MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

 Happy Holidays!

We hope this letter finds you and your friends and family enjoying the season in good health and enjoying all the seasonal festivities. We are doing well, still enjoying life here in Texas.

Kendra and the boys came down with Covid last year just a few days before Christmas, so our 2022 Christmas happened in January of this year….better late than never!  This January 14 photo seems like a long time ago and both boys have grown a lot since it was taken.  

We started the year off with a dose of real winter.  February brought us an ice storm like we have never seen before. While the icicles hanging from fences and bird feeders were very decorative, the weight caused a lot of damage to some of our largest trees. Following the storm we had to deal with the cleanup of huge broken limbs and in some cases, whole trees that simply snapped and fell.  Mother Nature is always providing us with “opportunities”. I wish she’d stop with the opportunities! The storm did give us an appreciation for the normally mild winters we typically have. 

The storm cleared out just in time for a planned trip, to California to visit family, and then to Arizona for a reunion with friends we hadn’t seen for a several years. We spent several days in Long Beach, visiting Steve’s mother 

at the assisted living center where she lived, and several of our siblings who also live in Long Beach. We took our time as we traveled, staying in several state parks and enjoying some beautiful spring scenery. 

Our big project in May was the installation of an above-ground pool at Kendra’s house. The boys eagerly awaited the day it would be filled up, and wasted no time jumping in as soon as they could. It kept them busy most of the summer. 

In August we took the boys to a Jurassic World Live performance.  They love the movies, and Raylan (now 10 years old) is our special expert on dinosaurs, so they really enjoyed the pre-show opportunity to see some of the “performers” like this animated triceratops, and get close to some of the props like the Jeep featured in the performance. Jaxen (now 12 years old), the mechanical one, seemed especially fascinated by the movement of sets and the mechanics of the dinosaurs. The show had something for everyone!

Unfortunately Kendra’s health took a real hit this year, beginning in late March with a broken ankle. Other issues followed, resulting in a combined total of about 10 weeks in the hospital between March and September.  

She’s finally back on track, feeling much better, and was able to don her Dia De Los Muertos costume and join the boys for Halloween festivities.   

Steve’s mom passed away in early November, just 4 days after her 95th birthday.  We were so glad we had been able to spend time with her during our spring visit.  She had been in hospice care for quite some time, so it wasn’t unexpected, but we still miss our daily afternoon phone calls with her. She had a good life, and always had a positive attitude and loved keeping up with all the relatives and college football, especially the Ducks! 

The last (but certainly not the least!) noteworthy event of the year was December 8, when we celebrated our 50th anniversary!  An easy accomplishment when you marry your best friend!

We’re looking forward to 2024, with new projects, better health for Kendra, and hopefully a little traveling.  We hope the New Year has good things in store for you too! 

Merry Christmas, from us, and our Elves!

Back in the The Republic/Trip Summary

March 8, 2023

Our first night back in Texas was at a somewhat unusual, for us anyway, RV park right near the freeway. Saddleback RV Park, Truck stop and Steakhouse is the ultimate package deal!  

We usually try to get as far away from a freeway as we can, but there aren't a lot of choices in Balmorhea, and after the high prices we'd seen elsewhere for bare dirt with thorns everywhere we were quite happy to see well groomed sites (meaning few if any thorns and stickers) for only $20. All pull-through, with utilities. About half the sites, those closest to the front of the park, have nice cactus plantings in the spaces between the generously sized sites. I suspect these are the original sites, with the others put in later. Yes, there's no grass, but this is West Texas, nobody has any grass! especially with the drought conditions we've had the last few years. Perhaps the rain gods will bless us with some of that wet stuff this year. 

If you're in the mood for a steak for dinner, the restaurant is a stone's throw away, and so are the fuel pumps. I must have slept really soundly as I didn't hear any trucks during the night. 

Early the next morning we pulled out for the last leg of this trip. Next stop:

South Llano River State Park. This is one of our favorite Texas parks, especially for the first and last nights out, as it's only about two hours from the house.  

We had reservations for our favorite site, #19. It's fairly private on the back side and easy to take the dogs for a walk with no complications. The sites have shaded picnic tables and fire rings, and are really spacious, with native vegetation in between most of them. 

This park is particularly focused on the wild turkeys and has an area where they roost that is closed at times to protect them from disturbances. Those times are posted in the park office and on signboards near the trails.  The bridge entering the park is under construction at the moment, as it was damaged during recent flooding, and it looks like they're building a new visitor center too. Something to explore on our next visit!

Birdwatching is popular here, and there are bird blinds available to shelter photographers who are patient enough to sit and wait for the perfect shot. I'm happy to watch from camp, as they flit through the trees around us and sing back and forth from their perches up in the tree tops. 

Here's a post on the first time we stayed here, when we first moved to Texas. It was also in the spring, but there was more wildlife than we've seen this time. 

We thought we had a neighbor camper who was practicing bird calls as the songs seemed a little more frequent than usual, but upon meeting said campers we discovered it was their parrots! Two of them, and they were doing a fantastic job of imitating the Cardinals that are native to this area. I hope they didn't leave the local feathered residents too confused!

We'll be home by this afternoon, and then the unpacking begins!

Summary:  We were on the road for 28 days and traveled 3039 miles.  Total cost (not including food as we eat when we are home!) $2105.  Camping fees: $650 and Fuel:$1504 This averaged out to $77.00 a day.  The daily average was affected by staying at our friends in Fountain Valley for 5 days.  I shopped for the best deals on fuel and paid an average of $4.22 a gallon for diesel and averaged about 9 mpg pulling the trailer.  

Comparing to our travels in 2017 we averaged $43.00 a day.  Fuel prices are up from then and State Parks are about the same.  The big difference was in private campgrounds which were usually around $50 a night currently.

RV touring has changed considerably since covid.  Fuel prices are up and campground fees are up.  The biggest change was the need to make reservation for nightly spots.  I made reservations for this trip starting in September 2022.  It is frustrating as it removes flexibility while traveling.   

Rockhound State Park

 Rockhound State Park, near Demming New Mexico, has been a favorite stopping point for us since our first visit. 

Approaching the park from the southwest Demming (Stirup Rd SE) it appears as a few scattered bright spots gathered against the base of the Little Florida mountains. Those bright spots are reflections off the RVs in this small and very special campground Once settled in a campsite, you have a grand view of the valley below, sheltered by the Little Florida Mountain peaks that surround you. The location offers not only amazing view of the valley during the day, but some of the beautiful sunsets New Mexico is known for. 

This park is a small oasis of cacti, yucca, wildflowers and multiple bird species, not to mention the rodents and reptiles one doesn't often see, but are documented here. 

The park is unusual in that visitors are actually encouraged to gather a few mineral samples while visiting. In the past there was a limit of several pounds, which was abused by commercial dealers, so now the limit is much smaller. 

A small visitor center at the entrance to the park has great visuals and descriptions of local wildflowers and wildlife, as well as the geologic history of the area. We were lucky in the timiing of our visit, the Mexian Gold Poppies were just beginning to bloom and really brightened up the slopes of the mountains. 

State geologic groups have donated some amazing mineral samples on display in the visitor center, and there are samples for sale too, for those who don't want to roam the hillsides looking for something to take home as a souvenir. Rock shops in Demming offer additional opportunties to "collect" samples from the area.

A botanical trail meanders around the north side of the campground and makes it easy to enjoy the several types of prickly pear, barrel and cholla cactus. Any time after early March will probably offer wildflowers, and the birds are always singing. My Merlin app identified 6 different birds in a 90 second recording. 

A smaller day-use-only park, Spring Canyon, is also available to explore - admission to that is included with your entrance to Rock Hound park. We haven't explored that park yet, so it's on the list for our next visit. 

For those interested in more of the geology of the area, The New Mexico Department of Geology and Mineral Resources has posted a Geologic Tour for several areas, the tour for Rockhound State Park is here. In short, the area is basically volcanic in origin, that translates to a lot of granite as well as the minerals that make up granite. The cactus love the decomposed granite soil, and are some of the healthiest I have seen. Over time water trickling through the layers of mineral deposits has created geodes, lots of geodes! The visitor center has some lovely ones on display as well as excellent information on how they are formed. If you know what to look for while you are hiking the trails you may find one to take home!

The evening views are worth waiting for.

Kartchner Caverns State Park

 March 3-6

Home for the next few nights is Kartchner Caverns State Park. 

We planned several nights at this stop, a chance to really settle and relax, we hoped. Unfortunately Steve developed a dental problem and had to seek out a dentist, on a Friday! It seems none of the dentists work on Friday, however, the Chiricahua Community Health Center came to the rescue. A quick trip to town and he came back to camp with the problem solved. 

While he was in town the pups and I did a bit of exploring on the trail nearest our site. The trails here are really nicely laid out, with the edges defined with stone (to discourage wandering off the trail) and in most places dressed with decomposed granite which makes for smooth walking. I don't know who appreciated that more, me or the dogs. 

Some of the trails have a few informational signs and benches placed at strategic locations, and we found one of those where the trail crossed a small creek. The creek made very picturesque site, but the campground host said the creek is usually dry and only running now due to the recent rain. 

The park visitor center (Discovery Center) features displays and videos with information about the discovery of the cavern, how it was formed, and aftifacts related to the history of the area. It's also where you meet the tram which will take you up to the entrance for your cave tour. There are several tours you can sign up for on the park website. Reservations during peak seasons are recommended as the numbers of visitors that can be handled is limited. Photography in the cavern is not permitted unless you are on one of the tours organized especially for photography. 

A glance at the surrounding hills shows the interesting profile of the many limestone layers, sculpted by erosion. It is spaces within these layers that forms caverns of this type. The Science of the Caverns explains the details of this process. The site also includes information on the bat population, and ongoing research on the cavern rooms. The bats are an important part of this park, and great care is taken not to disturbe the population that calls the caverns home.

There are several loops with RV spaces and a few cabins for rent. Overall the camp sites are quite spacious. There are also several shaded picnic areas around the park for use by campers as well as day-use visitors. 

As our visit is in early spring the trees haven't leafed out yet, and the grass is still dormant, but the variety of plants on display in the Hummingbird Garden Walk around the Discovery Center demonstrate the potential and I know spring and summer are absolutely beautiful here. 

And the sunsets aren't too bad either!

There's a nice overview of the park in this video which is available on the park website.  

A Quick Change of Plans

 February 28, and a quick change of plans. (This post is out of order.... I discovered I'd missed it!) We'd been trying to meet up with a couple we knew from our time in Oregon and there had been scheduling conflicts, but we finally hit on a date we could all be in the same place at the same time. It's tricky when you are all traveling in different directions!

The plan required us to find a spot in Arizona for one night and we didn't have reservations, which is risky these days, so we decided to try out one of the boondocking areas in Quartzite. This particular area is known as the "Hi Jolly" camping area, named for the man who came to the United States in 1856 to assist the U.S. Army in developing their Camel Corp. 

 We love the wide open desert, and this loosly organized area fit the bill. The dogs loved it too as there was less need to be on a leash all the time.  

Some of the campers in this area stay for quite awhile, up to two weeks, and mark their areas if they have to leave by leaving a chair or other piece of equipment and creating stone boundry markers. Other people just like playing with rocks! At any rate, this solution worked well for us this time, and the scenery was great!

We met our friends for lunch at a nearby casino and had a great time catching up. 

Picacho Peak State Park, Arizona

March 1-2

Picacho Peak State Park is beautiful in the spring, and attracts a lot of visitors during the wildflower season. We saw a steady stream of day visitors coming through the park entrance to hike and photograph the early flower display. Reservations are definately recommended!

The Spanish word "Picacho" translates to "peak", so, the name in English would be "Peak Peak". 

This area is puncuated here and there with volcanic formations, which form a deep pass, a sharp ridge, and a broad, open valley. 

The pass formed in this rocky ridge is noted for being the site of the only Civil War battle fought in Arizona. . . the Battle of Picacho Pass. 

The battle was a small, fairly minor engagement, resulting in the deaths of 11 men. The Confederacy claimed victory as they killed Lt. James Barrett who was in command of the 1st California Cavalry. 

Fifteen years before this battle the Mormon Battallion passed this way, heading for California. 

Another monument has been erected honoring this group, as it was the first group to fly the United States flag in Tuscon. 

Monuments to this event, and other items of interest, are displayed on Monument Loop, near the entrance to the park.

Our campsite was on Loop B, which offers spacious sites and beautiful views of the surrounding desert all the way around. 

We settled in for the night, expecting it to be chilly, and were a bit surprised in the morning to find it had snowed! The peaks all around us were decorated with a thin coat of snow, most of which melted off by noon. In the photo below Picacho Peak is actually almost hidden by a cloud, behind the closer, and shorter peak that is more visible. 

Morning surprise! Snow on Picacho Peak

Once things had thawed out we headed in to the north side of Tuscon for a bit of stocking up before we move out to our next campsite, Kartchner Caverns.

With all the purchases stowed the pups and I decided another hike was in order. 

There are several well maintained trails in the park, this one leads paralell to the main road for quite a distance, and gave us really nice views of the wildflowers and surrounding mountains. Picacho Peak is center in the distance in this photo. It's double, sharp peak is very distinctive from some angles.

One of the best features of this Sonoran Desert landscape is the dramatic sunsets and sunrises, made even better by the striking sillhouetts of the saguaro cactus. 

I never tire of their quirky shapes.

White Tank Mountain Petroglyphs

 We didn't realize it when we made the reservations for the park, but after we arrived we learned there are several petroglyphs located here. Collecting photos of the rock art is one of our hobbies, so before we left we made time to hike the most target rich trails. 

The glyphs here are the type that are often called entoptic. These are seemingly random "doodles", unrelated images that are inspired by visions, or meditations, of the person who was responsible for the petroglyph. They are thought to be related in many cases to the coming of age tradition of a "vision quest". In many tribes an individual set out alone for a period of time to survive on their own and meditate on their place in the tribe and family and their future. Each culture approached this differently, but often they spent much of their time in areas where water was available, both because this was a necessity for survival, and because the presence of water evoked a connection to higher powers. 

Here is a small sampling of what the area has to offer. We didn't thoroughly explore the area due to time restraints and crowded trail. Park rules also require staying behind the railings, so it's difficult to photograph some of the smaller glyphs. I suggest clicking on each photo and opening it up individually to see the detail. Or, open the album link (which has more photos) at the bottom of the page and view the photos in a larger format that way. 

Petroglyphs album

White Tank Mountain Regional Park

White Tank Mountain Park, near Waddell, Arizona, is to be our home while we're here in Arizona visiting friends we haven't seen for several years. It's a "mini reunion", and lots to catch up on. 

Our site is in the Family Campground, one of many small groupings of campsites distributed along a winding road through some of the most beautiful Sonoran desert we've seen. 

The cactus and shrubs are beautiful, even though the area has been short on rain fall for quite awhile, and the birds are plentiful. Some of them have the strangest voice! I'm hoping the visitor center will provide names for them. They're rather bashful so I haven't been able to get a photo yet. 

Shall we dance?

There is a network of trails throughout the park, all clearly labeled on the park map, and ranked according to difficulty. The signage leading hikers to the trails and intersections along the way is clear and the map in the brochure exactly matches the Google map, so there's no confusion. That's probably the first time I've seen that happen! 

There's a brief description of the human history of the area here. And the White Tank Mountain Conservancy has more detail on the history on their website. 

Considering the numbers of birds happily singing their spring songs around our site, many of those birds new to me, I thought this would be a good time to try out the Merlin app I had downloaded a few months ago. It's a product of the Cornell Lab, and I've used some of their online resources before with good results.

The app, how it works and how to get it, are here. It took me a little while to figure it out and get my Cornell account set up, and then I went to work recording and trying to identify one of the really strange, gravelly calls I had heard frequently. Bingo! It's a cactus wren. 

Immediately after I played the third recording the system had offered as a possible match to my sample one of the wrens swooped in, landed on our retracted flag pole and started calling back to the electronic voice he had heard. I felt really bad that I had to disappoint him (or her?) but there was an answer from across the campground loop so I hope they met up. 

There are multiple ways to identify birds using the app, so I think I'll get a lot of use out of it after little more practice. 

There is a wide variety of wildlife in the park, and each has its own preferred "hours of operation". It wasn't until evening, coming home from one of the gatherings in town, that we saw a pair of coyotes near the road. They are smaller than those is some areas. These two had gray-tan coloring, and looked quite healthy, and calm, as they know they are safe within the park. Several times during the night we heard them singing. There seem to be several of them around the area, including several young ones that are still learning all the notes. Their presence probably accounts for the fact that we haven't seen many rabbits, chipmunks or other types of rodents.

We've had a good time here, walking the trails in the morning and then going in to Glendale to visit friends from the "old days" when we lived in Orange County, CA. Lots of stories to be told and things to catch up on.  We'll be leaving Monday for Indio, CA. to visit family. Our trail hikes led us to an area thick with ancient petroglyphs....see the next post for photos of those. 

The Old Timers Club

The Arizona and New Mexico album is here

 

New Mexico and Arizona stops

Our first two days on the road went well, but the skies started to darken with heavy clouds and the wind picked up, and we started keeping a close eye on the weather. Our next planned stop - Silver City, New Mexico. 

By Sunday afternoon we were settling ourselves in to a spacious pull-through site at the Rose Valley RV Ranch, in Silver City. Now, this place has character! and very few stickers for the dogs to get tangled up with! Spacious sites and rustic but effective farm/ranch themed landscaping provide a reasonable amount of privacy, and windbreaks, and considering the weather they were appreciated. 

There are also a well maintained dog/hiking trail and a couple of small dog parks. 

The trail has great views of the surrounding terraine and the vegitation is very attractive. Even though it's still winter the evergreed cactus and junipers provide a nice contrast to all the golden grasses. 

Our main purpose for being in Silver City is to take a close look at some RV models that we don't have access to at home, so that's first on the agenda in the morning.  Entertainment for the evening is the Superbowl! We're keeping an eye on the weather, as it's cold and windy now, but forcasts are calling for increasingly high winds and some snow. 

We had intended to stay in Silver City for two nights but Monday morning we reviewed the updated forcasts and decided an early departure was a good idea. We made a quick trip to Lowry's RV sales and toured several models we were interested in then headed back to camp, packed up quickly and headed down the hill. We were attempting to get to I-10, but when we arrived at the intersection at Lordsburg we learned that a large section of I-10 had been closed all the way to Willcox in AZ due to high winds, blowing sand and multiple accidents. We had passed two ambulances on our way to Lordsburg, so apparently there were several injuries. Traffic was being redirected to hwy. 70, which took us back through Lordsburg, through narrow streets in the older town. 

Cutting around on the narrow roads took us on an interesting trek along with more long-haul trucks than you can imagine. We don't realize how many there are on the roads until they all get gathered up, waiting for the roads to open. Since we left Silver City a day early we didn't have reservations anywhere else, but the Trail Master always has a backup planned,"just in case".  We were running pretty late, but tried for a last minute spot in Roper Lake State Park, where we had reservations for the following night. No such luck, the car right in front of us grabbed the last vacancy. So, we turned around, went back to town and managed to get a night at the Graham County fairgrounds in Safford, AZ. We had the very last space in their RV area. Most fairgrounds rent facilities for RVs as the people who show horses and other livestock usually like to stay overnight so they can care for the animals. There wasn't a lot of livestock in residence at the time, just a few horses being boarded, but the dogs enjoyed sniffing out previous occupants and walking along the stalls and race track.

The surrounding hills and storm clouds were beautiful, and they were dusted with snow by morning. We were grateful to have survived the wind with no accidents. The fairgrounds was only a few miles away from our next reservation, Roper Lake State Park. 

Tuesday - We arrived at Roper Lake State Park mid-day. The sites are fairly large with natural vegetation between spaces to help privacy and to encourage wild life.

The weather was cold, but setting is so pretty we were sorry to have to close the door, as it blocked our view of the snowy mountains in the distance.  Wait! didn't we make a storm window for the screen door? There is was, the large sheets of plexiglass were safely stored behind the sofa. We hadn't used it for so long we'd almost forgotten it, and how to install it, but it only took a screwdriver and a few minutes. Now, no cold wind and lots of light along with a great view! After getting settled in we headed back into Safford for our Valentine's Day dinner at Casa Mañana, highly recommended by the park staff. 

The park is centered on a nice little lake and is noted for fishing and birdwatching, but the many hiking trails are an outstanding feature too. There are short trails in and around the rv area, and other more challenging trails that take hikers to the mesa top and out into open desert. 

The chilly temperatures and high winds continued, but the area is beautiul, so we made the decission to cancel the reservations we made at another park for two following nights and stay at Roper Lake. The decision did require us to move to another site, but that's not a problem. Once that was done the dogs and I took off to explore one of the longer trails, up Mariah Mesa. The views are amazing, and so was the wind blowing down from the snowy peaks in the distance. By the halfway point my eyes were watering so much from the wind I could hardly see where I was going. It was worth it though, and the trails are beautifully maintained and lined with small boulders of a variety of native stone. 

There are also signs along the way identifying several of the more common shrubs and trees, and information sign at the top of the mesa with information about the views.  We tried out another branch of the trail the next day, and thankfully the wind had settled down, and the temperature warmed up. For those who are interested in the native desert vegitation, the attention given to the plantings in the camping areas and along the trails is to be appreciated. The cactus and native trees are all carefully groomed and the grounds are immaculate. 

This is a beautiful park, offering fishing, birding, hiking, great photography opportunities, and swimming during most seasons. The sites are generous and many connect to the hiking trails, the restrooms are very nice, and there are covered shelters for picnicking near the water for day use groups to enjoy. 

View from the top of Mariah Mesa

You can view the rest of the photos in the The Arizona and New Mexico album. here

California or Bust!

We're headed to California to see a few friends and family, and we're pacing ourselves. Nothing like several long days of driving to wear out your enthusiasm, and the dogs don't think much of it either, so we have several stops along the way. These first two days will be focused on getting to the night's destination, all places we've been several times before, so not much in the way of photographic evidence. 

Friday, Feb. 10, we left after breakfast and had a leisurly drive to one of our favorite stops, South Llano River State Park. It's a really nice, clean park, and one of the few places we've ever seen an armadillo. This time we saw a really cute little armadillo on the way into the park, but none after that. They are so tame here that they just look calmy at you with their little tiny eyes if you approach. We like to make the first day's drive short, to sort of shake-down the rig and be sure there are no issues we have to deal with. 

Saturday night we stopped in Van Horn at the Van Horn RV Park (clever name!) It's not bad, though for the money we might expect more. The best feature is that it's not right by the railroad tracks or the freeway. For those with pets, beware! The area has sharp burrs everywhere and it's impossible to walk a dog without having to stop multiple times to remove the painful burrs from their paws. 

Van Horn is a tiny little town in west Texas, not too many people have heard of it, but it has risen to fame recently as the Texas home for Jeff Besos's Blue Origin headquarters. The test site is about 25 miles from town, and several employees of the company have established themselves as members of the community.

I wasn't feeling very creative these first two days, just focused on enjoying the scenery, so sorry, no photos!, except for this one of sunrise in Van Horn. It typifies the wide open spaces of the west Texas plains. It remeinds me of scenes from one of the old John Wayne cowboy movies. 

It really does take  two days to get out of Texas from where we live, no matter which direction you are going. This is our last stop in the state on this leg of the trip.