My Excellent and Not So Excellent Arizona Adventures

I am an only girl blessed with 4 brothers.  If you ask them they will all tell you I was spoiled and at this point in my life I will have to agree.  I was spoiled by having 4 big brothers (well Ronnie is younger but he has been bigger than me since he was 12).  They are all distinctly different in their looks and their careers and their lifestyles.  And I love them all so much, but it is difficult to spend a lot of time with them since they are somewhat scattered.  Last year Clint came to visit my campsite just outside of Nashville on his birthday and after fixing a couple of things on Seeker (he's my go to guy for car stuff) we spent the rest of the evening talking, cooking dinner on the grill, and just catching up.  I hope he enjoyed his birthday as much I did.  Ronnie is hard to get face time with.  His busy career of over the road trucking keeps him running around the country.  I did get to meet up with him at a truckstop diner in KY last year along with cousin Madeline, but was unable to meet up again somewhere along I 40 this summer.  Now I'm afraid I'm too far west but who knows.  Of course Mike is always just outside of Atlanta, mostly on Lake Lanier fishing if things are going his way.  He is really enjoying his retirement.  I did spend the month of December with him last year and did my best to help him and Linda through a tough time.  Of course I spent most of my first year of rv life in Georgia and we got together a lot back then.  Now days we just talk on the phone.

And then there's Pat.  Pat is one of the reasons I have come so far west.  He and his wife have settled in Arizona for their retirement years so it's a little trickier to visit with him.  I did visit for a few days back in 09 or 10 (I can't remember which) but that was long ago, so I made it a point to get to Arizona this summer.  I had planned to visit for a week to 10 days, and they were kind enough to let me park Seeker at their place so that I could be close.  In fact, it was so hot out there in September that it was just better that I stay in the house in the spare room.  And what a house!  Have I mentioned yet that Pat and Teresa are both artists?  Everywhere in every room there is evidence of their talent: stained glass, etched glass, glass mosaic, paintings, carvings, beadwork.  It is humbling to be around such talented folks.  One reason Teresa likes being where they are is the warm winters.  One reason Pat likes to be there is no yard work.  His take on mowing the grass: spraying weed killer on grass or weeds that pop up in the gravel that covers his front and back yards.  He does have some trees planted around the place that have really grown since I was there before.  And the lake out back provides lots of birdwatching opportunities as well.  I had a great time visiting with them and learning rv tips from Pat (he and Tee full timed for a while before settling in their home). 

And then one day I decided to visit a park about 60 miles away for some excellent birding.  Spent 4 hours walking trails and practicing with my new birding scope.  Despite the heat I had a great time and treated myself to a new, compact birding guide to keep in my backpack.  My mainstay, the heavier Petersen's Guide will now stay in Seeker.  So feeling good about the day I left and went into a nearby town for some lunch and to browse.  Finally decided to start heading back toward Pat's house but took a different route thinking it might be quicker.  BIG MISTAKE.  I soon found myself on I 10 heading away from Phoenix area but folks were getting off work and traffic was building and it was about 104 outside.  My little car was not liking the heat and since I didn't need to hurry home I decided to get off at the next exit and wait out the traffic.  That's when it happened.  I got caught up in stop and go traffic on the ramp and got sandwiched between 2 cars.  The guy behind me kept running up really close and made me too nervous.  I paid too much attention to him and ended up hitting the rear end of the girl in front of me and the guy behind me hit my back end.  Not hard, but enough to do some damage.  So we eased up off the ramp and as soon as there was enough room on the shoulder the car in front of me pulled off and I did the same. The guy behind me just went around us and kept going.  Luckily all he hit was my bicycle and the damage was minimal but it did put a new scratch on the back gate of my car.  When I told the police officer about the guy leaving he just shrugged and said it happens a lot. 

The good news is that no one was hurt and damage was minimal.  The car in front of me was from California and actually heading back the next day.  She just needs a near rear bumper.  I was able to drive the rest of the way home (about 40 miles) and had to delay my departure I had planned for the next day for a week while my car was in the shop.  But now my little orange car has a new hood and front bumper.  And I got to experience flooding in the streets in Arizona during the monsoon season.  What an amazing adventure.  Hope I don't have too many more like it. 

Boothill

Well, I feel like I have come full circle in my western pursuits.  Been to Dodge City, seen the cattle driven through the streets of Ft. Worth, and now that I've stood at the OK Corral, all that was left was a visit to Boothill.  Here's the pix.  Hope you enjoy the visit too!

 

 

 

 

 

Ghost Hunting

 

Well, I just couldn't be in the old west and not go visit a ghost town.  Actually there were 2 on my trip today.  Cuchillo has a church, a small café/store (and the only place in town with a public restroom but you must buy something first), a couple of farms, and a population of about 12.  It was once a stage stop on the way to the silver mining towns of Chloride and Winston.  And yes, the old saloon has been verified as haunted by Ghost Hunters.  I stopped to take a picture of the old church which is still being used but by whom?

After leaving Cuchillo I followed old highway 52 another 22 miles.  52 is a very curvy 2 lane road that climbs up and around the mountains and provides some spectacular views and fortunately has some pull offs for tourists so we don't run off the side of the mountain.  During the monsoon season (that's now) the rains mean watch the low places in the road for water (I ran through 3) and rock/mud slides.  In fact, just before I entered Chloride (which is where the road dead ends) the county had some heavy equipment out clearing a big mudslide.  I didn't mind waiting my turn to go down the cleared lane.  Serious mud slide there!

Chloride was founded just after the Civil War when a man named Pye staked a mining claim and started pulling out silver.  Lots of silver.  Soon the town was booming with others ready to cash in.  Churches, saloons, mercantile, and homes were built up quickly, but when the silver played out the town went bust.  And Pye, well, had a run-in with some Apaches and lost.  For a long time the town was indeed a ghost town.
Today there are 13 hardy residents of Chloride.  One of the residents who is involved in restoring the old buildings gave us a tour of the museum housed in the old general store.
When they bought the property in the late 70s it was inhabited only by bats and rats, but all the old merchandise was till on the shelves.  Slowly they have worked to restore this building as well as the saloon next door.  In each case they have saved as much of the contents as possible.  Anyone interested in a heart of pine child's casket from 1903? 

The old bank is now a café and the owners bake all their bread and desserts from scratch.  So yummy.  And while the place seems like the right kind of spot for ghosts, there are no official reports or sightings.  After lunch at the bank café and a little shopping at the artists' coop housed in the old saloon it was time to start crossing water and mudslides and find my way back home. 

Let it Snow!!

Probably the most amazing sight for me on this leg of the trip has been what appeared at first to be a low hanging white cloud bank to my west as I was crossing Apache Pass. 
The closer I got the more I realized it looked like snow.  In the desert?  When I finally found a place to pull off the road and really focus and consult my map, it finally came to me.  White Sands.  Yep, that's what I was seeing 60 miles out to the west in a stretch as far as I could see.  White Sands.  Thirty miles closer and I could really see how large the place was.  And when I actually got there, well, let's just say "wow!" doesn't cover it.  It was almost like being lost in miles of snow drifts.  If you've seen sugar sand on the beach you think you're ready for this, but it's just so much more.

Families come here everyday with snowboards and snow disks, climb to the top of the highest dunes, usually around 60-75 feet high, and sled down.  I confess I didn't try it, but I did take off my shoes and walk around barefoot in the lower dunes.  Honestly, it's just an amazing place and I kept thinking how much Aiden and Addy and Drake would love this place.  After a full day of roaming around the sands and learning about the geological causes and impacts it was time to head out to my campground.  The next day I actually had the chance to visit the museum at White Sands Missile Range.  It's the only part of the military post civilians are allowed on and the scrutiny for getting in is a bit of a hassle but well worth it.  I actually spent some time with one of the original V2 rockets taken out of Germany at the end of WWII.  And of course the museum had quite a display on Oppenheimer and the trinity test site.  Twice a year, the first weekend of April and October, civilians can sign up for a tour of the actual test site including the ranch house where the scientists set up their first clean room.  I was really excited thinking of ways I could be in the area at the beginning of October until coming across a big sign explain that budget cuts cut out the October tour.  Oh well, guess I'll focus on April now.

Feeling "Alien" ated

Roswell is a town unafraid of embracing its past no matter how "alien" it may seem.  Think Area 51.  Roswell, 1947.  This is a quirky little city and I like the feel of it very much.  Not too big.  Not too small.  Friendly folks everywhere I went.  And while I spent most of my time at the state park or out seeing sites within a short drive of Roswell, I did take a couple of days to just see Roswell.  I laughed a lot of the time there too.  How can you not laugh at things like Alien City Florist or mailboxes painted up like R2D2?  So here's a picture tour of a city that is just too much fun.  And if you have no plans yet for next July 4th week, try coming to the UFO Festival here.  I hear it's (groan) OUT OF THIS WORLD!

 

 

Gone Walkabout

My completed map.
Each smiley face is a cache
that I found in the desert.
Yep, I'm crazy.

The Australians have a word for when someone goes off on their own in nature: walkabout.  "She's gone walkabout," they'll say.  I guess you could say I've been gone walkabout for a couple of days on the BLM land just outside of Roswell.  Unlike the Australians, I had good reasons for my walkabout.  I was not in search of answers to deep, dark questions.  Instead I was in search of Pecos diamonds and a few geocaches. 

Actually there were 42 geocaches that I wanted to find.  When I checked out the map of geocaches in the Roswell area I found that some local cacher with a great imagination, good understanding of  plotting waypoints, and way too much time on his hands had laid out a trail of 42 caches that when viewed on the map created the outline of an alien head.  Well, given that this is Roswell and how into the whole alien (as in little green men from Mars) thing the town is, I thought I would have to go looking for these caches.  Plus I was told that the BLM land has lots of Pecos diamonds just laying around for anyone to grab. 

Diamonds!!

So what's a Pecos diamond?  Well, sadly not a real diamond, not that I have ever had luck digging for those.  Darlene and I tried our luck at Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas one Thanksgiving but came up empty, and a few years later Brenda and I went back there with Gus to help dig.  Still nothing.
  But I'm proud to say that I did better this time.  Of course they aren't worth much, just pretty to look at.  They are actually quartz crystals formed inside gypsum.  But it's still a thrill to find them and I know my grandchildren will enjoy the box of rocks I just mailed them. 

There was also just the beauty of the desert.  Yes, beauty.  The cactus blooms I saw reminded me of the hot pink water lilies in the gardens of Asia. 

 

 

The intense yellow desert buttercups were nearly as bright as the sun.  And the little purple flowers I found but haven't yet learned a name for were in such contrast to the cactus and brittle sage bushes.  I saw several brightly colored lizards skittering across the ground but not one would hold still for a picture.  One day there was one lone pronghorn antelope that stood on a hill watching me.  Too far away for me to get a picture but I know he was making sure I didn't get near his territory. 

So for two mornings I drove out to the desert to walk about signing logs and taking pictures and bagging quartz.  Each time I got there just after sunrise when the temps were in the low 70s.  I parked my car on the road and walked into the desert about a mile and then circled back keeping the car in sight.  Yes, the land here is that flat (and it helps that I have that orange car that glows in the sunlight).  Each morning I spent about 3 hours searching and walking and drinking water.  I carried two 32oz water bottles that I had frozen the night before and which were thawed quickly in that heat.  Once the water was gone I got back to the car and left, so maybe I'm only a little crazy.  For those that are wondering, no, I didn't see any rattlesnakes even though they are out there.  I guess they had better sense than me and were somewhere shady instead of out on walkabout. 

Look Ma, no bottoms!!

Well, actually, the lakes really do have a bottom.  It's just an old cowboy story.  In the 1800s the lakes were a stop on the Goodnight Loving and Chisolm trails.  The legend says that the cowboys tied their ropes together to find out how deep the lakes were but couldn't find bottom so they gave them the name.  Unfortunately they didn't know they were dealing with underwater currents.

I am camping at Bottomless Lakes State Park about 12 miles east of Roswell, New Mexico, and I think if they didn't have a policy requiring you leave after 14 days I would stay here forever.  It is truly a beautiful place to be camped.  Well, there's also the fact that I don't have a sewer hook up and I think the black tank is getting close to its limit.  But seriously, dear readers, if you ever find yourself in this part of the country you should at least come spend the day here. 



Looking down from the bluff.  My camper is at the back.

Now for some background.  First of all, they aren't really lakes.  They are sinkholes ranging in depth from 17 to 90 feet that were formed when underground water from subterranean caverns dissolved salt and gypsum deposits.  So basically the lakes are the collapsed roofs of ancient caves.  And did I mention salt?  Lea Lake is the swimming lake at the campground and it is 1% saline as opposed to the ocean's 3% saline content.  Needless to say you need to shower off the salty lake water after swimming.  But the swimming is so fine here.  It's a lake but the water is so clear that you can see down to the bottom even at 20 foot depths.  There is a pavilion and water tower by the lake that was built by the CCC in the 1930s.  It's all at the base of a huge red bluff.  There's even an overlook area at the top of the bluff where I took this picture.

There are a total of 8 lakes in the park with names like Lazy Lagoon and Devil's Inkwell.  My favorite is Mirror Lake which is 50 ft deep and during the low water season (like now) there is a narrow strip of land that seems to divide the lake into 2 parts.

Mr. Big Ears

Oddly enough, only one side of the lake supports living creatures.  I'm told that in the winter the park is filled with ducks and swans and even sandhill cranes.  All I've spotted so far is a blue grosbeak, a couple of common nighthawks, a small flock of lark buntings, and plenty of jack rabbits and lizards.  The tamarisk trees are lovely with their soft blue-green foliage against dark brown bark, but the mesquite trees with their treacherous thorns hold no beauty for me.  When I ride my bike on the trails I make sure to steer clear of the thorns.  Even a dead branch on the ground could send a thorn through my tire and turn my ride into a walk. 

So I am enjoying myself thoroughly here but will have to leave soon.  Until then I will take another swim, another trail walk, another bike ride.  Maybe find another cache (there are 12 in the park) or go out to the bird blinds to look for those elusive ducks.