Onward we go toward home -- November 2023

 

Still heading west, toward home.  Into Arizona from New Mexico, following secondary highways, two-lane, scenic routes along the border with old Mexico.  Skirting by Chiricahua National Monument, one of Arizona's wonderful sky islands (below).  Past Bisbee and the Queen Mine's seriously deep (at 435') copper pits!  And into Sierra Vista, AZ, which we thought had grown exponentially since the last time we were here.

Craggy Chiricahua.

I'd made a reservation at a Harvest Host site for the night at Marquis Ranch in Sierra Vista.  We stopped for groceries before finding the ranch nestled in low foothills, bracketed by higher ranges.  Harvest Hosts are marvelous places for a "sleep-over" as long as you're self-contained, which we are.  Our host, Mark, met us at the gate.  We backed Tergel into a comfy spot and then ventured out to see the farm.  

Mark took us around.  They raise and breed sheep.  There's also lots of chickens, and Great Pyrennes dogs to guard all the animals.  The sheep were low to the ground and cute.  The dogs were HUGE, especially Charlie, which you see above with Jimmy (and a younger dog).  And nine wee two-week-old puppies who couldn't walk yet and whose eyes weren't opened ... and they're already spoken for!  They mewed.  I bought a dozen eggs, too.

It was a fun afternoon. Mark and his wife, Margaret, were very congenial hosts.  We four sat around at happy-hour time and visited, told tales, and enjoyed each other's company.  The dogs do bark at night, especially when the coyotes start singing (or howling), so I wore earplugs to sleep.  We were up early the next morning, pleased with our overnight stop, but ready to hit the road. 

Arizona is cactus!  Gambel's quail.  A curve-billed thrasher.  And plenty of Cholla.

Into Tucson on I-10, and then another scenic route from Tucson to Phoenix, a route that took longer than we expected, past Phoenix and up toward Kingman, AZ.  Darkness was descending by the time we hit teeny-tiny Wikieup, and we were done and done-in!  Thankfully, we found a (ho-hum) RV park, but any port in the storm and all that. 

Next morning we crossed into Nevada via the Hoover Dam bridge.

Mountain scenery in these parts is fabulous.

A long curving road took us to the Hoover Dam bridge.

November 5th -- driving through Las Vegas -- sin city -- didn't take long.  Besides it was Sunday morning so I figured most folks were in church.  Right? 😀  Once away from the city, multi-colored mountains appeared.  Some of that involves mining, photo above.

Our goal for the night was Beatty, Nevada, which is on the Nevada side of California's Death Valley.  We figured we could find a place to park Tergel (no problem).  After setting up, we went out for an explore.  

Awwww, look what we found!  Burros.  Tamed burros.  Burros looking for a handout (not good), but c'mon how sweet is this?  (We were camped across the road, but Tergel's just out of the picture.)

Howdy, y'all!

Spied this elegant old clock near the RV park.

See a burro in the background?

Here are two more.

Don't they fit right in with the mural?

All aboard!

We walked and walked and walked.  The weather was ideal.  Felt good to be on our feet.  I told Jimmy I'd live in Beatty if I could see this magnificent mountain outside my windows every morning.  Bet there's a trail to the top ....

Think we could buy this place cheap?  Fixer-upper!

Tonight's sunset was brilliant.  Another great day, and tomorrow we'll move on again, north toward home.  We're watching a weather system approach and don't want to be caught in snow on 7239' Donner Pass as we go up and over.  to be continued ....

On the road ...

 

Maybe it's time to catch up on our itinerary!  When we left my sister's in Baton Rouge on October 30th, we pointed Tergel west on I-10, and the interminable trek through Texas.  Definitely not our favorite thing, but traveling further north is risky this time of year, weather-wise.  As it was, a cold front was approaching with big north winds and cool temps.

Our second overnight stop was at the Kerrville Elks Lodge, which we've done before, where we stoked in some of Bill's yummy BBQ, which we've also done before.  The next morning's low temp of 27 surprised us!  Time to get out of town and get warmer!

Driving all day like this, we usually change drivers every 2-3 hours, so neither of us tires too much.  We made it to Van Horn the next night, and were glad to get out and go for a walk after setting up.  Didn't know Ocotillo's would have a second bloom in autumn if they got water/rain, as this one obviously had.  We still had a far piece of Texas left to travel, but we made it to Columbus, New Mexico the next afternoon, and a state park that's been on my bucket list for a very long time!

Pancho Villa State Park sits almost on top of the border with old Mexico.  Driving in from El Paso, we took Hwy 9 to the park, paralleling the giant wall our country's erected to separate New from Old.  Most of the landscape along this area was bleak, no villages or communities.  But, what do animals do; how do they cross this partition to intermingle?

From the campground, we drove Smartie down to the border to see the wall in person.  It's massive.  Like a colossal cage to confine people on both sides.  Like the Berlin Wall.  We came back to the park to explore.

Quite a history here, all of it surrounding Pancho Villa and his raid on Camp Furlong and the Town of Columbus on March 9, 1916.

We walked the state park grounds and visited the museum (above).  Lots to see, including a few adobe structures that were just hangin' on.

This strange-looking tank was parked in front of the museum.

I parked on it for a few minutes!

Headquarters Building, Camp Furlong.

Camp Furlong was established in 1912 as a US Army border camp amid rising tensions along the United States-Mexican border during the Mexican Revolution. The Camp was the site of the first tactical military airfield in the US with the 1st Aero Squadron and Curtiss JN3 Jenny biplanes providing observation and scouting.  Housing more than 5,000 troops at one point, Camp Furlong was discontinued in 1918, but used intermittently until 1924.

 

The beginning of the panel, above, states, "Site of the last hostile action by foreign troops in the Continental United States."  Much speculation about why Pancho Villa attacked, none of it confirmed.  In fact, some don't believe Pancho Villa was even involved.  100+ years later we'll never know the truth.

So much cactus, different kinds, too.  Sorry to say, I was disappointed in this "Mickey Mouse" park.  I was anxious to get here early so we'd be sure to get a space.  At arrival, the campground was empty.  We found out why.  The restrooms were closed, as well as the dump station.  I looked on their website before coming here and didn't see that notice anywhere.  Obviously I looked at the wrong site.  We saw signs of neglect, too.  Such a shame that states can't take care of their terrific resources.

Jimmy at the Old US Custom House, built in 1901.

Across the road leading to old Mexico, was this cute caboose.

Also not open.

However, we saw plenty of birds and hundreds of White-winged Doves.  A cornfield was located behind the park boundary; the corn, of course, long gone, but those doves flew there the following morning, and probably every morning!  We also heard Sandhill Cranes and saw them soaring above a different field.

So, now I can cross Pancho Villa State Park off my list.  Been there, done that.  We moved on the next morning.  The good news is that we learned some new things, and that's always a plus.

Saturday, 10/7/23

Tomorrow we'll be one week on the road in our motor home (Tergel), and tomorrow, God willing and the creek don't rise (no rain in the forecast), we'll be at my sister and BiL's home near Baton Rouge.  Tonight we're at the Elks Lodge in Shreveport, where a very nice lady just stopped by our Tergel to ask if we wanted some homemade hot tamales.  That's what we ate for dinner! 😄  Delicious!

Thus far we've stayed in one RV campground, at one reservoir, a national park, one boondocking spot, a state park with a lake, an RV park at the Wichita River, and now the Elks.

We were rained on for the first two days on Hwy 50 through Nevada.  Below:  

Nearing Delta, Utah, still on Hwy 50, the sky began to clear.  Photos below.

Mountains of slag from the copper mine at Ruth, Nevada.

We wanted to stay at Great Basin Nat'l Park,

but it would've been too cold.  At the VC, above.

Approaching Capital Reef Nat'l Park in Utah, we hoped for a site in Fruita C/G, tho we didn't have a reservation.  As luck would have it, despite the sign, "campground full," we pulled in to hear, "Yes, we just had a cancelation," from the campground host.  Bingo!  We were last here in 2008 and adored it.  Oh joy to be able to spend a day in this beautiful place.  (No hookups, no genny use, but we survived just fine.)  After setting up, we took off with our hiking poles on the Fremont River Trail.  Below.

Jimmy's hiking up, white checkmark, wait for me!

Fremont River lower right.

Strenuous ascent with wonderful panoramic views at the top.

Unbelievable!  Breathtaking!

Next, we hopped in Smartie to the Grand Wash Trail, and a short hike, above.  After sitting for two solid days, it sure felt good to be Out and About and on our feet.  In these glorious surroundings.  Photo above and more below.

Majestic.  Outdoor cathedrals.

Leaving this favorite park, we continued east.  Utah has some of the most fascinating geological formations, with features that come in all sizes, colors, striations, shapes, layers, in piles, hoodoos and pillars, to name a few.  Ain't nature grand?

We wanted to continue on Hwy 50 through Colorado, only to be stymied by road construction, which necessitated us heading south instead on Hwy 550, the Million Dollar Highway, and it's 11,000+ ft passes.  550 would eventually dump us out on I-40, which was the last road we wanted to travel on this year!  But ... whaddya gonna do?

Here we were stopped for more road construction.  One thing you can say for sure about Colorful Colorado:  It's gorgeous.

One helluva road, though, for a motor home.

The Aspens!  I took one picture after another.  I couldn't get enough.

Down, down, down, from Silverton to Durango.

Ah so.  This is why we did NOT want to drive on I-40 in New Mexico.  Two years ago, (click here to read about it) the same thing happened, only it was Smartie that suffered.  The picture above is one of Tergel's outside rear tires.  Luckily, and thankfully, the tire blew just before a rest area, so we weren't stuck roadside!  I called AAA and they sent a young man out from Ortega's Wrecking Service in Santa Rosa NM who took off the old and installed the (new) spare.  A few hours out of our day, and no harm done and no one hurt.

On Friday we made it to Wichita Falls, Texas, and actually found the falls!  We were staying nearby and were out walking their fine river paths when we discovered these waterfalls.  Kinda muddy-looking, but a good flow!

I took a bazillion more photos, but I kept the blog pics down to a minimum (enlarge any pic for maximum viewing!).  We've had a few stresses, yet feel that all is well.  I'll leave you with this sunrise shot as we left Wichita Falls on Saturday morning.