Sept 30 thru October 14
Spending two weeks with Jeanne
has been a nice visit and busy time. Sitting with Jeanne in Tulsa has given Pat
and Kristy time to visit Mandy and Seth in Vermont. With Jeanne, we shopped,
dined, toured, and spent some quality time at home too. We had some excitement
when two tornados passed us.
During our two weeks in Tulsa,
I read some enjoyable books on Oklahoma history, notable people places and
things, famous outlaws, Indian Territory, and Will Rogers. I visited the Will
Rogers Monument and Museum in Claremore and learned so much more about Will
Rogers. I also visited the impressive, hilltop Rogers State University campus, overlooking
Claremore. We made several trips to the Claremore Indian Hospital, so I took
advantage of the waiting-time by touring around Claremore. Jeanne has an Indian
card and qualifies for the Indian Hospital services, a valuable benefit for
her. The last two weeks have provided opportunity to add to our Tulsa and
Catoosa experience.
Upon Pat and Kristy’s return,
we had a good visit with them and enjoyed the pictures and narrative from their
Vermont-trip. Next, we head to Little Rock for a camp-out visit with Rose and
some get-togethers with cousins Rusty and Marian. We’re sure looking forward to
all that.
10-15/10-19 (Ride to Little
Rock and visiting with kin)
What a terrific visit in
Little Rock! Rose met us for a campout at Maumelle Park on the Arkansas River.
We played tourist, dined, shopped, and just spent some relaxing time visiting together.
It was great to have Rose hang-out with us at the Arkansas River camp. We also
enjoyed visits with our friends AND cousins Rusty and Marian. Rusty and Marian
are cousins AND “good friends” that we really enjoy visiting!
Our favorite outings were;
Maumelle Park on the Arkansas
River
Dinner with Rusty and Marian
(Rusty’s good cooking)
Lobster Dinner with Rusty and
Marian (Pay-back from last years lobster feast)
River Market
Downtown Trolley Tour
Pinnacle Mountain
Rattlesnake Ridge
Lots of lunches, riding around,
and hanging-out with Rusty
Friday, 10-19
We said goodbye to our
Arkansas cousins and headed to Dallas. We’re remembering the fun times we
enjoyed with Rose, Rusty, and Marian, at Little Rock.
In the Texarkla region, we
encountered a heavy rain storm. At Texarkana, we decided to take a site at the
St. Michael Dr, KOA, for a hunker-down night. It rained most of the night but
we had a good dinner and a comfortable night’s rest. The morning broke sunny,
clear, and cool, facilitating a good travel day. We had a nice blt-California
style breakfast and headed on to Dallas.
At Caddo Mills Texas, we took
a site at Dallas NE Campground, for a nice sunny afternoon and breezy evening. College
football was the main pursuit today!
Sunday, October 21, 2018
On Sunday, we moved just west
of Dallas, to Traders Village RV Park at Grand Prairie, Texas. Traders Village
is a giant open-air market with shopping, rides, food, entertainment, and
events. Pickers, Flea Market, and Mercado enthusiasts pack-in every weekend,
for bargains, eats and treats, thrill rides, and fun. If you like this stuff,
it’s worth the trip to Dallas!
(Monday) From Grand Prairie,
we drove into Dallas and took a guided tour. We covered all the attractions on
the mini-bus-tour,
Our “Welcome to Dallas Tour”
visited the following places:
Founders Plaza ••
Old Red Court House •• John Neely Bryan Cabin ••
JFK memorial •• Pioneer Plaza
(largest bronze collection in the world) And Convention Center •• Dallas City Hall (design by I.M. Pei) ••
Thanks-Giving Square •• First Baptist Dallas Fountain Plaza ••
Deep Ellum and Farmers Market
•• The Wilson Block (historic
neighborhood, Queen Anne/Victorian Style Houses) ••
The Art District (the largest in the world!) Loads of Museums and Performing Arts
(Symphony Center was stunning) •• Klyde
Warren Park •• The City of Highland Park (5th richest
suburb in USA, home to many celebrities)
••
Uptown the McKinney Avenue restaurant district ••
West End •• Dealey Plaza (JFK assassination Point) ••
American Airlines Center ( Home of the Mavericks) •• Reunion Tower •• State
Fairgrounds and Cotton Bowl •• ••
My favorite was the Romanesque
architecture of “Old Red Courthouse” (1892) in Dallas County. The workmanship
and craftmanship are exquisite, right down to every minute detail!
We had lunch downtown in the
old West End neighborhood. Dallas also offers a Trolley-tour with two-options
and it looked really alluring. They’re reasonably priced and give you more
flexibility for touring.
On Tuesday, we shopped IKEA,
had lunch at Grand Prairie, did some walking-around and sightseeing.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Heading out west to Carlsbad
New Mexico, we took US 180, from Weatherford to Snyder, a route that’s like
“turning back the clock”. This is an unfamiliar or new route for us, and we’re
really enjoying the scenery. Many of the towns are county seats and have grand
old courthouses. The ranches retain their historic buildings and every piece of
equipment ever owned, can be seen around the barns. This old route traverses
the headwaters of the Brazos River, which marks the boundary between East Texas
and West Texas. The route also passes through the Palo Pinto mountains,
northern part of the “hill country”. The mountains are tree-covered and had
nice Fall colors”.
Willa’s “hurricane rain” fell
on us the entire day, all the way. Immediately leaving the rain, we took a
campsite at the Snyder Coliseum RV lot. It was basketball night and I was
disappointed when they only met at the coliseum to travel to the away-game. No
basketball game for me!
Some notable towns along the
way:
Weatherford: Known for growing
great peaches, Weatherford is also the birthplace and was the home of Mary
Martin, a Broadway star, known for her portrayal of Peter Pan. Her son, Larry
Hagman, became a TV star, best known as J.R. Ewing on the television melodrama “Dallas”.
Cool: A cool little town
Mineral Wells: Known for its
famous mineral wells, the town boomed in the early 19th Century. The
abandoned Baker Hotel is stunning proof of the town’s lucrative past.
Palo Pinto: After Palo Pinto
County was created the town was built to become the county seat. It thrived
until the railroad bypassed it.
Caddo: Founded on an old Caddo
Indian campsite, the town prospered from oil discovery, now the oil boom is all
gone, but the old town reflects its former success.
Breckenridge: Lunch at Ernie’s
Spanish Kitchen was good. This was a major oil producer in the 1920’s and a
railroad town. The “boom” ended but left a historic record in its buildings and
main street.
Albany: Attractive county
courthouse. Famous for its annual Fort Griffin Fandangle musical.
Anson: A stunning Jones County
Courthouse and other historic buildings. Famous for its annual "Texas
Cowboys' Christmas Ball".
Roby: The current Roby
Courthouse is on the site of two former Courthouses. The town boomed with the
railroad and now has declined due to insufficient water.
Snyder: Snyder was a nefarious
“trading post/buffalo camp” before Scurry County was created. A statue of an
albino buffalo on the grounds of the Scurry County courthouse in Snyder pays
homage to the town's beginnings as a buffalo-trading post. Our campsite is at
the Scurry County Coliseum RV lot, next to the county’s collection of historic,
pioneer buildings. The coliseum is part of Western Texas College. The old town
had early railroad and oil success and now a diversified industrial economy makes
it less susceptible to cycles of boom and bust. The area also has a huge
windfarm.
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Today, a cloudy, cool day, but
no rain, so we plan to travel on to Carlsbad, New Mexico.
Some notable Texas towns along
this leg:
Union: A rustic arm center,
with a gin, store, and school
Gail: The Borden county town
and county are named for Gail Borden, Jr., the inventor of condensed milk. Near
Gail, we saw a large herd of Pronghorn.
Key: A Dawson County “ghost
town” of abandoned building and houses.
Los Ybanez: Smallest town in Texas
with a very strange west Texas story!
Lamesa: A picturesque
little town! Mainly a large ag center. Several large potash plants nearby. Also
has a large solar power array and a large wind farm.
Seminole: The county seat of
Gaines County and home to Plautdietsch-speaking "Russian" Mennonites.
They’re still around!
We crossed several West Texas
counties that are heavy industrial and oil services. At Lamesa, a huge, flat agricultural
expanse extends beyond the horizons, in all directions. Cotton, sorghum, hay,
wheat, cattle were most predominating.
We bid ado to Texas and Hello
to New Mexico.
Continuing west, we noticed
the steady rise in elevation. We took a campsite at Carlsbad Caverns National
Park, at 4,000-feet. From here in the Guadalupe Mountains, we have a panoramic
view of the Chihuahuan Desert and the sedimentary, Permian basin of SE New
Mexico and west Texas to the east. It’s good to be back out-west!
Friday, October 26, 2018
A clear, cool, sunny day, just
right for a visit to Carlsbad Caverns. After breakfast, we explored the Visitor
Center and then explored the cave system. The Visitor Center has an excellent
video presentation, very detailed diorama of the cave system, and some
excellent graphic displays. This got us oriented on cave routes, regulations
and safety, plus up-to-date on cave terminology.
We took the elevator down to
the 750-foot level and began the 1.3-mile self-guided tour route. The cave
system is an incomparable realm of gigantic, subterranean chambers, fantastic
cave formations, and extraordinary natural decorations. Ironically, I
remembered the intersection of the natural entrance and Big Room. It was 1953,
and I recalled the cold and darkness. (They momentarily killed the lights to
total darkness.) We were so glad that we
made this revisit to Carlsbad Caverns National Park!
Saturday, October 27, 2018
With a cool, clear morning and
riding on our minds, we left Carlsbad and headed on a route to Meteor Crater,
in Arizona. We planned a scenic route, we’ve never traveled, which zigzags
across New Mexico. After lunch at Artesia (3380 ft), we headed west across the
high desert plains, we then followed up the Rio Penasco River into the
Sacramento Mountains. After a steady climb from Artesia to Cloudcroft (8600
ft), we took a campsite at Sugarpine RV Park. Our night in Cloudcroft was cold
and the air was noticeably thin. The town was busy with their Halloween
festival and hunters (a popular outdoorsman area). This ride today was very
scenic on a historic route.
Sunday, October 28, 2018
Saturday’s ride from Artesia,
in the east to Cloudcroft, on the west Sacramento Mountains summit, was a
steady-climb from 3,000-ft to 8600-ft.
Surprise! Surprise! Immediately
leaving Cloudcroft, US 82 plunges down to the Chihuahuan Desert, White (gypsum)
Sands, and Alamogordo (4336-ft). Descending steep Mexican Canyon, offers
fantastic views and thrilling excitement.
We shopped Alamogordo, then
continued west, crossing the Organ Mountains at San Agustin Pass (5719-ft) and
down to lunch at Las Cruces. From there, we took NM 185 up the Rio Grande to Donna
Ana county’s Hatch, and a campsite at Hatch RV Park, right in town. Hatch is
the “Chile Pepper Capital of the World”. Thanks to irrigation from the Rio
Grande, numerous other crops are produced in the surrounding valley. It’s warm
but a nice evening for a stroll around Hatch! In the afternoon, we met the
camp-hosts and had a nice chat with them. They apologized for their poor
English and I apologized for my meager Spanish. After dark, she came over with
a batch of fresh, hot Chile Rellenos, and they were the “real thing”(and they
were chile-pepper-hot). A delightful gesture from the young camp-host couple!
Monday, October 29, 2018
After breakfast at Hatch, we
went north to Caballo, then took Mew Mexico Route 152 to Silver City. This took
all day but what a fantastic route! WE saw desert, ghost towns, Mimbres
Mountains, abandoned gold mines, rivers, deep canyons, high, narrow, one-lane
bridges, Emory Pass, spectacular rock formations, and the largest, most horrid,
pit- copper mine ever. With a surprising variety of tree species, over the
fluctuating elevations, we observed a smorgasbord of “Fall colors”.
Paved for its entire route, NM152
winds westward for some 75 miles, across the northern Chihuahuan Desert, the
Mimbres Mountains, the Mimbres River Valley and the Piños Altos Mountains
southern foothills. It ends at Santa Clara, at the eastern edge of the historic
area surrounding the quaint and charming community of Silver City. The drive
begins innocuously enough, with a straight segment passing occasional small
homes, ranches on a sagebrush prairie. About 10 miles into the journey, we
realized that our rig had been climbing and winding gently, but steadily
higher. At an elevation of some 5,000 feet, you come to the first of Highway
152’s “S curves”. Now you climb a steep treasure trove of S curves, with
panoramic views overlooking your tracks. We love our truck, the gear options
and our compression brake! It had hard pulls up and strong pushes down, but
effortlessly handled it all.
Our favorites were:
Hillsboro- This community was
founded in 1877, when gold was discovered in the Mimbres Mountains, at the
southern end of the Black Range.
Percha Creek, which flows
between rugged rock walls and the road follows.
Kingston (1882) Black Range
Silver mines and the Spit and Whittle Club
Gila National Forest
Emory Pass 1846 (8828-ft)
fantastic views
Descending down, along Iron
Creek was awesome, and our mountain-air “picnic lunch” near the Kneeling Nun
rock formation was pleasant.
Descending down, the ponderosa
pines of the higher country have given way to the pinon and juniper trees of
the mountain flanks. We were also amazed at the Mountain Mahogany, virtually
loaded with their feathery, spiral seeds.
10-30 Tuesday
Following shopping, a good
night at Silver City RV Park, breakfast and a hot latte at “Gila Beans”, we
resumed our travel west on US 180. A scenic drive, US 180 leads us further
along on our unexplored trail. This entire “new trail” for us has presented
lots of ancient Native American, Spanish, and early American settlement
history. We ended our day at Show Low, in the Bar K RV Park.
Some noteworthy encounters:
Gila: A quaint ranch community
with a tiny Post Office.
Gila River: A beautiful
tributary of the Colorado River, with deep canyons and radiant Fall colors in
the Cottonwoods and Willows. Ancient Cliff Dwellings
Cliff: a town with Stunning cliffs
Buckhorn: Old west with Post
Office and tavern.
Mogollon Mountains on east:
Home to the huge Gila National Forest with antient Native American and Spanish
history.
Peccary: We spotted several
groups of (Javelena or Skunk Pigs) in the mountain washes
San Francisco Mountains on west:
(Named by Hopi Mission Friars in 1629) Rugged peaks, deep canyons, and unnamed
gulches, enormously scenic and historic.
San Francisco River: This
river is a tributary of the Gila River and another very picturesque stream.
Pleasanton: Founded 1882 by Mormon
polygamist Jacob Hamblin who had 24 children. Must have been the water!
Skirting the Arizona line: We
could see lots of Arizona landmarks long before we crossed the line.
Glenwood: A ranch in 1878 and
a “silver and gold” rush in 1889. An old mining “catwalk” built along the rock
wall of Whitewater Canyon, remains a major attraction for thrill-seeking
hikers. The “volcanic” region yielded rich gold and silver deposits.
Alpine (8012-ft): Founded
1876, in beautiful Bush Valley, settled by Mormons.
Reserve: “Reserve” Ancestral Pueblo pottery type (black on white)
was named for the Reserve area, where it was first found.
Tularosa River: A scenic
tributary of the San Francisco River with picturesque cliffs, canyons, and huge,
colorful Cottonwood trees along the
riverbed.
Luna: In the 19th century Luna
was part of the extensive lands of Don Salomon Luna, and the valley was used
for sheep ranching. It briefly was an outlaw hide-away, but was settled by
Mormon ranchers in 1883 and subject to Chiricahua Apache attacks until the
surrender of Geronimo. The town was named after Don Salomon Luna. The post
office was opened in 1886
Viya con dios New Mexico and
Buenos dias Arizona!
Springerville: At 7000-ft,
they had 4 inches of snow a few days earlier. In a vast round valley, it was
named for Henry Springer’s 1876 trading post. The Springerville volcanic field
contains over 400 volcanoes within a 50-mile radius of Springerville, making it
the third largest volcanic field in the continental United States. Basalt piles
are visible for miles around and we saw huge cinder cones too. Both the Hopi
and Zuni people still consider Casa Malpais a
sacred ancestral place. The ancient people cut a steep basalt staircase, set
into a crevice of the high, red cliff wall, which leads to Casa Malpais, at the
top of the mesa.
Show Low: With an elevation of
6345-ft, Show Low just recently had a wet, heavy snow. The 1870 town got its
unusual name from cutting cards to settle a ranch ownership argument between
two partners. The Marion Clark challenge; If you can “show low”, you win! Corydon
E. Cooley turned up the deuce of clubs and said “show low it is”. As a tribute
to the legend, Show Low's main street is named "Deuce of Clubs".
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
After a night of thunder,
lightning, and rain, we departed Show Low and headed to Meteor Crater, west of
Winslow. We stopped for lunch at Holbrook and then drove to our campsite at
Meteor Crater.
At Holbrook, we were back on a
familiar track. The unfamiliar drive from Dallas, Texas to Holbrook, Arizona
over the past 8 days) was a real treat and loads of fun with terrific scenery,
natural wonders, and fascinating attractions.
We had lunch at Holbrook and
talked to some locals. It’s a sleepy little town, but county seat of Navajo
County, with a fine courthouse. Holbrook is right on Route 66 and has more
petrified wood than we have ever seen. The parks all have collections and Holbrook
has a large market selling all sizes of petrified wood. We saw huge, entire
petrified trees, from a prehistoric, a hard-to-imagine forest. We admired
snow-capped Humphreys Peak (12633-ft) (Arizona’s highest point), some
80 miles distance. We took a campsite at Meteor Crater Park, just west of
Winslow.
Thursday, November 1, 2018
From our base campsite at
Meteor Crater, we visited the crater. The Visitor Center is an interesting and
educational complex, with theater, museum, crater overlook, and great views of
the surrounding Colorado Plateau. The massive meteorite impact crater occurred
50,000 years ago and remains an incredible site. We enjoyed the open country,
beautiful sunsets, and cool, clear, starry nights.
From the rim observation
platforms, we could see Arizona’s Humphreys Peak (12633-ft), Arizona’s highest
point, at 70 miles to the northwest. We could also observe traffic, crossing
the plateau, on I-40. Remarkably, we could literally watch an 18-wheeler for
one-hour, in traversing the flat plateau. That’s a lot of real estate! The
desert is wide-open, with no discernable structures. One of the most
geologically intriguing features of the Colorado Plateau is its remarkable
stability. Relatively little rock deformation such as faulting and folding has
affected this flat, high desert. Today was cool, but sunny. Curiously, we were
comfortable in the sun but too cool in the shade. The Meteor Crater National
Landmark is a fascinating place and we recommend it for a visit!
11-2-18 Friday
Our next stop is Flagstaff for
a campsite at Flagstaff KOA, and some Fall shopping and touring. After lunch,
we did a walking tour and shopping spree in downtown Flagstaff. We visited the
old railroad depot visitor center, right on Route 66, for some local info. Flagstaff
is a “history book brought to life”, with buildings, ruins, and roads that tell
the stories of Flagstaff’s past. We admired some of the old hotel lobbies,
railroad artifacts, Coconino County Courthouse, and numerous landmarks. Nestled
at 7000-ft, at the base of the San Francisco Peaks, Flagstaff rewards us with
clear air, cool Ponderosa Pine forests, and stunning historic and natural
attractions. Great afternoon and evening!
Saturday, November 3, 2018
This morning, we made Chile
Rellenos with some of our “Hatch peppers”. Terry used a “casserole recipe” and
it came out very enticing and delicious.
Next, we cruised out to Walnut
Canyon for some hiking and sightseeing. The canyon is a natural wonder, with its
colorful layers of Kaibab limestone, resting on Coconino sandstone, with
Arizona Black Walnut trees, in golden Fall color, on the canyon floor. The
numerous cliff dwellings, perched high, under the overhanging cliffs, made us
wonder how often an ancient Sinagua resident fell, with certain, fatal
consequences. After several previous sojourns to Flagstaff, we’re glad we
visited Walnut Canyon National Monument.
Sunday 11-4
On a fine Fall day in
Flagstaff, we toured the Coconino National Forest Loop and visited Sunset
Crater Volcano National Monument and Wupatki Pueblo National Monument. Back in
Flagstaff, we celebrated Terry’s birthday with a delicious dinner at Pato Thai
Restaurant.
Sunset Crater, part of the
4-thousand square-mile, San Francisco Peaks Volcanic field, was an awesome
exhibit of lava, cinders cones, and a Ponderosa Pine forest. We enjoyed the
Visitor Center, overlooks and pullouts, in the peculiar lava fields.
At Wupatki, the Visitor Center
offered a video, garden, and lots of artifacts depicting the lives of the
ancient pueblo dwellers. We walked the trails and admired the pueblos. These
pueblos, constructed in the “red rocks” area, are very different from the
Walnut Canyon cliff dwellings. The masonry pueblos, built high on the red
rocks, were advertising their presence and willingness to trade. Archeologists
have determined that they were very successful farmers and traded with other
great-distance groups. Their descendants, the Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo people
still remain in the area. We had a marvelous day at these National Monuments.
After an early Sunday-evening
birthday dinner for Terry, we walked around downtown Flagstaff and then took a
tour of the Northern Arizona University campus. Tomorrow we head down to Camp
Verde.
Monday, November 5, 2018
If it’s a little too cool in
Flagstaff, Verde Valley, just 60 miles south is much warmer. So, we headed
south to Camp Verde, and descended from 7000-feet to under 4-thousand. We took
a campsite at Rancho Verde Resort, an attractive spot in the Verde River
Valley. In the late afternoon, we visited Montezuma Castle National Monument,
an ancient Sinagua cliff dwelling, on Beaver Creek. This five-story dwelling,
under a white-sandstone cliff recess, about 100-feet above the creek, is the
most impressive cliff-dwelling we have seen. The valley, along the creek is
shaded by huge Sycamore and Walnut trees. We were glad we went to the site.
Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018
With an early start, we left
Daisy in charge of the campsite, and headed out on a loop-route to visit Montezuma
Well, Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, and Cottonwood. This area is the stunning
red-rock country, one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Montezuma Well, a gigantic,
deep, limestone sink, formed ages ago, is continuously fed by underground, flowing
springs. This is also a cliff-dwelling site and the outflow water was used to
irrigate the prehistoric farming plots, of the ancient Sinagua fields. The
canal ruminants are still flowing with the cool, clear water. We also saw the curious
red-winged grasshopper. The Montezuma Well National Monument is a very
impressive antiquity!
Sedona is surrounded with
towering red-rock formations, where the scenery will “take your breath away”.
We had lunch at Sedona then drove up to the vortex, for some great overlook
views.
Oak Creek Canyon, between Sedona and
Flagstaff, is a deep canyon, with high precipices and scenic, shady trees along
the creek bed. The Fall colors were stunning!
At Cottonwood, we explored the
old town and the historic buildings. We enjoyed the geological wonders, Native
American culture, and red rock scenery. The red-rock area of northern Arizona
is a spectacular place to see!
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Leaving Camp Verde and the
Verde Valley, we headed to Prescott and a campsite in the desert at Aguilar. We
had lots of ups, downs, and arounds, crossing the mountains, and we were amused
at our plastic water bottles crackling, with altitude changes.
Traveling from the Verde
Valley to Prescott, we crossed a high desert plain. The grass and plants were mostly
brown and dry, except for the green Creosote bushes and Cholla. Crossing the
mountains, we came to Dewey-Humboldt, an old gold mining settlement town in
Yavapai County. The mine tailings are presently being reprocessed into
iron-rich Ironite fertilizer. (Good luck with that!) They also had a successful
pioneer gristmill on the Agua Fria River.
Next, we entered Prescott
Valley and Prescott. The area was another rich gold strike on Lynx Creek. It’s
also another location of ancient Native American ruins. Now, it’s a busy town
with lots of everything. We shopped Safeway, then had lunch and headed
southwest.
What a surprise! Arizona 89
becomes a 39-mile rollercoaster and scrambler, all the way to Yarnell. It will
take you up to some elevations to 5900 feet, through some high desert,
twisties, along some high precipices, the Prescott National Forest and some
very pretty roadside scenery. At the Yarnell descent, the road is divided, with
the westbound on the high track and the eastbound below, on the same slope.
Sometimes we could catch a glimpse of the eastbound climb and it was way below
us on the same canyon wall. We are often reminded that; lower-elevation
mountain ranges often present the steepest, curviest, narrowest, scariest,
routes. Very exhilarating!
Making it down to Yarnell, we
talked to a local that had some interesting observations to share. The main
economy is ranching, mining, and retiree homeowners. On June 30, 2013, the
Yarnell Hill Fire destroyed half of the town and killed 19 firefighters. Quail
hunting and rattlesnakes are the main topic in November.
Crossing the desert to the
McMullen Valley and Aguila, we traversed an expansive, flat plain, with irrigated
agricultural fields to the horizons. Melons, vegetables, nuts, fruit, and hay
are the main crops. We took a campsite at Morenga Palms RV Park. Isolated, in
the desert, we were surprised to find a good company of “snowbirds”, passing
the winter here, in the desert. With the Harcuvar Mountains north and the
Harquahala Mountains to the south, we enjoyed a spectacular sunset.
November 8, 2018
Thursday morning broke calm,
clear, and sunny. We had a leisurely morning and then headed further west to
California. At the Colorado River, we crossed the river from Arizona to Blythe,
California and took a campsite at Mayflower Park, on the west bank of the
Colorado River. We had a nice afternoon and evening at Mayflower, a Riverside
County Park. The majority of campers were “snowbirds”, spending the winter at
the park. I joined them for an “ice cream social” and heard about some of their
winter plans. The majority of the snowbirds have been coming to Mayflower for
many winters. Blythe is an agricultural, industrial, and trucking center. The
campground is several miles upriver, bordered by vast, flat, irrigated
agricultural fields. The campground is gren grass, completely shaded by rows of
giant Eucalyptus trees.
Friday, November 9, 2018
At mid-morning, after
breakfast, walking and doing some maintenance, we headed west to the Coachella
Valley, La Quinta, and Lake Cahuilla Park. Approaching Chiriaco Summit, we
encountered high wind gusts from the prevailing Santa Ana winds. We had to slow
down for the next 50 miles, down to the Coachella Valley. With moderate winds
in the valley, we had lunch, then drove over to the park. After welcoming
greetings, updates, and mail, we setup on our winter site and spent the
remainder of the afternoon and evening on mail and computer updates. It’s good
to be back in southern California!
