Ensenada & La Bufadora

The town of Ensenada was founded in 1882.  Its name means ‘surrounded by mountains’ as there are mountains all around a very large and deep bay.  The main industries here are tuna fishing, tourism and agriculture.  There are almost 500,000 people in this region making it the third largest city on the Baja, the other two being Tijuana and Mexicali. The weather here is very comfortable year round, much like San Diego it hottest summer temperature is 85 and its coolest is 40 with most days in the 70’s. Many nationalities are found here with over 100,000 people from the US and Canada.

In 1930 the Riviera del Pacifico Hotel and Casino was built and supposedly financed by Al Capone and managed by Jack Dempsey.  This facility was heavily promoted by Jack Dempsey who wanted the people to come to Ensenada because of its wonderful weather and location.  But a no gambling law passed in 1935 closed the casino and five years later the hotel closed.  It was used as a military barracks during WWII and then closed permanently in the late 1940’s.  

Most of the furnishings were stolen through the years but when the people here decided to renovate it 35 years ago they found one chandelier still hanging.  The reason it was not stolen - it was too big to fit through the doors! The ceilings are painted wood, the floors are Mexican parquet or tile, the wood is from India or Florida, some tile from Spain and Italy and the chandeliers are from Spain.  The bar was named The Seven Sins Bar because of the sinful pictures painted on its back wall. This is also where the Margherita was invented and we got to enjoy a sample.  Today the Riviera del Pacifico is a convention hall and event center.  The hotel part was torn down and beautiful gardens now grace the grounds.

After some sight seeing, a stroll along the shopping district and a beer at Papas & Beer, we were taken out to La Bufadora (aka Buffalo Snort) where we watched a blow hole spray water many feet into the air.  We had to endure a long walk between Mexican booths selling all sorts of ‘stuff', Pina Coladas and fish tacos. The only thing we say as we walk by is, “No, gracias!” over and over and over and over.

Today was delightfully warm with a slight breeze, clear skies and a beautiful sunset.

Ready, Set, GO!

The San Diego KOA Campground is actually in the suburb of Chula Vista on the south side of San Diego.  It’s a nice campground except that it is just off of a major freeway so the roaring noise is so loud that it can’t be ignored as background noise.  We prepared for our journey into Mexico by filling up with gas, grocery shopping, doing the laundry and other minor chores.

Monday afternoon was not a good time for me.  First, I moved the picnic table with the Jeep, then before we even got out of the campground my bike skidded and fell and I jumped off and stepped on my helmet, breaking it.  Then on the return leg of our bike ride, I got a flat tire and had to walk the last 1/2 mile back. I really needed that glass of wine with supper!

Tuesday morning we found a dive shop where we bought used wet suits so that we could comfortably snorkel during our trip.  Tuesday afternoon we met the rest of the caravan members and were oriented as to how we will travel and what we will see as RVers in Mexico - like narrow, bumpy roads, military check points and toll roads.  There are a number of people who have never done a caravan in Mexico so they are very nervous and have lots of questions.  We have a wagon master, Jim and Mary, and a tail gunner, Erich and Carol, and 19 other motorhomes and fifth-wheels, 21 units altogether.

This morning we were lining up at 7 AM and pulled out at 7:30. That is just too early for any normal person to be on the road! It is a short 10 mile drive to the border and then a 3 hour wait as each RV is run through the Xray machine.  Once we are lined up across the border we have a 78 mile drive through Tijuana and down the coast to just past Ensenada where we are camped at the Estero Beach Resort and Campground after a harrowing drive through Ensenada rush hour.  We spent three hours driving plus a half an hour for lunch and the 45 minutes to get all the rigs parked.  Long Day.

Palm Springs

The last four days have been spent with our friends from Missouri, Rory & Sue.  They are staying in old Palm Springs for two months and just arrived so we helped them rediscover the things we love about this area.  We ate at Zin, An American Bistro and Babe’s BBQ, two of our most favorite places and had lunch at a newly discovered Italian restaurant which will now go on our favorites list as well as Billy Reed’s Steak House. We didn’t just eat.  Sue and I shopped for shoes, John and Rory went to the Verizon store, we spent one day playing golf, took in the Thursday night Street Fest in old Palm Springs and shopped at Pete Carlson’s Golf Store.  It has been wonderful to find fun things to do with friends.

This morning we drove to San Diego where we will prepare for our caravan tour into Baja, Mexico.  John was really happy that it is Sunday so that the traffic wasn’t bad.  Don’t get me wrong, there are a ton of cars and at times we were on 16 lanes of freeways, but not enough traffic to cause slow downs or complete stops. 

This afternoon has not been a good time for me.  I had to move the Jeep out of John’s way and ran into a picnic table, pushing it into a small tree.  We decided to go for a short bike ride but before we could get on the bike trail, my bike skidded on gravel and fell.  So that I would not fall on my knees I stepped out and onto my bike helmet (I was not wearing it) and broke it.  We rode about 6 miles but on the way back I realized my bike had a flat tire.  I walked about 1/2 mile home. Its time for an adult beverage!

LaQuinta (Palm Springs)

We are staying at Lake Cahilla (ka-whee-ah) Regional Park where we have stayed several times before.  It’s generally a quiet place where families come to enjoy the day, fish, swim or camp.  When John arrived on Saturday morning it was at the conclusion of a color run so hundred’s of cars were leaving the parking area.  Not the quiet area he was expecting.  I was grocery shopping, so I missed all the excitement.

Our friends, Mike and Diane, live in LaQuinta and opened their home to us.  We had dinner with them on Saturday night but they were out of town on Sunday. So when I say opened their home, I mean we spent most of Sunday afternoon in their home taking advantage of the shower, laundry, wi-fi and their big screen TV to watch the Super Bowl game while they were away.

We rode our bikes 18 miles around this area on Monday.  Next door to the park is a very upscale housing development surrounding a very exclusive golf course.  On the off chance we might get inside the gate, we rode our bikes past the guard house and, lo and behold, she opened the gate and waved us in!  We have seen parts of The Quarry Golf Course on some of our hikes from the park but this was much better!  The homes were more mansion than house and  some were very modern, with sharp angles and glass while others had numerous towers, patios and water features. Everywhere we saw the golf course it was perfectly manicured, lush and green.  Mike was very envious as he has never gotten past the guard house.

Today we played  golf with Mike and his friend, Ray, at The Golf Club of LaQuinta.  It was a warm, sunny day, with just a slight breeze and the course was beautiful. We both did better than the last two times we played.  Just goes to prove that we need to play more often to improve our games.

Pumpkins & Shells

Between playing golf on Wednesday and today, we went driving in the desert on Thursday.  The route took us through some pretty amazing desert scenery.  Before we started we looked out over the terrain we were going to travel over and it appeared flat and boring but as we traveled along the sandy road that flat land became more varied and fascinating.  We crossed several washes, some named like San Felipe and Rat Pack and others were unnamed. Sand dunes, hills and gullies and moonscapes appeared and were obvious fun runs for ATV’s and motorcycles.  

We turned on East Bank Wash (that’s an original name, huh?) that led to Pumpkin Patch Trail and followed its many tight turns, hills and washes to the Pumpkin Patch.  We were introduced to Whoop-ti-dos all along here and for the remainder of the trip! Think of a washboard road on steroids - up and down, up and down, whoop-ti-dooooo!

The Pumpkin Patch is an area of the desert where round concretions have been exposed and lay on top of the sand.  The round balls are formed somewhat like pearls when a small piece of matter like a seed or leaf is surround by sand and dirt that gets wet and hardens like concrete, then another layer and another, etc.  Eventually the loose sand is eroded away from the concretion leaving these large ‘pumpkins’ exposed.

Back down Pumpkin Patch trail, we drive back to the main road, called Shell Reef Trail.  John tried some of the steep hills that ATV’s have climbed before us.  Lots of fun and a bit nerve wracking when you can’t see over the top!  Shell Reef Trail is named for an area that billions of years ago was under the sea and left behind fossils of shells layered in the sand and are now exposed.

In places we could not see a defined road, only tracks of other vehicles. The ride was about 25 miles long but it took us over 4 hours with a stop for lunch.  Since it was still mid-afternoon, we drove out to Font’s Point to see the desert Badlands.  Most people like to come out here to watch the sunset over the mountains, but the day was really overcast so there was no sunset to be seen.  Just lots of canyons, washes, arroyos, cuts and gulches making for pretty spectacular scenery.

Smoketree Tinajas

The rain predicted for Monday started at noon and didn’t stop until sometime in the middle of the night.  We got a 40 minute walk in during the morning and then we sat in the RV all afternoon.  I worked on my photo albums and completed two of them from 2014 but still have one more to do.  Because we were getting antsy, John took me out to dinner.

Nope not gonna belly crawl under the rock.

Tuesday dawned bright and partly cloudy so we headed out to hike a canyon.  The Smoketree Tinajas trail was suppose to lead us to an area where water gathers in depressions in the rock (called tinajas) but we either walked up the wrong wash into the wrong canyon or took a wrong turn into the canyon or didn’t turn when we were supposed to.  Either way, we did not find any tinajas but we did have an interesting hike.

The entrance to the canyon was very, very wide with what looked to us to be several washes, so when the directions said to stay left where two major washes come together we weren’t sure where that point happened.  And that’s the reason for the confusion. The canyon we walked into narrowed fairly gradually but the floor was strewn with more and more boulders that we walked around and then climbed around and then climbed over!  Until we got to the one boulder that totally blocked the canyon unless we wanted to crawl under it!  John and I were not willing to take the chance that a famous California earthquake would happen just at the moment we were under the rock! So we had lunch and then walked out, logging 5 miles on the pedometer.

Today should warm us nicely in time for our golf tee time.

Glorious Glorieta

It has been a really nice day today.  I went to church this morning and enjoyed the music, sermon and visiting with other Methodists.  I quickly changed into hiking clothes when I got home and off we went to the glorious Glorieta Canyon!  This has to be one of my favorite hikes ever, not because it was easy or difficult but because we were in a narrow slot canyon with walls that surrounded us with desert plants and boulders as we walked along sandy path.

I forgot to bring the hike directions with us so we just followed the footsteps of previous hikers which, of course, led us down the wrong path!  According to the hiking book, we should have gone 1/2 mile and then turned right so that we could loop around the hill and end up back at the parking lot.  But when we got to the intersection, I chose to go left because that seemed to be where all the tracks were going!  We hiked a mile before we realized that the trail would take us down a steep hill and then we couldn’t see where it was heading due to all the boulders and shrubs.  We were afraid that it would not loop around but head on into the mountains so we turned around and returned the way we had come.  That was not as easy as it sounds either!

Glorieta Canyon has a very narrow sandy path of about 5-8 feet in width most of the time with walls that slanted up on either side and were covered with the same desert plants and rocks that blocked our path. It is not a straight nor obvious trail as we had to negotiate the many large rocks and boulders as well as the desert plants that blocked the path. We walked around and through cholla cacti, century plants, and the very vicious catclaw acacia bushes which are covered with claw-like spines ready to grab your shirt or skin and hold on. The fishhook barrel cactus was the most colorful plant with its pink spines, but the ocotillo were starting to green up and one of the bushes sported red blooms.

Back to the hike, we thought we were being smart and tried a short cut which found us both slipping and falling on our asses.  Luckily I fell in a non-sticky bush and John just slipped down the gravel hill. Along the way both of us collected numerous scratches and scrapes. When we  got back to the intersection we went right but by that time we were tiring of the hike so we again turned around and walked back to the Jeep.  It was a truly Glorious Glorieta hike of only three miles in 3 1/2 hours.

Bike Ride

Today and tomorrow the temperature is supposed to be in the upper 70’s so we are going to take advantage of the warmth and get active!  That meant getting the bikes out and riding into town.  It was about a 22 mile ride round trip but it was the perfect day for the ride with a slight breeze to keep us from getting too hot.  We rode on some back roads into town and went by some of the metal statues in Galleta Meadows.  As you can see, I was having a lot of fun with the velociraptors!  

We did divide the ride into two parts with a stop for lunch but by the time we got home we were pooped!  And then the water pump wasn’t working correctly, again.  But this time John thinks he has it figured out so maybe this will be the last we have to worry with it.  Tonights sunset was clear and bright and, as predicted, the air cooled way down the minute the sun went behind the mountains.  I bet we go to be early tonight!

Back to Anza-Borrego

Thursday morning we got a late start for a three hour drive to Anza-Borrego State Park.  Of course, it took us longer as we had to stop for gas, stop for lunch and stop to buy groceries! We found a nice spot about 6 miles east of Borrego Springs.  We are a little perplexed that there aren’t as many desert campers as we have seen in the past.  We can’t figure out why.  

The desert is one place you will change clothes at least 3 times during the day, if not more often.  Its pretty cool when we get up so we put on long pants and a long sleeved shirt, then by late morning it gets really warm so we change into t-shirts and shorts, but as the sun sets at 4:45 pm we have to change back into the long pants and shirt and while sitting around the campfire we pull on our fleece jackets! We may start leaving the pajamas on until late morning just to eliminate one change of clothes!

Last night and this morning John worked some more on the water pump.  It will work for a while and then stop working correctly, won't shut off, alternating on and off, fast flow, slow flow.  After so many adjustments, he’s not sure what is correct and what is wrong.  He has been very frustrated by it all!

This afternoon we walked down the road to Clark Dry Lake, which is the name of the area where we are camped.  It seemed closer on the map but it was a little over 2 miles to the lakebed.  From a distance there appears to be a runway thru the middle of the dry lake but upon closer inspection it is an old roadbed.  The park service has tried to limit motorized vehicles driving on the lakebed to preserve its beauty. 

To Leave or To Stay

Tuesday morning John braved the Big Tent again and purchased a new water pump for the RV, one that is supposed to be a continuous running pump without regard to water flow.  Our current pump pulses off and on when we have a low water flow through the faucet or the water filter.  He then spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon installing the pump.

Tuesday  evening we joined a group of RVers who belong to a online group called RVillage.  They have a website one can sign on and find out who else is camped in the same campground as you or visa versa, another way of connecting with other RVers.  We have not met anyone, yet, who uses this website, but we are not real faithful in posting when we arrive or depart a campground.  We arrived late so did not meet too many folks.

Instead of driving to California today, John had to make a run to Blythe, a 50 mile round trip, to find one foot of hose for the newly installed water pump, which was not working as advertised!  While John is working, I’m taking walks, reading or doing some crocheting while enjoying the sunshine.  If I weren’t outside I might not have spotted the MetLife Blimp floating overhead!  Bet its going to Phoenix for the Super Bowl!  We also explored MORE flea markets!

It is a good thing we did not leave for CA as a couple we met a couple of years ago texted that they were in Quartzite and wanted to get together with us. We ended up having dinner and a great visit with Dwight and Sharon. They had just come from Lake Havasu where they helped haul hot air balloons out of the lake after a failed ‘splash and dash’!  Sounded like fun!

Gray Eagle Mine and a Desert Bar

If you have been reading our blog for a while, you read about The Desert Bar in last winter’s blog. It is such a neat place to visit plus the drive through the mountains is so much fun.  Sunday morning we drove north to Parker where a gravel road is available for those who don’t like off-roading and a couple of miles past that is where we turned off and headed into the mountains that line the Colorado River along with about 8-10 other Jeeps and ATVs.  It is very rugged country with steep, sandy inclines, rocky washes and narrow bumpy ridge trails. We always take the more challenging trails.  One very steep hill dropped off at the top and to the left so fast that John had to stop, back up and then turn! 

As we near The Desert Bar there are remnants of two or three mines, one of which is called the Gray Eagle Mine.  I can’t imagine trying to haul all the gear needed to mine for whatever it is that can be found in these mountains, but miners are hardy souls and maybe a little greedy?

The bar was hopping when we arrived with a live band and wonderful smells emanating from two different kitchens. We shared a huge basket of wonderful onion rings along with our hot dogs and beer.  

Today we braved the Big Tent at the RV Show.  It was so crowded we could barely squeeze past people just to look at the booths and forget about trying to talk with anyone about their product! Later this afternoon we tried again and were able to get around much easier since everyone else had gone home! We get the impression that this is not a good year for the vendors as there were quite a few empty booth spots and two or three of the vendors we expected to see were not in attendance.

Our neighbors were flying their neon planes right at sunset.  They had three different planes doing loops and swoops.  John almost burned our dinner because he was watching the planes and not the grill!

Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff!

For three days now we have gone ‘shopping’ at the flea markets, vendor stalls and general shops all around the Quartzite area.  The RV Show began today but we have elected to wait until Monday or Tuesday in hopes that the crowds will be thinner before we try entering the Big Tent and looking at more STUFF being sold.

Tyson Wells is the area directly across from the Big Tent and east of the tent where there are semi-permanent stalls selling stuff like rugs, kitchen gadgets, RV gadgets, tool, knives, nails & screws, leather gloves, rags, batteries, rocks, beads, hats, t-shirts, dresses, some art work, some crafty items, flags, carved wood, a food court area, cinnamon rolls, ice cream, nuts, grocery items, and the list goes on.  

On the north side of the interstate, along Main Street, are rows of new and used RV dealers so of course we had to look at the new RVs showing new floor plans and interior design. We also checked out some of the permanent stores here but that didn’t take long.

Today we hit the flea markets some of which are in permanent buildings but most are selling from their motor homes or in tents set up in huge lots along Main Street.  It is amazing what people have collected and then are attempting to sell as ‘antiques’ or ‘collectables’.  So much junk that we can’t even really call in ‘stuff’, its just junk!  There were several stores selling outdated food and over-the-counter supplements.

Yesterday we took a break from shopping and stopped at The Beer Belly/Adult Day Care beer garden and visited with a couple who blog about full time RVing.  They are making money doing this and love to share what they learn by using all the available electronic media such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, etc.

The last two nights we have been privileged to watch some fellow campers fly their RC airplanes.  Just after sunset they brought out their neon lit plane.  This plane had white lights on its underside, blue on top, green on its nose and the tail was red along with the red and green tips on the wings.  It is a beautiful thing to watch as the colors seem to change as it turns and flips through the air.

And Quartzsite is not without its idiots.  As we returned from riding our bikes we noticed a 40 foot motorhome was stuck in a ditch near us.  Why he thought he could cross that ditch without dragging his rear end is beyond comprehension.  They had to call a tow truck from Parker (40 miles north of here) to come down and lift up the tail so he could back out.  They just parked it where they were!

The only photo we have taken was of sunset last night but every night is just as pretty.

Ahhh! Quartzsite!

John has been looking forward to this leg of our journey for several days.  We hired a crew to wash and wax the RV this morning and then took off for one of our favorite places to stay - Quartzsite, AZ. 

There is an area just south of the town on land owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) where we like to park.  We just drive around, pick an out-of-the-way spot and set up camp.  I make sure we have a campfire ring and John makes sure the neighbors aren’t too close.  We then jumped on our bikes and rode into town and up and down the strip to see if anything had changed and it hadn’t.  That’s not much of a surprise as nothing much changes around here anyway.  We are a little disappointed that not very many RVers are camped in the desert.  This should be the biggest weekend of the year and the desert should be covered with RVs but it seems to be a bit empty this year.  Maybe more people will show up over the weekend.

Buckeye AZ

We pulled out of the White Tank Mountains Monday after waiting all morning for the rain to stop so the RV wouldn’t be “ruined” by driving on wet pavement.  It finally stopped about noon and as we drove the 30 miles to Buckeye the pavement dried up because they didn’t get any of the rain we experienced!

It was time to find a commercial campground so that I could do the laundry and grocery shopping and play some golf. The weather forecast for Tuesday was about 50% chance for rain and we got to play golf in that 50%!  It only lasted about 30 minutes but it was enough to stop our game for that time.  The course we chose to play was in really bad shape!  The rough was just that - rough! And the fairways had recently been reseeded so we couldn’t drive on them with with the cart.

To make up for the bad golf day, we had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant in Buckeye. The oven fired pizza was delicious and the wine went with it perfectly!

Waterfall - In the Desert?

Even though we are retired and a Sunday is basically no different than a Wednesday, we had a very relaxed Sunday kind of day by sleeping in late, eating a large breakfast and limiting our exercise to short bursts of easy bike rides and a short hike.

I told John that riding our bikes in this area would not be a good idea and if he insisted he would be riding alone!  That said, we stuck to the park roads.  We rode about 7 miles and checked out the Waterfall Picnic area and the Competitive area where there are trails for really serious mountain bikers.  Lunch and naps and then another bike ride to the Waterfall area where we hiked the easy mile long trail up to the end of the canyon where, if it were to rain a lot, a waterfall could be seen.  Right now, the only evidence of a waterfall is a very small pool of water below slick canyon walls.  And, although it is raining tonight,  I doubt it will be enough to form a waterfall tomorrow!

The White Tanks

Yesterday we packed up camp and drove to the west side of Phoenix where we set up camp in the White Tank Mountains Regional Park.  We are about 22 miles west of Phoenix and 16 miles from the nearest hospital near Goodyear with the White Tank Mountains just a walk away from us in the west.  When we look east we can see almost the whole of the Phoenix environs nestled in the valley with the haze of smog and smoke masking the lights and the view of the distant Superstition Mountains.

We took a short 3 mile walk through the desert shortly after we got here but today we decided to tackle a canyon trail.  The Ford Canyon trail starts just a mile from our campsite and is fairly flat and easy for the next mile and then it gets HARD!  We climbed up almost 2000 feet scrambling over large rocks and boulders while staying on the narrow trail that climbs up into the mountains.  Just as we got to the ‘dam’ it started raining lightly but we found a great overhang to protect us while we ate lunch.  The dam is really just boulders and huge rocks that have blocked the upper end of the canyon, forming depressions where water can pool.  After a  short walk pass the dam area we had a choice to either continue on the canyon trail and add 6.5 miles to our hike or turn around and take the 3.5 mile walk back to camp. Even though we felt it was going to be a treacherous walk back down due to the slightly wet conditions we didn’t really want to walk 9 miles.

I did a lot of butt slides down large rocks as we descended!  But it was not nearly as difficult as my imagination led me to think it would be.  An interesting phenomenon happened as we made a turn and the Phoenix valley came into view. Both of us noticed a low, thrumming sound coming up the canyon.  We determined that it was the noise of the city.  Having been where it was totally silent, the sound was very noticeable.

Tonights campfire did a lot to ease the stiff and sore muscles in my legs as did a nice glass of water ( you thought I was going to say wine, didn’t you?)!

GR to DL to PB to LR to GR and Home

An observation I want to pass on:  The desert is NOT flat!  As we look out over the land surrounding the campground it appears to be relatively flat while covered with lots of scrub and cacti but as we ride our bikes across this land we discovered that it is anything but flat with lots of rolling hills, dips down to a wash and then back up onto a ledge and around low hills and into a valley green with grass and trees.

View from our patio the last 3 days.

Yesterday and today we chose to ride our bikes in the desert in McDowell Mountain Park.  According to the trail map we rode on Granite, Delsie, Pemberton, Lariat and Granite Trails (as indicated by the initials in the title).  This route took us about 9 miles on fairly level trails with a slight rise at the beginning and downhill going home.  But today’s 8 mile route on Granite, Tonto Tank, Pemberton, and Bluff Trails was much rougher with steep, narrow, rocky rises circling up and around a tall hill then back down, across a wide wash and along a bluff overlooking a deep depression and then steeply down to the campground.  

John did great! He loves this kind of bike riding and is strong enough to master some of the most difficult sections while I was jumping off of my bike, before I could fall off of it, and walked both up and down the hills and over the rocks and sand.  I did it, did not give up, but it is not something I want to do very often!

McDowell Mountain Regional Park

Monday, January 5 found us flying back to AZ where we picked up the RV and headed just a short drive up to McDowell Mountain Regional Park outside of Fountain Hills, AZ.  We did stop to see John’s mom one more time and to pick up some packages, then we had to get a new battery for the coach since it almost didn’t start after sitting for only 8 days.

But we made it to the campground right at dusk as the setting sun changed the McDowell Mountains from brown and gray to a dazzling rose and amethyst color.  As John was cooking the steak, we watched a full moon creep up over those same mountains, lighting the whole desert in a warm lunar glow.  We are so happy to be back in the adventure mobile we celebrated the occasion with a really nice bottle of wine that complimented the grilled steak.

Even though it gets fairly cold at night, the day warmed up quickly.  We were on our bikes only an hour before we started stripping off the jacket, gloves and extra layers of clothes. This park is very large and has over 65 miles of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails.  We rode the bikes on the paved roads this morning just to get a feel for the place.   This afternoon, I got bored so I made John hike almost 4 miles through the desert with me.  I spotted this huge jackrabbit and several cottontail rabbits but that was all the wildlife.  As we were resting after the hike, a covey of Gambel's Quail surrounded our campsite. They have this very soothing coo and bubbly warble that calms me down.

Busy Holiday Season

We left the Big Bend Area on December 21 and drove to Los Cruces where we spent the night and then drove to Roper State Park near Safford, AZ.  We have stayed in this park a couple of other times as it is a nice way point between New Mexico and Mesa.  It gets us off the interstate and into some mountains for a scenic drive but it is only about a three hour drive from here to John’s mom’s place in Mesa, AZ.

We spent five days with John’s mom.  I got into the holiday spirit by baking and icing sugar cookies, making some Christmas candy, making cinnamon rolls, helping Marje fix a dish for a Christmas meal and preparing our own Christmas Eve steak dinner. John completed several ‘honey do’ items for his mom as well as fiddling with the RV.

On Sunday, Dec. 28th we parked the RV in a storage facility and flew back to Missouri to spend the remainder of the holidays with our friends and family. New Year’s Eve found us at Katy & Lanny’s new home where we truly enjoyed celebrating with our dear friends.  On New Year’s Day, our son and family picked us up and we drove to Norman, OK to have a late Christmas with our daughter and family in their new home. 

We wish all of our loyal and new blog readers a 2015 filled with fun & adventure, love and peace, joy and blessings.

Camino Del Rio aka Texas Mountain Trail

Javelina

The one paved road through the Big Bend Ranch State Park follows the Rio Grande since the name “River Road”.  Over half of the 57 mile drive follows the river, climbs mountains, crosses arroyos and hugs canyon walls. One ‘hill’ has a 15% grade, very steep but the views from the top were breathtaking.  This drive was voted one of Reader’s Digest most scenic drives in Texas.

We stopped several times to read about the history of the area and to hike down the hill for a view the river.  Closed Canyon was a short hike into a slot canyon where we could touch both walls while standing in the middle and look up 15 stories of canyon wall to see a sliver of blue sky.   We shopped in Presidio, a small town on the west end of the road and had a nice lunch at The Bean.  It was the closest town with a decent grocery store.

Black Jack's Crossing

We left Bend Bend National Park on Thursday morning and drove a whole 67 miles to Lajitas Golf Resort just east of Big Bend Ranch State Park.  The state park is almost as big in area as the national park but has much less access via paved roads.  The only paved road is a state highway that runs along the Rio Grande and the southern border of the park.  There are other gravel roads that enter the park from the west end only and they do require high clearance vehicles.  This park caters to mountain biking, backpacking, off road motorcycles and some day hikes.

Cemetery at the RV park entrance dating back to the late 1800’s.

The RV park we are staying in is part of the golf resort. The resort has a bakery, theatre, shops, shooting ranges (yes, multiple ranges), horseback riding, mountain biking, restaurant, saloon, a spa and much more.

Today we played golf at Black Jack’s Crossing Golf Course, carved out of the desert and mountains, it is a beautiful place to play.  We had to wait for the frost to melt off of the greens but the day warmed up nicely.  I can’t say that John and I played well, but we did enjoy the day.  The greens were really difficult, with ledges, hills and tricky hole placement, but the fairways were wide and mostly straight so my ball rolled really well!  I was enthralled by the club house, a restored trading post with four rooms, because every wall was covered with mounted steer heads and horns.  One room even had a whole steer in the middle.  I was afraid to ask why!

Daniels Ranch to the Hot Springs

Its hard to believe that anyone would want to live in this area let alone try to build a ranch or create a hot springs spa, but they did!

Daniels Ranch was located along the flood plain of the Rio Grande and is now where the campground is located. We crossed this land and then headed up the hills and across the top of Hot Springs Canyon. The wild desert country on limestone cliffs overlooked the river and Chisos and Dead Horse Mountains.  

The trail was pretty rocky and rough and went up and down several times so I had to watch where I was going most of the time.  The nice part about that is that I saw so many lovely flowering plants like purple desert primrose, desert verbena, yellow brittle brush, monkey flower, Mexican gold poppy, dog weed and desert rock nettle.

The hot springs were discovered by J.O. Langford who had malaria and was convinced that bathing and drinking the mineral water cured him.  He decided to build a bathhouse over the springs and market it as a healing hot springs.  But after three years he had to abandon his spring due to the Mexican Revolution and no customers. Fourteen years later he returned and developed the spring with a motor court, post office, and general store. In 1942 the park purchased the property.  All that is left is the foundation of the bath house where one can sit and enjoy the hot water while watching the Rio splash past.

We made the mistake of hiking to the trailhead from the RV which turned out to be more than a mile so we ended up hiking over 8 miles. It was a strenuous hike and about did us in. That’s 3 hikes in 3 days. No more hiking for us the next few days.

Looking Through the Window

Look real close you will see Pam.

One of the more popular hikes in Big Bend is The Window Walk.  While standing in the lodge parking lot one can look down the Basin between two mountains and peer west out over the desert toward the Burro Mesa and beyond.  

The hike descends from the lodge towards the campground and then drops more into the basin which then follows a wash all the way to the Window pour-off.  It was a beautiful hike with lots of trees and birds, canyon walls lined with cacti and mesquite, and a small stream winding its way around the boulders down to the pour-off.   We were afraid to get too close to the edge of the pour-off as the pour-off is a very smooth, slick rock where the water from rain storms falls over the edge into the valley below.  It was an easy hike down but coming back up was rather strenuous especially at the top but we did the almost 6 miles in about 3 hours.

Boquillas and Dog Canyons

Just down the road from our campground is the Boquillas Crossing where a ferry could take you across the river to Mexico.  It was closed today but there are Mexican Nationals who still cross here to place their crafts on the shore for tourists to purchase. A short hike along the river takes us to the mouth of the Boquillas Canyon where the river has cut its way through rock walls to continue its course southward.  

We then drove 45 miles north to walk the Dog Canyon Trail.  We crossed sheer desert for about 2 miles before dropping into a wash that led us into Dog Canyon and out the other side.  It is a short canyon but fairly narrow with beautiful steep, eroded sides, in some places red rock and other gray and even yellow rock.  I was so enthralled with the canyon walls that I tripped and fell!  Got a nice bruise on my leg but otherwise I’m okay.

The weather has been really nice.  Clear skies, warm daytime temperatures with just enough wind to keep us from getting hot and and cold nights with no wind.  The coyotes kept John awake last night and I chased one down the highway this afternoon on our drive home.

River Road

According to the forecast the weather today was supposed to be cooler and very windy, a good day to ride in the Jeep on the primitive River Road.  As it turned out it was a clear, warm and not windy day but that did make for a beautiful drive.

The River Road is 57 miles of sand and gravel and was quite rough in places.  We have this very nice tour book for the road that was published in 1980!  All day long we thought it was a bit out dated - you think?! By the end of the day our odometer was off by 7 miles and we only took about 4 miles off the trail. It made it rather difficult to locate some of the sites mentioned in the book.

We learned about the ranches, mines and homesteads of the area from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s; we learned about lechuguilla (a type of yucca plant), creosote bush and ocotillo bush; we looked for snakes, hawks and golden eagles (saw the hawk), and we looked at lots of mountains, dikes, arroyos, washes and, of course, the Rio Grande River.  

The Mariscal Mine processed mercury or quicksilver which is used in preparing drugs or as a detonator in explosives. Even though the River Road did not really follow the Rio Grande, it was close enough that we drove or walked to the rivers edge a few times. Some of the mountains and mountain ranges were the Sierra San Vicente,  Mariscal Mountains, Red Dike & Black Dike, Santa Elena Canyon, and the Chisos Mountains.

At the end of this 6 hour drive (with stops for lunch and nap) we still had 55 miles to drive back to the RV.  It has been a very long day.

Lost Mine Trail

This park is huge and spread out. Yesterday to get here we drove 39 miles from the highway to the north edge to the park, then 26 miles to park headquarters at Panther Junction, then 20 miles to the Rio Grande Village campground.  This morning we drove 20 miles back to Panther Junction and another 9 miles to the trail head.

We chose Lost Mine Trail for our first hike because it was only 4.8 miles long and considered a moderate hike.  It took us almost 2 hours to hike up 1200 feet of elevation and 2.4 miles up to the ridge, then over to the mountain, several steep switch backs and along the top of the mountain. Then turn around and come back down at a fast 1 hour walk. For our first time out it seemed rather strenuous to me!  But it was a pretty hike and we saw some beautiful scenery.  We watched for bears and mountain lions but only saw birds and grasshoppers.

After a picnic lunch we stopped at the Chisos Basin Mountain Lodge and visitor center and had a beer while using their free WiFi.  We don’t have any cell phone service, but the park has several WiFi centers that we can use to catch up on news and post our blogs.

Big Bend Here We Come

This morning we headed for Big Bend. We could have stopped at a couple of points of interest along the way, like Judge Roy Beans saloon, but we wanted to get into camp early enough to explore before it got dark.  Big Bend has four campgrounds.  One is on a mountain road and you can’t drive anything over 24 feet long, one has no hookups and will not allow any generators, one is a full hookup (we found out later it is basically a parking lot) and the campground we chose has no hookups but will allow folks to run generators. We were concerned about running a generator because we intend to stay as long as 7 days and know we will need to charge our batteries during our stay.  According to the campground host, there are only 15 campers here right now and it holds 100.  Very quiet and peaceful.

The Rio Grande River is just a short walk from the campground.  It’s not a really impressive river as far as width but it appears to be deep and runs really fast.  Along the path to the river we spotted several colorful beaded craft items and intricately painted walking sticks.  Mexican Nationals will place these items there so that people will buy them by dropping money in a jar.  We were warned that  Mexican Nationals are here illegally and are subject to arrest and deportation if caught and the items purchased illegally will be considered contraband and seized (if you are caught with them). 

After supper I stepped out to take our trash to the dumpster and the dark night sky was amazing!  I felt wrapped in a blanket with the dark, starry sky pressing down on me. There is absolutely no light pollution in this park so the stars literally explode into your vision!  Big Bend has been certified by the International Dark-Sky Association as a Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park. It has the darkest skies and lowest level of light pollution in the lower 48 states.

Broken Mill

We left San Antonio on Thursday morning with our fingers crossed that it would not rain.  That didn’t work!  Our destination is Big Bend National Park but we left too late to get there in one day so we stopped in Del Rio at the Broken Mill RV Park.  John had to wash the RV again.

The lady at the check-in desk told us about their weekly dinner and dance starting at 6 PM.  Since I was doing laundry, it was after 6 when we walked in.  There were only 8 people eating. I expected a whole lot more as there were 50-60 RVs in the park and most looked like they had been there a while or were there for the winter.  Cowboy grub was on the menu - roast pork, pinto beans, mashed potatoes, campfire bread and blueberry cobbler with ice cream.  The three-man band started playing while we were eating.  Three guitars including one vocalist and then the owner joined them on his fiddle.  The lady serving and cleaning said she would sing with them later and that the piano man had another gig so wouldn’t be there.  When we left, there were only 2 people left listening to the music.

Surprise Guests

John’s friend, Ray, is also a former business associate so John looked forward to meeting Ray for lunch and visiting with others at his office.  It turns out they were in the midst of their semi-annual business meeting with their annual Christmas dinner this evening.  We were the surprise guests at dinner, and very much appreciated being invited.  We had a very nice dinner and enjoyed visiting with old friends and making new ones.  

Visiting Best Friend

We got going early so we could stop in Katy, Texas to have lunch with my high school friend.  Anna Lee and I don't keep in close touch but whenever we meet its like it was just yesterday!

 

It seemed like a long drive to San Antonio because of the early evening darkness. We hit the tail end of rush hour so it wasn't too bad getting thru the city. We drove through 2 huge city freeways in the same day, John was tired.

 

Our plans are to meet some friends here tomorrow. 

Cypress Forest

The nights have been really chilly so it takes awhile for the day to warm up. That's not to say we can't get in a good hike while he cool air invigorates us and keeps us from getting too hot. We walked about 3.5 miles on a multi-use trail through open woodland and around cypress swamp land. 

Then we drove into town with our mouths watering for a good shrimp and oyster po-boy sandwiches.  But it was not to be. Darrell's had meat po-boys only. No fried seafood. They were good sandwiches just not what we were yearning for. 

 

I was inspired by some Facebook posts to bake a pecan pie for dessert. Yummy!

Time to Exercise

Since John had chores to do this morning, I took a jog/walk down one trail looking for alligators in the river. I'm afraid it's too cold for them as it only got up to 55 today.  After working on a leak in our toilet, John joined me for another hike to look for alligators. Still no sign of any. But at least I got in 5.5 miles of exercise walking and 4 miles on the bike. 

Not Far Enough

We awoke on Friday morning to pouring rain and it rained or fogged over the rest of the day and almost our entire drive. At one point the fog was so dense the visibility was only a few hundred yards.  We stopped in Shreveport about 4 and the weather was considerably nicer than back home.  It was nice to sit outside and have a cocktail while grilling a steak.  After dinner I was able to decorate the RV for Christmas

After some research we determined that there was not much we wanted to see in Shreveport so we headed on down to Lake Charles.  

I got to help John wash the RV and Jeep before doing a quick look around the Sam Houston Jones State Park situated on the Calcasieu River.  We went into town to dine at a typical cajun fish joint. We then drove around looking at holiday light displays near the civic center and the marina where we saw about a dozen boats extravagantly lit with Christmas lights.

South Bound

Well, its cold and has been for a couple of weeks so it is definitely time to head south for the winter.  The problem is that things keep happening to make us think that maybe we should stay home for a bit longer.

This week started badly for me as I came down with strep throat!  I haven’t been this sick since the kids were small!  But by today I have been on enough penicillin that we felt we could go.  So as we pull out of the drive and onto our street we notice that the Jeep is not tracking correctly behind the RV because one of the arms did not lock in place.  John stops in the middle of the road and we both jump out to check it out.  Brrrr, its cold, every thing looks okay again so we try to get back in the RV.  The door has locked behind us and we can’t get it open!  Thank goodness for the hidden spare key.  

We got as far as Joplin where we stopped for dinner.  When we came back into the RV, the tire monitor was beeping that we had a low front tire!  John circled the Flying J three times before finding an air hose that worked.  He tightened the stem, filled the tire and we are off again hoping that it will hold for awhile.  Just as we settle down in a Walmart parking lot in Fayetteville, AR, the rain starts.  Anything else going to happen?  I hope not!