakeside to Show Low.

There were fields of these flowers for several miles

My outdated guide to public campgrounds led us to a campground that has been closed since 2017. We wound up in the Show Low city park. That would not be so bad, but it's managed by RRM which has to be the absolute worst concessionaire going. I know the owner Warren Meyer, by reputation. This is our third or fourth experience with RRM and they have all been dismal. Mr. Meyer must have a talent for only hiring pompous assholes to manage the campgrounds.

Tuesday, September 14 - Today I learned that just because it's called Rim Road does not mean you will peer over the Mogollon Rim. We entered the Rim Road on the east end and drove past summer home after summer home until we saw a dead-end sign, which was followed by some mega-mansions and finally a gate to even more homes. Perhaps some of these homes were on the rim. I will never know. I decided to try the west end of the road. After driving miles, we came to another gate. This time it was the Apache that promised we would be stretched out over an ant bed if we proceeded. So much for the Rim Road near Show Lo.

Show Lo was named because the two owners of a ranch decided it was only large enough for one of them. To decide who would take control of the ranch they played cards. The game was not decisive. So one of them said if you can show low you win. The player flipped over the deuce of clubs, the lowest ranking card, and won the ranch. There is a street named the Deuce of Clubs.

Wednesday, September 15 - We moved west an hour and parked in the largest Forest Service campground I have ever seen - Canyon Point. There are 100 sites widely spaced. Most are pull-throughs with enough room to park several RV's. Great campground except, like most Forest Service campgrounds, there are too many trees to allow enough sun to reach the solar panels.

We checked out two other FS CG's in the vicinity and several boondock areas. We found one dispersed area on another Rim Road that has a few sites that should allow us enough sun.

We found one place where we could look over the rim. We could see nothing but trees all the way to the horizon. Well, trees and California fire smoke. It looked like the Blue Ridge mountains. 

This is the Rim. Not Much Huh?

What we saw from the rim looking out 25 miles - Smoke from California

The next day - an improvement

Thursday, September 16 - We moved to a place on the rim where we have 1) Sun, 2) an overlook over the rim, if we walk 50 yards to the rear of our site and 3) interesting neighbors.

1,500 feet of wind hits the rim wall and is forced up providing a cool breeze.

We drove some of the rim roads and found a great spot to park, but it's too far down a rough road for KoKo. There are hundreds of dispersed places. Most are marked "Park Here". There are even Forest Stewards that drop by and advise you on forest rules, like fires only in fire pits. Never encountered that before.

Friday, September 17 - We did a short drive on the west rim road. Frankly, the views from Shades Crest Road in Birmingham are better. I am sure the view would be greatly improved without the California smoke. I am calling the Rim not worth seeing after looking so forward to it. 

This place is popular with the Phoenix crowd. Phoenix is only two hours away. 111 degrees there. 82 here.

At the campground, they had a dump and trash disposal. There was a volunteer couple collecting money to dump $7 and for trash $3. We had a soccer ball size trash bag. I passed on paying three bucks. I can not imagine having my RV parked at a dump and standing up all day collecting cash.

Saturday, September 18 - We read our books. The sky changed from overcast to full sun several times during the day. There were sprinkles of rain a few times.

Sunday, September 19 - We descended from 8,200 to 3,500. Oh yeah, it's warmer. We want to drive a trail near Sedona. Hope we will not roast.

We stayed at Dead Horse Ranch SP in 2007. $30 a day for W&E. The park has several loops that make it seem not so crowded.

Monday, September 20 - I made blueberry pancakes this morning since we had electricity. We got away to Sedona to drive the Schenbley Hill trail. The trail was scenic and rough. Getting on the trail before 8:30 we missed the traffic. Just a few of the Pink Jeeps that make a living hauling fat cheesy tourists at double the speed I drive, 5mph, on such trails.

Around Sedona

We did not go the entire trail. As we exited the red rock area I decided the fuel gauge indicating empty meant we should turn around. I had to drive 8 miles once we got back to Sedona to get to a gas station. There are only a few in town. No room for them due to restaurants.

We had lunch at an Indian restaurant. We thought it was the same one we went to in 2007. It was good and quite expensive.

Tomorrow is my birthday - again.

One of a pair on a private drive

Chapter 9 - Northern New Mexico

My computer is back! It turned out that only the bent connector on the power cord was the problem due to Dorothy dropping it. Thankfully the computer missed my toes - buy only by milli-meters.

I always wanted washboard abs. But I also always seem to want some baby back ribs. Washboard abs are hard to get. Baby back ribs are $8.99.

Thursday, August 12 - Over the last week, I spent several hours trying to figure out where I wanted to go. I never settled on a route. I knew that driving to Durango and shopping would consume half a day and that is enough activity for us. I noted the Sky Ute Casino was just 30 minutes SE from Durango. I could do with some pampering after boondocking for the last month. And pampered we will be. Full hookups, wifi, and a pool for $25.

Friday, August 13 - I washed KoKo. Dorothy cooked. We went to the pool. Relaxed. I sat in my chair and fiddled with my memories.

Saturday, August 14 - Washed the Jeep. Dorothy made pork chops, turnip greens, and sweet potato casserole. Went to the pool. Relaxed. Went back to the pool while the laundry tumbled.

Sunday, August 15 - We were quite enjoying the Sky Ute, but I thought it was time to move along. Just not too far. We drove 45 on CO 151 enjoying the pastoral scenery. The speed limit was 60, so there was a bit of passing the old folks from Alabama. We stopped at Chimney Rock NM. It kinda resembles a chimney, but I really doubt the Ute call it a chimney. They are constructing a building there, but work is stopped. Quite a few people were in the area where you can get a guided tour. The chimney is about 3/4 mile from the parking area, so I figured a good mile up a fairly steep slope. Well beyond our abilities. I read a few signs about how the tribes in this area were part of the larger Chacoan culture.  

Chimney Rock

Dorothy was not feeling that great this morning and I am having a low energy day. So that was the reason for only driving an hour. The Southern Ute CG on Lake Capote offered electricity, I opted to pay for it. No wi-fi, no pool, no pavement, but still $25. No usable cell signal either. We are the only ones here. The CG is only open Thursday-Sunday. The guy asked it if was for one-night, then followed with "You will be leaving in the morning". Assured that was the case he said he could accommodate us. And said the gate might appear to be locked in the morning, but it would be a fake lock. Guess I passed his smell test.

A word about the Southern Utes. They are like no other tribe we have encountered in the US. The casino is a huge property. Makes the ones in Las Vegas look like poor cousins. The homes are well kept. The farms are productive. They have a three-story glass building to house the workers that manage their mutual funds. 

Monday, August 16 - I was ready to dive into New Mexico. I screwed up again and drove 7.5 hours from Chimney Rock to Questa. I was not able to force Glenda into showing the direct route. She wanted to take us south to Santa Fe and then north. Eyeballing it, it did not seem so far. Like I said I screwed up again. Dorothy is still not feeling all that good, so I did not impose on her to drive. On arrival, I was barely able to stand.

The High Road to Taos.  I know the phrase refers to a route from Santa Fe to Taos. But the route we took from Tierra Amarilla must also qualify. US64 gradually climbs to 10,500 and then runs along the crest of the mountains for miles where several shades of bright green, mostly aspens and spruce, and lush green meadows. There are a few pullouts where you could park, but I did not stop. Bad decision. It's one of the few smooth road surfaces in the whole state. However, it goes back to bumpy when you get down on the east side. 

BTW, smoke from distant fires remains. This is now the third month of smoke.

We made it to Wild Rivers, a familiar haunt to us. Our first visit was on the trip home when we picked up KoKo in 2007. They are doing road work and closed the CG where we usually stay. We landed in Montoso. It has four sites and two are for RVs. It's on the rim of the Rio Grande gorge. Not bad for $3.50 a day. 

Tuesday, August 17 - We drove to Red River to eat at one of several suggested restaurants. I wanted New Mexican fare. Only one offered that and it was not open for lunch. Dorothy had a too large Rueben and I had a too large Hatch Chile burger. Good, but overpriced food in an almost sleazy tourist town. The dining experience could have been better, they had the windows open so you heard all the street noise competing with the too-loud music playing. Then a Harley guy fired up his machine and he and his gf took turns taking pictures of each other while the engine rumbled. I turned around and gave him the evil eye and they left. Harley's louder than a rice bike should be crushed.

Woke up from my nap hot and it got worse. I set up a fan on the table and that provided some relief. Our neighbors joined us for a bottle of vino and good conversation soiled by 4,756 flies who all bit my ankles. I killed several dozen.

When we came in to escape the flies it was 92 inside, so we collapsed under our fans. Neither of us got to sleep until 10.

Wednesday, August 18 - It masks up in New Mexico. The last time I stopped in Taos was in 1994. I was the only straight male in town. We passed through a few years back on our way to Eagles Nest. The traffic was horrible. We came today to eat. It was a decent meal. We had shrimp tacos at Guadalajara Grill. There was one other white couple there -  a good sign.

New Mexico is a poor state. The roads are mostly in serious need of repair. The businesses and homes along the highways are in a sad state of decline. We drove through one of the residential sections of Taos. The road was a goat trail and homes looked like places where goats would not be happy to live.

I looked and looked online for a place to park that had hookups. I found nothing. Nothing! OK, then we saw two RV parks along the road near Questa. I would be ashamed to stay in them.

It was warm when we got back. 87, but surprise at mid-afternoon the wind picked up and it dropped to 76.

Thursday, August 19 - It was a day. After much back and forth we decided to leave Wild Rivers for Abiquiu. It would allow us to fill the larder before going to Chaco canyon and eat at the Mexican restaurant favored by our friends. Abiquiu is the only place known to us in the area to park.

An hour after we left we got a text from some friends, who only decide where they are going a few minutes before starting the engine, that they had arrived a Wild Rivers. Well all they do is hike and there are numerous trails there, so they don't need us, but we could have some Happy Hours with them.

I tried several times to make reservations at Abiquiu, but I could not find the button to reserve a site. When we got to Abiquiu, we saw a sign that you could not come in unless you had a reservation. There was a woman in the booth and a man standing outside next to a park attendant car holding a handheld radio. Never a good sign.

We were sent to the dump to turn around. I decided to dump while I was there. The Nazi campground attendant came down in his car to inform us that only registered guests could dump. I said no problem, as I had already dumped. There was another guy at the dump and he asked him his site number and name. He then radioed to verify the information. [Keep in mind, you had to have reservations to get in] These kind of people never had any authority in their work-life and want to flaunt it in retirement.

We proceeded west on a near-deserted road. We found a fine boondock site on a Forest Service road near Coyote. The landscape had Carmel and Estrada sandstone exposed. It looked just like the Arizona Strip. We had four hot bars.

View from our boondock site

Friday, August 20 - We backtracked east to Espanola to get groceries and eat at a recommended restaurant - Rancho de Chimayo. The food was excellent. We had to wait an hour as we did not have reservations and there were several dozen in an Airstream party. [Dorothy and I are usually the best dressed in t-shirts. Not so with the Airstream crew. They were bespoke, many with newly acquired woven Indian vests) We had a margarita while we waited and Dorothy lost her fingerprints halfway through hers. We both had the same diner. I finished mine. Dorothy brought half of hers home.

We spent a little time at the Santuario de Chimayo church. It was built in 1813.

I have no idea. A doll in a wooden box

There are no RV parks in this area. We were too tired and a little tipsy to return to the spot we had last night, so we are in a casino parking lot with the generator running for ac for two hours. It cooled off and we had nice breeze by 5:30.

Gasoline is $2.94 here. The last time we saw it under $3 was two months ago in Great Falls.

Saturday, August 21 - We headed back to Abiquiu Lake. Stopped for lunch at an overlook. Dorothy made tomato and onion salad and our new recipe of sautéed cauliflower, spinach, zucchini, onions and yellow squash. We took a short nap and continued west through red rock country.

I found an RV park in Cuba. Filling the water tank was my prime objective. However, Teresa's Beauty Shop and RV Park was full. Not much of a place. About 10 long-termers in sites jammed together. Teresa made two calls and found us a place in La Jara. I have no idea the name of the place. It has a small sign on the road that says RV Parking. The park mistress told us on the phone the gate was closed because the horse was out, but to come on in and find a place and she would be back around 6. All the sites are sloped, but I managed to get the front end up enough to be comfortable. The power pedestal has two 50amp and two 20amp but no 30amp outlets, tho one breaker is labeled 30 and there was a 30amp outlet on the ground in the weeds. One water hydrant and a 100-foot hose to serve everyone. I guess I will disconnect the hose from the RV it is connected to in the morning and fill our tank. Then somehow position the rig close to one of the clean-out tubes. The park mistress lives in a mobile home that is covered with a tin roof and has a porch. I can't wait to find out how much this is going to cost. ($20) PS The horse, Shorty, is 27, but still handsome.

The RV park with no name

Sunday, August 22 - Headed to Chaco canyon. Managed, with great difficulty, to make reservations at Chaco. See Chapter 10 for Chaco.

I watched a couple haul endless items to their tent site. I remarked to Dorothy that the woman had two small dogs. I call them foo-foos. Bacall said she had an ugly dress. I observed that the dress matched her and that he did not look like Tom Selleck. Bacall retorted "Of course not or I would not still be here". 

PS, fire smoke continues.

Chapter 10 - Adventures in New Mexico

August 12- 21 Chapter 9 is temporarily lost due to Dorothy breaking my computer! So here is Chapter 10.  Don has his version of the broken computer and I have my version.

Sunday, August 22 - We made it to Chaco canyon. The road was not as bad as I imagined it would be. It took us an hour to drive the 21 miles from US550 to the park. 8 miles on bumpy asphalt, the rest on washboard gravel at 8 to 18mph. A ranger told us the road was in the best condition of the year.

I was disappointed in Chaco. No artifacts are on display. They are all locked up at the U of NM. Only vetted archaeologists get in there. While all artifacts are photographed, you have to pay $18 an image to get a digital copy and a minimum of a $40 research fee. I may be a skeptic, but I think the natives have the park service over a barrel and don’t want any white eyes seeing any of the artifacts. And that’s also the reason for the washboard road. They don’t want people coming to their sacred site. Maybe it’s time to return it to them?

Chaco is the largest of the several (13?) pueblo sites and has the pueblos. Most of them have not been excavated and you only see mounds of dirt. Chaco was built to impress the thousands who made the pilgrimage to trade and see it.

Over 50,000 pieces of turquoise were found in one small room. Since turquoise was highly valued why would something so transportable be left behind? Can this be the same mindset that Navahos today live in squalor, always on the government and tribal dole. That refuses to work. Do things so desired in the white world have no meaning to Natives?

The ruins are the only thing you see in Chaco. We toured Pueblo Bonito, the largest one and the one that required the least walking. It was interesting, but we saw nothing new. It’s just bigger than at Hovenweep, Mesa Verde, etc.

The message they want you to get at Chaco is that it is not a ruin but it is still alive for the Natives. OK, fine, if that was what you are brought up to believe.

One last word. If Natives find a shard of pottery they will grind it up and use it to make new pottery. That’s why they would love to get their hands on the collections at the Smithsonian, and at the U of NM.

The Whites named this Fajada Butte. Don't know what the Natives called it. It can be seen from over 10 miles away. Certainly, it was a navigation aid to Chaco.

Part of Pueblo Bonita - The largest of the excavated ruins. They think it was 3-4 stories

Think your stonework would stand for millennia?

In this section, numerous rooms were interconnected.

Having seen all we could physically see at Chaco, we left a day early.

Monday, August 23 - We headed south to Cuba and turned east on NM136, and came to rest at Clear Creek FS CG. The drive was through some of the best mountain forests we have seen in NM. The CG has paved sites, but no other amenities. We got the only site that offered some sun for the solar panels.

Dorothy caused my computer to pulled off a table and drop on the power cord bending it so it will not charge. No tunes, no pictures, and my blog for the last two weeks poof. Maybe it can be fixed in Albuquerque? I would enjoy torturing the Apple folks who design the power cords. They had a good idea with magnetic ones, but the cords on those deteriorated in less than two years. More dollars to the bottom line to replace them. They discarded the mag attachment in favor of a plug that can be easily snagged and bent.

The GPS is near broken. When the power cord is inserted the screen goes dark. It still charges, but to use it, you have to unplug it and let it run on its short-life battery. I can get another GPS, but I can not replace the file that has all the public campgrounds. It’s no longer sold.

Tuesday, August 24 - We took the Jeep east on 126 to evaluate the road as a shortcut to the Jemez area. There is a section of dirt with extremely fine dust which roils up behind vehicles and another section of one lane not wide enough for KoKo. So we will be taking the long way around the mountain.

We did find an ideal open meadow boondock site just three miles from Clear Creek. [35.97197, 106.78457 on NF264F east of Cuba in NM126] While Clear Creek was a fine CG, we were not going to fully charge due to shade from trees and the bozo across from us ran his Chinese generator from 8 to 8. You could not hear it inside, but outside it was like a buzzing bee.

Last week a young couple pulled into the CG almost dark. I heard him tell the park mistress that he just could not drive another hour. He snared me when I went outside and wanted to tell me he was from New Orleans and they had driven here in three days. Three Days! They were on their way to Lake Powell, the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and then back home. All in two weeks. He was quite proud of his travel accomplishments. I hope his brand new Forest River camper stays together until he gets home. Tho I have my doubts. The next morning I was entertained by his putting all the stuff he put out back up. The folding chair had him puzzled. After several minutes he hit on folding the seat.

My Love Is Here To Stay sung by the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald just popped on. [I copied iTunes from my last backup to Dorothy’s laptop) That song, for me, will forever be linked It was not spontaneous, but it was not rehearsed. Maybe Johnny boned up on the lyrics that afternoon. It was a sheer joy to watch. He had enough natural talent to get him through it with some grace. Fucking no talent rappers.

Can you tell by all the words that we are boondocking without a cell signal?

Wednesday, August 25 - We headed south on US550 and hooked back north into the Jemez area. Our friends, Betty and Terry had texted us yesterday they would be at Jemez Falls CG. Just as we passed Redondo CG we got another text saying they were at Redondo instead. I think Redondo is much better, not crowded, and no reservations.

This was my worst day on the trip. I was headed downhill after lunch and by 3:30 I could no longer function, so I went back to KoKo to lay down. I stayed down and slept over 12 hours. 

Thursday, August 26 - I woke up feeling much improved and we drove Valles Caldera. We knew about the place from 2007, but it was not federal then and we did not see much of it. It is a large ranch in the basin of the caldera. The last owner put in his will that he wanted it to be preserved as a working ranch. The exterior scenes of Longmire at his ranch were filmed at the ranch foreman’s cabin. If you recall the view from the porch looking out over the meadow in the caldera you know the beauty of the place.

Longmire's porch. It was built in 1918 for the ranch foreman.

View from Longmire's porch

Another view from Longmire's porch

We are at 8,200 feet and the temp has been great. Our site has sun in the front for the solar panels and shade in the rear. The trees “cut off” the sun on the panels in mid-afternoon and we have to run the genset to get the batteries back to close to full charge.

Friday, August 27 - Laundry day. We went to Los Alamos to do laundry, get some internet and fill the freshwater tank. It’s always something. Getting the batteries charged, filling/dumping the storage tanks, making sure we have propane, getting all the electronic devices charged. I was remiss in coming here without topping off the water. I didn’t think we would stay for four days, but it’s a very pleasant place and we can visit with our friends.

The GPS repaired itself!

Saturday, August 28 - Nothing much happened today. I still having “low energy days”. Pulse is always in the mid 90's. Normal for me is high 60's. Stay out another two months or head to Alabama and see what the doctors say. Will I ever be able to travel again?

Sunday, August 29 - We went down the hill, from 8,200 to 5,700 feet. Viva la warmer. We parked in a nice county park in Bernalillo. Full hookups for $25. Hope to find a power cord for my MacBook and that the bent connector is the only problem. The ac should shut off by 6pm.

On The Way To Alabama

Tuesday, May 1 - Dark skies and rain in the forecast made our decision easy. We packed up and headed east. A 1.25-hour drive all the way to Exit 2 in Colorado. We parked in a BLM area that Ed Daniels told us about. There is green grass!  Will do a little exploring in the morning before we go to Grand Junction and head south into the Colorado backwoods.

Grand Junction is the headquarters for City Market and they also have a Sprouts which always has great produce. We leave Whole Wallets and the like to others.

Wednesday, May 2 - Cooler and overcast with rain in the forecast for today and tomorrow. We got out early to drive the canyon south of us. Not bad scenery and we wound up overlooking the Colorado.

We decided to move 30 minutes east to the Colorado National Monument. This will put us conveniently close to Rattlesnake Canyon. We are going to try to hike some of it. It has the second largest concentration of arches in the world.

Thursday, May 3 - Fog, overcast and chilly this morning. The weather this trip has been as unsettled as the DOW. We wanted to do something, so we went into town and lucked into a great dining experience. It was a Chinese buffet. Yeah, I know but it looked good, perhaps the best buffet of our lives. I needed veggies! The sky changed to blue for a few hours, then back to overcast.

Friday, May 4 - Great weather. We headed to Rattlesnake Canyon to see some arches. Route finding is problematic. Many roads, few signs. We made it and started our first serious, for us, hike of the trip. We hoped to go two miles round turn. We only made it one mile, but had some nice views of the canyon and of one arch across the canyon. I might have made it in cooler weather, but there were too many obstacles for Dorothy. It's an easy hike for anyone in reasonable shape. There is a Jeep trail all the way into the canyon. It has not been closed too many years.

 The Arch We Saw

 The Arch We Did Not See

Saturday, May 5 - Down the mountain to dump at the rest stop. Water problems, site closed. Grumble! Found a Maverick with a dump.

We headed south on CO141 through a green canyon at 7,000 feet then descends through red rock to Gateway at 5,000. We stopped at the fire station to ask about camping options. They directed us to three canyons and we picked a spot under some Cottonwoods. From there we drove west into Utah. The ascent from the canyon was scenic, but once we topped the mesa it was not much too look at endless mesquite. We did have a view of the east side of the La Sal's. 

Worthless Information: Abandoned Uranium mines cover this area. The material for the first four nuclear bombs was extracted from the tailings of Vanadium mines. The government wanted "tons" of it, so this area, like Moab, this area is dotted with former mines. Cleanup continues.

More Worthless Information: The John Brown Road was smooth hardpan. There were several unofficial signs that pointed to Moab. I checked the map and there are four ways to get to Moab. The shortest/fastest route would be to intersect La Sal Loop Road (Castle Valley) which is blacktop. The others are Onion Creek, La Sal Pass, and Geyser Pass. Garmin routes back you back to I70 for 128 miles in three hours. I think I would take the dirt road the 31 air miles.

Yet More Worthless Information: Many cities in Utah name their streets 400 East NE, 800 South SW. Which seems helpful, but it confuses me. Colorado has their own scheme. Streets named B, C, and D are common. They really like streets named for the mileage from some common point. For instance, 4 2/10, four and two-tenths miles from some point. They are referred to 4.2, but the street signs and maps have them 4 2/10 or get this one 15/100.  

Sunday, May 6 - We continued south on CO 141 through what must be the worlds longest red rock canyon. Wingate formation I think. It changes to Entrada/Navado as you get close to Gateway. South of there it becomes part of the Great Gravel Pit that starts in West Texas and extends to the Pacific. Nothing to see here, move along.

In need of water to work it's Dolores Canyon gold claims the Montrose Placer Mining Company built a 13-mile canal and flume to deliver water from the Delores River.  The last 5 miles of the flume clung to the wall of the canyon itself running along the cliff face. It was constructed between 1888 in 1891 The 4-foot deep 5-foot wide hanging flume that carried 24,000,000 gallons of water a day - enough for three teenage girls to shower. It's construction dazzled mining pros with this sheer ingenuity.  The placer claim, unfortunately, dazzled no one and after three years the company folded and abandoned to the flume to the ravages of weather and time. It is now listed in the national register of historic places. This engineering marvel symbolizes the twist of fate for all in the pursuit of Rocky Mountain gold.

A short day turned into a long day. I had guessed we would be staying at one of the numerous campsites along the Delores River. I had not read the fine print, they are all boat in. We wound up at McPhee Reservoir just north of Cortez. 

We stopped for lunch at a pull out in Dove Creek. Dorothy was making sandwiches and the door was open for a breeze. 1PM on Sunday is when they test the air raid siren. It was right outside our door. We both had heart attacks.

Dove Creek must the bean capital of the world. The fields literally go to the horizon for a dozen or so miles along 481.

 The Back Side (eastern) of The La Sal's

 What You See When You Arrive In the Unincorporated Berg of Gateway

 See It Closer - It Would Look Great In Our Backyard

 A 5-star Resort Was Built

 The Back Side (eastern) of The La Sal's (Again)

 The Butte Seen From A Distant Butte

 The Delores River

Can You See What's Left of the Flume? - on the wall

Monday, May 7 - Made it all the way to Bloomfield, NM. This section of Crossing America is never scenic and is problematic finding a place to park. We settled into a private park and enjoyed sitting on their patio listening to Youtube tunes with their super high-speed wi-fi.

Tuesday, May 8 - Stayed at our usual Albuquerque place, Enchanted Trails. A decent park for $19. Albuquerque almost set a record yesterday, 93 degrees. Finally a Costco, so we could get some Angus hamburgers and 87 octane for $2.63, 50 cents less than in Moab. Got the Jeep tires rotated.

Wednesday, May 7 - Three hours east brought us to Tucumcari. Never stayed here before. An old park dating to the 1930's for a discounted price made us stop. We parked in the shade of a cottonwood tree.

 Our Home For A Night - Tucumcari, NM

The Old Cabins

Thursday, May 9 - A long day for us. 4.5 hours from Tucumcari to Elk City, OK. From the desert to green. I can always tell when we cross the magic 100th parallel to green pastures. By staying on the northern route, I40, trying for cooler temps, we missed good BBQ and still have 95 plus temps. We overnighted at a city park on a lake. Last year there was a goose that honked like a pig. Did not see any water foul this year. Blown away I suppose.

Friday, May 10 - East 3.5 hours to a COE park on Lake Eufaula. The trees are now tall and glow brightly in spring green.

Having abundant water and no reason to conserve it, after a week, I washed the cow shit off the Jeep.

Saturday, May 11 - A shorter driving day, about 2.5 hours to Lake Dardanelle near Russellville, AR. Another COE facility with hookups for $10. The wind was much lower today. The three days in OK it BLEW.

Sunday, May 12 - Got four hours more toward home. Parked at another COE cg, This one is south of Memphis. Almost full on Sunday. Long Mother's Day weekend? Nice lake, great breeze.


Monday, May 13 - Our last night on the road. And our most expensive. We wanted to stop in Birmingham and stock up on pita bread from a great baker. Birmingham is not camper friendly. There is only one private campground and it costs $40. The city of Hoover has a parking lot that charges $50. Regrettably, none of our friends have 20amp service. We will get to the bread store in the morning and then head home.