Eastward Bound to Texas

I woke early on Tuesday morning and drove from Tucson to Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Las Cruces is on the list of places that Julia and I want to check out to see if we want to live there someday.  It ticks a lot of boxes:  university town, close to the mountains, diverse population and culture, no snow in the city but winter sports available only a few hours away in the mountains.

I wasn’t going to have time to do much more than drive around, walk around and stay at an RV park in town, so I bailed on that plan.  I drove through town via Hwy 70 and then kept on going until I reached a road sign for Aguirre Springs, a BLM campground.

The road in was steep and windy, but the payoff was amazing. Why would I want to stay at an RV park when I could stay here for $7/night.  The place was practically deserted without any generators and no lights to mar the night sky.

I listened to the early election results on NPR and then went to bed early.  This morning, I drove to Lubbock, Texas, passing steep snow-capped mountains in New Mexico, and then cotton fields/oil wells in Texas.  I’m using my Passport America at an RV park in Lubbock for half the regular rate.  I’m also taking the time to start winterizing the Brew Hut with hard freezes and snow expected where I am headed for the weekend.

Roadrunner Dispersed Camping

After dropping Julia off at the Las Vegas airport, I hitched up and started driving south on Hwy 95 with Yuma as a potential destination.  I clipped the state of California long enough to buy some gas at $4.55/gallon and some figs for $8/package.  I preferred the figs. They were tasty but not overly sweet.  The figs were purchased from a roadside stand that also sold unfiltered honey.  The woman asked me to try a couple of samples.  The clover honey was similar to what I’ve had before, but the Desert Wildflower honey was very different–almost spicy and with a pleasant finish. A small container was $20, so I satisfied myself with just the figs.

Hwy 95 was very crooked and dippy.  By the time I reached Parker, I had reconsidered Yuma as my destination.  By the time I reached Quartzsite, I was ready to be done driving.  Just south of Quartzsite, I passed several Long Term Visitor areas that I recognized.  I kept driving until I passed what looked like another LTVA, but was nearly deserted.  The sign said Roadrunner–14 day camping limit.  I pulled in and  talked to the campground host (who waved off registration since I was only staying one night).  I found a quiet spot that would allow for an early morning quick getaway and parked without unhitching.

The time was about 2 pm., and the afternoon quickly heated up to the mid-80’s inside the Scamp.  There were no services or hookups here, but the price was right (free).   By early evening, the temperatures cooled off to the very pleasant lower 70’s. Elvis and I took a long walk out into the desert.  Roadrunner was practically empty; the camp host assured me that it would be packed by January. Clouds moved in to prevent a viewing of the sunset, but the colors in the clouds were amazing.

The night was cool, comfortable and quiet.  Elvis woke up at 5:45 a.m., shook and placed his paws impatiently on my bed, demanding to be fed.

Today, I needed to start making better time and mileage in order to get to my cousin’s place in Missouri  by Saturday.  I drove the interstate through Phoenix and then to Tucson. I’m camped tonight at the Prima County Fairgrounds RV Park, which has blazing WiFi, showers and hookups for $30/night.
Tomorrow, I’ll head for New Mexico.

Drop-Off

This is just a quick update without photos.

After leaving Monument Valley, we needed to make a half-circle back to Las Vegas to get Julia to her flight home. We stopped overnight at Pipe Springs National Monument and the RV park nearby, so that Julia could hear the story herself of the history of the spring.

Yesterday, we drove to Vegas where Julia had found the Las Vegas RV Resort, which was an easy drive to the airport early this morning.With moving from Mountain Time to Pacific Time, plus the Dayight Savings time shift, we woke up quite early to get her to the airport for an early morning flight home.

I will be meandering south and east today to start my way home. Thanksgiving isn’t far away, and I won’t be able to stop for lengthy stays anywhere at this point. There are a few places I want to see, so I’m estimating a two-week drive back home.

Night and Day

Julia is reading “The End of Night” by Paul Bogard, which is described as a hymn to vanished darkness. Between the full moon at Bryce, light pollution at rv parks, and cloudy nights, she hasn’t had much success in viewing the Milky Way.After leaving Moab, we went to Dead Horse State Park, which is about 45 minutes west of Moab and next to Canyonlands National Park.

This area is supposed to be a great spot for looking at darkness.  Unfortunately, even though it was clear for most of the day, clouds moved in at sunset, leaving no stars to be seen.  Then when Julia got up before sunrise, the half-moon spoiled the view.

Fortunately, the trails and daytime sights at Dead Horse State Park made up for the lack of true darkness. We hiked the East and West Rim Trails, along with a few shorter side trails.

This morning, we were off to points south.  My plan was to take Julia to Navajo National Monument, but she opted for someplace new.  We ended up at Monument Valley in the Navajo Nation.  We were going to stay at the View Campground, but no dogs were allowed.  Instead, we went to Goulding’s Campground.  Julia appreciated the hot showers and electrical hookups.  It’s been getting colder, and my $15 ceramic heater has been keeping us toasty when we have electric.  Solar doesn’t work for producing heat–at least not my 100 watt suitcase solar kit.

I had low expectations for Monument Valley, especially after the $20 entrance fee, but it was a very beautiful place.  We drove part of the gravel loop road before deciding that was enough potholes for one day.  Then we hiked the Wildcat Trail (about 4 miles looping around West Mitten). Despite the crowded parking lot and visitors’ center, we saw only a couple of hikers past the first mile.  It turned into a great afternoon.

Julia has one more chance for dark skies before we return to Vegas for her very early morning flight on Sunday.  We have no reservations but will making our way west.

Arches National Park

After Zion, Julia decided that she wanted to see Arches National Park.  We did the tow/drive in one day, and it was a very long day, pulling into Moab Valley RV Park($42/night) just north of Moab on Sunday night.  The RV park is well-run with nice showers, swimming pool, hookups, dump station, and conveniently located.

The entrance to Arches is only five miles from the rv park, but the drive through Arches to get to the trails that we wanted to hike was about 40 minutes.  We rose early Monday morning and were at Devil’s Garden Trail by 8:30 a.m.

I’ve given Julia the new trail name “See it All” because she is dragging me to every arch she can find in the park.

Devil’s Garden was an 8.3 mile hike after taking into account all of the side trails to named arches and completing the entire primitive trail loop, which had some really ice arches, including my favorite “Private Arch.”
On Tuesday, we hiked a series of smaller hikes including the Delicate Arch trail, the Park Avenue trail, the Windows trail, and assorted viewpoints.

Tuesday afternoon, Julia went shopping in Moab, while I attended to a few things in the Brew Hut and took Elvis for a walk.  Tonight, we’re going out to dinner, and then we’ll be offline for a bit, heading to Dead Horse State Park and points south.

Zion National Park

On Thursday morning, we hitched up at Bryce National Park and drove to Zion National Park.  After camping in the cold without hookups at Bryce, Julia figured that we deserved three days of full hook-ups at Zion Canyon Campground a private RV park within walking distance of the visitors’ center inside Zion.  I’m not crazy about spending $54/night for camping but it was really convenient; the sites had great views of the canyon; and it was a really well-run RV park.

We didn’t get into our site until early afternoon, so we spent the rest of the day walking up and down the streets of Springdale, eating pizza at Zion Pizza and Noodle Company, and having a bonfire at the campsite  We turned in early because a big hike was planned for the next day.

We rose at 5:30 a.m., took care of the dog (I walked him down to the visitor’s center and back), and walked down to the visitor’s center (again) to board the Zion Park shuttle bus at 7:45 a.m.  We made it to the Angels’ Landing Trailhead by about 8:15 a.m., well ahead of the rush that would occur throughout the day.  Julia called Angels’ Landing her death march, but the first half of the hike was just a cardiovascular exercise of switchbacks on mostly paved trail.  At that point, the pavement ended, and about a third of the people either returned to the trailhead and waited for family and friends to make the final ascent.

At that point, the pavement ended, and it became a rock scramble ascending a knife-edge and hanging on to dear life to the guide chains that led the way to the top.

A 1200 foot drop awaited anyone who wandered too far from either side on the narrow trail up.

We made it to the top and also back down.  To celebrate, I bought a t-shirt and coffee mug commemorating the hike.   Julia celebrated by taking us out to dinner at Meme’s Cafe where we ate burgers, fries (for me), salad (for Julia), and strong beers for both (double IPA and double bock).

On the next morning, we repeated our early shuttle ride to the end of the line at the Narrows.  The water was frigid, and I vetoed a nine mile hike up the river.  Still, Julia took off her shoes and managed to taste the experience for awhile going upstream.

Later, we hiked the Watchman Trail, which delivers views of the Canyon below and Springdale.

On Sunday morning, we hitched up and made the long drive to Moab.  We are headed to Arches National Park.