Silver City into Arizona

5/15/11



We decided we were as far south as we wanted to go. Next we wanted to work our way west and north, possibly as far as the Grand Canyon. We headed west on NM-152, a scenic ride starting in desert and then ascending through the Mogollon mountain range.

At Hillsboro, we saw this tree filled with Turkey Vultures. I was careful to park well past and walk back quietly, ready to get the shot if they all flew away, but they seemed relaxed and didn't mind me getting as close as I liked.

Sue's eye had been bothering her, she thought she had a scratched cornea, she'd had one before. We wanted to get it looked at before we headed into less populated areas, so we found an urgent care in Silver City,
Unfortunately it was Sunday, and it didn't open till 1 PM - it was 10 AM. So, we explored Silver City.

This is the only house that remained after a flood washed their original main street down a canyon.

They have an old downtown which is picturesque…

beyond that not much to do on a Sunday.
We got to the urgent care when they opened, and got Sue checked out. They gave her some medicine, and some care advice. We finally got on the road around 3.
We drove into Arizona, stopping here and there - scenery was beautiful.
There was a state park near Show Low, AZ called Fool Hollow Lake - it turned out to be pretty nice, although in an odd setting. It was a public / private endeavor, so it was somewhat camping resort like - very nice facilities, nice sites.
Evidently when it was created, it was in the country, but the private part sold off all the surrounding land and put in subdivisions. Once we were in the park, it was pleasant, and had excellent showers - clean two days in a row!
It was windy and going down in the lower 40s, so we slept back in the bed of the truck. That's been working out well - we were using a pair of Thermarest 'Luxury' sleeping mats, which are very comfortable. Once we were situated each night, it was great. The only problem was moving everything out of the bed, into the cab of the truck or near the truck, otherwise there wasn't enough room for both of us to lie comfortably. I have some ideas for side storage bins, we'll see what I can work out.

Note: I'm posting travel logs from a trip that ended last week - more info below.

5/13/2011
Took a day to enjoy the surroundings. After driving 1500 miles in two days, we managed to keep it down to about 20.  Would have preferred not to drive at all, but we had to do a few errands.
After a leisurely breakfast, we did a little exploring. There is a state park right next to our campground, so we walked over there to check it out, and took a short hike up the hillside. We were still getting acclimated to altitude, and Sue has trouble with it, so we took it easy.
Last time I was in Santa Fe, I noticed a restaurant near where I'd parked, on the edge of downtown. It looked good, but it wasn't open for breakfast. Since the Plaza was still not open, and looked like it never would, we gave this place a try.
It was called Tomasito's, and it was excellent. They served typical New Mexican food, both the red and green chile were great, service was too - we may stop there on the way back through.
We also found their local Annual Manual - a restaurant guide just like the Isthmus's here. That will be a useful resource.
Took care of some work, bought ice, and headed back up the mountain. I took a nice hike up another mountainside - this faced the other way, and reached the boundary of the Santa Fe watershed, which is a valley preserve where the rainwater that feeds the city is collected. I climbed about 1000 feet, which was plenty.

The watershed, with a heart-shaped meadow

Had a light dinner at the campsite - didn't need much after that lunch, and plotted our next moves.

(Later: I've mentioned the Plaza Cafe before, it's one of my favorite places, for the decor, service and especially the food. They'd been closed for remodeling, and I'd heard from people I'd sent there that they still hadn't opened after 6 months.
Since they still weren't open, I feared they were gone.
However, there's a rumor a movie is being filmed there (fairly common in NM) and their web page is still up: http://www.thefamousplazacafe.com/
I'm hoping it will be open soon. If you're in Santa Fe, please check it out, and if you get any news, please let me know!)
5/14/11
Drove slowly south, taking NM14 - a blue highway from Santa Fe - walked through a cute town called Madrid, lots of artists and funky resale - this is what happens to hippies when they get old…
One of the things I love about New Mexico is the variety of landscape. In the midwest, you have to drive 500 miles to see a minor difference. In NM, 50 or even 20 miles can give you a completely different perspective. Combined with a striking color palette, it's a beautiful place, and one I feel a strong affinity for.

Drove up a gravel forest road in the Manzano mountains for lunch - nice streamside in the middle of nowhere.

Part of it had been burned off, which made it kinda eerie. It was a major hawk nesting area.

We worked our way down into the high plains again. It was nice driving the two lanes on a Saturday afternoon, almost no traffic and no one was in a hurry. We stopped here and there to take pictures and wander around.

Once we got in the flats, we jumped on I-25 to get further south. Stopped a couple times looking for food and a place to stay, but there weren't any attractive options for a while.  I remembered Truth or Consequences having some interesting places, but either they've gone out of business or i couldn't find them.
We tried a state park that had a campground, but when we saw the giant tollbooth style entrance with big electronic signs, we figured we weren't in our comfort zone.
We ended up at Caballo State Park, which was desert funky - got a site right on the Rio Grande.  It had showers, which was a big thrill at that point.

Rio Grande in evening light

We asked at the gate if there was anywhere nearby to eat or buy food, and the answer was no.
Hatch was 20 miles away, and I'd been planning to go there if possible - it's the chile capitol of the world - but I hadn't planned on a 40 mile round trip for dinner. Oh, well, when you go to the middle of nowhere, you can't expect things to be nearby! The ranger seemed like the kind of guy who'd know, so I got some Hatch restaurant recommendations from him.
We went to a place called Sparky's - a semi famous burger joint. It had nice old bar decor, and excellent food. We went green chile wild. with green chile burger, green chile cheese fries, and a smoked pork and green chile burrito. I'd definitely go back there.
We'd been sleeping in the back of the truck so far, which was quite comfortable in the cold and windy areas.
It was hot and there were some bugs, so we tented for the first time. It worked out nicely, a little more hassle getting packed up again, but pleasant to be completely outdoors.

On the road again… a few weeks ago.

OK, here's the deal. Sue and I went on a road trip earlier in the month, took pictures, kept a log, saw cool stuff, ate well - the usual deal. However, part of the plan is staying away from civilization as much as possible, so we weren't posting the blog as we went.
Now we're home, catching up, and we have photos and the travel journal. I'm gonna post stuff serially, as I get time to process it.
So, here's the first batch, from May 11th and 12th:

May 11, 2011
On the road again…
I'm heading off again, to the same general area, but this time with Sue along.
She hasn't been able to come along on the last couple trips, and while traveling alone has its attractions, it's also great to have company.
We're aiming for the southwest, without many firm plans. There are things I'd like to see again, things I'd like to show Sue, and a lot of places neither of us have seen yet. 
We'll head for Dinosaur National Monument, on the border of Colorado and Utah. It's a place we both want to see, and it's as far north as we want to travel.  From there we'll work our way south, exploring as we go.
I'll be posting my travel journal, but updates will be sporadic, since we'll be camping as much as possible and staying in the un "improved" places.


May 12, 2011
Shakedown Cruise
We drove to Ogallala Nebraska yesterday. When we started out, it was hot - in the 70's when we were setting out at 7 am, well into the 80's in Iowa.  We knew we'd be crossing the cold front somewhere, but it turned out we were paralleling it.  We could see the line of black sky south of I-80 for quite a while.  Then, luckily when we were at a rest area, it came over us.  Hail, 60 mph winds, and lightning battered us for about 10 minutes. After that, it was still raining hard, but we could drive.
We flirted with the storms all the way through Nebraska, then crossed into a low near Ogallala. Temperature dropped into the 40s, very windy, occasional heavy rain - just what we wanted for our first night camping.
Our destination for the night was a state recreation area at a man-made lake - Ogallala Reservoir. The season wasn't really underway yet, but you could camp if you wanted - just leave your money in the box.
There was a lot of interesting waterfowl about, unfortunately it was getting dark and we had trouble identifying many of them.
I did see a Whooping Crane - that was a treat. I checked later, the reservoir is right on their flyway. Something to keep in mind for future trips.
As we were setting up camp, it started raining - hard. Large drops, blown by 30 mph wind.  Luckily, we were pretty well set up in the back of the truck, and I'd found a campsite where I could park pointing into the wind, so it was relatively cozy in the truck bed.  We ate our dinner in there, and went to sleep early.
It poured and occasionally stormed all night, but we were comfortable. This was Sue's first night sleeping in the truck, and we had to figure out how to set up the sleeping pads, the double sleeping bag, the lamp, etc. It would have been easier on a pleasant evening, but it worked out fine, and we figured we were probably prepared for the worst of it from here on out.

Old movie theater sign on a gray morning in Nebraska

The next morning it was still windy and raining on and off.  We quickly jumped in the truck and drove to town, had breakfast at a nice little cafe, and headed west.
We made good time across the rest of Nebraska and into Wyoming. It was cold and rainy, changing to wet snow as we gained altitude.  At Cheyenne, I-80 was closed.
They don't give you any information as to why, or when it might open again. We did some shopping and drove around town a bit. The weather was not conducive to sightseeing, so waiting for the freeway to open again was frustrating.
With 80 closed and the weather not improving, we decided to take advantage of our flexibility. It was going to be quite cold at Dinosaur, even thought it was supposed to clear eventually, and we decided we'd had enough of cold and rain.
The weather looked much better further south, so we headed down I-25 toward New Mexico. The sun came out by Pueblo, Colorado, a welcome sight. The temperature kept rising, into the low 70's.

Mountains west of the high plains.

We found a promising Forest Service campground - Black Canyon - in the national forest just east of Santa Fe, and made it there by 6:30, plenty of time to get situated and have dinner before dark.
It's now Friday morning, we're sitting in camp, warming up in the sun.  It got rather cool overnight - around 33 -  but it's warming up nicely. We're starting to get acclimated to the altitude - this is around 8500 feet. Sue's plotting possible routes - we're considering Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, the Malpais, there are a lot possibilities.

Hiking trail from the campground - it's all uphill from here!