Huachuca City, Arizona

Teresa and I both woke up still tired.  For some reason we did not have a restful sleep which wasn't good, because today was going to be one of our longer driving days.

To top it off, it was raining as I was breaking camp, and then the winds started up ... sheesh !

Oh, well, let's put on some miles and then we can go to bed early tonight.

Our little Class C really does not handle that great in the wind, but today's wind was directly in front, so we were not buffeted around.

The only problem was watching the gas gauge go down, as my credit card balance went up !

It was quite comical, because every time it looked like we were heading into the rain, our highway would take a turn, and we would pass by with rain on both sides.

Our destination today was a Passport America park, that is kind of central to a bunch of attractions we want to see. 

Has anyone ever heard of Huachuca City ... we certainly haven't.

But we can see why Tombstone Territories RV Resort is so highly recommended.  It has some of the largest sites we have seen, and the pool and hot tub are awesome.

They will accept Passport America rates for one week, and that is what we booked for.  Regular $30/per night, only $15 with P.A.

The reason ??  To be honest, we are tired !!

Since leaving the Rio Grande Valley on Jan 1st, we have been going and going and going.

Teresa wants to give the inside of the rig a good cleaning, since we have been in such dusty places, and I need to spend some time on the outside as well.

So, between touring Bisbee, Tombstone, and other attractions, we are going to get all spiffed up !!

Deming, NM

It is hard to believe that today marks the mid-point for our first winter as snowbirds. 

We have mixed feelings because we love this new lifestyle, yet we miss our family at home. 

As for today, it was definitely in our top ten !!

We had the pleasure of going to the White Sands National Monument.

We were blown away by this wonderful park.  It was way past our expectations. 

This area was formed by crystal like rocks that were ground into a fine white powder called gypsum.  Yep, the same kind of gypsum that you use to make walls with at home.

After a quick orientation at the visitor's centre, we headed out for the scenic 8 mile drive.

They have to plow the roads, as if it were snow !!

This stuff is the softest sand we have ever felt in our lives.

Because it was a Sunday, and also free admission to the National Parks this weekend, we were surrounded by fun loving families with their children.

The kids were bare foot and having a blast.  You can even toboggan down the hills !!

It was just like a winter snow party, but without the wet and the cold.

We easily could have spent the entire afternoon here.  Teresa kept saying how much fun our granddaughter would have here as well.

We are so glad we stopped to visit this remarkable place and would highly recommend it.

Alamogordo, NM

Oh, oh ... Woke up to freezing temperatures again, and this time the campground's water lines were frozen solid.

Luckily, we had water in our fresh water tank, so we made do with that, and had to skip our showers this morning.

One of the attractions we had hoped to do while in this area, was Sitting Bull Falls.   It turns out they have closed the area down, because a man-made fire swept through the area this past summer, and some of the structures are not safe. 

Our drive today was vastly different than the past week or so of scrub brush, cactus, and desert.

We were climbing pretty steadily while passing through the Lincoln National Forest, and soon saw snow on the side of the road.

We continued to climb through the ski resort town of Cloudcroft, and we could tell they had recently plowed the roads.  Teresa was pretty tense by then ... LOL.

There were large signs saying trucks over a certain weight or a certain length, were not allowed on this stretch of highway.  By this time, Teresa is super stressed !

The decent was 6% grades for over ten miles, and there were run-away lanes for trucks that might have lost their brakes.

But our mighty V10 held our rig and car back, without me having to use our brakes at all !!

We left the mountains behind as we entered the town of Alamogordo.  We are at a great Passport America park with full hookups for $13.00 tonight.

When we were checking in, the friendly clerk gave us a coupon for a pistachio and wine country store, right across from us.

Did you know that pistachios grow on small trees ??

And did you also know that the World's Largest Pistachio is also on these grounds ?

They also grow grapes for their own wines.  We enjoyed some free wine tasting, and made a couple of purchases.

All in all, it was a great day !!

Carlsbad Caverns

What the hay is going on here ? 

Our poor little car had a message for us again this morning ...

Undeterred, we made the 20 minute trip to the National Park.  After a little research, we decided on two self guided tours - The Natural Entrance, and the Big Room.

The entrance fee was a very reasonable $6.00 each, and then we rented two audio devices
( $5.00 each ) to listen to commentary as we made our way through the caves. 

The audio sticks are a must !!

We found the natural entrance, and were soon in awe.

Teresa and I have only been through two other caves, so we are not experienced cavers, but, whoa, was this cave HUGE.

With our audio sticks close to our ears, we learned so much about this massive cave.  Every so often you would see a number on a post, then by punching in the number on your stick, you would learn about what you were viewing at that moment.

In fact, we were up to about 50 different info entries.

We knew from past experience that our photos wouldn't really turn out, but here are a few decent ones.

After about 3 hours of touring we were done, and soon found ourselves driving home.  Neither one of us were really talking, we were just kind of in a daze, unable to put into words what we had just witnessed.

Yes, we are freezing our socks off, but YES, it was worth every minute !!

Carlsbad, New Mexico

Wow, was it ever cold last night.  The temperature plummeted to 22F (-5C).

Good thing I disconnected the water hose, because the faucet was frozen solid this morning.

We were snug as a couple of bugs, because we left an electric heater running on low, plus I set the furnace on low to ensure our tanks would not freeze up.

Because it was so darn chilly, we didn't spend as much time at the historic Fort Davis site as we would have liked to.

Apparently, this fort is one of the best preserved for it's age.

There are all sorts of ruins, and some of the buildings have been rebuilt to their original standards.

After quickly touring the grounds, we jumped back into our rolling home, and cranked the heat on high.

The drive to Carlsbad covered miles and miles of flat scrub brush, with a lot of oil rigs in the fields.

Of course our main purpose for stopping here is to visit the famous Carlsbad Caverns.

Believe it or not, it will be warmer inside the caves than outside tomorrow ... LOL.

Fort Davis, TX - McDonald Observatory

It was sunny, but very chilly when we left Terlingua this morning.  I saw a little frost on the car, but it was soon gone.

We had a very nice drive to Fort Davis, and enjoyed the sunshine and rolling hills.

We arrived at the Historic Prude Ranch, and are the only RV'ers here.  They are a Passport America camp, and it is only $10.50 for full hookups.  Plus, they have wifi.

We quickly got set up, and jumped in the car for the short drive to the McDonald Observatory.

It was so informative, Teresa and I just sat there shaking our heads in disbelief over the statistics our guide was giving us regarding the universe.

They are constantly finding new galaxies, and within each galaxy there is a unique planet structure.

We took the Solar Viewing tour, where we were able to view the sun.  We learned that the sun is mostly hydrogen, then helium, and then a few trace other gases.

The sun has no solid surface, but rather is a boiling gaseous sphere, that produces its energy through nuclear fusion.

Our guide obviously loved her job, and had a great sense of humor to keep things fun.

 We noticed snow at the top of the peaks, and even with coats on, we were chilly.  The wind was gusting to 50 mph, and the temperature was in the 40's.

Chilled to the bone, we got home just in time for supper, so Teresa made our favourite cold weather meal - chili.

We just couldn't believe our ears on the way back to the rig.  The forecast for tonight is 18F ... yikes.  I have disconnected the water hose, and brought out our heaters.

Dang, where is that nuclear fusion when we need it !!

Big Bend - Day 4

We had a perfect day for witnessing God's wonderful creation. 

With deep blue skies, and the warm sun for comfort, it was a little bit of heaven on earth.

Just west of here is a drive that is said to be one of the most scenic drives imaginable.  It is the road from Lajitas to Presidio, however, locals all told us to turn around after the "Big Hill", if time was short.

Just past Lajitas we came upon the Contrabando Movie Set.

It was really neat to see, and we had a great chat with one of the locals that was there, who gave us some insider info. 

It didn't take long after that for the scenery to get better and better.

But the best by far, was travelling over the Big Hill.  This hill is reported to have a 15% incline.

Either way, it is a very worthwhile trip, and a stop at the top at the overlook is one you are not soon to forget.

We then headed back to the rig for lunch, before going back into Big Bend.

Our agenda today was to drive the beautiful Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, that ended at the Santa Elena Canyon Trail.

The views were once again amazing.  The speed limit in the park is 45 mph, but most of this drive was done at 35 mph, because of all the twisting turns.

Finally, we arrived at the park's crown jewel, Santa Elena canyon.

We had fun visiting with some Grade Nine students from Houston, who were extremely polite and very respectful.  It put a smile on our faces to see young people that nice.

After about a half hour walk, with much of it going up, then sharply down, you are at the narrowest part of the canyon.

As I am sure most of you know, the Rio Grande River divides the US from Mexico, so in the photo above, the left side of the canyon is in Mexico.

We drove the hour long trip home in silence, as we were running out of words to describe the beauty and majesty of this park.