OUR FIRST HIKE INTO THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS

THE VIEW FROM CATHEDRAL VISTA

It felt so great to step out of the motorhome this morning into the predawn dusk & wait for the sun to rise over the Peloncilla mountains.  Hadn't been outside for a sunrise since leaving the ranch last March.  Not a sound in the campground except for a few birds shaking off the sandman.  Always felt this was the finest part of any day to be outside & enjoy the wonders around us.  A quiet time.  A time for reflection.  A time for appreciation.

SUNRISE ON THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS BEHIND PORTAL ARIZONA (Photo taken from Rusty’s RV Ranch)

Took us awhile to get ourselves motivated this morning but we finally got it to-gether * headed out in the car around 8:45.  First stop was the just newly opened Chiricahua Desert Museum a few miles south of Rustys.  Met co-owner Sheri just as she was hanging out the open sign.  With husband Bob they opened the Desert Museum just four short months ago.  Everything is new & they have put themselves to-gether a fine facility.  Be sure to see my photos of their efforts.  A large reptile & amphibian room is nearing completion & Bob (Herpetologist) will be bringing the creatures back from Texas in couple weeks.  If your in the area be sure to drop in to their nature store & check out the hiking gear, nature books, gifts, paintings, sculptures, southwest jewelry, etc plus amphibian reptile room.  They also do silk screen hats & T-shirts on site.  And if all that isn't enough, Sheri & Bob have future plans for a large water garden to the south of the building.  ECO WEAR & PUBLISHING

CHIRICAHUA DESERT MUSEUM

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From the Desert Museum we drove the short 4 miles to Rodeo where breakfast had been recommended.  Stopped into the Rodeo Cafe for a good old feed of bacon & eggs.  My favorite but rarely have anymore because of the ridiculous prices most places charge these days.  But, at $5.99 we thought that was a bargoon & we both had B & E's & coffee.  And, it was a great breakfast to boot. 

PHOTO ABOVE IS FROM RUSTY’S WATER GARDEN.  APPEARS TO BE SOME FEATHERS CAUGHT ON A ROCK IN THE LITTLE STREAM

RUSTY'S RV RANCH << (click for Rusty’s website)  Having connection problems so will have to try & add Rusty’s photo album either later to-day or try again to-morrow.  I don’t think it was Live Writer causing the problems last night.  Just think it was sporadic dis-connects to the internet interupting the upload process.

Headed back up the road to Portal, Arizona & headed for the old Post Office & Library.  We had come across Portal last March when we came over the Chiricahua mountains from near McNeal on the other side.  I had taken photos of the Portal store at that time but had missed the old Post Office & Library.

LOCAL PORTAL RESIDENTS WAITING FOR THE MORNING MAIL

From Portal we drove into the Cave Creek Canyon area.  Caught a lucky break when I pulled over to take a picture of the canyon & Kelly spotted a Roadrunner in a tree right beside the car.  Finally, after 3 years I was able to grab a few pics of a real Roadrunner.  We then headed for a short hiking trail called Vista Point.  Figured we had better start out with a few easy short hikes to get our legs back into shape again.  What a great feeling it was to be out walking on a new rocky trail again surrounded by beautiful trees, mountains, & rich deep blue skies.  First trail we've been on since leaving the southwest back in the spring.  No wonder our legs felt like rubber when we got home later.

ROADRUNNER…….’meep meep’

Drove into the Sunny Flats campground again & it looked just as beautifully peaceful as it did 6 months ago when we first came across it on a day trip over the mountains.  No hook-ups here & no cell phone or internet signal.  It's a small campground with only the wind & the birds in your ears.  Took a few photos & talked to another RV couple camping there in their motorhome.  Really friendly folks who invited us in for a tour of their Georgy Boy Class A coach.  Really nice rig.....really nice people.

IN FRONT OF THE PORTAL POST OFFICE & LIBRARY

It was only 12:30 but we were already so tired we decided to head back to the rig.  We just haven't been able to tap into our energy resources since arriving from the north & we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing & dragging ourselves around between short snoozes & dozes.  I think if I could sleep totally uninterrupted for about 3 days I might be OK.

We had fans going inside as the sun really heated things up to-day.  In fact we never spent any time in our lawn chairs at all.  Almost missed the moonrise in late afternoon but did spend some time outside as things nicely cooled down.  I will go outside later to-night & just sit quietly under the big desert moon listening to the distant coyotes.

A QUIET BENCH OUTSIDE THE PORTAL LIBRARY

We will stay one additional night here at Rusty's & then head out Wednesday morning for the short drive to the ranch just over on the other side of the Chiricahuas to the south. We're looking forward to hopefully getting ourselves caught up with our time zone dilemma as we begin phase two our trip this year......our life on the ranch:))

 

JAGGED CHIRICAHUA PROFILE (Photos taken from Rusty’s RV Ranch)

 

TO-NIGHT’S BIG DESERT MOON

GROANER'S CORNER:))  Mark, our five-year-old grandson, couldn't wait to tell his grandfather about the film we had watched on television, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." The scenes with the submarine and the giant octopus had kept him wide-eyed. In the middle of the telling, my husband interrupted Mark,  'What caused the submarine to sink?'   With a look of incredulity Mark replied, 'Grandpa, it was the 20,000 leaks!'

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

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.

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.

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

OCTOBER IS DEFINITELY A POPULAR BIRTHDAY MONTH & A DRIVE THROUGH THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS TO PORTAL ARIZONA IN MARCH 2009

WE MAY BE CAMPED HERE FOR A FEW DAYS IN THE SUNNY FLATS CAMPGROUND AT THE END OF THIS MONTH....NEAR PORTAL, AZ.

In SANDRA'S BLOG yesterday she mentioned the following...."Did you know that most people in the U.S. are born on October 5th? You would expect birthdays to be evenly distributed among the 365 days on a calendar. AnyBirthday.com has a database of the birthdays of more than 135 million Americas and claim that more people were born on October 5 than on any other day of the year. The reason seems to be that October 5th is approximately 9 months from New Year's Eve. Another little bit of trivia." 

NEAR PORTAL ARIZONA AT CAVE CREEK....MARCH 2009

Well, I was born in October as well so the only thing I can say about that is....."Happy New Year"  I also noticed to-day in Janna's TIN TEE PEE  blog that Mike's celebrating a birthday as well.  I offered Kelly $5 to write something nice about me like Janna did for Mike but Kelly told me to keep the $5 & go climb a tree..............:))

 NICE OLD CAR PARKED OUTSIDE THE PORTAL GENERAL STORE

Well, thanks to JERRY yesterday I did find out that in fact I do have a Google Adsense ad on our  website.  It has been hiding at the very bottom of our blog all this time & I had totally forgotten about it since thinking it had vanished a long time ago.   Must have got shuffled to the bottom of the deck at some point when I was making changes to the sidebar.  I have now moved it from it's low visibility point at the bottom to a high visibility spot just under the right side of our main header picture.  Oh geezzzzz, what am I gonna do with all this ad money rolling in now!!  Hope I can make enough to pay Jerry a finder's fee:))  Guess this also tells me I should do a little house cleaning on our website from time to time to make sure I know where things are!!

ATOP THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS ABOUT TO DESCEND INTO PORTAL

Noticed Jerry & Suzy from, OUR LIFE ON WHEELS are staying a few days at WEST RUSTY'S RV RANCH near Rodeo New Mexico right now.  We're hoping to be in that very area in about another 3 weeks.  We don't have Passport America but maybe Rusty will cut us deal anyway if & when we get there:))    Jerry mentioned they were doing a daytrip to Portal Arizona which reminded me of our trip over the Chiricahua mountain last March & down into the totally beautiful Portal area.  Our blog for that day is HERE & our photos for the day are in WEB ALBUM including lunch at the little Portal general store.............................:))

THE WINDING ROAD AHEAD

Some of you may remember I blogged awhile back about receiving a book called 'Backyard Guide To The Night Sky' from National Geographic.  I have it sitting right here on my desk but haven't read it yet.  I am now  thinking this will make a great read once we reach the ranch in Arizona.  I seem to do the majority of my reading while we are traveling.  Sitting quietly in the open desert air just seems to go hand in hand with reading for me so I'll let you know how I like the book hopefully next month while lazing away under the warm Arizona  sunshine:))

 FOLLOWING THAT WINDING DIRT ROAD THROUGH THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS

Wondered if any other 'Live Writer' users out there are having any problems with their 'link' section.  Our links are connecting OK but I'm getting error messages every time I insert a link.

THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL, LAND

GROANER'S CORNER:((  I just got lost in a bunch of thought & it was unfamiliar territory.

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

UP & OVER THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS TO PORTAL ARIZONA

BETWEEN PORTAL & CAVE CREEK ARIZONA

We had heard from several people that it was a nice drive from the Chiricahua National Monument area up & over the mountains to the wee town of Portal on the other side. Signs say 4 wheel drive vehicles are recommended but someone said we would be fine with our 2 wheel drive 5 speed Santa Fe.....and we were. Rosanna from Paws & Hooves had offered to drive us over but I don't like to bother other people to drive for several reasons. To-day for example we probably made over 40 stops just getting through the mountains because I'm always looking for photos & stopping to look at stuff. Driving in the mountains is exciting so I like to be behind the wheel, shifting the gears, & making the driving decisions. I'm not a very good passenger at any time. We also meander up side roads, down back roads, & just generally poke along exploring things. It is the main reason we don't like going places with groups of people. We just like to do our own thing & it's much easier for my peace of mind if I don't have people walking in & out of the photographs I'm trying to take. We generally try to get a feel for whatever area we are in & sometimes that just requires a whole lot of quiet. I know there are some people out there who will understand that & some who won't. YES, THESE MOUNTAIN ROADS ARE VERY STEEP IN PLACES

We got ourselves an early start this morning & were actually out the gate by 8:15. An hour later we were into the Chiricahuas. Always amazing how fast the landscape changes in just a matter of a few miles. On the valley floor we humans are taller than most vegetation but within gaining a few hundred feet in the mountains we are suddenly dwarfed by towering Pine trees, Sycamore, Juniper, & Oak trees plus a whole host of other greenery like Mesquite trees, Agaves & Prickly Pear Cactus just to name a few. Within a few miles exist two different worlds. I remember parts of British Columbia being like that when I lived in the Okanogan Valley back in the early 70's for a few years. SNOW ON THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAIN TOPS AHEAD

The gravel road was very washboardy when we first entered the mountains but as we climbed it smoothed itself out. Saw some great camping spots in the forest alongside the road. Only accessible for small Class C's or B Class vans. Great for truck campers & pop up tent trailers though. Forded a few shallow creeks along the way & saw a couple of deer on the road. Stopped at what we presumed was the mountain summit because we could see the road headed down from there. Hauled out my thermos of coffee & took a picture of the sign which said we were at Onion Saddle, elevation 7,600 feet. Scouted out a side road but it was too rough for our Santa Fe. If we continue to come here to the southwest we are really going to have to get ourselves a 4 wheel drive jeep. Nothing wrong with our Santa Fe but so many times we have wanted to go places that we knew our beloved little Santa Fe couldn't go. CASTLES IN THE AIR

Began our descent down the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains making many stops & marveling at the beauty surrounding us. I was continually out of the car with the cameras. Not so good for my sore leg but no matter, it's just the way it has to be & I'll rest it up some more on Tuesday. It is improving anyway. Saw a sign saying Paradise so we took a bumpy little side road 3 miles down into a sleepy little place with a few houses on either side of the road with people living in them. Just kind of rolled right through & continued on to Portal. Passed a sign that said, Paradise Cemetery so wheeled in to take a picture of the cemetery gate which had a sign saying it was indeed the Paradise Cemetery. Just goes to prove that when some people die they do actually go to Paradise. HEADING FOR CAVE CREEK

The closer we got to Portal the more spectacular the mountain ranges became. Large stone bluffs & formations began appearing atop mountain ridges. Towering rocks looking like "castles in the air." Don McLean has a song entitled that. We knew we were in a very scenic area. PORTAL ARIZONA
http://www.portalarizona.com/

The little town of Portal can hardly be called a town. I would say it's about 4 good stone throws long by 3 stone throws wide. Has a Post Office & Library but our main destination was the Portal Store Cafe & Lodge. Kelly had heard they had great Mexican food there so in we went. I had a grilled chicken burger with chips & Kelly had a great big plate of something Mexican I couldn't even pronounce. In the long run my grilled chicken burger turned out to be the best of the two. Took a drive around Portal which lasted all of about 60 seconds & then headed 3 miles back into the Coronado Forest looking for a little place called Cave Creek southwest of Portal. It was on this road that the scenery really took off. Towering mountains on both sides, mountain streams, waterfalls, & forests. This area has it all. It's a bird watcher's paradise & people flock here from far & wide looking for the rare & elegant Trogan bird. We saw birder's to-day along the roads with their binoculars & scopes. We saw beautiful mountains riddled with caves & hiking trails everywhere. Came across a great little campground with awesome views. Check our web album. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ About 15 well spaced sites & a campground that we could bring our motorhome to. We have mentally bookmarked this area & this campground as a place for us to return next year. And I'm being a bit uncharacteristically optimistic here in saying...."we will return to the Southwest!!!!"
Thank-you Mr. D:)))) MANY CAVES IN THESE MOUNTAINS

Not too much in Cave Creek but we did stop at a Forestry Building & ask for directions to another camping area we had heard about. Some nice private lodges in Cave Creek. Headed back down the winding forest road, past the jagged rocky peaks along botanical road & out the highway back to Portal. Stopped at the Portal Store for a coffee to go & rolled east out into the San Simon Valley. It was 2:15 as I watched the Chiricahua Mountains fading in my rear view mirror. Within minutes we crossed the New Mexico State line, turned right onto highway 80 for a few more miles & then passed the Arizona State line right back into Arizona again. Hardly any traffic on this scenic highway as we headed southbound through the dusty little town of Rodeo. Put the hammer down on the Santa Fe, took a short cut around the north end of Douglas & we were back at the ranch before 3:30. Just another super terrific day trip in the good old American southwest.

SUNNY FLAT RV CAMPGROUND

New Mexico, Arizona, California, & a few areas in southern Texas are by far the greatest scenic areas to escape old man winter. So much to see & do. So much perfectly great weather. So many great times. So many memories..........................................................

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