Catching Up

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted.  Time to catch you all up to date.  From Carlsbad we drove to Huachuca City, AZ, best known probably for Ft. Huachuca, an Army base.  For us it was the proximity to Tombstone and Bisbee, two places in Arizona we wanted to revisit after just passing through on a previous trip.

There’s a lot of history in Tombstone, and it is real history, not the Hollywood version of the fight at the OK Corral (which actually took place in the street and not in the corral.  We started at Boothill Cemetery, full of stories of all the miserable and/or violent ways to die in the old days.  

From there we toured the old city hall which is now a very nice museum and should be the starting point for visitors. 

The next day we went to Bisbee, AZ, home for many years to productive copper mines and now a historic town with artists, shops and a very cool mine tour.  

We tried to tour the mine several years ago but it was so crowded that we couldn’t get on the train.  This time we were 2 of only 6 on the tour and had a great guide, a former miner.  Once again it was a lesson in the many ways one can die, among other lessons.  

Riding the train into the mine

The "facilities" down in the mine.  Yes, it's a two-seater

Also in Bisbee is a great mining museum.  As I get older, I appreciate these historical lessons more.

From Huachuca City we moved Chuck to Catalina Mountain State Park on the northwest side of Tucson.  It was a beautiful place, surrounded by rugged mountains and very remote feeling.  And just outside the park and across the road was a wonderful shopping center with some of our favorite stores.  Yes, even we are touched by the Christmas spirit as we bought the Navigator a new laptop at Best Buy and more wine at World Market.  The best of all worlds?

After 3 nights in the park we moved 16 miles to one of our favorite RV parks, Sentinel Peak RV park in Tucson.  This small (23 sites) urban park in on the western edge of Tucson in the old Mexican barrio neighborhood.  I wrote a fair amount about it last year so I won’t repeat myself.  You can see that post here:  http://chucklewagon.blogspot.com/2016/01/farewell-tucson.html

We’re here for over 3 weeks.  Beanie and I are thrilled.  We’ve already had dinner with our friends who live here, we’ve had our mail delivered, we have Amazon packages coming and more friends are joining us here before we leave.  We’re so friggin' happy that we’ve signed up to attend the RV park’s holiday potluck tomorrow.  For a couple of screaming introverts that’s holiday spirit.

So wherever you are, enjoy the spirit of the holiday(s) you celebrate.  Goodwill towards men and women and stay warm, safe and contented.

On the Move

So we waited one whole day for a RV service guy to show up and when he didn’t show up or call, we tried again.  This time Joshua did show up, crawled under the rig, removed some pieces, ordered parts from Dallas and returned 2 days later and put some pieces back in all in the coldest 3 days of the year.  Viola – it worked.  We were good to go.

In the meantime we decided to go see some Christmas lights in Carlsbad.  In most cities you drive around in your warm car and gawk.  Not here.  In Carlsbad they do Christmas on the Pecos River.  You wait until dark and get onto a pontoon boat with a bunch of other people and ride 2 miles downriver and back looking at displays done by businesses and homes along the river.  It was our last night in town and it just happened to be the coldest night of the year.  Yes, 31 desert-freezing degrees and we were on a boat on the river.  

I don't know what Intrepid Potash is but they had a nice display

One lovely home on the Pecos River

We survived and even enjoyed getting a taste of yet another Christmas tradition in yet another town.  But, as I said to the Navigator, we wouldn’t even do this in Wisconsin!

From Carlsbad we drove to Las Cruces, NM, which requires going to El Paso, TX and then back up to New Mexico.  It’s a lovely drive over the Guadalupe Mountains and we had plenty of time to enjoy the view as low clouds and hoar frost at high elevations made the driving slow and interesting. 

The road ahead in the Guadalupe Mountains

Beautiful but scary hoarfrost

In Las Cruces we enjoyed wine tasting, especially at Rio Grande Winery.  Every once in a while we luck into a wine tasting where the owner/winemaker is behind the counter and we get treated to a discussion with the expert and a specially curated tasting.  This was one of the best we ever had and we left with half a case of wine, which is now stored under the bed since the wine case in the storage bay is also full of wine.  The challenge begins – can we drink enough to stay ahead of our collecting and storage limitations.

From Las Cruces we moved to our current location is Huachucha City, AZ, chosen for its proximity to Tombstone, Bisbee and other AZ attractions.  We’ll have 4 nights here and then on to Tucson.  

All photo credits to the Navigator.

Lemonade, Synapses and More

The good news is that we’re in one of our favorite RV parks, Escapees Ranch in Carlsbad, NM.  Yes, we’re still here.  The bad news is that the part is in Dallas and it will take at least 2 days to get here.  The good news is that the diesel mechanic came out yesterday and diagnosed the problem and ordered the part.  The bad news is that we spent all day Monday waiting for Vince, a different mechanic, who assured us all day that he’d get to us before the end of the day and then never showed up.  The good news is that we have several lazy days to just hang out while we’re waiting.  That’s the lemonade.

Such is life RVing.  Things break.  In this case a valve on the air system that powers our air brakes, fills the air bags we ride on, and powers the jacks.  We packed up Monday morning, thwarted the Lord of Rig (Beanie), got him in his carrier and headed out the gate, only to realize that we were not aired up like we should be.  Our butt was literally dragging.  Luckily the Escapees had room for us to return to our site and settle in to find help. Turns out that there is a desiccant/dryer as part of the air system that needs maintenance every 2 years or so.  Oops, guess we missed that day at boot camp.  Apparently we got condensation in our air system and then it froze and split a brass valve.  It gets cold in the desert you know.  That’s the synapse part – we keep learning.

But, we like Carlsbad.  The people here in the park are great and have been helpful with advice and hugs.  The Carlsbad Cavern was amazing, and best of all, it was practically empty.  We wandered through like we owned the place, marveling at the formations.  It’s hard to capture the enormity in photos. 

The Great Room - total floor space equivalent to 14 football fields.

60 ft. tall stalagmite

We also toured a nice state park that is half botanic garden (for the Navigator) and half zoo (for me).  I like good zoos.  Maybe because I grew up going to the Milwaukee County Zoo, one of the best in the country.  Maybe because I believe that once we see live animals, we can better appreciate their counterparts in the wild that we don’t see, and hopefully that inspires us to consider them as we impact the world.  This Living Desert Zoo and Gardens is worth a visit.  Oh yeah, they did a good job with the plants also, in case you care.   http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/spd/livingdesertstatepark.html

Young bobcats acting like cats everywhere

Native female elk

Vulture sculpture at the zoo

Another Carlsbad attraction is the Flume.  A large, 100 year old aqueduct used to divert water from the Pecos River to farm land for irrigation.  It is an impressive edifice.

Back at the RV park the local animals were hanging out on the road.  In addition to the cattle we regularly see roadrunners and other birds.  

So here we are, still in Carlsbad.  The cats are content and the rig is warm.  Life is good.

Wichita Mountains

Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge is 60,000 acres of rocky hills and pristine prairie just over the border of Texas in OK.  In the early days (pre-white settlers) it was home to millions of bison, elk and lots of other wildlife.  Following a pattern seen across the west, the elk and bison were wiped out by hunters and the land was empty of large fauna.  Teddy Roosevelt came along and made a deal to bring bison from New York to repopulate the prairie.  Then came elk from Wyoming.  Someone else thought it would be nice to have some longhorn cattle so they came from Mexico.  Quite the diverse population, eh?  The bison re-population has been so successful that every year surplus are auctioned off, hopefully to find happy homes elsewhere.  You can read more here https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Wichita_Mountains/

We went to view the massive herds of bison and elk.  Below is our bison:   This lone male was happy to represent the species.  

Our bison herd

We also found longhorn cattle.  Again the lone representative.  No elk were spotted.  Actually, it makes me happy to know that the animals have enough room to disappear from our view.  I’ll take the ranger’s word for it that they are out there.

Our cattle herd

Prairie dogs however were abundant and very entertaining.  These communal tunnel dwellers chitter, chat and pop up like a game of Whack-A-Mole. 

We left Wichita Falls heading to Colorado City, TX and nice state park intending it to be a one-night stand on our way to Carlsbad, NM.  Beanie however had other ideas.  Despite our most diligent efforts, he disappeared under the slide as we got ready to go.  Time passed and finally it was best to concede that another night in the lovely state park was the best option.  We love Texas state parks and this one was virtually empty of other campers and a very nice stop over.  Yesterday we managed to foil the Lord of the Rig (Beanie) and made the drive to Carlsbad, NM.  We’re about 17 miles north of Carlsbad in a park owned and operated by the Escapees, an RV club we belong to.  We stayed here last year also and are planning 4 nights this time.  I wrote about it here:  http://chucklewagon.blogspot.com/2015/12/cocoon.html

The price is right, the WiFi is good, the site is very pleasant and the people lovely.  Today we head to Carlsbad Caverns.  Last year the elevator down 800 feet to the cave was broken so we contented ourselves with staying on the surface.  Word has it that it got fixed for President Obama’s visit earlier this year so we’re hoping to benefit.  Stay tuned!