#13 Coveys Great Adventure – June 2015 #2: Western Colorado

Colorado: Trinidad, Durango, Silverton, Ridgway, Ouray, Gunnison, Longmont

June certainly was busy and we’ve really had a lot of fun:

Trinidad Lake State Park

The trip from Amarillo to Trinidad Lake State Park, our first stop in Colorado, turned out to be a relaxing and interesting drive right up to the turnoff into Trinidad. The directions on the state park website were easily misinterpreted and we had quite a tour of downtown Trinidad via large coach. Some of the locals looked a little bemused as we went by. Kayeanne soon got us rerouted and a few minutes later we pulled into our first Colorado state park.

I’ll get this off my chest now, rather than repeat it every time we get to a new park: Colorado is the only state that we have been to so far that charges extra for towed vehicles. Despite having a prepaid reservation, they demand an additional $7 per day for the car whenever we pull in. That means that the reservation cost on their website is understated almost 30%!

I think this is at best deceptive, and smacks of deceit if not outright fraud. Every park host and ranger has received so much angry feedback that they are all gun shy, braced for yet another outraged outburst. I don’t understand why Colorado continues this scheme. There must be some political or fiscal reason that I can’t see that makes creating so much ill will worthwhile. 

To compound the situation, most of their parks only have 30 amp electrical service. All modern RVs over 30 feet need to run two or even three (us) air conditioning units in the summer and that requires 50 amp power. So, Colorado's state parks end up delivering over priced, under performing service while really annoying many of their customers. It’s a real shame, because the parks are otherwise some of the best we’ve seen. OK, rant off.

Take CO 12 west to Walensburg -
100 miles of stunning country 

Trinidad Lake is a manmade reservoir set in the mountains a few miles outside of the bespoke town. The park is surrounded by hills that offer a number of easy or challenging hiking trails. Birds of all kinds, deer, rabbits and squirrels are everywhere. The camper services building had a small laundry and great showers, both of which we took advantage of.

Trinidad has a nice vibe. From the 1880’s to the 1940’s, it was the center of the largest cattle and sheep grazing operations in Colorado. Many of the original buildings and houses have survived. The town history museum was closed the day we visited, but we did tour the AR Mitchell Museum of Western Art. Few people recognize his name, but most have seen his work. AR Mitchell was the foremost cover  illustrator of cowboy and western pulp fiction that thrived in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The museum is filled with Mitchell’s very colorful, original paintings as well as the works of several contemporaries that he collected. We went in on a whim and spent over an hour exploring the kind of art that we had never really appreciated before.

US 160 from Trinidad to Durango is one of the most scenic and most challenging roads for the coach that we have encountered. The climb to the summit of Wolf Creek Pass is over 10,000’ of steep, winding road, going up and going down. I didn't want to stop for pictures, so here's a link to some. 

Big diesel-powered trucks and motor homes climb and descend steep roads on their engines. Power is obviously used to go up, but it is engine compression braking (aka the Jake Brake) that is the key to safe descents. Trying to use just the wheel brakes on long descents is impossible, they simply overheat due to the weight of the vehicle and fail with usually catastrophic results. So, we climbed Wolf Creek Pass at 35 mph using every bit of the 500 horsepower in the engine, and we dropped down the other side riding the Jake Brake at about the same speed. Wolf Creek Pass took almost an hour.

One of the reasons we wanted to visit Durango was to get together with Cheryl and John Clement, friends from Thousand Oaks who moved to there last year, shortly after we hit the road. We had a great time visiting, walking our four dogs in the Forest, and even managed 9 holes of golf at a lovely course near their home. Cheryl’s salmon dinner was outstanding. We hope to see them again, soon. Both of us really liked Durango and look forward to returning. 

Can you spot the coach? Back to nature at Junction Creek

Junction Creek NFS Campground is on the edge of the San Juan National Forest, just outside of town. We spent a week there, enjoying the beauty of the Forest and the amenities of the campground. Well, maybe not too many amenities. We had a site with just power for three nights and then had to move to one with no utilities at all for the other four. Not a problem, the coach systems worked as designed and we were quite comfortable.

Another reason for going to Durango was to ride the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gage Railroad up the canyon of the Animas River to Silverton. The D&SNGR’s steam train trips are world renown and half the people on our train were from outside the US. The train takes about three hours to cover the 50 miles to Silverton, and about 40 miles

or so are both jaw-droppingly beautiful and a little scary. How the original engineers and builders managed to push a railroad through those canyons is beyond me. I tried to take a few pictures to show that in places the side of the coach is overhanging the tracks with a huge drop-off into a raging river.

Silverton was pretty disappointing. The town is pure tourist trap. The train returns about two hours after arriving, more than enough time to get lunch and see the place. The setting is really worth seeing, but the town isn’t worth much time.

Animus River gorge looking straight down from the train

Being a steam train, a little soot and cinders are all part of the ambiance. We rode the train both directions, but if we were to do it again, we’d ride the bus up to Silverton and take the train back to Durango. About two thirds of the passengers on our train did the opposite, so the return run was less than half full. That meant I could move freely from one side of the coach to the other to follow the best views. Needless to say, the return trip was terrific.

No railings!

Mesa Verde National Monument is a short drive west of Durango, but might as well be in a different world. The mesa rises on the horizon, stretching for miles to the south and west of the surrounding landscape. Mesa Verde is one of the most extensive collections of cliff dwellings in the country. We toured the Balcony House, which is accessed by descending a steel staircase attached to the side of a sheer cliff, then climbing a 30 foot ladder without hand rails or safety nets. That really got our attention. So did the cave we had to crawl through to get to another ladder to get out. Great fun!

Our guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The site itself and the views were simply fantastic. The National Park Service has done a great job conserving these sites while making them as accessible as possible to large numbers of very interested visitors. We will certainly return when we have more time. You could easily spend a full day there and not see everything. 

There are two routes to Ridgway from Durango. The most direct is US 550, the “Million Dollar Highway”, that is notorious for its steep climbs, fast descents, and sharp curves without guardrails along sheer thousand-foot drops. It is a terrific ride on a motorcycle. It is doable in our coach but would not be much fun, requiring 100% concentration at all times. Kayeanne was understandably nervous about it, too.

Galloping Goose Trailhead, US 145, Uncompahgre National Forest

The other route, via US 160, 145 and 62 is almost twice as long, but turned out to be a great drive through some of the prettiest mountains and valleys we’ve seen, right through the Uncompahgre and San Juan National Forests. It took longer, but was much more enjoyable.

Ridgway State Park is a very nice campground located along the shore of the Uncompahgre River a few miles north of town. The Park is known for its great fishing. The sites are huge and easy to get into with lots of separation between neighbors.  About all it needs is 50 amp power, because the temperatures soared into the 90’s and stayed there.

Ripley finally gets a bath at Ridgway

Ridgway turned out to be an interesting small town, containing one of the best surprises we’ve had in a while. On Ed Woznicki’s recommendation we went to Taco Del Gnar for lunch. It is one of the most unique places we’ve been to in a long time. The menu listed a Korean short rib taco with kimchi. It was delicious!

The home made spicy lamb sausage taco was a close second, and Kayeanne said her grilled ahi taco was the best she had ever had. If you are in anywhere near Ridgway, make it a point to stop. You won’t regret it.

One of the reasons we went to Ridgway (before we learned about Taco Del Gnar!) was to visit Ouray, about 12 miles south. Ouray was fun. It’s a small touristy town nestled in a very deep, narrow valley, almost a gorge. It is a very picturesque setting. Lots of sheer rock and several small waterfalls really give it a striking backdrop. Don’t miss Mouse’s Chocolates and Coffee. They make their own ice cream. ‘Nough said. The locals also claim it is the best coffee in town, too.

Downtown Ouray

I have been looking forward to returning to Gunnison since I rode through it on a bike trip several years ago. It is one of those towns that is big enough to have most everything you need, but not too big to get to know the whole place. Located in the valley of the Gunnison River, the scenery is distinctly different from the renown Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Farming and grazing are the main activities in the fertile green valley. 

Very noisy neighbors

Lottis Creek NFS Campground is actually in Almont, in the Gunnison National Forest, along the banks of the Taylor River about 25 miles northeast of Gunnison. We had a great campsite: level, easy to get into and completely shaded by large trees. It also came with neighbors: herds of cattle and a bear. The Forest is open range and cattle move from one grazing area to another on their own volition using the public roads (really, really messy) and a series of trails through the woods. One of those trails passed about 100’ behind our coach. Cattle calling to each other in the woods in the middle of the night will certainly get your attention the first time you hear them.

Any place he wants to.....

A couple of days after we moved in, Kayeanne and Lucy were sitting outside when a young black bear ambled by about 30 yards away. It crossed the camp road and started foraging in the tall grass along the edge of Lottis Creek. It immediately got everyone’s attention. People yelled and banged pots and pans together, blew their horns, and one guy set off his car alarm. They could have been singing lullabies for all the notice they got from the bear. He hung around most of the afternoon, to the consternation of the camp hosts and ranger. We got some great pictures before he finally disappeared for good. I think we will take bear warnings more seriously in the future.

We took a couple of side trips during our stay at Lottis Creek. One day we followed the Taylor River up to Taylor Lake, another manmade reservoir located in a natural park, a really pretty natural park that was

flooded when the dam was completed. The lake is a very popular fishing destination, and is large enough to actually sail on. The river is also prime fishing country and popular for rafting and kayaking. The latter looks like great fun and I am really tempted to look into getting one.

The other trip took us to Crested Butte, a very nice town in a spectacular setting about 40 miles from our camp site. Crested Butte is one of the legendary Colorado ski areas, often on the same list with Aspen, Telluride and Steamboat Springs, but on a smaller, more personal scale according to local folks. Some of the towns we visit don’t give off much positive energy (Montrose, for example), while others give off really interesting vibes. I think if people like to live there it shows. The residents must love Crested Butte. We certainly enjoyed the time we spent there.

Leaving Gunnison we headed northeast, following US 50 to the junction of US 285 which would take us almost to Denver. US 285 turned out to be a good route choice. It was a really pleasant road with lots of scenery, and relatively easy driving until we got to Monument Pass. Monument Pass is one of the notorious high mountain passes that really test a coach and driver. It is about as steep as any in the West, with long stretches of 8% grade and many narrow turns. The scenery is just spectacular, what I managed to see in glances as I focused on getting us up and down without any drama.

We planned our Colorado travels around getting to spend time with old friends Cheryl and

St. Vrain State Park

Chet Baffa in Broomfield. We managed to get reservations at St. Verain State Park in Longmont, about 20 miles north of their house. We may have gotten the last site that fit our coach. We only stayed three nights and should have stayed a week.  It was great to spend a couple of days with them at their brand new house and to meet a few of their grandkids.

We did manage a quick trip to Boulder to restock the pantry at Trader Joe’s, and we refilled the wine cellar at a local discount liquor market so we head into the wilds of Utah with a full larder. We didn’t get to see Rocky Mountain National Park, Fort Collins or Estes Park this time, just poor planning on my part as Kayeanne gently pointed out. Next trip.

More soon.

Cheers.

#12 Coveys Great Adventure – Vermillion Cliffs, Flagstaff, El Morro, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Amarillo

#12 Coveys Great Adventure – Vermillion Cliffs, Flagstaff, El Morro, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Amarillo

We have really been on the move lately. Before we left Jacob Lake, we took a day trip to Page AZ, via the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. The drive down (literally) US 89 starts in pine forests and rapidly transitions to stark desert as the elevation descends over 4,000’ to Page. Page is pretty forgettable, but there are some interesting parts. RD’s Drive-In serves really good burgers and fries, and the BBQ place next door sure smelled good and was very popular. We’ll check it if we return to Page.

The Vermillion Cliffs lived up to their billing, with brilliant colors and one huge rock formation after another unfolding for miles along the highway. Our pictures can’t do it justice, and we didn’t see the best of them, located down 20 miles of dirt roads that we passed up this time.

Pinegrove campground

From Jacob Lake we headed to Pinegrove NFS (National Forest Service) Campground in the Coconino National Forest, which turned out to be one of our favorite places to date. Located 15 miles east of Flagstaff, Pinegrove Campground has huge, level sites, many of which back up to thousands of acres of ….well, pine groves. We spent hours hiking around the lands surrounding the campground. The dogs were very happy to sniff the  trees, grass, deer and rabbits.

We spent just three nights there, but we ended up spending more time in Flagstaff itself  than we planned. Schroeder picked up a very common parasitic infection in his gut that required an unscheduled trip to the vet for an exam and antibiotics. He’s fine, the pills knocked it right out, but the budget took a hit.

Flagstaff is one of those places that we didn’t expect much of, but turned out to be a real

pleasant surprise. It is big enough to have all the services (except Trader Joe’s and Total Wine – see below) yet small enough to be very accessible. We enjoyed walking around “old town Flagstaff”. Being a college town (Northern Arizona University) lends a really nice vibe to the place. We look forward to going back.

Oh, yes, a plug: We had the buffet lunch at Cuisine of India, next door to Walmart. It was maybe the best Indian meal we have ever had. If you go to Flagstaff, don’t miss it. I’d go back to Flagstaff just to eat there again.

About half way down

It’s over 400 miles from Flagstaff to Santa Fe, so we decided to break the trip at Milan, NM. Milan had nothing to recommend it except its location, about 2/3^rd of the way to Santa Fe, and an inexpensive RV park with cable TV hookup. We hadn’t seen TV since Hurricane and needed a fix. We decided to stay an extra night, giving us a full day to look around. As you may have noticed, we like getting in the car and exploring the places we stay in, so we looked at the map and spotted El Malpais National Monument, about 30 miles south of town. El Malpais comprises unique rock formations that neither of us found very interesting, but on the spur of the moment we decided to check out El Morro National Monument, about 20 miles further down the road.

El Morro turned out to be really interesting. It has the only reliable, year ‘round water for many miles. Consequently, people have been coming to El Morro for thousands of years. As you can see in the photos, El Morro is a huge sandstone monolith rising high above the surrounding countryside. Sandstone is soft and easily carved, so visitors have left their marks (aka graffiti) all over the site. Indian hieroglyphics, 16^th century Spanish explorers, American settlers and US Army troops fighting the Indian wars all carved their messages into the sandstone cliffs.

The site was also inhabited for generations by several different tribes of Indians. There are a number of elaborate stone buildings that archaeologists continue to explore and conserve. El Morro’s unique structure also makes it home to a number of birds and animals that are not found in the surrounding lands. The National Park Service has a very interesting facility at the site staffed by knowledgeable and enthusiastic rangers and volunteers.  It takes roughly two hours to hike the whole site and is well worth the effort. We didn’t expect much when we decided to go and it turned into a very memorable day.

Albuquerque itself didn’t hold much interest for us, but we could not pass through on the way to Santa Fe  without calling Larry Girardi and Peggy Fiorini. Unfortunately, he was out of town but Peggy met us for lunch and we had a great time. Peggy and Larry split time between Albuquerque and Poulsbo, WA, so we hope to see them there in September if our current plans work out.

We also took the opportunity to restock the wine cellar at Total Wine because we discovered that good wine at fair prices is harder to find than we realized. I hope we have enough to see us to Denver, the next probable resupply point, at the end of June.

Way off the grid in Black Canyon

Black Canyon NFS Campground in Santa Fe is another gem. Maybe not quite as nice as Pinegrove, but close. Getting our coach into the site we had reserved did prove to be a challenge, though. The camp host said that we were the largest coach he had seen in the three years that he had been there. The government reservation website doesn’t take into account things like turning radius when they declare a site to be suitable for a certain size rig. It was very tight, but once we got in we really enjoyed it.

Tourist are everywhere in Santa Fe

Santa Fe is about the same size as Flagstaff, but much more touristy. Tourism is important to Flagstaff, but it doesn’t dominate the economy like it does in Santa Fe. We spent a morning at the Georgia O’Keefe Museum which has so much material that it changes the theme of the exhibit three times a year. Unfortunately, neither of us were particularly interested in this exhibit that focused on her earliest work. None of her New York cityscapes or Ghost Ranch landscapes were on display, but luckily a number of Alfred Stiglitz’s photos of her covering the 1920’s-1940’s were being shown. I was really disappointed not seeing the landscapes, though.

That afternoon we visited the Museum of International Folk Art and were absolutely enthralled. Alexander and Susan Girard spent a lifetime collecting folk art figures, toys and textiles from around the world, ending up with over 100,000 items that they eventually donated to the museum. 10% of the collection is on permanent display in an

extensive series of dioramas designed personally by Alexander Girard specifically for these items before his death in 1993. If you visit Santa Fe, the Girard Collection has to be on your “don’t miss” list. 

 

After several of two or three night stays in a row, it was time to settle in one place for a week to catch up on maintenance, laundry, mail and Amazon deliveries. We wanted to see Taos, and the Taos Valley RV Park proved to be the right place: good wifi, a laundry, cable tv hookup and and interesting area, all at a reasonable price.

Taos is a pretty small town that hasn’t recovered from the last recession. When I visited Taos on my motorcycle in 2006, it was crowded with BMWs, Mercedes and Range Rovers. All the restaurants were filled with well to do yuppies wrapped in Oakley shades. Construction was going on everywhere as old houses were renovated and expanded, and new ones were sprouting up out of town. This trip I didn’t see a single new house being built and several shops in the downtown area were vacant.

Every Thursday night during the summer, Taos has a free concert in the town plaza. That night, two local country bands preformed to an enthusiastic crowd of residents and visitors of all ages. People bring chairs or toss blankets on the grass and many, like us, brought their favorite adult beverages to enhance the music. Folks danced and mingled, a few low-riders (like East LA, but the guys smiled) slowly circled the plaza and the food cart vendors did well. We had a really great time.

One evening we met Laurie and L.E. Bender for a nice dinner and good conversation at the Taos Inn, the oldest hotel and restaurant in town. They had moved to Taos from Nehalem, OR about nine years ago to escape the winter weather on the Oregon coast. They reinforced my view that Taos had seen many negative changes since its heydays, noting that over half of the art galleries had closed since 2008.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

One day we decided to follow the Enchanted Circle route from Taos that passes through Angel Fire, Eagle Nest, Red River and Questa, and returns to Taos with a short detour to see the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Motorcyclists note: this is a very good ride. Mountains, rivers, high alpine meadows and interesting towns made it a memorable day. We also visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a truly moving experience for everyone of our generation.

As much as we enjoyed Taos, I had an appointment in Amarillo, Texas, for the road test to complete my Class B license, which Texas requires to legally drive RV’s over 26,000 pounds. Amarillo was the closest test site I could find to Taos, about 285 miles each way.

West Texas in general and Amarillo in particular were pleasant surprises. I expected desolate sage brush and cactus, and a few skinny cattle trying to scratch a hard existence form the harsh countryside. Instead, we saw verdant fields of hay as far as the eye could see, with thousands of cattle grazing knee-deep in lush grass.  We haven’t been paying much attention to the news for a few months and missed the bulletins about West Texas, New Mexico and several parts of Colorado achieving the wettest May on record. That certainly accounted for the lush greenery and fat, contented cows that we saw everywhere we looked.

Based on my experience in El Paso, I was prepared to be under whelmed with Amarillo. That also turned out just the reverse: Amarillo is a nice town, and it seems to be quite prosperous.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (sic) license examiner duly passed your humble scribe, who now holds a Class B license to drive RVs with air brakes that exceed 26,000 pounds. That done, we turned right around and headed to Colorado. We plan to cross Texas next winter on the way to the east coast, but we’ve seen all we want to of it now.

More soon.

#11 Coveys Great Adventure – Vista, Simi, Pahrump, Hurricane, Zion, Jacob Lake

May 2015

It was a bit of a shock to deal with that long, rough dirt road after the tranquility and beauty of Burro Mountain, but I have to say it was good to get on the road again. Both of us are ready to travel after sitting in one place for a week, no matter how nice it is. We looked forward to this trip because we were returning to California for Ted Anderson’s 65^th birthday party, and to visit friends in Thousand Oaks and Pasadena. We intended to make it a leisurely 5 day trip, stopping off in Apache Junction AZ and Borrego Springs CA, but it turned into a marathon road trip, instead.

If you are always looking for good roads to ride or drive, add NM78 and US191 to the list. NM78 connects US180 to US191, which then goes on to hook up with US70. NM78 is one of those roads that a 43’ motor home shouldn’t be on (the sign said so), but the scenery was worth the occasional tight corner. I pulled over to check the dolly straps and the first local resident to come by stopped to see if we needed help. He said that he regularly towed a big 5^th wheel trailer on this road and assured me that we’d have no problem getting through to US191. It turned out to be a memorable drive.

We had planned to stop overnight in Apache Junction, but got there so early that we pushed on to North Ranch in Wickenburg for the night, and to pick up some mail that hadn’t reached us before we left after Bead Week. The next day we planned to stop at Leaping Lizards RV Park (really) in Anza-Borrego for a couple of days. We wanted to see that area and the park website showed pictures of a pool and spa. We envisioned ourselves sitting around the pool sipping a glass of wine after a refreshing swim. Well, we should have called. The pool and spa were empty, and the place could have used some sprucing up so we decided to push on to the Stage Coach Trails RV Park in Julian CA. That place also had issues, not the least of which was absolutely no cell or WiFi service whatsoever. It also looked a little seedy, so we decided to go all the way to Vista where we had a reservation starting later in the week.

There were three issues with that plan. First, we don’t like to drive more than 300 miles a day and going to Vista pushed it over 400 miles. Second, we would arrive after dark, which we really try to avoid because maneuvering our coach in some campgrounds can be a challenge. Finally, the only feasible route, CA78, prohibits rigs our size. Unfortunately, we were over 20 miles into it before we saw the sign. Not only was there no place to turn a rig our size around, but the only alternate route added another 100 miles to an already overlong trip. We really had no good options so we decided to press on. It got a little hairy in places because this road really isn’t designed for our size, but all ended well and we pulled into Guajome County Park campground about 8:30 that night after more 12 hours at the wheel.

Guajome County Park (forgot to take pictures, again) campground turned out to be a real find. It is actually in Oceanside, just off route 78. Formerly a large private estate and nature preserve, it has a small lake, extensive marsh land, miles of hiking trails and about 40 campsites, a few of which can accommodate rigs our size. Despite its seeming isolation, it is just minutes to Vista, Carlsbad and Oceanside. The dogs were very interested in the ducks and geese in the pond, and we got several watchable TV stations on the antenna. Everyone was happy.

Kayeanne and Judy: friends over 35 years

Ted and Judy Anderson have been our close friends for 35 years, so there was no way we were going to miss his party. Judy rented a beach house in Oceanside and friends and relatives from all over the country gathered to remind Ted that, yes, he is getting older. We had a great time and even got to bring the dogs, who got nonstop attention from everyone.

The Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum in Vista is one of my favorite places. It had been years since our last visit and we weren’t going to pass it up. Guajome Park is just a couple of miles from the museum, which houses one of the most extensive collection of gas, diesel and steam powered tractors, crawlers, farm implements and stationary engines in the country. It also offers extensive live exhibits on weaving, blacksmithing, machining and other crafts. On the museum website, note the Show dates in June and October. Collectors and aficionados of old iron converge from all over North America to show their engine collections and generally jawbone with anyone who stops by their booth. Much of the equipment is running, which really fascinates me. Don’t miss the daily old tractor parade which includes steam traction engines dating back to the 1890s.

We couldn’t come back to California without going to Thousand Oaks. The short trip from Vista to Simi is “interesting” in our rig. My hat’s off to the truckers who drive those roads every day. We again set up housekeeping at Lost Canyons County Park in Simi, and began a nonstop week of visiting our many friends in the area. I’m sure Judy Powell was especially happy to see us. She had been receiving packages from Amazon for us and got her garage back when we picked them up. It was really great to see everyone.

Liesa moved to Saint George, Utah, at the end of April so we headed there to see her new place and to spend time with her and her boyfriend Luis Orozco. On the way we spent a night at another Escapees co-op park, Pair-A-Dice SKP Park in Pahrump, Nevada. We enjoyed it and will stop again when passing through the area.

We spent several days visiting Liesa, helping with a few household projects and generally getting back in synch after not seeing her since Christmas. This visit also coincided with our 30^th anniversary and we had a nice dinner together at a Japanese restaurant for sushi.

End of the trail

Liesa and Kayeanne

Liesa had not been to Zion National Park, which is 20 miles or so from Hurricane, so one day we packed a lunch and drove over. It was just as spectacular as I remembered. We took the tram ride to the end of the line and then hiked to the end of the trail. I hope the pictures give you some idea of the beauty and scale of this place. If you haven’t been, make plans to go, it is really worth it. Here are better pictures.

One of hundreds of vistas in the park

WillowWind RV Park in Hurricane is one of the better parks we’ve been to, and Hurricane itself is a nice place to be. About the only thing that WillowWind needs is a dog park. We plan to stay here again when we return in July for Liesa’s birthday.

Jacob "Lake"

Visiting the North Rim of the Grand Canyon had been on our must-see list for some time. Luis is a wild land fire fighter stationed at Jacob Lake, AZ, in the Kaibab National Forest near the North Rim so we made a reservation at Kaibab Camper RV Village, next door to his fire station. This RV park has the nicest, hardest working camp hosts we’ve met, but it needs them because the place itself is a little sketchy. The area, though is just beautiful. We arrived early enough to explore some of the hundreds of miles of NFS roads that crisscross the Forest, noting a few places that we could dry camp if we return.

Hundreds of miles of dirt
roads, so little time

May 23. Really??!!

Jacob Lake (actually a really small pond, see photo) is on the Kaibab plateau at about 8,000’ elevation. We expected to be a little chilly, but we did not expect freezing temperatures and a blizzard. It’s almost 50 miles from Jacob Lake to the North Rim, and the further south we went, the colder it got. 

That is lightening approaching quickly

The drizzle we had starting out turned to hail and then to snow, with slush forming on the road. Slight changes in elevation seemed to dictate whether it rained, hailed or snowed. I felt really sorry for the motorcyclists that we saw. They looked really cold and thoroughly scared of the treacherous road. Having ridden in similar conditions, I know how they felt.

It wasn’t snowing at the North Rim and the rain hadn’t started there yet, so we took advantage of the weather break to walk the path along the top of the long promontory that juts out into the Canyon beside the

Even without sunshine, the views are really incredible

North Rim Lodge. The day was overcast, cloud cover was almost down to the top of the Rim and lightening flashes were visible as the storm moved closer. I remember how awe-inspiring the South Rim view was, but the North Rim is even better, despite the poor visibility. No way these pictures do it justice. Here are much better pictures, and be sure to come here if you haven’t been.

The incoming storm chased us off the promontory. The temperature suddenly dropped, the wind kicked up and the light drizzle turned into serious rain on the way to becoming hail and snow. We hustled back to the Lodge, got cups of hot chocolate and headed back to the coach right into the teeth of a real blizzard. The heavy wet snow was almost more than the wipers could cope with. By the time we got home the temperature had dropped to freezing and snow was accumulating rapidly. We spent the rest of Friday and most of the next day in the coach listening to music (thanks Jay!) and watching the snow fall. Heavy rain fell all night on Saturday and melted all the snow by Sunday morning. Without the pictures you’d never know it had snowed. As I’m typing this, a brief hail storm just blew through, so we may not be finished with this lousy weather yet.

On to Flagstaff, Santa Fe and Taos. More soon.

#10 Coveys Great Adventure – Bead Week, El Paso and New Mexico

 April, 2015

From the tranquility of Burro Creek we plunged directly into the hubbub of Bead Week. This year about 125 avid beaders from all over the country converged on the North Ranch Escapees Rainbow Park in Congress, AZ for a week of workshops and camaraderie. Kayeanne gave a class on making knotted string jewelry that was well received, and I joined other bead widowers for a golf tournament (our team tied for first place) and attended an introduction to Tenkara fly fishing. I may try that when we are in the right place. I also caught up on a few coach maintenance projects and took several long walks in the desert with the dogs, where we survived our first real encounter with a rattlesnake. Schroeder was very impressed.

Next stop: El Paso TX, of all places. Texas is a popular choice of residence for people without a fixed address, like us. The Escapees organization provides a number of services that make living on the road much easier and less stressful. We needed to finish establishing our domicile change from California to Texas by completing the vehicle registration safety inspections and getting Texas drivers licenses.   El Paso turned out to be the closest place to do that, so we packed up all the beads and made a long day’s drive to El Paso-West RV Park, about 5 miles south of the Texas-New Mexico border in Anthony,
TX. We had planned to stop off in Deming, NM but the first two parks we checked out were not places we liked, even for one night.

El Paso turned out to be an efficient location to get our administrative stuff done, but no place we wanted to spend time. The RV park was about ideally located on the north side of the city and only a few miles from the Texas Department of Public Safety office, but doesn't have anything else to recommend it. The day after we arrived we ran the coach and van through the Texas vehicle safety inspection; both passed without problems. With inspection certificates in hand, we went to the DPS office and exchanged our CA licenses for new Texas ones. We are now officially pseudo Texans, yahoo.

Great campsites

That done, we wasted no time getting back on the road for more interesting locales. You can’t go through southeastern NM without visiting Carlsbad Caverns. When searching for our next place to stay, we always check out state park campgrounds. Brantley Lake State Park looked like a good home base to explore the area around Carlsbad, visit the Caverns and relax after two pretty hectic weeks. Located several miles north of Carlsbad, the campground sits on a peninsula jutting out into a large man made lake formed when a large dam was constructed to control the periodic, occasionally catastrophic flooding of the Pecos River. We found a great site with an unobstructed view of the south arm of the lake and the dam. For some reason neither of us took any pictures, so I borrowed these.

 

Several more pictures are here. We all enjoyed Brantley Lake and will stay here again the next time we are in this area. The dogs want another crack at the rabbits that seem to carpet the area. I tried to count the ones in view one evening and gave up at 40.

Our main reason to come to Carlsbad was to tour the Caverns. After Kartchner Cavern I was a little blasé about another cave, but this place really lives up to its reputation. The sheer size and extent of the chambers and the infrastructure in place to make them accessible to everyone regardless of physical limitations are really impressive. A few years ago the National Park Service built a large visitor center with a good restaurant, a gift shop, an interesting educational area, and especially welcome, an elevator! Admittance is free with a Senior Pass, one of the few really worthwhile perks of attaining a certain age.

She says I need to show more people,
so here's one standing near the Cavern
entrance

Carlsbad Caverns are “dead” caves, meaning that they are mostly dry and the majority of the formations are no longer growing. In contrast, Kartchner Caverns are living caves and the formations there are still slowly expanding, just as they have for millions of years. Kartchner does not allow self-guided tours (aka wandering about) because the life of the cavern is threatened by the very process of viewing it. Carlsbad offers both ranger guided and self-guided tours; we decided we could handle it ourselves.

There are two routes into or out of the Caverns. We decided to walk in through the original, natural cave entrance and ride the elevator back up. The trail is quite steep in places, descending 750’ in 1.25 miles. Some of the folks we met clearly didn’t read the description of the physical conditioning required for this route and were struggling with the steep descent. When we finally reached the end of the trail at the Big Room we realized that we were only half way done. The tour of the Big Room is another 1.5 miles, gladly it is fairly flat. Yes, it is really big!

My pictures can’t show the almost unbelievable scale of many of the formations and especially the size of the rooms that contain them. In places the roof is over 100 feet above your head and the drop below your feet is almost as far. Handheld cameras (in my hands, anyway) just aren't able to capture that. Here are pictures that do it some justice, but if you haven’t been to the Caverns, make the effort to visit. It is worth it by any measure. We were certainly happy to ride the elevator back to the surface.

We enjoyed staying at Brantley Lake, but it was time to hit the road again. Alamogordo, NM offered a couple of places we wanted to see, the White Sands National Monument and the New Mexico Museum of Space History. Desert Paradise RV Park turned out to be seriously misnamed, but was an adequate home base for a few days.

Pushing the season a little in Cloudcroft, NM

US82 is a very beautiful drive through beautiful, remote country from Artesia, NM to Alamogordo. It passes through the Lincoln National Forest, topping out at almost 9,000’ near Cloudcroft, NM. I think we were pushing the season a little as you can see from the picture we took when we stopped to give the dogs a break. Cloudcroft looks like one of those places we’d like to explore in better weather, so we added it to our list for a revisit.

Space Museum

The Space Museum is a local venture put together by a few enthusiasts and the University of New Mexico. Though small, it has a lot of interesting stuff and is worth an afternoon. We didn’t go to the IMAX film or the planetarium due to scheduling but I later learned that we should have tried harder to see them, too.

No, that's not snow although it sure looks like it

White Sands National Monument has nothing to do with the missile range of similar name that surrounds it, or with the atomic bomb test site. It is hundreds of square miles of pure white gypsum sand dunes rolling across the desert. Some of the dunes are almost 100’ high and the National Park Service sells plastic toboggans for sliding down them. There weren't many people there the day we went, but judging by the piles of toboggans, sliding down the dunes is very popular. As you can see, the dogs just loved this place. There is a small, white lizard that inhabits every bush and Schroeder actually hurt himself trying to catch every one of them.

White Sands at sunset is spectacular

We decided to come back for the evening sunset ranger guided tour and learned a lot about the origins and eco systems of this unique place. The dunes are not silica sand like most of the world’s deserts and beaches. They are formed by powdered gypsum, the same material found in drywall, toothpaste and many other products. Unlike desert sand, gypsum is very good at holding moisture, so like at the beach, water can be found fairly close to the surface.  There are a number of plants, insects and animals that have evolved specific sub-species to successfully adapt to the unique conditions found here. This is a fascinating place, but like the Caverns, I could not capture the scale of it with my small camera. Here are more pictures. If you are in the area, it is certainly worth seeing.

On the road to Ruidoso

One day we decided to take a drive back to the Lincoln National Forest to check out Ruidoso, NM and to just meander . We were a little tired of deserts and needed a change of scenery. We headed north on US70 through Tularosa (the Tularosa Café is a good place to eat), climbing steadily as the road wound  through increasingly rugged and more tree-covered terrain. There was even a little snow on a few of the north-facing slopes.

Ruidoso was a larger town than we expected. It is tucked into a number of small, heavily treed canyons and large ravines, making the streets a little tight. It seems to be a fairly prosperous place, with a mix of tourist oriented businesses and a solid core of year round residents. We didn’t stop, but have added it to our revisit list.

One of the reasons we like to get in the car and just meander are the places we discover. We had never heard of Fort Stanton until we came around a corner and found the Merchant Marine and Military Cemetery seemingly out in the middle of nowhere. It was fascinating and

The Merchant Marine and Military Cemetery
at Fort Stanton, NM

moving to wander the graveyard reading the inscriptions on markers dated from 1900 right up to last month. I certainly don’t envy any of the residents, but I have never seen a more beautiful place to spend eternity.

Fort Stanton itself gave us an insight into a period of history that we had never heard of. Established as a US Army outpost during the Indian wars of the late nineteenth century, the Fort evolved into one of the many sanitariums established throughout the mountains of the Southwest to treat tuberculosis patients. The cool dry air of the Southwest mountain regions was about the only relief available for many decades for the many people who contracted this disease. During WW ll Fort Stanton also served as a POW camp, housing a number of German civilian sailors “lucky” enough to be in US waters when the war broke out. The Fort is an interesting place to visit, and the roads around are great fun to drive.

I know there is a lizard down there

It was a relatively short drive to Las Cruces, our next stop. We liked Las Cruces a lot. It has a strong sense of community that always makes a positive difference in a place. The people we met were clearly happy to live there and proud of their city. The farmer’s market was real fun and Coas Books is one of the best bookstores I’ve ever seen. Sunny Acres RV Park is located just a few blocks from downtown Las Cruces and is one of the better places we have stayed. 

Twice weekly farmer's market in Las Cruces

Old Mesilla Village is worth a visit. Located next door to Las Cruces, it features shops and restaurants around the carefully preserved town square founded in the 1840’s. For many years, Mesilla was the main town serving this region. It is not too “touristy”. We spent a pleasant afternoon browsing the shops and having dinner.

Located about 30 minutes east of Las Cruces is the White Sands Missile Range Museum. We have been testing missiles in this area since the early 1940’s and the museum has dozens of examples of this hardware. It was quite interesting to be able to follow the evolution of the designs as the technology changed through the fifties, and especially into the sixties and seventies. The increasing sophistication is readily apparent.

Just a fraction of the hardware on display

The museum itself is pretty quaint and could use the services of a good curator, but the section on life at the base from 1940 through the 70’s was interesting. Because of its location and mission, the base was a self-contained town, with schools, shops and services like a community pool and a golf course. The museum has a number of displays that depict the lives of the families stationed at what was then a pretty isolated location. I found the contrast between the town’s seemingly ordinary life and the base’s mission of weapons development quite interesting.

The neighborhood at Burro Mountain

As you would guess, Silver City, NM owes its name to the mining that still continues in this mountainous region. As far as I know, no commercial silver or gold mining currently takes place, but open pit copper mines are still operating. While looking for an RV park in Silver City we checked www.rvparkreviews.com, and spotted the only “10” review we had ever seen for a place called Burro Mountain Homestead. We had to see why, so we made a reservation and headed West.

Burro Mountain is located at 7000’ in the Gila National Forest at the end of a seven mile long dirt road. Big RVs like ours are not designed for dirt roads and it took us almost an hour to crawl our way to the Homestead to avoid shaking it to pieces. The coach got really filthy, but the effort was worth it. This is one of those places that turn out to be pretty special. 

One of the neighbors

Roughly 300 year round leased sites are nestled in the trees in the canyons and on the ridges surrounding the central valley where 40 sites are available for “dailies” to rent. Despite the isolation and the winter weather (it snowed one morning) about 40 people live here year round. The rest of the leasees begin to arrive about late May. We were invited to a happy hour at the community fire pit. As you might imagine, everyone there was a character. We had a great time.

The natural setting is quite idyllic. A stream runs the length of the Homestead and a large deer herd wanders at will throughout the property, driving our dogs nuts. The area around the Homestead is open range for cattle grazing. It is a little startling when a section of “brush” starts to amble off as you approach. The cattle really blend in to the terrain!

Free firewood!!

There must be a few hundred miles of dirt roads throughout the area, many of them maintained to one degree or another by the county, the National Forest Service or privately like the last couple of miles into the Homestead. We spent an afternoon following a few of them into places that a minivan wasn't intended to go, but nothing got damaged and we saw some fabulous country. Everyone at the Homestead has at least one ATV and off-roading might be the number one leisure activity.

Silver City was worth visiting. The more modern commercial section had the usual stores and services. The historic downtown area is set up for tourists and has a number of galleries, shops and restaurants to browse and nosh, and the museum was pretty interesting, too. April is not their prime season, so some of the galleries and shops weren't open during the week. We liked Silver City; it had a nice vibe, good services and seemed quite accessible. We look forward to coming again.

On April 27th we pulled out of Burro Mountain bound for Vista, CA for Ted Anderson’s 65^th birthday party and then a week in Simi Valley to catch up with our friends in the area. More soon.