Back Home and Watching It Snow!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

We were really hoping that Spring would come East with us, but not having power over the weather, we are now sitting in Maryland watching the snow pile up. At least we are not stuck in the rig and have a warm spot inside out daughter and son-in-law's home. We managed to stay behind the bad weather all the way east, after our close call in Texas.

Leaving the rest area outside of Lamesa, Texas, we set our sights for Arkansas. At the border we spent the night in the Texas Welcome area, a quick u-turn back into Texas in Texarkana. After a noisy night we drove straight across southern Arkansas on a state highway and on across Mississippi, staying the night at a Flying J truck stop. Another noisy night and the next day, after grabbing a hot breakfast at Huddle House, we drove on into Alabama, still on the state highway. At Birmingham we reluctantly drove on to the interstate heading toward Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Albany, Texas Artist Area

House in Albany, Texas

Courthouse on the town square

Dallas

Last Dose of Texas BBQ before going BBQ-free for a few weeks

Crossing the Mississippi

Pulling into a rest stop to eat lunch we parked next to a large Class A motorhome. They had the dashboard curtains drawn and their levelers out. Hmmm, guess they are taking a nap. We glanced around the rest stop and spotted a dump station and water! We decided, when they left a short time later and dumped, that maybe they were taking showers. One look at each other and we decided that we were overdue after nights of rest stops and truck stops. Our last rig shower, I am embarrassed to say was in the Gila Wilderness, many states away! (BTW, we do find other ways between showers to maintain our personal hygiene!).


We finished lunch, drew the shades, and enjoyed the last of our water taking showers in the rest area parking lot! A new experience for us. Then we dumped the tanks, refilled our water and drove back onto the interstate feeling refreshed!

North of Chattanooga we found a Love's Truck Stop and a reasonably quiet place to park. The next day, since we had three days left to get back to Maryland, we decided to slow down a bit. Northeast of Knoxville, we drove off the exit for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. First we had to drive through the tourist traps of Sevierville, Gatlinburg, and the continuous strip of development in between. Greg had to stop at the largest knife store in the world. He is now the proud owner of a pair of survivalist type pants, rip-stop fabric with lots of pockets, but khaki, not camo!

Mr. and Mrs Claus on vacation

We finally made it to Gatlinburg after passing endless hotels, restaurants, mini-golfs, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, the Titanic, an upside-down mansion, King Kong on the Empire State Building, Hillbilly shows, the entrance to Dollywood, and places to buy cheap souvenirs! Gatlinburg was only slightly less “kitschy”, but we drove on through it into the park. Ahhh, mountains, trees, and wilderness, and Spring Break! The visitor center was crowded, only three campgrounds open, roads still closed for the winter, and after a quick parking lot lunch, we decided to just make the drive over the mountain to North Carolina and move on.
We stopped at the top to see the view and fight the crowds and descended down the other side. By the time we reached Asheville, we made a last minute decision to drive off the interstate and stop late at a small campground. Not ideal, too expensive, but easy to get too, and the sun was setting soon. It had a beautiful setting along the French Broad River, but with interstates on three sides, and a rail trail down the center of the campground road, it was very noisy and busy. Might as well have stayed in a truck stop again, but we couldn't find one close by. We did have hook-ups so we enjoyed those.

Crossing Smoky Mtn National Park - Big Enough tunnels

No Cactus?

Haze over the Smokies on a relatively clear day

FDR stood here to dedicate the Park in 1940

Campsite on the French Broad River in Asheville

Beautiful location but lots of noise from the nearby interstates

Since we didn't get very far the day before, it was time for monotonous interstate driving the rest of the way home. I was determined to find a quiet spot to spend our last night before the hustle and bustle of the DC metro area. As we drove north on I-81 we found a small national forest campground not far off the highway called North River outside of Buchanan. We climbed up into the mountains, through the forests, along a tumbling trout stream. Near the Blue Ridge Parkway we found the 16 site campground. No one was there. We had it all to ourselves. Our selected site was along the beautiful rocky stream, whose sounds lulled us to sleep that night, as the stars peeked between the branches of the fir trees.

Stream rushing down from the Blue Ridge past our secluded camp

Okay, back on I-81 to I-66, and traffic, here we come. The sky grew overcast. Where were the 60 degree temperatures and the sunny skies that were predicted? The rain started as we approached Maryland. The spoiled nomads began to miss the sun and wide open spaces of the Southwest!

It's lovely to be back with family, and there is lots to do and catch up on before we start west again after Easter. We'll take a jaunt briefly south during this time, perhaps North Carolina, come back to settle on the sale of our condo, finally..., and enjoy Easter with the family. We will probably not post again until then as we concentrate on our time here. Once on the road west we will be starting our summer junket to Northern California, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and British Columbia. Can't wait!

Slowing Down behind the Storm and Mus musculus

Saturday, March 15, 2014


Thursday morning we made the decision to head east to Las Cruces and Alamogordo. The dilemma we face this time of year revolves around how far north we dare travel on the way back east, in order to stay away from bad weather. We really dislike interstates, and have been across I-10, the southerly route, several times already. I-10 out of El Paso is literally the only route east-west across west Texas.

We obsess over the Weatherbug app and the unreliable weather forecasts in the Southwest. After consulting the oracle, it looked safe to make the drive through Las Cruces, to Alamagordo and over the Sacramento Mountains, and approach Texas that way.

First we took our time stowing and leaving City of Rocks. Greg had a hankering for a green chili cheeseburger before we left New Mexico, so we drove south into Deming to The Patio, scene of his birthday lunch last November, after the big snow. The Patio is small, crowded and disorganized, but the young waitresses seem to be trying their best, and the burgers are worth the wait.

Nestled among the warm rocks

After lunch we drove the stretch from Deming to Las Cruces on I-10. At Las Cruces we drove east over the Organ Mountains and into the Tularosa Valley and the White Sands Missle Range. The dust that blew through City of Rocks and Deming, was also obscuring the views in the valley and we didn't see the Sacramento Mountains until we were quite close. We passed White Sands National Monument, but decided to pass on the eight mile drive back in to see them. We were there twelve years ago, and it's kind of a one visit place.

Dunes of Gypsum Sand

On the far side of Alamogordo and part way up the foothills of the mountains we found Mountain Breeze Campground. It was small with some permanent residents. Surprisingly, the website looked a lot better than the campground. It is often the other way around! It was close to the highway and a bit noisy, but it had water, electric and a dump station, and we didn't want to get into a national forest campground high up in the cold mountains. Besides, most were still closed. The owner took a $20 bill for the site, no tax, no receipt, and we settled in.

We stayed up too late watching local TV, and Greg posted the two blogposts that we had been waiting for enough bandwidth to post. Early in the morning we were awakened to sounds in the rig that sounded like dripping water, sort of... The previous morning we had a small leak in the shower from the knobs not being turned off properly after our Gila Wilderness showers. The longer we listened the more we became convinced that the sounds were coming from the IKEA storage ottoman that Greg installed in place of the little, uncomfortable sofa. Greg laid down on the floor, looked under it and said, “Oh, ****, I saw a tail!” He poked under it, a mouse scrambled out, raced around the floor, and we shooed it towards the open door. It took a right turn at the last minute and found a hole to get under the kitchen cabinets. That space leads to all the areas in the back of the rig, the cabinets and all the underneath storage areas. Great! The next step was going to be to double bag some of the food on top of the refrigerator, and get some mouse traps!

Beginning the 14-mile climb into the Sacramento Mountains

 Driving away from the campground with our little stowaway, we climbed steeply into the Sacramento Mountains and the ponderosa pines. At over 8'000' we found cold temperatures and snow on the ground. The road to the campgrounds was closed and still had snow on it. The trip down the east side of the mountains took much longer as we lost 5'000' in elevation. At the base of the mountains, we came out on the arid desert again and drove some distance to Artesia and a Walmart. We found mousetraps and set a few in the rig.

Artesia put us back in oil country and the Permian Basin. The drive east to Hobbs was continuous oil wells on both sides of the road and stretching to the horizon. Shortly after Hobbs we entered Texas, this time on Route 180, instead of the interstate. The stretch of road across this part of Texas holds a few small towns and lots of flat land. This is cowboy country; pick-up trucks, and ranches. We drove into the small town of Lamesa and found free camping at the city park. They provided water and electric hook-ups and a dump station. Another RV had already arrived for the night. It was warm and pleasant alongside the disc (frisbee) golf course! But, it was also Friday night and we discovered that the road through the park was a cut-through to the other side of town, so there was a fair amount of noisy traffic. Oh, well, it was free!
The mouse had yet to make a sound since that morning. After going to bed we heard it somewhere in the kitchen cabinets, then later back under the ottoman. We expected to hear the snap of the trap during the night. By morning, there were no mousey sounds and the traps had not been touched! We decided maybe it had gone out foraging and hadn't come back. We stowed and left. So far no sign of it. Maybe it wanted a new life in Texas...

Oil Infrastructure everywhere in the Permian Basin

Free camping at the Lamesa city park

This morning the rain started as we continued east across Texas. During the morning we stayed behind the front and didn't get much rain, just dramatic clouds in front of us. As we drove through the few small towns, including Gail, Texas, the birthplace of the first producer of condensed milk in this country and founder of Borden foods, the rain started in earnest and we decided to look for a place to stop early, to give the storm a chance to move farther east. Heading for Albany and a city park campground there, the rain became heavy, and we pulled into a roadside rest area. After eating lunch and checking Weatherbug, we decided to just spend the night here where we had strong TV and data signals and a nice view of a large wind turbine array. The weather was getting worse, with severe thunderstorm warnings and possible golf-ball sized hail ahead of us. Texas allows overnighting in their rest areas. Already the one state trooper stopped by and the sheriff drove through and saluted, a cigarette dangling out of his mouth.

Catching up to the back of the cold front

Waiting out the storm at the Albany, TX rest area

Hopefully our stopping early will put us farther behind the cold front tomorrow as we drive the rest of the way across Texas and into southern Arkansas. Definitely not the usual tourist route, but one of the goals of our travels is to see new places and we love rambling around on the back roads!

Gila Cliff Dwellings and the Gila Wilderness

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Well, we've finally hit a lot of spots with no internet coverage, even with our MIFI hotspot and booster antenna. We've done pretty well this winter compared to last winter. Our booster has helped and I think that there has been an improvement in the cellular network, which is where we draw our internet connections. AT&T, which is my phone, seems to have less coverage, and Verizon, Greg's phone and the MIFI hotspot have better coverage. This posting and the previous one will finally be posted when we have a decent connection.

Tuesday morning, after a cold night below freezing, we woke to a dry, sunny day and prepared to see the cliff dwellings. Gila Cliff Dwellings is a very small park, with a tiny visitor center, which has an RV dump and water, and two very small Forest Service campgrounds with no facilities. They call it a destination park. People don't happen to drive by and stop in, or seek it out like the large popular parks. Anyone who arrives plans to be there and visit the dwellings. It is literally at the end of Highway 15, also known as Trail of the Mountain Spirits Scenic Byway. During Daylight Savings Time tours are given daily at 11 AM. Visitors are also allowed to tour on their own, in the caves, very different from the larger, more popular cliff dwellings. There is a half mile hike up 175' to the caves on the side of the cliff that contain the dwellings.

We hiked up along a flowing stream, then up the cliff, and joined Marty for his tour. Our guide is a volunteer who is retired military, who fulltimes in his 40' RV with his wife. They have been fulltiming for three years and spends months at a time volunteering at various parks. This is their second time at Gila. Marty spends his free time going through the museum records and teaching himself more about the history, geology, and anthropology of the area.

The babbling stream next to the trail

I don't think many people realize what all the government budget cuts have done to the state and federal park systems. Jobs that were previously filled by paid staff are now frequently filled by volunteers, who receive free hook-ups for their RV's and part time hours. I don't feel that the park systems have suffered, in fact every volunteer we've met has been committed to their job, and like Marty, has gone beyond the training they have received as interpreters. Other volunteers supervise campgrounds, work at visitor centers and do maintenance and trail restoration. I suppose you could make the argument that they are taking away jobs from younger people looking for careers with the park service. But, honestly, the money is not there to hire, and without the volunteers, these jobs wouldn't get done and, in many cases, the park would be shut down.
Back to our tour. The Gila dwellings are seven caves built by the ancient Puebloan peoples from 1276 to 1287. They moved on around 1300. There is speculation whether they located there because of drought, or left because of it. The rooms are built within the caves, and the park service has done a minimum amount of restoration, mostly to stabilize them. Unfortunately, they were heavily looted of their artifacts before archeologists were able to study the site. Marty took us through the dwellings and narrated the history that archaeologists have been able to determine. Since we only had a half dozen people on the tour, we were able to have a personalized, close-up look at the dwellings. What a difference from Mesa Verde, which is far grander in size, but crowded and regimented.

Cliff dwellings constructed in natural caves in volcanic conglomerate bedrock

View up the canyon from the Cliff Dwellings

Our guide, Marty

Campfire soot on cave roof

Ancient corn cobs

Local Resident

The babbling stream disappears underground abruptly a few hundred yards above the Gila

Gila River near Lower Scorpion camp

We spent over two hours looking at the ruins and meeting new people on the very narrow cliff side trail. The smaller site seemed to make it easy to get to know people, and the warming sun, which was angled perfectly to warm the caves in winter and keep them cool in summer, was pleasant. Finally, we hiked down and toured the small museum at the trailhead. Then we drove five miles back out Highway 15 to the Forest Service's campground named Forks. It was a small campground, but almost empty and we found a spot on the cliff overlooking the junction of the West Branch of the Gila River, and the main Gila River. Deciding to stay another night in the Gila Wilderness was easy. It was a beautiful, quiet spot.

West Branch of the Gila River floodplain

Looking down on the Gila River with Alum Mountain in the Background

View of the Gila from our camp

West Fork camp

Wow, after a day near 80 degrees, we had a night below freezing! With no TV, phone, or internet, we looked at a DVD movie, read, and were so tired that we went to bed early... again. I am a night owl, but..., not so easy some days!


When we reached the intersection with Route 35 we drove southeast on that instead of taking the rest of winding Highway 15 back to Silver City. Finally emerging at the flat lands of the Mimbres River valley, we made the decision to drive south towards Deming and back to City of Rocks State Park. Our records showed that we had internet connections there almost two months ago, and we really enjoyed our nights camping among the volcanic rock outcrops and large boulders. By the time we reached there, the wind was gusting up to 35 mph, and we soon discovered that our favorite site was on the wrong side of the rocks to break the wind. We drove around to the sunset side and found a new spot. The campground will be full tonight as Spring Break seems to have started. There is a muddy glow on the horizon as the sun sets due to all the dust blowing across the desert. We are relatively sheltered, but expect another cold night, probably in the 20's. From here we will decide our route back to Maryland since we are due there around the 21^st. Oh, and the blowing dust seems to be interfering with the MIFI signal and we still don't have enough bandwidth to post, especially photos. Guess we'll have to wait...