The RV had been readied and stocked. We had our clothes all hung in the
closet. There were two ways planned to leave the Rogue Valley: one was to go
I-5 south, over the Siskiyou summit, and the other way was to go west, through Grants
Pass, to the coast highway, and then south. When the sun rose over Mt.
McLaughlin we had our answer. The low hills around Medford were all dusted with
snow. The Siskiyou summit route would require chains. We were going to begin
our three day trip to Quartzsite, AZ, with a visit to the coast.
Dave and Joy have found a home in Emmett, ID. This may mean that their
year-round RVing is over. The Emmett property has a home, with out-buildings,
on several acres. Skye, Victoria, and the girls are on the short road to
retirement from the Army. They have purchased half of the Emmett property and
they will build a home on their piece.
Quartzsite is a small town on I-10. It is located on the Arizona side of
the Arizona/California border. The town has a population of ~1700 people, year
round. However, during the months of January and February the population of
Quartzsite can swell to some tens of thousands. There is a reason for this
increase.
Surrounding Quartzsite is BLM land. No one has sorted out just why the BLM
wanted to own these vast, arid and dusty desert lands. But, in one of the few
rare occasions when the U.S. Government has contributed to the recreational
enjoyment of its citizens, it happened in Quartzsite.
The BLM has set aside hundreds of acres of roughly plated desert for the
free use of RV’ers. The RV sites have zero facilities; like water, electricity,
and waste disposal, but they have sunshine and lots of neighbors.
RV enthusiasts from all over the chillier climes of America can be found
during these two months in Quartzsite. Today is the 19th of
January. The big tents have been opened
for the coming week’s RV extravaganza sale. If you need it, you will find it
for your RV under the Big Tops; the largest one-stop retail opportunity for RV
owners in America.
Dave and Joy wanted to be in Quartzsite during this period for the chance
to sell their Monaco motorhome. With their purchase of the Emmett home, they
can off load their RV and down size a bit. They have purchase a trailer they
can pull behind their big Dodge pickup.
As we start our trip, they have
reported a couple of lookers have taken some interest. In the hopeful event of
a sale, they brought both RVs to the desert. They want to drive away in just
the tow behind.
The drive to our first night’s park was through the rain, some snow, and
over nothing but windy roads. There is no pleasant way to get from the Rogue
Valley, on the I-5 corridor, to the coast highway, US101. Every path travels
through the coast range of mountains, and none of those roads is straight. Out
destination this afternoon is Fortuna, CA. Fortuna’s offering for us is
Riverwalk RV Park & Campground. We pulled into site #27 around 3 o’clock.
We were back in the RV track and it took us just a few minutes to fully
set up for our one night stay. Fortuna is located on the Eel River, seven miles
in from the coast. Founded in 1874, the town was originally called Slide. The
name of Slide came from a prominent feature on a nearby mountain side. The
town’s name was soon to be changed to Springville. This was in honor of the
Springville mill which was constructed in 1875 to harvest local redwood trees.
In 1876 the town had a post office. The postal authorities called their office
Slide. There was already a Springville, CA on the map. In 1884 the residents
petitioned the state legislature to rename the town, Fortuna. Fortuna is
Spanish for fortune and Latin for chance. In 1888 the state of California had a
town called Fortuna. Today Fortuna is host to 11,000 residents.
We woke up Saturday to fog. After a lazy beginning we were on the road
by 9am. The roads were wet and the sun occasionally broke through the low fog
layer. When it did, the reflection off of the highway was blinding. We were
driving south, into the morning sun. I pretty much missed all there was to see
off to the sides for 100 miles of northern California.
A few miles north of Ukiah we turned east on Hwy 20. By now the sun was
high enough that it was no longer a driving distraction. Hwy 20 took us past
three mountain lakes. We stopped alongside one of them for lunch. This path
took us again across the coastal mountain range. Uphill and then down. Slow to
35mph for the curve. Then climb slowly to 55mph before the next sharp curve.
This was the day’s trip.
We had mapped out Colusa Casino Resort as our camp for the second night.
Colusa sits 8 miles to the east of I-5, on Hwy 20. Here the land is flat and we
are driving through almond orchards. The casino is 3 miles north of the city on
Hwy 45. Welcoming signs directed us to the RV parking area. We found a slot
available among the six other RVs.
This was great. The sky was blue in all directions. There was crispness
to the slight breeze when I walked outside to give two thumbs up for our
positioning. We were set up by 2:30pm. Anne was working on a piece of needle
work, and I was working on an Apocalypse, 10 Barrel IPA. We made plans for a
buffet dinner this evening at the casino.
The buffet menu looked good. The hostess told us we could each receive a
$10 discount on our meal if we got a Player’s Card. This is a card one puts in the
machines and it keeps track of your winnings and gives you points for free, or
discounted services. The player’s cards came with $10 free slots and $10
towards any table games. Wow. We were in the money. Plus, I got a lanyard with
my card.
We ate, and then we played. Anne used my slot credits and then hers. I
watched and then looked for a craps table. Shucks. The casino doesn’t do craps.
However, being a guy lacking no ideas for excitement – I watched the play at a
couple of the blackjack tables. I was exhausted by the time Anne came to find
me. A shuttle cart drove us back to our RV, where we did some quiet reading and
watched an hour of TV.
The casino’s RV parking sites have no facilities. This meant that we
needed to run the generator to watch our TV. We also used the generator time to
run the electric heater. When we went to bed, I turned the thermostat down to
66F and switched to gas heat.
I arose around 7 o’clock. The thermometer read 66F, but I wanted it a
bit warmer. When I turned the gauge up the fan came on. In a few moments the
fan shut off. I looked at the thermostat; it said 66F. Nothing had changed. I
glanced at the refrigerator and I notice that the “on” led was not on. This
meant that the RV’s house battery had gone into a shutdown mode. It had run out
of juice. I checked the power panel and the voltage level read 8.8v. I started
the generator and got things charging.
We were on the road, a little past 8am. This was going to be a long day
of driving. The destination was Castaic Lake RV Park, in Castaic, CA. From
where we were north of Sacramento, this would mean over 400 miles. All of the
driving would be on the interstate. This meant we would have ample rest stop
options. At the first rest stop, Anne fixed us each a bowl of yogurt and granola
for our desert. We listened to our Harry Bosch story and the miles melted away.
The RV Park in Castaic was an easy find. The park had a lot of long term
stays and the sites were full. We were assigned to an overflow, back-in site
near the entrance. I walked the site and found that it was plenty large enough
for our rig. The only scary part of it was that there is a large oak limb
hanging over the side of the entrance.
The sky had darkened and I couldn’t be certain I was able to see all of
Anne’s arm gestures in the side mirror. After several minutes, frustrating to
both of us, I had it positioned as good as it was going to get. We had arrived.
Modern Castaic began in 1887 when Southern Pacific set up a railroad siding on their line, naming it
"Castaic Junction". Between 1890 and 1916, the Castaic Range War was fought in Castaic country over ranch
boundaries and grazing rights. It was the biggest range war in U.S. history.
Also, Castaic has the last traditional cattle roundup—with horses, lariats, and
branding irons—in Los Angeles County. It has been held since 1834.
It is going to be about a 4-½ hour drive
from Castaic to Quartzsite. The path takes us through the northern fringe of
Los Angeles. I didn’t want to pass through there during a rush hour period. We
left our Castaic RV site by 7am.
As the traffic grew on I-5, so did the
number of lanes on the freeway. By the time we reached the interchange to move
onto I-210 we were competing for position on six lanes. Construction is
continuous on the freeway systems. Traffic slowed to a crawl and backed up.
Then, for no visible reason, the log jam was gone and the speed picked up
again. The construction zones left partially erased lane paint on the road
surface. New lines had been lightly drawn. At times it was unclear whether we
were actually in a lane.
Traffic merging onto the freeway made
traveling in the far right lane very inconvenient. To avoid the speed up and
slow down I drove in the second or third lane. This meant, however, that I
needed to plan a couple of miles ahead for exits. Cars continually jockeyed for
a micro advantaged between lanes. When there was a glimmer of an opening in the
lane to the right, a move needed to be made. Sixty feet of total vehicle needs
some room.
We linked up with Dave at the downtown Quartzsite
RV consignment lot where they had their coach displayed. He guided us into the
large lot. It appears they may have a buyer for the motorhome. Dave was showing
the home to the wife of the interested party. Shortly, we left the lot and we
followed Dave to their boondock site.
I couldn’t believe how many RVs there
were on this desert flatland. Joy was anxious for us to arrive. She had been
warding off folks who wanted to park where we were going to be. Dave guided me and I maneuvered the RV into
its final position.
Dave had a box of firewood in the back of his pickup. He stripped the
plastic bag out of a 5L Franzia Merlot box and laid it in the center of his
stone fire pit. We tee-peed four sticks of firewood above the box and applied a
small measure of lighter fluid. In no time we had a fine meal preparing fire.
Tonight it is going to be turkey burgers. Turkey is a lean meat and the patties
tend to fall apart. We lay tinfoil on the grill to keep from losing meat to the
coals. It turns out that turkey burgers come with some form of glue. When
heated to a browned state, they affix firmly to things like tinfoil. Between
the coordinated efforts of the two of us, we managed to coerce the six patties
to leave the foil. Baked potatoes, burgers and salad; this was a fine first
night in Quartzsite.
Put it on the “to do” list. The house batteries didn’t hold a service
charge over the night. I had set the furnace temperature to 66F to minimize how
often it would come on. When I arose at 6:30am, all 12v functions had shut
down. The batteries read below 10v.
The desert this time of the year will turn to the mid-seventies during
the day. The sky will be a cloudless blue. At night, however, the temps drop
into the thirties. Mankind has made it to now without the necessity of a nighttime
furnace to sleep with. However, I know for a fact that some of that history was
married. There is no way nighttime accommodations hadn’t been arranged to
ensure spousal comfort. So, let’s have a look at those batteries.
Dave and Joy left mid-morning to go to the consignment lot to attend to
their motorhome. They then went to the big tent to walk the aisles in search of
RV gotta-haves. We stayed back.
Anne did some needlework and some cooking. I sat outside with my
knapping gear and fashioned an arrowhead. A neighbor stopped by to inquire what
I was doing. He was quite interested in the bows I had brought along, as he too
shot arrows. He shot a compound bow and his wife was learning with a longbow.
He hollered across the dry wash that separated our units for his wife to join
us. She did wood carving reliefs, using primarily power chisels. She also does
wood burning art. The man had thought that I had been carving when he first
stopped by. We spoke a few minutes about our motorhomes, and then they left.
This afternoon we drove the five miles into town to go to the RV expo at
the big tent. What a crowd. We found a parking space close to a mid-tent
entrance. Within a half hour we had linked up with Dave and Joy. The tent is
huge. It has to be longer than a football field, and it is about 30 yards wide.
Inside the tent it was elbow to elbow in each of the three aisles.
Venders were selling everything conceivable that had to do with RVing. Next to
those booths were booths selling jewelry, handbags, and shoes. Well, I guess
campers may need some of those things, too. Outside the big tent there were
smaller tents. There were food venders sweating over hot grills. There were
acres of new motorhomes. I have never seen a greater focus of business being
conducted.
The sky was turning evening around 5:30pm. Very small wisps of clouds
were all that was needed to create a brilliantly colored sunset. We stood
around the fire pit encouraging the coals to build up so we could put on the
grill and begin cooking dinner. At a camp site to the north east we saw the
orange glow of a drone slowly rise above the tops of the intervening shrub. The
controller carefully maintained the drone’s altitude.
The sky quickly darkened enough to begin birthing a few stars. A
neighbor camper saw us looking skyward and hollered to us to keep an eye out
for the space station’s passing. It was going to come from the southwest at
6:42pm. We all noticed the solid light at the same time. The white light moved
slowly and it did not flicker. That’s not an airplane, and it’s not a star. The
light was much larger than that of a star. This made the passing space craft
seem fairly low in the night sky. It passed slowly towards the northeast and it
diminished in intensity and size until it was too far away to see. It
disappeared. We all applauded the achievement and the special opportunity we
had shared.
“Siri. Set the chicken alarm for six minutes.” Four large chicken
breasts were on the grill. In six minutes they would be turned over. The bat
phone makes setting timers very convenient. Dave and I sipped our merlot and
visited while the shirt pocket clock silently counted down the minutes. Tongs
eventually drug the breasts from their glued on positions on the grill. They
were all turned and Siri was commanded to set the timer for another six
minutes.
Chicken, rice and salads made a wonderful dinner. The cooking fire and
the shards of breast stuck to the grill were abandoned. We each attacked the
meal with appreciation for how well everything had turned out. Yes. There had
been something in the heavens which had suggested this would be a special
dinner.
Dave and Joy left early in the morning to do some last minute tidying on
their motorhome. Anne and I got to relax and spend the morning with no achievement
goals in mind.
This week is Hamfest in Quartzsite. ARRL, the ham’s primary lobbying
organization, has sponsored this Hamfest for nearly 30 years. Amateur radio
operators, hams, come from across America to attend a week’s worth of craft
oriented lectures, socializing, and sightseeing. Amateur radio enthusiasts
arrive in their motorhomes. The BLM boondocking sites are a mix of RV Show
attendees, Hamfest goers, and tourists just passing through.
Motorhomes on the La Paz sites have spectacular arrays of antennas
rising above their rooflines on extended fiberglass poles. I drove to the
greeting tent around 9 o’clock. I wanted to register at Hamfest and look at
today’s schedule of events. There were lectures on batteries and solar systems
for ham operated motorhomes. A two part lecture was going to discuss dipole
antenna construction.
I have built many dipole antennas and I was very familiar with the
calculations and procedures involved. I have a 12v battery inside the RV which
I use to power my radio equipment. Today’s lectures didn’t ring any bells for
me. I returned to our site.
Anne had found a copy of the weekly Quartzsite newspaper. She read that
the city library was having a book sale today. I Googled the library’s address
and we drove into town.
A few blocks north of Main Street the city of Quartzsite becomes
something more than a RV oriented shopping strip. As we drove out Plymouth
Street towards the library, we found the police station and city hall. The
library was set away from the street. There was a large parking lot in front of
the building. The library is also used for town hall business. Chairs were
being set up in the entry lobby area.
A room in the library was dedicated to the book sale. Prices ranged from
10 cents per magazine to $1 for hardbacks in excellent condition. Books on the
shelfs were five for a dollar. Anne and I had a good look over the selection
and we came away with two Walmart bags full. Our cost for this literary splurge
was $8.
We drove from the library to Main Street, and out to the freeway
entrance, where there is a McDonald café. Anne got an ice cream cone, and I got
a hazelnut latte. On Main Street there is a block’s length of open stall flea
market. We found a place to park and began a stroll through the maze of open to
the weather tables. Many of the vendors were elderly, craggy, and had filthy
feet; kept off the dust and stones by worn flip-flops.
Bins of rusty tools, containers overflowing with tangled strings of
cosmetic jewelry, and tables covered with dusty pottery and glassware defined
the sun beaten open tables. A few of the vendors had tent-like shade covers outlining
their realms. I found a vendor who had several well used trumpets for sale.
Tucker plays the horn, but he does not have his own instrument. There were no
instruments with presentations a youth would be proud of, and the asking prices
would have fetched a new piece at some music stores.
The vendors had a few things in common at the flea market. They enjoyed
a lot of foot traffic, and they all had goods priced to ensure most visitors
kept on walking. They had tons of stuff, but it was truly all just junk.
Merchandise would have moved, if the vendors had shifted the decimal place one
position to the left on the string tags. Instead of $2.50 for one of those
rusty #2 screw drivers, they may have sold for $0.25. There may have been a
psychology of hoarding involved with how things were being marketed. Each
vendor had amassed vast quantities of stuff and each piece was something they
personally wanted to hold on to. The visit had been entertaining.
Across the street from the flea market was a lot which sold bundles of
firewood. Anne darted through a gap in the traffic on the four lane road while
I kept my eyes closed. We headed towards Yuma, and our campsite at La Paz, with
four bundles of split pine firewood. We had had a fun shopping afternoon.
I called the Walmart store in
Parker, AZ yesterday to find out if they had any of the deep cycle batteries
which the RV used. They didn’t, but supplies were coming in by the weekend.
Parker is 40 miles north of Quartzsite. Friday morning I recalled the Parker
store. This time they said they weren’t expecting any this week.
Yuma is 75 miles to the south, on US 95. There are three Walmart Super
Stores in the city. The first one I called had two of the batteries in stock.
The store would not reserve or hold the batteries for us. Anne and I decided we
would make the trip. If they were sold before we arrive we needed to shop
anyway.
There were a couple of non-Walmart things we needed to do before we
committed to the grocery shopping. One thing was to get the car fueled and
washed. The local Chevron station took care of both for us. I was able to get
through to the rogue Walmart while we waited for the car wash. They reported
that they had five batteries in stock.
With the gas tank full and the car shiny new looking, we drove the 8 miles
to the next Walmart store. With all three batteries in the boot, we commenced
our grocery shopping. We stopped at the in-store McDonald’s for a lunch on the
way out of the store. Anne asked how long it has been since I had a Big Mac. It
had been 10 years or more. It sure tasted good.
By the time I had repaired the small bit of damage I had done when
re-connecting the parallel wiring harnesses on the batteries, I was working
with a small flashlight gripped in my mouth. It was past 7 pm and the stars
were out. What a wrestling match this day has been. It’s time for a tinny.
Saturday was the final day for the Hamfest. I rode with Dave in his
motorhome to Pete’s Tires. The new owner of the coach agreed to put new tires
on the tag axle wheels. Pete’s is a mobile tire service company. They have a
work space at the front of a fenced RV storage lot. The service at Pete’s was
quick and efficient. We had a small wait when we arrived, but we were on their
service pad for less than an hour.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon achieving odds and ends at RV
and hardware stores. Dave and I headed to the camp site when we had all of our
duties done. This has been a slow, but continuously active day. I was happy the
ladies decided to use the microwave to reheat leftovers for dinner tonight. Joy
had lit a fire, however, and with the arrival of darkness we found ourselves
chasing the chill away in front of the fast burning pine fire.
We began to see a significant exodus of campers from the La Paz camp
grounds. We also saw several RVs entering the camp sites. The RV Expo ends today,
Sunday. Even without the two special attraction events, Quartzsite’s BLM
boondocking sites see a continuous near capacity load of RV’ers, arriving to
avoid the colder climes.
Dave and Joy left early to their RV. They were going to remove the last
few items from the coach’s bays. Taking showers was also on their agenda. Anne
and I drove to the RV Expo to have a final casual walk up and down the three
long aisles. All was not wasted. Anne found a stall which had very lovely,
silk-like shoulder over-covers. (I’m sure the special garment has an actual
name.) I came away with an extendable window scrubber with squeegee. The big tent visit was comfortable without
the shoulder smashing mobs.
We drove up Plymouth Street to the post office. A birthday card needed
to get into Monday’s saddle bags. We then drove to the lot where the RV was
parked. Dave and Joy were finishing up their work, but they were going to stay
in town for their dinner. Anne and I drove to the camp grounds. Anne hurried
inside the RV to turn on the Australian Open Tennis. Today is the men’s final.
She became lost of the sofa.
This morning I rode with Dave to the motorhome where we were meeting the
new owners to turn over the keys. Upon arriving we found the Ryan’s, the new
owners, in the RV waiting for us. Dave spent about an hour briefing the Ryan’s
on a few of the special procedures this RV had for normal operation. Moneys had
moved between banks. The deal was done.
We returned to our campsite. We have all been anxious about the sale of
the RV. I realized upon arriving to the campsite that I had by now completely
rid myself of any worrying burden about the sale. I believe it will take Dave,
however, several days before he is able to brush from his
shoulders small
concerns about the transaction.
Wednesday morning at 8:30 we
pulled away from our boondock campsite at Quartzsite. A few blocks north of
Main Street, on Hwy 95 is the RV Pit Stop. At this service yard you can dump
your waste tanks, fill you fresh water tank, fill containers with filtered
spring water, and top off you propane tanks. For departing RV’ers this is the
town’s most popular place to shop. The BLM sites have no services and
everything needs to be renewed.
Dumping our waste tanks and refilling the fresh water tank set us back
$25. The propane tank required another $29. Aside from the cost of food, this
was our expense for a comfortable ten days on the desert.
We topped our fuel tanks at the ARCO station near the I-10 entrance. Our
drive today is going to take us to Ajo, AZ (pronounced AH-hoh). Ajo is Spanish for garlic. We will reach Ajo
by lunch time.
Native Americans, Spaniards and Americans have all extracted mineral wealth from Ajo's abundant ore deposits.
High-grade native copper made Ajo the first copper
mine in Arizona. The Arizona Mining & Trading company worked the rich
surface ores. It shipped loads around Cape Horn for smelting in Swansea, Wales , in
the mid-1880s. The mine closed when a ship sank off the coast of Patagonia. Long supply lines and the lack of water discouraged
large mining companies until the early 20th century. Ajo has a hot
desert climate. Rain fall averages less than 8 inches per year.
Approaching Ajo, we pulled to a road side business to
ask directions to the Country Club. Ajo has a population of around 3,000. A
great many of the citizens are retired. The Country Club is run by volunteers.
They have recognized that the club needs recurring revenue to be able to keep
its doors open. They offer an 8am to 10pm club house to serve refreshments and
simple meals. For $5 per day you can boondock on a graveled piece of their
extensive desert landscape. The facility is being upgraded to provide RV hookup
services.
We are camping at the Country Club because this week is
the start of the Fiddler’s Contest. This is an annual affair which provides
awards for the players and entertainment for us. The volunteer club workers are
trying to develop the club into a destination RV spot. Ajo is just 43 miles
north of the Mexican border. This would make the improved club facilities a
great place to stay while day tripping to Mexico.
We parked our rigs side-by-side. With the carpet laid
out this created a comfortably shaded outdoor setting. We rested while waiting
for the dinner hour. Several RVs arrived during the afternoon. Soon, we began
to hear music from nearby campsites. The fiddlers were warming up.
The monument is a UNESCO biosphere reserve located
in extreme southern Arizona that shares a border with
the Mexican state of Sonora. The park is the only place in the United States where the organ pipe cactus grows wild. Along with organ pipe, many other types
of cacti and other desert flora native to the Yuma Desert section of the Sonoran Desert region grow in the park.
We stopped at the Monument’s visitor center. Arrival
was just in time to listen to a Park Ranger speak of the mission the service
had in looking after the very large reserve. We then watched a 15 minute film
which presented the prominent features of the region and of its flora, fauna
and human interactions.
A main recommendation made to us was to drive the Ajo
Mountain loop. On this loop we would be able to follow along with a booklet which
features prominent sites at several posted stops along the way. The gravel road
made the drive slow, but this permited us to be more observant of what was
passing by.
Anne had prepared a lunch for us and we found a shaded
picnic table half way around the loop. The lunch break gave us an opportunity
to get up close to some of the cacti. We were also entertained by an Antelope
Ground Squirrel. The squirrel had the size, movements and looks of a chipmunk.
Lunch was a fun break. Thank you, Anne.
On the drive from Quartzsite the air brake connecting
cable came disconnected. The CRV has hardware installed that reacts to the air
brake pressure being applied on the coach. Brakes on the CRV are proportionally
applied. The end of the cable got bounced around on the highway. This ruined
the air fitting. On our return through Ajo from the organ pipe cactus morning,
we stopped at Olson’s Ace Hardware store to buy a new fitting. A small benefit
of small towns is that businesses can consolodate functions. Olson’s had it
all. While Dave and I walked the hardware aisles, Anne and Joy did some grocery
shopping.
Today the blue skies brought us temperatures in the low
80s. It was nice to get back to our country club site and relax with a tinny in
the shade between our two rigs.
When we arrived at the Aho Country Club RV Park, we had
been one of five rigs. This weekend is the 40th Annual Ajo Old Time
Fiddlers Contest. The 300 yard long by 100 yard wide flat gravel parking pad
filled up overnight. Friday and Saturday evenings the fiddlers played for dance
entertainment in the large hall. This Sunday afternoon brings us the actual
fiddler contest.
The fiddlers are grouped by age, ranging from 1-12
years up to 80 and over. Each age group has five prize places. All fiddlers
will play 3 tunes – a hoedown, a waltz, and a tune of choice, other than a
hoedown or waltz. One can play with, or without an accompanist. Guitars and
bass players are favorite accompanists.
While we waited for the one o’clock contest time to
come around, we shared slides of our 50th Anniversary Trip. Anne and
Joy had visited a quilting event in town yesterday. Each came back with fabric
and new pattern packs. They drove back today to retrieve some forgotten
opportunities. We’ll see later.
The Club’s meeting hall was packed. Dave and Joy arrived
early and saved seats. The contest started out with the Senior group. Ten
fiddlers performed. As I listened to the variety of bow squaking tunes, I was
taken years back to the Saturday night Okie stomps.
There was a vacant building across from Brinkman’s Garage in
Lowell. I don’t recall what went on there during the days, but on Saturday
night there was music and dancing and hooting. A greater Saturday night
attraction took place across the lake. A road which led away from Dexter into
the back country held a Grange Hall. Bands would perform, and artists would
sing tear dropping tunes about their broken fences, unfaithful lovers, and
lonesome dogs. All of these cries for social help were accompanied by bands
featuring fiddles.
Anne and I left at the intermission following the Senior
moments. We would miss some of the more magical musical movements brought on by
more junior, and mobile musicians. Fiddle music, for me, as it is with a rich
dark ale, is not meant to be for all day
consumption. We moved on to a lighter fare and opened pages where we had left
off in our books.
We did miss some excitement. When Dave and Joy returned, they
told us of the tremendous talent of some of the children who played later. They
were especially taken back by the artistry of the judges for the contest. They
performed at the closing. Well, shucks, partner.
Sunday morning we attended a Gospel Hour at the clubhouse
meeting hall. A guitar picking, cowboy hatted preacher lead us in prayer. He
then introduced musicians to come forward and share their song with the
gathering. The stage was set with mics and several backup fiddlers and
guitarists. Some of the invited musicians were soloists. Many were couples. The
musicians sang to the song their were playing. For a couple of cases, that was
unfortunate.
The pastor had distrubuted Old Time Fiddler’s Song Books
amung the seats. He asked for hands to request the next group song from the
book. The pastor would then lead with his guitar. He did not have a bad voice,
but he seemed to be able to read from his open song book incorrect lyrics. The
seated congregation was trying to syncronize their singing pace and inflections
with that of the pastor. When he read in his own lyrics it brought quietness to
the chairs.
Later, Dave and I visited our knapping neighbor. He and I
kicked around different techniques. We had a fun visit. On Sunday, after the
Gospel Hour, I picked up on some music coming from his outside chairs. I
strolled over and listened to two musicians jamming; one with a fiddle, and the
other with a guitar. They played beautiful music. The fiddler was bowing his
instrument as he would a violin. The sound was brilliant.
After lunch, we drove into Ajo. The first visit was to the
Plaza. The Plaza is two stips of shops; one on the north, and the other on the
south side of a grassed square. We went to the coffee shop for a snack. With
drinks and munchies we enjoyed a visit at a table under the veranda surrounding
the plaza shops.
Joy and Dave are interested in inquiring about fixer-up
housing for sale in Ajo. We crossed the grass square to a realtor shop. The
realtor’s window had some postings of homes for sale. Prices began at $24k. The
rare one was as expensive as $135k. The higher priced units were not
fixer-up’ers. Ajo is definitly a town with snowbird appeal. With 3,500
residents, the city is large enough to provide all the essential services.
There seems to be a large number of craft oriented oportunities in Ajo. The historic
former school building has been converted to apartments for artisans. Painters
and potters are some of the craftsmen who rent space and market their products.
The schoolhouse also features a woodworking shop that is open for public use.
Anne and I visited about the thought of buying a home in Ajo.
To our interests it would be as much fun, without the ownership responsibities,
to commit a month or more to a winter RV trip to Ajo. At many RV lots, one can
rent a space for a couple hundred dollars per month. With services included,
that can be a comfortable way to get away from the north’s winter cold. Then
too, there is a family fixer-up’er one can help restore.
When the mining town of Ajo began in the later 1800’s, it was
founded at the site of the existing copper mining operations. Within a few
years the ground under the new village was desired
for excavation. The town was
moved from atop the hill to the slopes below. The former city’s location is
today an enormous open pit mine.
Copper mining in Ajo has come to a halt. Competition from
South American imported copper has supplied America’s needs at much lower
costs. The owning company of the Ajo mine still maintains corporate presence in
Ajo. A single citizen lives here to represent the company. Hence, with mine
employment present, there is a loophole around the obligation to fill in the
massive pit. We stopped at a rim level mine lookout to take a photo of the pit
mine. A pond of green-blue water sits at the bottom of the pit.
On a slope which overlooks the mine at a distance is the Ajo
museum. The wide open
museum begins with displays of Ajo’s early history.
Prominent citizens of long ago are featured with exhibits. Stalls and rooms
filled with an oddball collection of long forgotten things were displayed with
accompanying written descriptions. Each item once held an important role in the
daily lives of Ajoians.
A room was dedicated to displays of early schooling in Ajo.
Framed on the wall was a set of rules for teachers. Next to the rules was a framed
set of punishments for misbehavior. Each misdeed was accompanied with how many
lashes it brought. It would seem that in the classroom the teacher was clearly
the only individual deciding how the day was spent. The modern norms of social
correctness have made a huge change in the classroom decorum.
The last room in the museum presented a history of the Ajo
mining operation. Photographs, written displays, and rock and ore samples were
consuming wall and floor space. However, no
museum is complete with out its gift
shop. A desk in the last room was surrounded with displays of purchase
opportunities. As we were leaving the museum, a pair of ladies asked if they
could purchase souvenirs at the museum. I suggested they enter through the
exit and go into the neighboring room. There they would find a couple of museum
volunteers who would sell them things.
Outside the museum were a few displays too large to fit in
the building. The largest object was a rusted ore car once used to carry by rail
copper ore away from the pit. Water was scarce in early Ajo. A large wagon once
carried water to the thirsty occupants of the early mining homes.
When we left the museum, we drove along several outlying side
streets of Ajo. If one were to buy a home in Ajo, where would it be. We passed
many homes with realtor signs attached to the front chain link fences. Many
homes had fenced, graveled lots. Some had detached out buildings. Most of the
homes we passed had large displays of material which could have been rejected
offerings made when the museum was stocked. All of the homes would be called
cottages. None was large. Each house had two or three window mounted air
conditioners. Most of the conditioners were silently asking to be proped up
from the outside.
Once again at the country club, Dave showed me the best way
to apply the RV joint crack
sealant I had purchased yesterday at Olsen’s Ace
Hardware Store & Market. Outside joints between the walls and joining trim
pieces are sources of moisture wicking into the flooring substrate. Some of the
seams had been covered with silicone, which did not consistently adhere. This
silicone was to be removed. The seam was cleaned, and the new clear sealant
beaded over the junction. The new seal would firm up within 24 hours. Having
completing part of this new RV service task, it became time to put away the
tools and open a tinny.
Dave and Joy borrowed the CRV Monday morning. They left early
to catch the Post Office as it opened. With that accomplished, they then spent
the day with realtors. They were able to see many available homes. Both
reported that the fixer-upers at the low end of the price range would be too
demanding in resource needs. The homes priced around $70k seemed to be ones
which could be moved into. We visited over dinner what they had seen and how
they envisioned they might use such a home.
Joy sees Ajo as a town which will develop high snowbird
appeal. Clubs such as Rotary, Lions, and the Elks are established. The city
seems to have a great amount of pride in its heritage. Joy feels that a small
purchase amount today will see a large return opportunity in a few years. She
is probably correct.
We ate dinner at the “Greatest Hamburger & Craft Beer”
café. It probably had a proper name, but the sign on the side of the building
said it all. The owners were a married couple. They have owned the business for
ten years. The husband spent several minutes at our table telling us of how
they had come to Ajo, and of how the business has treated them. They originally
kept the restraurant open year-round. However, they saw a drastic drop in
business during the hot summer months. For the last several years, they have closed
their doors during the summer.
A couple of million travelers pass through Ajo each year. The
highway 85/86 route through southeastern Arizona is well traveled. The
population of Ajo raises significantly during the non-summer months. Late
autumn through early spring the RV Parks are filled. The RV’ers bring with them
community service needs, such as for restraurants.
Around 2:30 in the afternoon, we got a knock at our door. A
man had arrived in a golf cart. He told us that at 7am tomorrow, the parking
pad we were on would be turned back into the golf course’s driving range. The
range had been taken out of service during the overflow RV parking needs of the
Old Time Fiddler’s Contest. That had concluded. We could relocate to the front
RV parking area.
This morning, there had been twenty or more RVs on the 300
yard long dusty driving range. This afternoon there were three. We spoke over
the phone with Dave and Joy and told them of our need to move. We had pulled to
the front of the club by the time they returned.
To our surprise, we were not going to stay any longer at the
Ajo Country Club. Dave and Joy had paid for the use of the only two spots
available at the Belly Acres RV Park. The thought of a couple of days of full
hook-ups was tantalizing. I helped Dave pack the chairs and sundrys at the
outside of their camper. I then drove the CRV to where we had parked, and we
waited a few minutes for them to come to the front.
Anne and I wanted to have a look at the other RV Parks in
Ajo. There were two other parks. The one we liked the best is Shadow Ridge RV
Resort. We visited with the manager about securing a site for a couple month’s
period next winter. Of the over 100 sites in the park, there were only a couple
which had not already been reserved. She asked us to drive in to look at site
#94. This site would hold the RV, but there were others which would be a little
bit longer. We paid to reserve site #94. If one of the larger sites opened, the
manager would call us to give us a first option to switch sites. The deposit is
fully refundable if we are unable to attend the reserved January and Febuary months.
We were told of many activities we could take part in during our visit. The
winter visit will be a fun experiment. We both feel that the city of Ajo has
ample recreation and craft opportunities to make the stay pass quickly.
Dave and Joy were in a bit of stress. They wanted to be in
Texas, at Falcon Lake, by February 14, Valentine’s Day. Each year there is a
special party at the main hall. Dave wanted to go through Tucson to see the
aircraft boneyard at Davis Monthom AFB. It turns out that all routes to Texas
from here go through Tucson. It was decided that a night at the Desert Diamond
Casino wouldn’t delay the Texas ride that much.
We had wheels up at the Belly Acres RV Park by 9:10 am,
Wednesday. It turned out that the
tree trimming that was done when we arrived
made it easy to pull out of he sites. The drive to the Desert Diamond Casino
was about 130 miles. We were trying to be parked there shortly after noon.
There was only one incident on our drive to Tucson. At the
outskirts of the city there was some road work being done at the edge of the
street. We saw traffic backed up a bit as we approached. All of a sudden we saw
a large amount of blue smoke come from the coned off work site. Police cars
were near the work area. They had their strobe lights flashing. Passing slowly
by, we saw that a car had totaled its front end when it slammed into a front
loader working at the site. The car had caught fire. There were medics doing
chest pumps on someone laying near the front loader. We will hear about the accident
on the evening news.
The casino had a rear lot with a few RV’s on it. We found a
comfortable spot and set up camp. It was a few minutes past noon. Anne treated
us to tuna fish sandwiches. We Googled how to visit the aircraft boneyard.
Security has tightened up. One needs to make application on-line at least 10
days prior to the visit. A security background check needs to be made, and
approval gained. This meant we were not going to visit the old planes.
Dave recommended we spend a couple of hours walking through
the Pima Air & Space Museum. The museum was a convenient distance from the
casino. The afternoon was spent looking at, and reading about engines, and
airplanes which had made major contributions to the 20th century
aircraft industry. There was a primary focus on aircraft which had been
developed for, and used in military conflicts. There were many very interesting
examples of non-military aircraft; Lear Jet, Bonanza, Piper, and one Guiness
Record setter. The Bumble Bee is the World’s smallest airplane.
The SR-71 spy plane still has top speeds that are classified.
The F4 Fantom is a very large fighter, when compared to others in the museum.
The F4 remains one of the most successful war planes produced.
After the museum we sat in the shade between our RV’s and
read. Anne left around 4pm to check out the casino. An hour or so later Anne
returned. She had spent $20 on the visit. She had some
good pulls, and some bad
ones. We visited for a while and then took the CRV to the casino’s front
parking lot. Wow. This was a very busy casino.
Anne had signed up for a Player’s Card. With the card, one
received a $10 food discount at the buffet. She asked me to also get a Player’s
Card. This way we could get our dinner meals at a very nice price. The $65
dinner for four ended up costing a little over $15. We ate well
We came in the casino at the KENO booth door. Dave and I
would meet the ladies at the KENO sign in an hour. We discovered the casino
didn’t have any Craps tables. We watched Blackjack tables for a while. There
was only one $5 limit table. After a few minutes, a chair opened at the table.
I sat and bought $40 of chips. After 30 minutes of play, I left the table with
$40 of chips. Anne and Joy had done a bit better. Anne had cascaded another $20
into $113.
We got back to our rigs a little before 9 o’clock. Boy. Were
we blessed. While we had been gone, an empty cattle truck had parked a few
spaces away from us. Well, it was empty as far as
animals. However, the trailer
wasn’t completely empty. It hit us when we folded out of the car. Whoa. Some
RV’s should be banned from the parks.
Early this morning I helped Dave connect his pickup to the
camper trailer. The four of us visited for a while and then we hugged our
goodbyes. Next stop for them is Las Cruces, New Mexico. Today’s drive will be
on I-10, all the way. It was great to share some of our winter get-away with
them, although it seemed too short a time. There’ll be next year.
The next stop for us was back into the RV for some breakfast
with crossword puzzle. Today we are going to drive down I-19 to find the local
silo.
The Atlas, the Titan I and the Titan II were the ICBM
missiles used by the United States during the Cold War Era. The Titan II rocket
lasted the longest in the ICBM inventory. There were 58 Titan II’s deployed in
attack hardened silo settings. There were 18 each in Little Rock, Wichita, and
Tucson. As a result of the SALT Treaties, all of the silos have been
decommisioned. The single Tucson site was preserved as a museum to the history
of the times.
The early Atlas and Titan I missiles used liquid oxygen as
part of their fuel. The oxygen could not be stored on the rocket, because it
quickly boiled away. The rockets had to be fueled above ground prior to launch.
This was very time consuming, when time was your enemy. The Titan II
rocked
used two chemicals, which when kept separate could be stored indefinitly in the
fuel cells of the Titan. The only criteria was that the reactant component had
to be kept at a temperature below 60F. This pre-fueling capability meant that
the Titan II was the first rocket which could be launched directly from its
storage silo. That made the ICBM even less vulnerable to surface attack.
The Distant Early Warning System (DEW) was set up by the
American and Canadian military to use over-the-horizon radar to detect early
launch of Soviet missiles. Combine the DEW system with the pre-fueled Titan II
and it meant that within 58 seconds of receiving an encrypted launch message,
the missile could be past the hatch.
The Missile’s huge 9-megaton warhead could be delivered to
tarets more than 6,000 miles away in about 35 minutes. The warhead was capable
of devastation an area of about 900 square miles. If one converted the
9-megaton nuclear capability into its TNT equivalent, it would fill freight
cars totaling more than 1,900 miles. The power of the bomb was greater than 3
times all of the explosives used by all armies during WWII.
When the Titan II silos were decomissioned, the rockets were
used by NASA. The Gemini missions were all orbited with the Titan II missiles.
Niel Armstrong’s first step on the moon was made possible by employing an
unused Cold War ICBM rocket.
We were given a video preview of the history of the ICBM’s,
and then we were led on a guided tour of the silo’s below ground facility. At
35 feet below ground we were covered overhead by 8 feet of steel reinforced
concrete. The critical components, including the entire control room, were all
suspended on enourmous springs. Designed to be able to survive a top-side
nuclear attact, the launch necessary components of the bunker were protected
from shock. The bunker contained 9 levels. Excluding only a couple of areas in
the bunker, wherever a team member went, he/she had to be accompanied. The team
consisted of two officers and two NCO’s. The officers were responsible for the
communications and launch procedures. The NCO’s were technicans who were
dispatched into the bunker for service needs.
The guide selected a woman from our tour to act as the launch
control officer. She was seated in the #1 chair behind a board of status
lights. A simulated order for launch came over the speakers. The guide walked
through the steps which would have been taken by the two officers under a real
situation. After just a few seconds, the launch process had become
irreversible. Once the two launch keys are simultaneously turned to the 3
o’clock position – it is 58 seconds, and counting.
We had time to kill before the on-the-hour tour. We spent
this time reading all of the museum’s displayed information involving the ICBM
missile histories. As a result, we both came away from our visit with more
knowledge than either of us had expected to acquire. Each side of the Cold War
was operating under the policy of MAD, or mutually assured destruction. Human
kind, and the Earth would not have come away from a launch by either side
without suffering an unbelievable degree of devastation. The Cuban Missile
Crisis was the closest the World came to a “Good Night All.”
Friday morning we drove to the Arizona – Sonora Desert
Museum. The museum is a 98-acre zoo,
aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, publisher, and art gallery.
Located just west of Tuscun, it features two miles of walking paths traversing 21
acres of desert landscape. Due to its bi-seasonal rainfall, the Sonoran Desert
region is known as the “lushest desert on earth” and it is home to over 2,000
species of plants.
We found that the
museum’s map presented a labyrinth of paved and graveled trails. There were
many special stops along each pathway. Plants beside the paths had
identification plates and the different species of cactus was numerous.
Pollination of the plants is a major theme of the museum. One stop featured
bees that lived in dead cactus stalks. Hummingbirds are plentiful in the
desert. The museum has a hummingbird aviary.
The aviary is a large
netted area of the flora. Inside the aviary visitors walk on paths among the
plants and they can watch hummingbirds feeding on the many flowers. We found
one bird that
was sitting on a nest. It took some amount of observation to zoom
in on the tiny nest. There are several different types of hummingbirds at
different times of the year. Some were larger, some were very small. We watched
them feed, and then they darted past our heads to another plant.
A stop had a large open
rock enclosure which held bighorn sheep. The two females were resting and
sunning themselves on the upper ledge. At the bottom of the enclosure a large
male sheep was busy nibbling on something in the shade. Male and female bighorn
have horns. The male’s set of horns are enormous when compared to his mate’s.
Near the bighorn
enclosure is an underground display which let you watch an otter swim. This
display was a through the glass aquarium. At the side of the aquarium was a
beaver’s nest. From behind a window, you could turn a light on in the nest and
see the sleeping beaver.
The most interesting
outdoor display was a 2 pm flying of the raptors. The birds are all wild, but
they know where to find food. Two bird handlers walked in the near bush where
they placed small pieces of meat on limbs. The handlers would then make noises
to get the bird’s attention and they would tap fingers on the branch near the
food.
The first raptor we
watched was a paragon falcon. The falcon holds the World’s animal speed record.
Able to steep dive at over 200mph, the bird quickly swooped from cactus to
cactus. It spotted the handler’s signals and flew to the branch with the meat.
The next raptor to buzz
the crowd was a white barn owl. The bird is large, but weighs in at only a
pound. The owl can spot mice and lizards at night from very far away. Its
eyesight is unmatched in the animal kingdom. Like the falcon, the barn owl flew
from plant to plant. It would sit for a few moments, and then it would quietly
lift away and swoop over the crown at head height.
The day was once again
sunny and blue. By the time the birds had all eaten, it was time for us to
begin to head for the car. It never seems to fail. Visiting all of the outdoor
museum sites is a downhill affair. By 3 pm the temperature was 80F. We had been
walking in the sun all afternoon. Short breaks were welcomed at benches along
the way.
We were exhausted but
satisfied of the visit to the desert museum. The coach presented a temperature
of 85F. I set up chairs in the shade. Anne and I both relaxed with IPad
puzzles. I enjoyed a cold tinny.
We are going to leave
Tucson in the morning. Our destination is Albuquerque. The trip is over seven
hours. I mapped a route that took us to Las Cruces for Saturday night. We would
then have a
four hour drive on Sunday to Sandia Resort & Casino, in
Albuquerque.
The Desert Diamond
Casino & Hotel had been a convenient spot to spend our three nights in
Tucson. A couple of drawbacks for the casino’s lot created temporary
irritation. The perimeter of the Tucson International Airport was across the
street. Airlines came and went on a runway that did not make them noticeable.
The airport shares the field with the military. The fighter jets seemed to
always use a runway system that led the planes over our heads. They were
entertaining to watch during the day. Early morning flights brought early
wake-up calls.
The railroad tracks run
parallel to the road past the casino. Over the years, on our many trips to the
SW, we have been impressed by the huge amount of freight traffic. The trains
came past several times a day. One train’s schedule had it coming past at an
early morning hour. The train’s movement noise was not a problem. It had to
blow a long whistle as it approached the main intersection of roads which lead
to the casino.
I refueled the RV,
hooked up the CRV, and we were on our way to Las Cruces by 9am. The trip was
245 miles and it would take us about 5 hours. The I-10E freeway trip across SE
Arizona was not highlighted with lots of special scenery. I was thankful there
were lots of rest stops.
Last night I had called
the Sunny Acres RV Park to make a reservation. The answering machine said
someone would call back. We received a call just before noon from the park’s
manager. She was anxious that we arrive soon. The winds were predicted to be
45mph later today. We were checked into the park by 3:30pm. We were put in site
#80, a wide, back-in site.
While Anne was
preparing today’s dinner, I claimed first dibs on the parks shower.
Preservation of water is very important when dry camping. That means showers
are rare. The stop at a full service RV Park affords the opportunity to recycle
everything that needs changed. Besides showering, the waste tanks get emptied
and the fresh water and propane tanks get topped up. We will be completely
renewed, and ready to go in the morning.
Sunny Acres woke us
early. There were no sunny delights. As soon as the sky was bright enough to
work outside, I began empting waste tanks. As many times as I’ve done this
chore, I am always so worried that the large waste hose is not connected tight
enough. The water from the tanks immediately fills the hose and makes it jerk
away from the edge of the coach compartment. Whew! That seemed to go ok. I
re-topped the fresh water tank and stored all of the hoses.
Truth or Consequences is a city in New Mexico. In Oregon there are no
longer billboard signs aside the freeway. They are common in New Mexico. One
sign advertised a service station in Truth or Consequences which provided
diesel fuel. To boldly advertise what most stations provide anyway suggested
that in and out access to the fuel pump may be made for larger vehicles.
The diesel pump was at the approach to a driveway loop around the back
of the service station. Perfect. Drive in, fill up, and drive out. While I did
the service, Anne found some breakfast pastries in the station’s store.
It is 220 miles between Las Cruces and Albuquerque. At my cruise speed
this would take about 4-1/2 hours. We hit every rest stop, where I would
stretch and have a walk outside. The freeway changed from two lanes to three,
and then it grew to four lanes. From out of nowhere there was an increase in
Sunday traffic as we neared the southern outskirts of Albuquerque.
Exit 234 is north of the city. This exit puts us on Tramway Road. The
Sandia Resort & Casino is at this end of Tramway Road. We maneuvered the RV
through the parking lot intersection until we were stopped near where we had
parked during our last visit. A casino security pickup drove up and told us
RV’s now parked in the lots below the casino’s garage. The guard led us to
where we could park.
This casino has recently caught on and others will follow. When we were
here a couple of years ago, RV parking was encouraged for travelers, and it was
free. The guard told us that our visit was free through day three. From then
on, we would need to pay a small fee. We will get the full details when we
check in at the front desk.
Patti and John Stanalonis are the good friends we come to Albuquerque to
visit. After setting up in the casino’s RV lot, we drove the 8 miles to their
home. Reunions are fun, and this was a fun evening. We visited until we had
worked up a dinner hunger. Stan drove us to a sports bar he favored. We have
eaten there before. They have a long tap line of ales. I chose a glass of
stout.
The Olympic Games are being televised on all of the major channels.
Canada and Norway were competing at the mixed double curling match. Studying
what the objective of the game was kept us occupied while we waited for our
meals. The wait was worth it.
We returned to their home and we visited for a while longer. The weather
was windy and chilly. We found the RV to be fairly cool when we arrived. I ran
the heater for a few minutes to take the bedtime chill off the inside.
I got up at 6 am. The cabin temperature was in the low 40’s. I started
the generator and fired up the heater, and the teapot. We drove to Patti and
Stan’s around 10 o’clock. Today’s adventure is going to be to go to the new
Mexico Museum of History and Science. The museum is hosting a special showing
of Da Vinci: The Genius.
The Da Vinci exhibits present two major sides of Da Vinci: His work as
an artist, and his work as an inventor. The majority of the art exhibit focused
on the age old debate as to whether the Mona Lisa ever had eyebrows and eye
lashes. A scientist has recently put the painting under infrared and other
spectral analyses. Earlier draft paintings were uncovered. No hair around, or
above the eyes was discovered. Several spins as to why that may be have been
proposed. However, there appears to be no way to prove any one correct, or
wrong. The Last Supper was also thoroughly analyzed. Boy. give a guy spectroscopy hardware then
stand back.
I found the inventor side of Da Vinci’s life more fascinating. Da Vinci
was very much into mechanics and gears. He invented a myriad of machines which
operated by turning a handle, or wheel. Spoke gears met spoke gears and levers
moved or payloads were lifted. Some organization has used the many drawings Da
Vinci had done in is notebooks to build working models of those sketches.
It has been said that Da Vinci was a pacifist. However, he saw the need
to improve the armament being used by his Monarch’s military. Many of his
inventions of war used his well-established gear devices. He designed a
crossbow that measured some 24’ long. The strings were drawn back by cranking a
gear. The attitude of the bow could be adjusted up or down with another crank.
He invented a couple variations of multi-barrel, rapid fire cannons. Yes. They
were operated by a crank, too. He sketched a pyramid shaped mobile assault
vehicle. The wood skin would deflect arrows and at the bottom of each side were
mounted two cannons. The tank moved across a battle field on wheels which were
rolled by peddle-driven gears.
From the Da Vinci exhibits we ambled through other displays of the
museum. Albuquerque has done a wonderful job in putting together the museum’s
displays. We found ourselves starting to look at our watches after spending
nearly 4 hours in the museum. We hadn’t seen all of the collections, but that’s
ok. We had come with the purpose of seeing the Da Vinci works.
Slits are cut in the pavement to create very narrow strips. The width of
the pavement strips are calculated to produce a given note when driven over at
45mph. Different notes have different gap dimensions; wider for lower notes,
and narrower for higher notes. Now, the road itself doesn’t play a tune. The
pavement strips between the slits bumps the car’s suspension, thus setting up a
vibration. The frequency of the vibration is dictated by the strip widths of
the note being driven over.
The note strip is only about two tire widths wide. The cuts on the
pavement were difficult to see. I found that I wandered a couple of notes, a
couple of times as I tried to keep my right side tires on the cuts. The effect
was terrific. The car clearly hummed America the Beautiful over a couple
hundred yards.
We found ourselves at the house and in the refrigerator by 5 o’clock. It
was definitely time for a tinny. We caught the final ends of the Canada/Norway
Curl match. On the 8th end, the Canadian team placed 4 of the 40
pound pucks on the red scoring circle. Norway conceded. The end of a very busy
and fun day, Anne and I waved off a dinner invitation and we headed to the
casino grounds.
Happy Valentine’s Day. Anne and Stan have developed a routine over the
years, when we come to Albuquerque. It’s called a Casino Crawl. In the
beginning, Stan was a religious Craps player. Anne showed him how easy it is to make money pushing
buttons. Stan has become a mild believer in the slot machines. Stan drove to
our casino parking pad at noon. We visited while we waited for Anne to return
from the car wash.
While they were out there crawling, I did some mundane things. There is
an excavated pond beside us on the parking pad. There hasn’t been any
measurable rain in this part of New Mexico for over 100 days. The pond has a
cracked dirt floor with 30 – 40 yards of unimpeded open range. I dug out my
archery target butt and climbed to the pond’s floor for some shooting.
In the afternoon I re-erected my ham radio antenna. When we first
arrived, the winds were too strong to properly set up the antenna. With chores
completed, I relaxed in the lounge and read, and dozed.
Stan dropped Anne off at about 4:30pm. She came bouncing into the rig
with a phrase like, “We’re in the money”. They had visited the Black Mesa
Casino, just south of Santa Fe, as well as the Rio Rancho Casino. Anne had won
jackpots on the penny slots at both casinos. Stan reported that he was down a
little bit. He had left a machine he had been losing on. When he returned he
watched a player sit down, put money in, and win a jackpot on the first pull.
Perhaps that is the attraction. “If I pull just a couple more times, I will hit
the bonus round.”
We have a dinner reservation at the Elephant Bar & Grill. Anne and I
are treating Patti and Stan to a Valentine dinner. We left the rig in time to
meet them at their home by 6 o’clock. During the drive, we got a bit of mist on
the windshield. The forecast is calling for rain over the night. This would be
much welcomed.
It was a bit before 9pm when we dropped Patti and Stan at their home.
While we had been eating, the rain started to fall. It rained for most of the
night. In the morning when I lifted the side curtains I noticed that the bottom
of the pond had been covered with water. While I observed, I saw two pair of
ducks moving across the surface. They paddled as pairs and they were
continuously
ducking their heads under water to capture food that had come to
the surface of the floor. Yesterday there was parching. Today there is plenty.
It rained off and on for a couple of days. The winds blew hard day and
night for three days. The duck crowd grew to 14 on the pond. Within a couple of
days, however, virtually all of the water had been sucked into the soil. The
ducks were gone.
I have my ham radio set up. I erected a 30’ mast and attached a 40m band
dipole antenna to it. With the radio I am able to monitor conversations between
hams located west of the Mississippi. Following the short bit of rain there
came a cold front. Albuquerque received a dusting of snow on a couple of
mornings. The temperatures dropped below freezing. Monitoring morning
conversations on the radio, I heard that all of the SW was experiencing cold,
and snow.
On this Wednesday morning, February 21st, I woke up to 29F.
We are planning to leave New Mexico by this weekend. We are going to seek some
warmer weather. The predictions, however, are that the cold spell will extend
into next week. The cold weather is not a severe problem, except that when the
temperatures drop this much, the RV’s heat pump will not switch on. This means
that we need to use the propane furnace.
When dry camping, I try to begin the campout with a full tank of diesel.
The bus’s generator will run everything we need, including the heat pump. Water
supply and propane are the consumables that limit our stays. With the cold
temps we are using a lot more propane than normal. When we get low on propane
we need to get topped up to ensure the refrigerator keeps working. This
typically means a move to an RV Park where we can refresh everything.
This morning is Friday, February 23rd. I had an appointment
at Costco’s Hearing Aid Center late yesterday afternoon. I needed hearing aids
and after a one and half hour session with the audiologist, I had a nice pair.
I have a normal aging decrease in overall sensitivity and I also have what has
been termed, “Spousal frequency deficiency”. That means that it is sometimes
difficult to sort out what women are saying.
After the Costco session, we joined Patti and Stan at their home for
dinner. This will be our last dinner together. Patti fixed boneless pork ribs,
scallop potatoes with rice, and stir fried veggies. After this wonderful meal
we set the table up for some dominoes. We all had some ideas regarding the
rules for dominoes. We played a couple of games. We learned that dominoes’ is a
challenging arithmetic game. Individual scores were gained only when one places
a domino that leads to a multiple of 5 score.
This morning, we are going to be picked up at the RV at 9 am by Patti
and Stan. We are going to share a breakfast at one of the Sandia Casino’s
restaurants. We had the coach closed up and ready to roll by the time they
arrived. The meals were too large for each of us, but they were very good.
After breakfast we joined Stan for a $5 session at the pokies. He picked the
right machine at first sitting. His first roll brought a 5-roll bonus round.
During the bonus rolls, Stan gained $25. He was satisfied so he pulled his
ticket and cashed it in.
We said our goodbyes back at the RV. Anne and I were treated wonderfully
during our visit to Albuquerque. Patti and Stan are magnificent hosts, and they
are very dear friends. We will miss them.
The Sandia Pueblo has a gas station across the road from the casino. I
filled the rig with diesel. Anne waited for me in the CRV. We didn’t hook the
car up yet. We drove across town on the Tramway Loop Bypass to the Albuquerque
KOA RV Park. We needed to top up our propane. We have stayed at this KOA on
past visits, so we both knew where we were going. With the tank filled, we
hooked up the CRV.
Our trip today is going to take us south on I-25 to Hatch. At Hatch we
take a shortcut to Deming. Hatch is home of Hatch Chili. We stopped while
passing through Hatch and bought a Resita, a string of peppers. The peppers
have been dried and the Resita is meant to be hung as a display. It was a few
miles further from Hatch to Deming.
Our goal is Rock Hound State Park, south of Deming. We arrived at the
park a little past 5 o’clock. There was a “Park Full” sign hanging on the
self-check instruction board. We pulled to the visitor’s center parking lot to
turn around and head to one of the RV Parks near town. We were greeted by the
park host while we were making calls. The host had us park on the over-flow
parking along side of the inner-park road. This will be a fine spot for at
least one night.
The wind was constant with gusts at 25mph. The slide-out rain covers
flapped all night. When morning came it was clear and bright blue. I lifted the
shades and noticed we had some company. The outback here is all open grazing. I
don’t see too much for the animals to eat on and they seemed at bit underfed.
We arranged a site at A Deming Roadrunner RV Park for a couple of
nights. We ended up in site #72. The full hookup will allow us to empty waste
tanks and to refill our water tank. Anne will be able to devote some time on
her new quilt project, too. Later this afternoon we will be checking out the
Walmart grocery department. I also want to see if they have a Dominoes game.
Dave and Joy have contacted us. They will be leaving Falcon
Lake, in Texas, this Friday. They would like to re-link with us and travel into
Arizona. We have added a few more days to our stay at the Roadrunner RV Park.
About 30 miles north of Deming, on US180, is City of Rocks
State Park. The park has >50 RV sites. Of those, there are 10 sites which
have electrical hookups. A call to the park revealed that we would not be
getting one of those 10 sites. City of Rocks is where we will reconnect with
Dave and Joy. That will probably be on the coming Monday, March 5th.
Deming is located 60 miles west
of Las Cruses and thirty-three miles north
of the Mexican border. The population is ~
15,000. Deming is the county seat and principal community of Luna County. The
city, founded in 1881 and incorporated in 1902, was an important port of entry on
the US-Mexican border until the Gadsden Purchase of
1853. A nickname was given to the city at the time of its
founding, "New Chicago." It was expected that with the surge of
railroad usage, that the city would grow drastically
and resemble Chicago, Illinois
Deming is named after
Mary Ann Deming Crocker, wife of Charles Crocker, one
of The Big Four of
the railroad industry. The Silver Spike was driven here in 1881 to commemorate
the meeting of the Southern Pacific with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads. This was the second transcontinental railroad to be completed
in the United States. There are numerous ancient Native American sites
around Deming. The Mimbres and Casas Grandes cultures
made pottery of
remarkable quality, and the Deming area is rich in native pottery artifacts, as
well as beads, stone implements, stone carvings, graves, etc. The artifacts are
now on display at multiple museums.
It turns out that luck is with us. As
Oregon Duck alumni, Deming, New Mexico, is the place to be in late summer. The
Great American Duck Race is held every year on the third weekend of August. It
features wet and dry duck race tracks, a hot air balloon show, a Tournament of
Ducks Parade, a carnival, and a variety of vendors setting up their wares in
the Courthouse Square and surrounding property. Hmm. I wonder if these ducks
are the quacking type.
It seems to be a truism that when checkout lines are crowded, there is
always someone just in front of you who has a problem. I don’t think it would
matter which line you had started in. That slowed us down. Walmart’s have
Subways. After checking out, that is where we went for lunch. There were no
long lines at this shop.
After dinner, Anne challenged me to a game of Dominoes. Each player
draws 7 chips. The player with the highest double chip lays it down and that
chip becomes a 4-sided spoke, onto which you can attach like numbered dominoes.
The object of the game is to score points with your chips. When the spoke has
been laid, the next player must place a matching number. The outer half of the
second chip won’t have the same number as the matching half did. Then each end
of the spoke chip is added to the outer end of the second chip. If that total
is a multiple of 5, then the second player has scored that total. The next play
can be made on any of the remaining 3 edges of the spoke chip, or it can be
made by matching the outer end of the last chip laid. The outer total of the 1
to 4 spokes, which are eventually formed, is what is added to determine a
scoring play. If one cannot play, then a chip must be drawn from the excess
pile. Drawing continues until a match can be made to one of the spoke ends.
After each game, scores are added. The first to place all of his chips wins.
The loser’s chips are added and that total is given to the winner’s score.
First to 100 wins the match.
We played 4 matches this evening. For some reason I seemed to be the one
with just the right chip to play next. I discovered early that if I had chips
which matched the spoke number, I would save them to play later. Usually no
more than two spokes were ever formed. That meant I would have a place to play
those saved chips. I tried to always play such that I left an opening on either
spoke end. Anne could only play on one of them. Using that as a base strategy I
then looked at how I could play to score points. One doesn’t know what the
opponent’s next chip will be. That means you can’t line up your chips in a
planned order of play. The game of Dominoes adds a fun dimension to the kind of
thinking one need do. It is a great couple’s game.
Thursday morning Anne and I drove to City of Rocks State Park. Formed of
volcanic ash 30 million years ago and sculpted by wind and water into rows of
monolithic blocks, City of Rocks State Park takes its name from these incredible
rock formations. The large
sculptured rocks, in
the shape of pinnacles or boulders, rise as high as 40 feet. Cactus gardens and hiking trails
add to this unique destination. The Mimbreno Indians settled in the area about
750 - 1250 AD. Pottery, arrowheads, and other artifacts show evidence of prehistoric
Indians in the region. Indian wells, or conical holes, are found in the rocks
where water would be allowed to collect.
We stopped at the Park’s visitor center and met with
the attending Ranger. He gave us a map and asked us to call the state park’s
reservation number for site information. Over the weekends there are a lot of
visitors who come to camp and climb the stones. Monday would be a good time to
find empty sites. We drove the park and identified a few sites which would
accommodate both of the Duncan rigs. We had no cell service, so calling about
preferred spots would wait until we returned to Deming.
The State Park is half way between Deming and Silver
City. We needed to do some grocery shopping so we opted to find a Walmart in
Silver City. The valley that is now the site of Silver City once
served as an Apache campsite. With the arrival of the Spaniards, the
area became known for its copper mining.
With a wave of American prospectors, Silver City was founded in the summer of 1870. The founding of the town
occurred shortly after the discovery of silver ore
deposits at Chloride Flat. The town is home to ~11,000 residents. Silver City
has a violent early history. With the presence of folks like Billy the Kid, and
raids by displaced and angry Apache, early peace officers were kept busy.
Anne observed that this Walmart used paper bags at the
checkout counters. She commented to the clerk about the bags and she was told
that this is one of two stores that have switched back from plastic. We have
collected a bag full of plastic Walmart bags in the RV. They make perfect
liners for the two waste bins we use. Lift them out when full, tie a knot and
march them to the rubbish bin. We had forgotten to bring our re-usable bags
today.
When we got back to the Roadrunner RV Park, I made a
call to the State Park reservation desk. City of Rocks has several reserved
sites among the many first come spots. Site # 16 is a very large spot and it is
open for Monday. That is the day Dave and Joy are planning to join us. We will
try to pay an extra site fee of $10 and share the spot. On Tuesday, we will
drive the park’s 51 camping sites and locate two which will be suitable for a
longer stay.
Dave and Joy had a short final trip Sunday from El Paso to Deming. I had
asked Jim, the Park Manager, to reserve site # 73 for Dave and Joy’s rig. They
pulled up around 10 am. We got them all set up and then it was tinny time.
Anne and Joy prepared spaghetti and meat for Sunday’s dinner. After a
short battle with the gluten free spaghetti, some of it did not want to
separate in the water, we sat for a very nice dinner. After dinner, Anne and I
showed Dave and Joy how to play Dominoes. We had a few games to 100. We parted
about 8 o’clock. Tomorrow we are going to drive to City of Rocks State Park.
The day broke with a bright red sunrise at 6:30 am. The sky was mostly
cloudy and the wind was picking up. It didn’t look like it was going to be a
very pleasant day. We had both rigs ready to pull out by 10 am. The sky had
completely cleared and it now looked like it would become a mid-70s kind of
day.
The drive to the park was casual. I led and I drove us to the visitor’s
center parking area. There, I disconnected the CRV. Some of the Park’s gravel
road corners were crisp enough that I didn’t want the extra length causing
problems. I slowly drove us around the park perimeter until I came to site #16.
The site is large enough that having pulled in head first I had enough room to
turn around and back into a comfortable position. Dave pulled in and backed the
Arctic Fox beside the coach. Some leveling was done, and then we were all set.
Site #16 has several large stones clustered together. They create a
natural, sheltered picnic spot in the center. The Park has installed a picnic
table and a fire pit centered in the rock cluster. There is a graveled path
leading from the rocks out into the brown grassed desert space. We will
investigate what may be found in the dried expanses when we go for a walk after
breakfast tomorrow.
At 9 am Dave and I drove the CRV around the park. We looked for single
or double sites that would accommodate our two rigs. We settled on sites # 1
& 2. These two sites are nested at the eastern rim of the rocks. They sit
overlooking the visitor’s center. I set out orange traffic cones at the
entrance to each site. I asked Dave to drive the CRV back and bring his Arctic
Fox back for site # 1. I stayed at the sites to make sure no one snuck in and
took one of the spaces.
Dave arrived quickly with the trailer. I helped him navigate a back-in
onto the site. While we were getting him setup, a woman in a small SUV pulled
up and wanted to take the #2 site. I told her it was ours. She looked confused
until I explained that we had another RV coming for the spot. Anne and Joy
arrived in the CRV. I needed to return to site #16 to bring the RV back.
We had used Dave’s 6 foot ladder to do some work on the slide-out awning
cover yesterday. The ladder would not fit in the CRV so Dave used his pickup to
drive me back for the rig. Within a half hour the second RV was positioned. We
were ready to start an extended camping visit in City of Rocks State Park.
We will be here until the weekend. Joy was quick to get out her field
glasses and to begin scouting for birds. Anne sat in the shade of the RV’s
awning and continued work on a small embroidery piece. I dug out the bag
holding the 4 foot fiberglass pole sections and assembled them into a 30’ mast
for my ham radio antenna. Dave and Anne helped me hoist the mast and strap it
securely to the ladder on the rear of the RV. Within a few minutes I had the
40m inverted vee antenna tuned and picking up stations across western America.
Dave had bought a Tady Brothers backup camera system for his pickup. The
camera mounts
at the top of the license plate and presents a view of the
trailer hitch. The backup view is seen on a small monitor within the cab. With
the camera’s assistance it is possible to back the hitch ball directly beneath
the receptacle on the trailer.
The monitor is capable of viewing two cameras. The second camera is
going to be placed at the rear of the trailer. This way, Dave can see what is
following him on the road. The rear mounted camera will also assist when
backing the trailer into a camping site. He and I mused over the most cosmetic
way to mount the monitor, with its several wires, to the truck’s dash. This
will be a project for the next day.
Wednesday morning we donned our hiking boots and readied for a walk
through the stones. Joy had paper which described the locations of some nearby
petroglyphs. We wound our way around
the many statuesque stones that have
weathered smooth over many millions of years. The City of Stones is clustered
on a low profile hill, standing alone in the vast flat expanse of the high
desert plateau. The hill’s surface has weathered away around the ancient lava
protrusions which are the stones. The stone surfaces are flaking and they have
many holes which may have been formed by bubbles in the original flow.
The New Mexico Park Service has created paths into the stone clusters.
Where there are larger separations between stone structures, the Park Service
has leveled a patch of ground to be used for a camping site. While walking
through the stones, we came upon several small openings which had become home
to a single native oak tree. The shaded hide-away would have been a wonderful
hot summer day’s respite for the early Native American traveler.
Scattered between the stone pillars were many large boulders. With many
of the boulders, it was not obvious where it had come from. Many had tumbled
from the tops of nearby pillars. We found one large boulder, which, from a
distance appeared to have only two small points of contact with the ground. One
could see the distant background from underneath the rock. I reached the rock
and lay on the ground to look under the stone. It had settled on a small edge
of the stone and on top of a 4” diameter stone. The rock was several inches
above the ground, except for those two spots.
An hour later we emerged from the forest of stones. Once again back on
the gravel road which circumscribed the stone hill, we found our way back to
the camp sites. The spirit for the rest of the
day was to have a light lunch
and to join up at site #1 around 4 pm for a picnic table dinner. It will be
nice to be able to loaf for most of the day.
Friday, March 9th, we loaded into the CRV and were out of the
park by 9 am. The drive today is taking us north on Hwy 180, past Silver City
to the town of Glenwood, NM. In the spring of 2012, Dave and Joy were
caravanning with Chris, Jennifer, and the boys. Glenwood was having its annual
Dutch Oven Cook-off. This affair was held at the Glenwood Community Center park
land. Using a campfire and a Dutch oven pot, the object was to come up with a
prize winning meal. There were different categories for the judging and the
families took a third place in their category.
Camping with family always seems to center on activities around the fire
pit. The hot springs site was no exception. It began by collecting stones to build
the fire pit wall a little higher so it was not affected by the constant
breeze. From Dave’s 5th wheel he brought some gray water. Local dirt
was mixed
with the water and we began filling in the gaps between stones. We
were all impressed with the resulting effect. The adobe project somehow morphed
into a, “How can we make this bigger and better?” Everyone was involved.
The round fire pit soon became a pit with an attached oven. The boys
collected all forms of riff raff to embed in the walls of the oven extension. A
discarded grill was built into the oven, and a thick door was constructed to
seal the oven for baking. The pit/oven adobe project resulted in a proud family
leave-behind at the camp site. The oven was tested for a couple of meals and it
produced well prepared scones.
I have dwelt on the adobe project because Dave and I were curious if the
oven has lasted the 6 years since we were at the Gila forest site. We no longer
had the mile post reference for the un-marked turn off to the hot springs
trail, but we knew it was about 5 miles south of Glenwood. We found the turn
off between MP 57 & MP 58, on Hwy 180. As soon as we drove across the
cattle guard at the graded road’s entrance, we all recognized that this was the
place.
The journey to the San Francisco Hot Springs camp site had been worth
the time, however. Dave and Joy and I relived the memories of the time we had
camped there. I made note of the coordinates at the highway turn off, for
future reference use. It was now lunch time so we drove into Glenwood to find a
place to eat. Many of the businesses were closed, either permanently or until
later
spring traffic arrives. We asked a woman who was outside working on the
wall of her business where we could fine a lunch spot. She told us to drive 5
miles north to the Alma Grill and Store.
We found the grill exactly where she said it would be. We were received
at the grill by a waitress and we were seated at a clean table. While we waited
for our order to be prepared, the grill’s many tables became fully occupied.
The Alma Grill is the only eatery within a many miles north and south on the
highway. The motif presented in the grill’s décor was that of the history of
the early New Mexican branding iron. Four inch tiles, each holding the image of
a given brand were hung on the walls above our heads.
The Alma Grill prepared a very nice lunch. We were pleased we had gone
out of our way to stop there. Dave drove for us on the return to Silver City.
On the way he had noticed there was a mining ghost town, called Mogollon,
located some 8 miles off of Hwy 180. The afternoon was very young so we opted
for the site seeing drive to the old town. The first 5 miles of the road to
Mogollon was a well maintained two lane highway; many residences were served by
access from the road. At that distance, however, things changed. The road began
to climb into the hills and it turned into a one-lane, ill maintained track.
What goes up must come down. We reached an apex on the road at a little
over 7,000 feet. As we wound our way down, we began to see abandoned entrances
into the stone walls beside the roadway. We were driving near the bottom of the
canyons, now, and the ditches on either side of the road were lined with turkey
wire covered stones. This had been done to minimize erosion by the torrents of
gully water which ran from the canyons above.
Mogollon is a one road town. The ghost town had a couple of historic
business buildings and a museum. We visited with a man who was renovating the
old Mogollon Theater. We saw lights on at one business spot so we found a place
to park on the side of the road. Dave and I walked back to the business and
found it to be Mogollon Woodworks. We entered the shop and announced our
presence.
There was a glass fronted stove with a room warming fire burning, but
there was no one attending the shop. Dave and I took a few minutes and had a
look around at the wood working being done. The shop was outfitted with modern
equipment spaced around the wooden floor area. Scraps of lumber lay here and
there and sawdust was found in piles near each machine. This would be a fun
shop to spend time in during cold winter days.
The climb out of the deep ravine which housed the Mogollon Ghost Town
was not as scary for Anne. She was now seated on the sheltered side of the car.
I, however, was now on the cliff’s edge. Dave did a fine and slow drive back to
the two lane highway point. From there, back to Silver City, it was smooth driving.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent exploring the side streets of
Silver City. Off the main road through the city, the streets were filled with
many art’s and craft’s shops. We visited several. One shop was a coffee
retreat. We stopped for iced lattes and loved the visit with the owner, with
long and gray hair. Perhaps once a hippie, the owner had covered every bare
wall space in the shop with memorabilia. Guitars seemed to be his primary
display theme. He told us of some of the artisan history of Silver City. We
also received his accolades of some of the nicer dinner spots for this evening.
A block away from the coffee shop is a second-hand store mall. Three
steps up from the street is the only entrance to the mall. It had no inner
walls and the mall was partitioned by display counters into separate areas. The
inside of the mall building covered the best part of a half block. This “junk”
store was quite the find. We spent the best part of an hour wandering through
it. Naturally, we came away with a couple of packages.
Dave and Joy spend a half hour visiting a shop run by a craftsman who
made cigar box guitars. Those were of no interest to Dave and Joy, however.
What caught their eyes was what the owner had in the shop’s display cases. Joy
found a Native American carved stone piece which she adored. The owner was
several generations away from immigrants from Germany. He had relics which had
come across America on a wagon train. They came away from the store with gifts,
and with more than they ever wanted to know about the owner’s family history.
While she had been waiting, Anne had walked the main street and had
discovered the town’s home brewery and distillery. It had turned 5 o’clock by
the time we all gathered at the brewery for a late afternoon pint. We had
gotten to the pub just in time. Friday night was a popular time for an
overflow, and thirsty crowd. We each had a drink and Anne called to make dinner
reservations at the Buckhorn Saloon and Opera
House.
The steak dinners were generally well received. I had a 16oz sirloin, with
garlic mashed potatoes and a house salad. I don’t think I have ever eaten such
a large piece of meat, but I got it all down. We had eaten well. Anne was the
designated driver to find our way out of Pinos Altos and back to the City of
Rocks.
The City of Rocks State Park is open for day use between 7 am and 9 pm.
It is posted that the gates to the park close at 9 o’clock. We approached the
Park’s entrance at 9:05 pm and we were all dreading the need to park the car
and walk to our camp sites. Ta Da. The gates were open. Anne dropped Dave and
Joy at their site and then drove to ours. What was in the boot of the CRV would
wait to be removed in the morning. This had been a 12 hour day of site seeing
and memory sharing. All of us were ready for an early bed.
Sunday, March 11th, was a day of desert rain. A little
moisture sat atop the exposed ground
rock, but the surrounding dirt seemed to
remain dry. The rain was a bit of a blessing. Naturally, this region of the
earth needed it, but it also brought a cessation in the constant winds.
Somewhere, not too far from here, there is a place which must exist in a near
vacuum. This was a day for needle work and for reading. Joy brought over 2# of
lean hamburger meat and Anne put together a meatloaf with it. This would be
cooked later for our dinner.
I had the cabin temperature set at 71F. That has been plenty warm
enough. With the rain today, the moisture in the air has created a chill. Anne
and I both found ourselves adding another layer of clothing. Of course just
sitting with a book is not a good way to keep the blood flowing.
Joy and Dave invited us to go with them to locate the petroglyphs which
had been mapped on the Park’s handouts. Dave showed up with a heavy coat on. I
took one look at his dress and I decided I would rather sit in the warm comfort
of our cabin. When they returned, they reported that they had located all of
the Park’s art work. We had found one petroglyph on our walk the other day. It
was a black depiction of Kokopelli. The art was placed high on a boulder found
in a sheltered area, behind a tree. This was not on an open surface, as other
petroglyphs we have seen had been. Although it was a nice depiction, its
location brought us suspicion as to its native authenticity.
The slides were in and we were all ready to go by 10 o’clock the next
morning. We are heading to a small mountain town in S.E. Arizona called Portal.
On the way, we will stop in Deming for some shopping and for some critical RV
services.
Anne and Joy drove on ahead in the CRV. They are going to go to the
Deming Walmart for groceries. Dave and I drove in tandem the 25 miles to the
northern edge of Deming. A Valero Station was our target. The Valero has truck
pull-through diesel pumps and they offer no charge RV dump facilities. We
needed both. Just across the street from the Valero is Griffin’s Fuel Center.
Griffin’s is the place to stop in Deming for propane fill-ups.
A few blocks south of the fueling stops is the on ramp for I-10E. It
would be a 75 mile drive on the freeway before we reach exit 5. At this exit we
drive south on Hwy 80 and cross the NM/AZ border at a platted development spot
on the road, called Rodeo. Rodeo is an open desert residential development
community “wantabe”. There is a very showy Community Center building near the
highway, and there are a dozen scattered home sites between Hwy 80 and the S.E.
mountain range. Rodeo would be a town where one could retire on a 5 -10 acre plot
and pretend to be a farmer. For no other reason would one want to live there.
Shortly after passing Rodeo, we turned onto AZ Hwy 533. This highway is
a narrow, two lane road which slowly climbs into the hills. On the way to a
place called Sunny Flat Campground, we pass a store. We are soon driving down
the center of the road to avoid over-hanging limbs. Dave is in the lead. He
lets me know, via the walkie-talkie, when limbs are near, or when we have an
oncoming car.
We crossed a one-way bridge, which spanned a small brook, and we had
arrived at Sunny Flats. The drive through the campground showed us no suitable
sites for either of us. It was, however, a wonderful campground to test your
ability to navigate nearly impossible bends and curves, while trying to avoid
serious brush scratches down your 40 foot length.
On our retreat from Sunny Flats Campground, we stopped at the grocery
store for an ice cream break. During this respite, we read the fine print in
the camping book and discovered that
Sunny Flats was limited to RVs of 22 feet,
and smaller. We also found out during this stop that the grocery store was,
essentially, Portal. I have seen enough of this part of southeastern Arizona.
Calls were made, and we secured two dry camping sites at Rusty’s RV
Ranch. Rusty’s is just a few miles drive back towards the freeway from Portal.
We drove back into New Mexico for the night.
After getting ourselves set up for the evening, we hunkered down in the
motorhome to sort out where we were going to be for the next several days.
Bisbee, AZ, is a town of interest, and there are a couple of RV Park options
available. From Bisbee, Joy’s desire was to go to Patagonia, AZ. Patagonia is a
town known for its population of migrating birds.
A couple of miles from Rusty’s is the Indian museum at Rodeo. The museum
has two sections; one is the Apache Museum, and the other is the Chiricahua Desert Museum. The Apache Museum is contained in one hallway and it has several
glass case displays with pottery shards, arrowheads, arrows, and bows. On the
walls were many framed photographs depicting events critical to the settling of
the Apache Nation in the late 1900’s. The central figure in many of the
photographs was Geronimo. There was no story telling printed dialogue to
present a history of the Apache people and of the Whiteman’s interactions with
them.
I was particularly interested in the archery tools used by the Apache. I
do not know what the wood was, but the bows were made from 1 inch diameter
limbs. The limb was tapered to ¾ inch at each end. The bows were short,
approximately 4 feet long, and they were made for shooting from horseback.
Because the bows were short, this meant that the arrows did not need to be very
long. There would probably only be of the order of 15 inches draw on the bow
string, compared to 28 inches on modern longbows. The arrows were made from
straight twigs. Many of them had short lengths of rush grass spliced onto the
business end. The arrowheads were all quite small, maybe 1 inch long and ½ inch
wide at the base. Some arrowheads were even smaller. It is expected that arrows
with heads that small would be primarily used for small game, or birds.
The Chiricahua Desert Museum’s main theme is rattlesnakes. The museum
had many glass cases which displayed long past snake bite venom kits, used by
the military and by civilian medics. There were large displays of many types of
tortoise shells. The most significant displays, however, were terraria which
served as home to a dozen or more different kinds of rattlesnakes. Each terrarium
had a snake, coiled and comfortable with eyes peering at the movement on the
other side of it’s glassed in residence. There were species of rattlesnake
which were native to regions of Mexico up through the western US. These snakes
were of differing adult size, our familiar Diamond Back Rattler is perhaps the
king of the species. Colors varied from the dark, patchy diamond back to white
and yellow. I think I was most pleased by the displays I saw in the Apache
Museum.
Our GPS’s guided us faithfully to the Desert Oasis Campground. The Oasis
is addressed in McNeal, AZ. We turned off Hwy 191 onto W. Double Adobe Road.
Adobe road dropped us down into a wide basin region between two mountain
ranges. We could see many buildings, forming a larger community, as we turned
into the Oasis campground.
Lynn is the proprietor of the Desert Oasis Campground. We all got to
know a little of Lynn’s personality last night as he and Joy set up our
reservations for the next four nights. Lynn addressed Dave and me by name as we
drove up to the registration office. He had all of the paperwork ready for us
to sign. We were given sites 23 & 24. Both of these sites are extra-long,
and they are quite wide. Anne and I were enjoying air conditioned comfort in
our coach by 2:30pm.
Tombstone is a few miles north of Bisbee. Tombstone was a
booming city in the late 19th century, created by the rich silver
mining in the area. The town is in the history books on the early American West
primarily because of Wyatt Earp and his participation in the gunfight at the OK
Corral. In the early 1880’s Tombstone’s most noted piece of property, the
Boothill Cemetery contains the remains of many of Wyatt Earp’s victories.
Wyatt Earp died at his home in Los Angeles on January 13,
1929, at age 80. Earp was restless in his early years. Earp frequented the saloons, gambling
houses and brothels that proliferated on the frontier, and he had several
run-ins with law enforcement. He
went on to spend time as a buffalo hunter before moving to Wichita, Kansas, in
1874. Wichita was a cattle-shipping center and in 1875 Earp got hired as a
policeman there. He left the following year, after seriously beating another
man during a fistfight. Earp then became
an assistant marshal in Dodge City, Kansas, a booming center of the cattle
trade; it was dubbed the “Wickedest Little City in the West.” It was in Dodge City that Earp would make
the acquaintance of Doc Holliday, a well-known gunman and gambler. For the next several years, Earp worked as
a lawman in Dodge during cattle-trading season, spending the rest of the year
as a professional gambler in Texas and New Mexico.
The Boothill Cemetery was used from 1878 to 1884, after
then a permanent cemetery was established at another site. Boothill holds the
remains of early Tombstone’s most important figures, its villains, its citizens
and its children. Many of the graves had markers which stated “Unknown”. Over
the years there has been much research done to identify the remains in most of
the grave sites. The walk past the many markers brought realism to the
lawlessness and hardship endured by citizens of our frontier west.
Stagecoaches carry visitors on rides with the driver
describing the city’s history. Several times a day there was a gunfight in the
street outside the OK Corral. Dave and I strolled into the Crystal Palace
Saloon and found stools at the old West’s longest bar. It was a warm and dusty
day outside, and we enjoyed a glass of refreshment; he a merlot, and I a stout.
Anne and Joy would meet us later at an old time photo shop, where we were
scheduled to have a group picture taken.
We
had planned the day so that on the return to the campground we would be passing
through the city of Bisbee. Bisbee
was founded as a copper, gold and and silver mining town in 1880. In 1929, the county seat was
moved from Tombstone to Bisbee, where it remains. To
enter Bisbee you drive down into a canyon. The city was built on the sides of
the hills which were being tunnel-mined for their ores. We had already put in a
busy day while at Tombstone and we settled on making our one stop at the city’s
museum.
We were met inside the museum’s
doors by a woman dressed in old west garb. She spent a few minutes regaling us
with some of the history of early Bisbee and what we would see in the many
sections of the museum. We enjoyed very well presented displays of the early
mining operations. A highlight of the museum visit was the displays of the stones
and crystals found in the tunnels. Copper
was the primary ore being dug.
Beautiful bright blue and green stones showed off the richness of the deposits.
As we walked back to our car, we realized that Bisbee would definitely deserve
many more hours, on another day.
This Thursday had been forecast
to be extremely windy in southern Arizona. We hadn’t felt the winds while we
had been sightseeing. However, when we returned to the Desert Oasis Campground
we were hit with the gusts. I had erected a fiberglass pole at the rear of the
RV to hoist a wire antenna for my ham radio. As we approached the bus I saw
that the post had broken in half. I removed the damaged 4 foot section, and
with Dave’s help I re-hoisted the antenna. Everything worked out well.
It was an early start
Saturday morning. We had to be near the front of the line at the Saturday
Market in Warren. Warren is a few miles beyond Bisbee. The market was being
held in the town’s grassed park square. Tables were still being set up, and the
wind was blowing. Anne and I made a quick circuit of the booths; ended up with
a couple of red ripe tomatoes. I made my way back to the car to sit in some
warmth. Anne joined me shortly. On the way to Warren I stopped at a vista
pull-over which overlooked Bisbee. Access to some of the hillside homes must
have created a significant engineering challenge.
The man had been on a
few tracks and he had spent some time in Europe, where regions have no speed
limits on their freeways. It was interesting to find he had a lot of visit time
spent in Australia. His favorite spot was the hillside park behind Perth. Anne
and I remember that park and looking out over the Indian Ocean’s rich, clear
blue/green shades; speckled with fully masted yachts displaying an unrepeatable
Kodak moment.
On the way to the
Squirrel’s Nest, we had spotted a “Gun Show” sign. There may be no signs with
those words which Dave happily drives past. We located the gun show at the
Windermere Hotel. We all went in as far as the lobby. A desk with attendant
blocked access to the show in the hall beyond. The admission price was $7. Anne
and I didn’t feel we would get that much entertainment value from the displays.
We found a couple of chairs in the sun and wind on the patio. Dave found a
couple of items to support one of his rifles. On our way back to our campsite we stopped at a vista point which overlooked the last open pit mine operation at Bisbee. This mine is huge. The primary pit is over 5,000 feet across, and it is 850 feet deep. Display boards explained the mining process, how the extracted ore was treated, and refined. Trucks hauling over 230 tons of ore carried the digs from the pit to concentrating areas. The dig was ground and dripped with a mild sulfuric acid solution to leach the copper from the rough. The copper solutions were further refined to result in 99.999% pure copper. Copper is very much a supply and demand based metal. Virtually everything we enjoy or use today contains copper. The mines will be left open awaiting a day when more efficient processes will make digging for the remaining lean ore content profitable. Then too, as with the mines near Ajo, it would cost millions to back fill the pits to be able to walk away from them.
The drive to Tucson was
only going to take us a couple of hours. Anne and I had gotten up at our early
time and we had the RV pretty much ready to roll. The campsite’s clubhouse is
very well laid out with relaxing features. It has a full service counter bar, a
library nook, book and DVD shelves, and a pool table. Dave and I have played
several times at pool. This morning I knocked on their door and challenged Dave
to a departing day game. Dave is left handed, and I am right handed. We each
played with the offhand. This morning’s game lasted a lot longer than earlier
ones. However, I don’t see why one couldn’t become comfortable shooting with
either hand.
The layer of clouds was
just right to create a perfect sunset over Desert Oasis Campground, on our last
night. Tomorrow morning we will drive, via Hwy 80, towards Tucson.
There are a handful of free
RV parking spots in and around Tucson. East of the city is the Vail Steakhouse
& Diner near Benson. The steakhouse is at I-10 exit 279 on the highway
which parallels the freeway. This is a popular trucker’s stop and the
steakhouse has an enormous graveled side parking area. The business offers free
year round RV parking on their lot.
We pulled onto the
steakhouse lot a little past noon. The lot was thickly graveled and it seemed
dust free. We parked and went into the diner for lunch. Lucky us, the diner
served breakfast all day. I couldn’t pass up eggs, hash browns, and whole wheat
toast.
During lunch we decided to
drive on the additional half hour to one of the Tucson casinos. Earlier, we had
stayed at the Double Diamond Casino on Nogales Road. This time we would try
Casino Del Sol. This casino is on Valencia Road, the primary artery highway on
the south of the city. This is the St. Patrick’s Day weekend and we were
anxious that the casino lot may be full. When we arrived at the Del Sol, we
were blown away. Their very large parking lot was loaded with RVs. Dave led the
way and we pulled head-to-tail across a vacant strip of parking spots. The side
by side parking of the RVs wasn’t as close as it would be in an RV park, but we
were near enough to be able to watch the neighbors eat their early dinners.
All set up and with time to
kill; I assisted Dave in the trouble shooting of the power window problem in
his Dodge pickup. The doors will automatically power-lock when the truck is
moving 15 mph. However, when pushed neither door switch will lock or unlock the
doors. The locks are receiving power, but there is some point which is common
to both doors that is failing on the
button part of the circuit. This
afternoon, Dave wanted to check the fuse which guards the door lock circuit.
This meant disconnecting a wire harness at the fuse box under the hood. We had
the fuse box open, and we identified the correct 10A fuse. The fuse is good.
Dave wanted to remove and re-insert the fuse to eliminate any contact problem.
There was no change with the door locks. Well, we eliminated at least one
common point which could have been the problem.
We are near a city where we
can receive air wave TV broadcasts with the roof antenna. At Tucson, we are
able to pick up 30 digital stations. The great thing about the air reception is
we will be able to watch one of the three nightly national news programs.
Anne’s favorite news channel is ABC. As I was setting up the TV and scanning
the channels, I hit on a PBS program which was dedicated to Steven Hawking’s
life. The program was being shown to memorialize Professor Hawking’s life as a
Cosmologist. He suffered a life-long illness and had recently passed away. I
called Joy and invited them to join us in the program.
Following the nightly news
we drove through the coach maze and found our way to the casino’s main
entrance. To receive the perks they offered, we all signed up and received
Casino Membership Cards. When you log in with your card upon activation, you
are offered a random pick of an icon. Anne and I received $10 free plays on the
slot machines. Dave, however, hit a small jackpot. His icon pick left him with
$50 of free slots. Drats the luck.
The ladies took off to find
winning machines. We planned to meet them in an hour. Dave and I wandered
through the machines looking for penny machines we could learn on. We worked
several slots and received nothing special. My $10 free slot card was quickly
whittled away. When we met Anne and Joy, Dave was ahead a bit, I was behind,
and Anne was up about $40. We checked out the buffet restaurant and it were
just shutting down. Dinner was found at the Casino’s Mexican Café.
After dinner we split up
again and sought big profits. An hour later we met at the main entrance lobby.
I was down, Anne was down, and Dave was up a few dollars. Anne found her way
back to our spaces and we called it a day.
Dave and Joy were up early
on St Patrick’s Day. I received a phone call from Dave. He asked me if either
of us wanted a cup of Starbucks. He was walking to the casino food court. No
takers in our tank.
They knocked on our door at
8:30 am. Joy carried their atlas. They were going to drive to Why, a small town
10 miles to the SE of Ajo. We are due to meet Chris and the boys at Joshua Tree
Park at the end of the week. Anne and I would like to spend some time before
then at RV parks which have hookups. Anne would like to use her sewing machine.
We decided to get on I-10W and head toward the California border. Approximately
70 miles from Tucson is the city of Casa Grande. Anne made reservations for
three nights at Casa Grande RV Resort & Cottages. We were checked in and at
site #275 by noon.
Casa Grande was founded in 1879 during the Arizona mining
boom, specifically due to the presence of the Southern Pacific Railroad. In
January 1880, the community of Terminus, meaning "end-of-the-line,"
was established despite consisting of just five residents and three
buildings. In September 1880, railroad executives renamed the settlement
Casa Grande, after the Hohokam ruins at the
nearby Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. Casa Grande grew
slowly, and the town remained alive and well, and was eventually incorporated
in 1915.
During
World War II, from 1942 to 1945, a Japanese-American relocation camp was set up
outside of Casa Grande, known as the Gila River War Relocation Center. Two notable people
that were interned there were future actor Pat Morita and baseball
player Kenichi Zenimura, who constructed a baseball field and set up a league
in the relocation camp.
During the Cold War,
Casa Grande was the location of the Corona Satellite Calibration Targets.
These targets consisted of concrete arrows located in and to the south of the
city, which calibrated satellites of the Corona spy program.
The Casa Grande RV Resort
is very well done. There are over 300 sites, ours is #325. The sites are
thickly graveled and each has a cement pad for outdoor use. There are
pickleball courts, a card room, a craft room, a swimming pool, a library, and a
game room. There is even a diner. Each facility is well maintained and stocked.
The game room, for example, has two sections. One part of the building holds a
shuffle board and a Ping-Pong table. The other section has eight full-size pool
tables. Each table has a vinyl cover. The pool hall has suspended lights over
each table and racks on the wall to hold cues. We learned there is a very
active inter-resort billiards competition between area RV parks. This resort
village is very proud of its facilities.
We are at Casa Grande for
three nights. Tuesday evening we drove from the Resort in search of the city
center. We programed Google Map for directions to the nearest Walmart. We drove
several miles before finally reaching the shopping center. On the way we
discovered that Casa Grande contains hundreds of acres of cultivated farm land
within its boundaries. This explains why it is so spread out.
While at the Walmart
center, we decided to grab dinner at the Panda Express. Following dinner we got
back on our quest to find the city center. We
asked Google to guide us to the Historic Center of the city. It came back with
the History Center. We drove a couple more miles and came to an historic church
building which had been converted to a museum. The next instruction we gave
Google was to direct us to the Casa Grande RV Resort. This it did and it was
only another three miles from the museum.
After a long battle with
the desert, this ancient building still commands respect. Four stories high and
60 feet long, with a platform mound filling the first floor; it is the largest
known structure of the Ancestral People of the Sonoran Desert. The early
Spanish explorers named it Casa Grande (Great House), and to them it was a
mystery. Its walls face the four cardinal points of the compass, accurate to
within a couple of degrees, today. A circular hole in the upper west wall aligns
with the setting sun at the summer solstice – as did the structure at
Stonehenge, in England. Other openings align with the sun and moon at specific
times.
These Ancestral People were
known by the early Spanish missionaries as Hohokam (ho ho KAHM). The ruins have
been dated to have been completed about 1350 CE. The building material,
caliche, was carried to the site from nearby sources. It took 3,000 tons to
build the Great House. Caliche mud was layered to form walls four feet thick at
the base, tapering toward the top. Hundreds of juniper, pine and fir trees were
carried 60 miles down the Gila River to the village. Anchored in the walls, the
timbers formed ceiling or floor supports.
Prior to the Great House
construction, the village of the Ancient People was estimated to be 2,000
strong. They had learned to build canals from the Gila and the Salt Rivers to
use to flood irrigate their crops. Scientific dating has occupants of this
desert region as far back as 7,500 years. It is believed that periods of severe
flooding, followed by extreme droughts caused the Hohokam culture to disperse
into smaller, maintainable tribal units some 100 years after the Great House
was built.
Friday morning we checked
out of the Casa Grande Resort. Our drive this day was to travel as far as
Joshua Tree National Park. We had already researched the availability of RV
parking within the Park’s boundaries. All spots were full, and booked. Some
years ago we had met up with Chris and his family at a BLM site near the
southern entrance to the Park. This BLM spot was our destination.
Prior to crossing into
California, I wanted to top up the RV fuel tank. We had used a freeway
convenient Arco station at Quartzsite. This station had a truck fuel isle and a
very large parking area. I have learned that it is much more convenient to get
fuel where it is easy access rather than wait until it becomes desperate. We
only needed 35 gallons, but we left for the over-taxed state of California
filled up.
We were waved through the
agricultural check station upon crossing into California. This was thankful,
because I didn’t want to fib about the oranges and bananas we had just
purchased at the last Walmart. From the border we were 76 miles to I-10 Exit
168, Cottonwood Springs Road. One and a half miles north of I-10 on Cottonwood
Springs is the entrance into Joshua Tree National Park. A few hundred yards
south of the entrance is the BLM diverse camping spot.
As the afternoon grew late,
there were several RVs which found spots deeper into the BLM site. Across the
dirt road from us two couples set up tents for the night. From our side window
we watched from 2 miles away the endless parade of east and west bound freight
trucks gently merge into the darkness. Looking down over a gentle slope to the
freeway, the trucks appeared as toys one could reach out and pickup; smaller
than an HO gauge train set.
Saturday morning we decided we would drive
into Indio to watch a movie. We had settled on the Black Panther. Indio is at
the eastern end of the Hwy 111 Palm Desert strip of cities. Beginning at the
western end of Hwy 111 is Palm Springs. There is nothing but decadence and
hoity-toity between Palm Springs and Indio. Google Maps took us right to the
theater parking lot. We had arrived early for the 1:15 pm showing so we stopped
next door for lunch.
The matinee showing of the
Black Panther wasn’t well received. There were six other viewers when we found
our seats. After a little more than two hours, and small bit of dozing, we
re-emerged into the bright afternoon sun.
I had been surprised at how
much we had driven downhill for the 20 odd miles to reach Indio. The Cottonwood
Springs BLM camp area is just under 1,800 feet elevation. The city hall in
Indio is measured at 14 feet below sea level. We had measured some terrific gas
mileage on the way into Indio. I
filled the CRV before leaving town. I knew going to be into some consumption on
the drive back to camp.
It
is Spring Break for the school kids. Chris is bringing Liam and Tucker to
Joshua Tree to do some boulder climbing in the Park. Elliot had chosen to
remain in Medford for the school break. The guys got off to a late start from
Medford on Saturday morning. They had joined Bill and Ian for a breakfast. Liam
and Chris traded driving the freeways, and Tucker called “shotgun” no matter
who was at the wheel. They had put in a grueling day and they pulled into our camp
site 14 hours later, at 12:30 am Sunday morning.
Sleeping
bags were dug from the car and brought into the RV. The couch folds out and
forms a Queen Size bed. Chris took one side of the couch and Tucker called
“shotgun”. Liam had spent last summer hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from
Mexico to Corvallis, where he was beginning his freshman year at OSU. I offered
to help him set up his tent, but he just spread out a tarp and lay his sleeping
bag on top of it. He had recently spent a couple of thousand miles sleeping
under the stars.
Anne
had gone to bed a few hours before, but the cabin commotion was too much to
resist. She got up and greeted Chris and Tucker with joy that only a mom, and
grandmother could have. Liam was already fast asleep outside. His hugs would
have to wait until later in the morning.
Pancakes
and scrambled eggs for Sunday breakfast; water jugs were filled and plans
for
the day’s climbing had been made. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were
packed, broad rimed hats were collected, and sunscreen was put into pockets.
The climbing forecast for the day was: clear sky, in the high 60’s, with
afternoon gusts. Chris and I set up our radios on a VHF frequency for checking
in during the day. It wasn’t but a few miles into the Park’s hills that we lost
communications.
The hikers returned around 7 pm. They had spent the
day discovering where the better places to climb may be. There are lots of
options within the Park’s boundaries. They had a go at a couple of boulder
sites. The main complaint was that the surface of the stone they tried was too
smooth to capture safe footing. The day wasn’t a waste, however. There were
found some locations which they would come back to.
At the end of their day,
the guys drove to the town of Joshua Tree to do some shopping.
We thought that
at our last Walmart stop, Anne had stocked up on everything she might need to
feed our new crowd. Nope, she and Chris came up with a new list.
For tonight’s dinner the
choice was: chicken breasts, hamburgers, or hot dogs. During the day I had
driven to the Cottonwood Springs Park Service Visitors Center. The BLM camping
sites had, over the years, all been left with piled stone fire pits of varying
workmanship. We had a very nice pit outside the RV’s front door. Visitors of
past had left several cardboard boxes in the pit, to be disposed of by future
campers. I had driven to the Visitors Center to ask about camp fire
restrictions. The Ranger I spoke to said the campground was not in the Park
Services boundary, but she had a hunch the BLM would not permit open campfires.
With that information I
drove the 7 miles back to our campsite and advised Anne. This news meant that I
would get to dig out the barbeque to cook tonight’s dinner on. This I did at 6
o’clock. Besides being out of radio range, the inner park had no cell service.
We were unable to find out when the guys would be back. My mission: light the
barbeque and keep it supplied with briquettes so we would be ready to cook when
they drove up. The wind had begun to blow and the only sheltered cooking spot
was in front of the coach. I leaned against the bumper and occasionally checked
the coals. The sky darkened and it became a guess with each approaching pair of
headlights whether it would be them. When they finally bounced in on the dirt
road, I had a set of coals which could have cooked and elephant’s leg. The
entrée for this evening would be hotdogs.
Following dinner I
challenged the boys to a game of dominoes. Liam and Tucker caught on quick. We
played a couple of games, to one hundred. Anne and I quickly realized that our
older
age, and greater wisdom were not significant factors to secure victory.
Steady winds with high
gusts were in tonight’s forecast. The wind had blown steady since before dinner
time. I was awakened at 2 am with relentless pounding on the outside of the
coach. The gusts were to last well into the light of Monday morning. Side gusts
of between 30 and 40 mph rocked the RV. An early morning visit to the bathroom
was done while grasping wall anchor points along the way.
Liam had begun the night
again choosing to sleep outside. Tonight, however, he had put up his tent to
gain shelter from the wind. Sometime during the night he had brought his
sleeping bag into the coach and found space on the floor, at the foot of the
extended couch. A steady breeze while in a tent would be one thing, but the
sensation of having the fabric pounded continuously by the gusts was
sufficiently bad for Liam to finally choose Option B.
The boys had no doubt that
the weather was too bad to trying to climb today. Chris secured a link with
Google and discovered several sites which we could drive to. One local
attraction is the International Banana Museum. The museum is located a few
miles from Indio, on Hwy 111. I knew this would be a memorable visit as I drove
into the parking lot. We were one of several cars parked at the buildings curb.
Families were standing outside the locked front door. The museum is one half of
a building which was once a gas station. The other half of the building is a
liquor store. A fabric marquee was hung over the face of the former gas station
sign. The fabric proudly proclaimed that the Banana Museum was entered in the
Guinness Record Book.
We discussed whether we
should stop back later. An overly cosmetically presented older woman overheard
our talk and told us that her son would be here any minute to open both front
doors. A bright yellow Camaro
convertible eventually drove onto the lot. This indeed was the Banana Mobile.
Eventually, the moment arrived. We could now go inside. The entry fee was $1
per person, refunded if you purchased anything during your tour. Taking photos while
inside was ok, excluding panoramic shots. We wondered about the photo exclusion
until Anne noted that it would be bad for business if it were to get out how
small the museum actually is.
Everything one can imagine
about banana trinkets was either on top of, or under the
locked glass of
display cases. Now that you’ve imagined those trinkets, expand the number by a
factor of 10, or maybe even by 100. As you walk past the few feet of cases,
duck your head because some of the museum’s display is hanging down.
For me, this museum was
worth the time to visit. It left me with a metric of just how tacky a building
of displays can be. That wasn’t the only positive to be gained from our stop. I
had put a few days’ worth of rubbish in a couple of large plastic bags and
stored them in the boot of the CRV. My hope was that we would come across some
public bins we would unload them on. Luck was with us. Off to the end of the
liquor store was a dumpster. While we awaited the museum’s opening, Liam and I
emptied the bags in the dumpster.
Next on Chris’ list was a
spot on the map called East Jesus. This is a few miles past
Mecca. Further good
fortune was with us today. While on our path to Mecca we came to a Date Shake
store. Everyone was in for a stop here. We got our shakes and we enjoyed them
at a picnic table placed among date trees scattered across a lush green patch
of roadside lawn. I challenged Liam to show me if he could climb one of the
trees. He easily demonstrated his prowess and scurried half way up one of the
palms.
Between the Date Shake
store and Mecca we drove alongside the Salton Sea. We found a state park and
pulled in to get a closer look. The Salton Sea is the last liquid remnants of
the inland sea which covered a great part of the more central west of the
United States. The salinity of the sea is reported to be sufficient to keep one
afloat, should they fall in. The beach at the water’s edge is very thickly
layered barnacle shells. The shells are well defined at the water’s edge, but
they become more broken up as you walk from the water. There was a light chop
on the surface, but it was enough to be able to see how unclear the water was.
The city of Mecca is a
mobile home haven, which is easily able to put to shame
Medford’s suburban
showplace of depressed living, White City, Oregon. But we have yet to see the
area’s true squalor. Just beyond Mecca is a stretch of highway called Slab
City. The reason for that handle escapes me, but Slab City is an area, covering
both sides of the road, littered with beat up travel trailers. The trailers are
the homes of squatters. Many had surrounding yards which had been defined by
partially burying, and standing upright, old tires. If a trailer owner or tent
dweller did not have ample tires, then his yard was defined by outlining it
with scrapyard junk. Slab City was not just a side-of-the-road happening. This
village had named dirt roads which led a visiting vehicle, off either side of
the highway, into a domestic wonderland which could only have happened in California.
Each home owner was clearly living within his means and his choice.
But wait. There is more
wonderment to be seen while on the journey between Mecca and East Jesus. Just
ahead is a hill which appears to be brightly colored. Driving closer, we discovered
that the hill had indeed been painted. We had arrived at Salvation Mountain.
Salvation Mountain is a museum of one man’s later life.
In 1931 Leonard Knight
began life in Burlington, Vermont. In 1967 Leonard accepted
Jesus. He was then
36. In 1980 Knight traveled to Nebraska where he created a giant hot air
balloon that read “God is Love.” By 1984, Leonard’s balloon had rotted out and
he again moved. He began creating Salvation Mountain near Slab City, in Niland,
California. All did not go well for Knight. In 1989 the first Mountain
collapsed. As he began rebuilding, he proclaimed, “Now God, You build it.” In
1994 Imperial County attempted to have the Mountain torn down. In 2000
Salvation Mountain was deemed a National Folk Art Site. By 2002 Salvation
Mountain was named a National Treasure in the Congressional Record of the
United States. It was in 2011 when Leonard Knight
began living at the wonderful
El Dorado Care Facility near San Diego, CA.
As we approach the
Mountain, we notice the waterfalls, rivers, and the Sea of Galilee with a boat
in the middle. As we continue alongside the Mountain we come to the “Hogan.”
Leonard originally intended to live in this igloo-like structure, which is
built from 80 bales of straw, broken glass, and window putty. Next, we entered
the large enclosed area which Leonard called the “Museum”, and he built it as a
replica of his hot air balloon project. There is plenty of evidence of Knight’s
building materials, including adobe clay; straw tree limbs tires, windows, and
lots of colorful paint. All of the items were found lying in the desert or at
the local dump.
Leonard had truly led a
life devoted to worship. The Mountain he left behind is
genuinely worth a visit
if you are in the neighborhood. Seeing it on a beautiful sunny day is a plus.
Another plus is the fact that Leonard’s museum charges no entrance fee and it
has nothing to sell, except spiritual awakening.
East Jesus is an experimental, sustainable and
habitable art installation located in the Slab City area. There is no religious
connotation in the name East Jesus. It is a colloquialism for a place in the
middle of nowhere beyond the edge of service availability. In early 2007,
Charlie Russell packed all his belongings into a shipping container and sent it
to a trash-strewn field where he began to surround his two art cars with
sculptures.
Made from discarded
material that has been reused, East Jesus makes sculptures and
assemblages to
encourage visitors to imagine a world without waste. Everything built in the
village is made from materials found in a dump site. The sculpture garden is
very large. The tour is self-guided and you are brought to, and from exhibits
while walking on a carpeted path on the dirt. Wood, metal, automobiles,
airplanes, glass, egg beaters, and circuit boards; name it and you can find it
represented in a piece of the art work.
When you look closely at
each exhibit you can discern a theme to the work. We tried out the enormous
teeter-totter, as well as the carpeted single lane bowling alley. The rusted
tin can display was tasteful. I liked the wine bottle and cement wall which
cordoned the small residential area from the garden.
Besides art ala junk, East
Jesus hosts musical events and is open to new art ideas. The gardens could not
have been described adequately to allow one to envision just how magical the
work
has been done. Between Slab City and East Jesus one would be hard put to
find an item of rubbish being unused. The entire region is spotless. Well,
except for all of the junk being used to define the village’s existences.
By Tuesday morning the
violent winds had stopped. Today would be a day for rock climbing. Chris and
the boys had mapped the park’s features and they had decided on which granite
monolith they would take on. Joshua Tree National Park is located at the
confluence of the Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert. To the southeast,
where we are camped, is in the Colorado Desert. This is the eastern half of the
park.
The habitat of the lower
Colorado River valley is part of the much larger Sonoran
Desert, which spans
southern Arizona and northwestern Mexico. Creosote dominates this sunbaked
bowl, punctuated here and there by spidery ocotillo, green-barked pal overdo,
and patches of jumping cholla cactus.
The western half of the
park, at elevations above 3,000 feet, is Mojave Desert habitat. Amid the
boulder stacks are pinyon pines, junipers, scrub oaks, Mojave yuccas, and
Mojave prickly pear cacti. What tells you that you are truly in the Mojave
Desert is a species of yucca – the Joshua tree. The Joshua tree can grow over
40 feet tall.
At the top of the mountains
which link the two deserts are roads and trails which lead you through a jumble
of stacked boulders. The rock piles began underground eons ago as a result of
volcanic activity. Magma, in this case a molten form of the rock called
monzogranite, rose from deep within the Earth. As it rose, it intruded the overlying
rock, the Pinto gneiss formation. As the granite cooled and crystallized
underground, cracks formed horizontally and vertically. The granite continued
to uplift, where it came in contact with groundwater. Chemical weathering
caused by the groundwater worked on the angular granite blocks widening cracks
and rounding edges. Eventually the surface soil eroded, leaving heaps of
granite
boulders scattered across the land like piles of toy blocks.
Each boulder climbing stop
along the highway had a pullover for parking. We followed Chris and the boys to
the Oyster Bay rock cluster. I guess that in someone’s eye the formation may
have given the impression of oysters. We found parking directly in front of the
huge monolith. Chris first retrieved the bag with the long climbing rope. The
three of them then disappeared behind the rock. They were gone for the best
part of an hour. When they finally reappeared, we were told that they had
difficulty finding at least two places to tie off the rope.
The rope was tied and Chris
donned his waist belt and hardhat. He then said he would be right back. In a
couple of minutes the blue rope was dropped over the edge of the tall rock. A
few minutes later, Chris appeared backing out over the edge. He deftly repelled
himself to the ground. The first task was accomplished - Lunch break.
A steady wind had begun to
blow. For a non-active watcher it was chilly. I was asked by Chris to take
photographs of each of them as they used the rope to climb the steep rock face.
I got to sit in the breeze. The guys worked together as they experimented with
the best way to begin
their ascent. The rough granite surface provided good
grip for their soft rubber soled climbing shoes, but they still needed to work
out a sequence of foot and hand movements. They had chosen a vertical crack
line to follow up. The crack would provide a grip edge for their hands. Problem
being, the crack didn’t begin until about 10 feet up the rock’s face. They each
tried their ideas out on that first 10 feet.
All three were in agreement
as to the sequence of hand and foot movements to win over that initial hurdle.
Liam was the first climber to gear up for an ascent. Chris would be the man at
the bottom, watching and continually taking slack out of the line. Three or four
unsuccessful starts were made by Liam to get past that initial 10 feet. Once
done, he was in crackville.
Climbing the crack was easy
to understand, in theory. Liam went slow as he experimented with different
places to get a foot purchase. He would yell out “rest” occasionally. At those
times Chris would wrap the rope around his waist and lean back. Liam was able
to lean away from the rock wall. This left his hands free and his feet pushing
at near right angles against the rough granite. At the small of his back there
was a pouch connected to his waist belt. The pouch held talc powder. The talc
conditioned his finger tips to better grasp the granite. White clouds flew from
his back as he reached into the pouch and retrieved a load of the powder. After
a few moments of
dusting and of scanning the crack above him, Liam hollered out
“climb”. After about 20 minutes, Liam had reached the top. He sat back on a
ledge, waved and smiled big. Within a few minutes he had repelled back to the
ground.
Tucker was the next one to
take on the rock at Oyster Bay. Like Liam and his dad, Tucker had spent several
tries at getting past the first 10 feet. He was sure he had it made. As it had
been with his brother, it took Tucker several tries before he finally made it
to crackville. The hand movements had been talked over earlier, but it wasn’t
working for Tucker, as it had for Liam. Tucker became very exhausted and repelled
from crackville. In retrospect, the sequence of best assumed hand movements
were considered by a majority of right handed climbers. Tucker is left handed.
What may have been an easy grab for Liam might prove too challenging for
Tucker. He will rest and try again later.
Chris has loved rock
climbing for many years. He is also a very positive and inspirational father.
The boys are early and eager into the sport. Liam climbs regularly at the OSU’s
climbing wall. He showed us his much callused palms. He considered the calluses
trophies from the
wall climbing he has done.
Liam rigged himself to rope
anchor for Chris’ climb. Chris repeated the initial failures of his son’s.
However, once he reached crackville, Chris was out of there. He had watched
Liam closely and he avoided many of the miss-grabs Liam had made. When Chris
quickly reached the top we could hear his “Wahoo!” He waved, grinned large and
rested. He then backed out of his sitting spot and he repelled to the bottom. I
believe it has been a long time since Chris has pushed his arms and legs to the
extent he had called on them today. For a 47 year old man, Chris demonstrated
today just young that age is. Kudos, Chris. If I didn’t have to take pictures,
I would have climbed up there with you. (In my dreams.)
The guys were going to
continue climbing. Anne and I had experienced some of their excitement. We
transferred some snacks and drinks to their car and then we drove back to our
BLM boondocking site. Again, tonight, they arrived at the cabin around 7 pm.
They brought good news. Tucker had made the ascent on his next try. They also
brought with them great hunger.
With their arrival, I lit a
pile of briquettes in the Barbie. In 10 minutes the coals were ready. Anne had
been marinating chicken breasts and I carried them into the dark to the grill.
With
my flashlight between my teeth, I loaded five breasts onto the grill.
Several minutes later they were cooked and I brought them to our table of eager
climbers. All of the plates were scraped clean.
All were tired, but when
you get to sleep on the fold out sofa, retiring early isn’t an option. Anne
read, Chris worked on some night photography of the sky, and Liam, Tucker and I
talked about the personal and cultural benefits of youth spending a thousand or
more hours each year playing games on IPhones and IPads. Nothing concrete was
resolved during our back and forth banter, but we had a good time contemplating
possible future problems.
Wednesday is going to be
another full day of climbing. A different rock cluster will be chosen. We had
come to our campsite with a full tank of fresh water. However, the gauge on the
wall
said we were almost out. This meant we would need to move to get more
water. Well, it was decided. If we have to move, why don’t we just relocate on
the other side of the park mountain at Twenty Nine Palms? That is what we would
do.
Chris helped me take down
the ham antenna system, and together we stowed chairs, rugs, etc. back into the
RV’s bay compartments. When we were ready to drive away, Chris and the boys
took off for their day of adventure. We would meet them later at the Twenty
Nine Palms RV Park.
To get to Twenty Nine Palms
we had to climb out of the Colorado Desert, into the higher eastern edge of the
Mojave Desert, and over the mountain range to the northern valley. This windy
drive would take us more than an hour. We had just started a new Harry Bosch
audio book so we decided we would hook up the CRV and make the drive together.
This way we could both listen to the story.
We checked into the RV park
a few minutes past noon. The park gave us a 10% discount for being a Good Sam
member. They quickly took away from that savings by adding back an $8 fee for
each of our three guests. If we would like to put up a tent as well, they would
rent us a second site. We took the “no” option. The pull through at site #93
was ours.
Wednesday and Thursday were full days of climbing. For
Thursday’s climbs, the guys parked and then hiked 2 miles to the boulder
site. The rock had several different
challenges for climbs. The difficulty rating of a particular climb is first
scaled by whether one needs a rope. If so, then it would be a 5. This number is
followed by a number which ranks whether pins need to be used to connect
carabiners to as one ascends. If so, then the number may be a 10. Chris had
brought along a climber’s guide to Joshua Tree National Park. This book
permitted them to choose climbs which were within their experience
capabilities, and ones which were also going to be entertaining. The team was
only looking at climbs which were ranked as 5.8 to 5.10.
Thursday’s climbs were both
5.8 and 5.10. The rock they hiked to had been pinned by
previous climbers. It
was an initial climb of 5.10. This meant that the first one to the top had to
climb from pin to pin, connecting his belted rope to each higher pin as he
progressed. Should a grip or foot hold fail, then the climber would fall. He
would be stopped when he fell past the last carabiner he had connected. Once a
carabiner had been attached to the highest pin, at the top of the rock, then
the climber could come back down. On the way down all but the highest carabiner
would be removed. The team would now have a rope running through the highest
pin. For the rest of the day, climbs would be done by having one person pulling
slack from the rope at the bottom while the belted climber made his ascent.
After the initial 5.10 climb, the rest of the climbs would become 5.8 climbs.
As Chris and Tucker watched and filmed, Liam made the successful initial 5.10
climb up the face of the rock. They returned after sunset, exhausted and ready
for showers and a hot meal.
Liam
needs to be back at OSU by Sunday evening. The drive back to Medford for the
guys will be another grueling 12 hour trip. They want to leave early Friday
morning from Twenty Nine Palms. They are going to reconnect to the I-10 freeway
and drive through the northern Los Angeles area to link up with I-5 for their
drive home. Anne and I drove through that same spider web of 6-lane
intersecting freeways on our way to Quartzsite. I wasn’t willing to retrace
that path with the RV. We would leave the campground at the same time, but we
would be driving US 395N up through Reno. We were planning on two overnight
stops along the way.
We
made it by 4 pm. The drive to Olancha RV Park took us from 9:30 this morning.
The Google map directions were simple to follow. We were to get onto Hwy 58 and
follow it until it intersected with US 395N. Things started to look bleak when
I saw a bold yellow sign that said “ROAD ENDS”. And then it did. There was
enough width to the road at the barricade to permit us to make a U-turn. We
retraced our route until we found a sign which pointed us in a new direction to
get onto Hwy 58. Whoa, this is a brand new freeway. It was bound to happen. I
have never updated the data in the GPS and it did not know that a new road had
been built.
Today
the temperatures rose to the mid-eighties. The sun burned bright on the endless
miles of the US 395 highway. My eyes burned, too. I made three pull-overs to
walk outside and get
myself more focused. On the last stop, I lay on the bed
and took a short nap. That’s the goods.
The
GPS was still showing 3 miles to go when I spotted an RV park, ahead on the
left. I pulled into the yard, parked and got out to ask at the office if this
was the park we were looking for. I saw a note on the door which gave a phone
number to call should the office be closed. The number was the same as for the
Olancha RV Park.
This
was our park. The receptionist was very polite and she told me how to find the
pull-through sites. I had noticed the Olancha Café was next door. I asked if it
was open and I was told it would be at around 6 pm. The sites were all
full-service hookups, but the grounds were depressing. The 100% dirt surface
was dressed by a tractor with a drag blade. Our spot came with a slight dip at
the right front. I got us hooked up and then I opened a tinny. This spot had
only a small amount of class above dirt road boondocking.
Our target destination for Saturday, March 31st,
is Carson City, Nevada. We continue our drive on US 395N. The first town we
come to is Lone Pine. We visited Lone Pine a couple of years ago while we were
staying in Death Valley. Lone Pine was the setting for many of the early
western movies and TV series. The snowcapped Sierra Nevada Mountains as
background for action packed chases on horseback couldn’t be topped. We had
visited the western movie history museum when we were there.
Diesel
fuel prices in California were hovering around $4 per gallon. I wanted to wait
until we reached Nevada to top up the tank. However, in desperation I stopped
and bought 10 gallons to ensure we would make it over the mountains. We
discovered that this route was becoming one of our favorite trips. We had risen
above the hum-drum desert bush scenery and we had arrived back into mountain
passes and high altitude open mesas. We met up with roadside snow at around
7,000 feet. Our highest pass was over 8,000 feet. We had done a lot of climbing
and it hit us in the fuel tank.
We
found a station at the Wa She Shu Travel Plaza, in Gardnerville, NV. Besides
the straight-in convenience of truck fueling lanes, the plaza featured the
first casino inside Nevada on US 395. This appeared to be a popular stop. While
I fueled the bus, Anne found lunch time fuel for us in the plaza’s mini-mart.
This stop was a few miles away from Carson City. It was just coming up noon. We
decided that we could go a hundred more miles and make our overnight at
Susanville, CA.
We
linked up with I-350, which took us around the greater Reno area and dumped us
off again on US 395N. We pulled into the Susanville RV Park at 3:30 pm. Check
in was quick; as the office computer had all of our data from the last time we
passed through. We were assigned site #29. This is the same pull through site
we had been on last time, too. The Susanville RV Park is perhaps the best lay
out, and the nicest maintained RV Park we have stayed at.
