THE BAYFIELD BUNCH ROLLS INTO RUSTY’S RV RANCH NEAR PORTAL, ARIZONA

 

 

OUR SITE AT RUSTY’S RV RANCH WITH THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND

I must begin this blog by referring back to last night's blog & retracting my comments regarding my impression of the 'Columbus Best RV Park.  I had driven through that park 3 years ago & it was pretty shabby so had carelessly based my impression of the park in part on my memory without paying a lot of attention to our surroundings last night.  That all changed this morning when we took the dogs for a walk.  I began seeing a lot of improvements to the park & it was obvious the owners or maybe even new owners have been putting a lot of time & effort into making improvements.  I immediately came back to the rig, brought up last night's blog on Live Writer & re-wrote my opinions of the Park.  I then grabbed my camera & went out & took some photos.

 

COLUMBUS BEST RV PARK IN COLUMBUS, NEW MEXICO

A FEW PHOTOS AROUND THE ‘COLUMBUS BEST RV PARK’

That little walk around this morning reminded me that I did not yet have my southwest head on & I was still looking at things through Ontario eyes.  I have made that mistake every year we come here but at least this time I became aware of my error a lot sooner than in the past.  It's difficult to explain but where & how we live in Ontario is much different than our lifestyle while in the southwest.  Almost like 2 different planets because of the environmental changes alone.   And, to some extent, different cultures.  Foods are different, laws are different, people dress differently, attitudes are noticeably different, the coffee is even different  etc.  And, because of these differences a person has to be willing to adapt & go with their changed environment.  In other words we put away our Ontario hats & put on our southwest hats & we see clearly with our southwest eyes:))

LOTS OF BIG RIG ROOM HERE IN THIS COLUMBUS RV PARK

We were packed up & on the road by 8:20.  Said our good-byes to Columbus thanking her for our great memories 3 years ago & swung onto highway 9 & heading west.  This road runs parallel to the Mexican border just a few miles to the south & we had driven it once before on our western trek in 2006.  It's a nice quiet road & 7 of the 10 oncoming vehicles we met in the 80 mile drive were border control vehicles.  Looking across the barren scrubland to the distant mountains in Mexico one can't help but think of the days when Pancho Villa & his men rode these lands.  The only time the United States has ever been invaded was back in the little town of Columbus, New Mexico we had just left.  It was 1916 & it was Pancho Villa who led that invasion.  Yes, a lot of history in this area.

FIRST SIGHT OF THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS STRETCHED ACROSS THE HORIZON ABOVE THE HIGHWAY

Just west of a little town called Animas I finally caught sight of the mighty Chiricahua mountain range dead ahead.  What a great sight that was because it marked our first destination on this years trek.  We had decided last March while on a day trip to this area that we would like to come back & spend more time exploring around here.  It's right on the way to our ranch destination near Douglas Arizona in a few days so it fit perfectly into our travel plans.  We weren't sure about boondocking in these parts so a couple of months ago on the internet I came across an RV Park near the tiny town of Portal Arizona.  I'm not big on RV parks but it seemed the only likely spot around, so this morning about 11:35 the Bayfield Bunch rolled through the gates of RUSTY'S RV RANCH  Right off the bat we could see it was a nice looking place & I was bolstered by the fact there were only a few other rigs here.  It had been the same last night at Columbus Best & the night before at Boot Hill in Tularosa.  My biggest bug-a-boo about RV Parks is the way people are crammed in like sardines with little regard to privacy, quiet, or people comforts.  I could see right off the bat we were not going to have problems like that here.  So, with those thoughts in mind we checked in to the office & met Rusty her very self.  Now here is a gal with personality plus:))

IN RUSTY’S GARDEN

Rusty led the way in a golf cart & put us in a spot just across from the dogging walking area which of course if very handy for us.  And the first order of the day was to get the doggies over there for some much needed walking of course.  The lots are 200 feet long with room on either side.  No Verizon or antennae television signals here but the park has a well working WiFi system & we were on-line immediately.  Re-organized the car, grabbed a shower & headed off to the office to do a load of laundry while Kelly took the car & headed for the new desert museum nearby that has just opened.  We'll go again to-morrow.  While the laundry was in the machines I took myself for a walk around the park taking pictures.  I will have those photos in Monday's blog.  Just too darned tired to-night to get at them.  Soaked up some sun in the late afternoon & decided around 5 to have a crack at setting up our new Star Choice satellite dish.  Well, needless to say that sure took us some doing.  I had to figure out the dish mechanics & co-ordinates while Kelly was inside figuring out the receiver & television configuration stuff.  With a flurry of Azimuth's, longitudes, latitudes, crazy horse dudes, elevations, & skews I finally had the dish pointed correctly in the vicinity of the unseen satellite somewhere up there in that big blue sky.  We finally locked onto the bird but Kelly was having trouble getting anything on the screen resembling programming.  Wasn't until our teamwork finally came to-gether & I remembered to switch the cable at the back of the TV to satellite cable from antennae that things started to make sense.  Kelly then remembered to set the remote for cable instead of TV & that really got things moving for us.  Last step was to call Star Choice & have the system activated which Kelly did.........& after about 2 hours of frustrated strugglings we were finally up & running with our new cable TV system.  Geeeezzzz, will wonders ever cease.

JUST GOT OUR STAR CHOICE DISH UP & RUNNING TO-NIGHT BEFORE SUNDOWN

That Star Choice set up put me a couple hours behind to-night so I'm going to wrap this & head for bed.  Both Max & the Motormouse are on there right now keeping the covers warm for me.  Oh the perks of having a furry family:))

P.S. It is a totally beautiful desert night with a full moon bathing the desert floor & nearby mountains in pastel moonlight.  And I caught my first glimpse of winter’s best known constellation too………Orion.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  It's hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere.

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.