And they say Chicago is the Windy City!

Well we are still sitting in Pueblo West, CO, wind is howling, not gusting to (75 mph) 120 kph like it was on Wednesday (the fifth wheel was rocking) but still gusting to (35 mph) 56 kph with some gusts reaching (62 mph) 100 kph. Got up this morning and the wind was still blowing! We were a little depressed after checking the weather, anxious to get going again but even if we could have left here today weather up the road was even worse, snow showers and wind in Wheatland, WY area. Suppose to be better tomorrow and we are praying that this time the forecast is correct, still cold and rainy up ahead but the wind is suppose to settle down. With no TV and cannot go shooting with Charlie, Woody was getting antsy, he was out of leather, so couldn't do any projects, luckily we found a leather shop here (checked online yellow pages) and off we went, a good leather shop that sold pieces of leather and had lots of tools, books, etc. to look at, so now he is happily constructing a new cell case for himself. I am very impressed with his work, soon he will be able to make me a real nice purse!

The dogs do not like the wind either, they will sit down with their backs to it when we are out for a walk! They are both going to need a good trimming at the groomers by the time we arrive home.

Gotta Love the horses!

There are many horses boarded here, some real pretty ones and some are so friendly. One Palomino coloured one always comes to the fence looking for some petting, which of course we have been doing each time we walk the dogs. Today we decided we should take him a carrot, well did he love that, Woody fed him large pieces which he munched up quickly, he is a nice well behaved horse and of course wanted more. On our way back he followed us along his fence and kept looking at us, we knew what he was asking but he will have to wait until our next walk this evening. Horses are such beautiful animals and if treated well are great companions as well as gentle, one of God’s marvellous creations in our mind. Muffin is still a little afraid of these strange large creatures, she stands back at the end of her leash but does not bark at them anymore, Cookie can take them or leave them, just another animal to her.

Woody went back out to take some pictures of the horse and he came running!

Okay here I am, where is my carrot!!

I will smile for ya!

Isn't he pretty with his mane blowing.

A couple of other horses enjoying the feed trough.

Lady who owns these horses told Woody that her 3 year old grandson can ride this horse no problem.

Every day here we see people out looking after their horses, some actually live here at the park. Sadly some horses are not well attended and were reported. This lady said that there is 0 tolerance for not looking after animals in this area, that is good news! Pueblo area was at one time known as the 'Saddle-Making capital of the World' as well as the steel capital of the USA until the bottom fell out of the steel industry in the 1980's.

Pueblo's newest event is the Wild West Fest sponsored by the Professional Bull Riders. It will be held in Pueblo during the spring and the main event will be a PBR rodeo held at the state fair events center and shown all over the world. Also, Pueblo is home to the PBR team finals held at the state fair events center during the Colorado state fair and shown all over the world. In 2008 the PBR moved their corporate headquarters to Pueblo. Just some information regarding Pueblo, it has an interesting history as most places in North America do!

For more information click the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo,_Colorado

Well hopeful we can leave tomorrow, we need to heading north!

Elephant Butte, NM

Arrived in Elephant Butte, NM April 21st, good drive, it is an interesting drive from Deming over Highway 26 (Hatch Hwy as it is known, all newly paved), shorter than driving to Las Cruces then North to Elephant Butte, also more interesting scenery. Lots of irrigated (from the Rio Grande River) crops, walnuts, pecans, and of course chilies, Hatch is known as the “Chile Capitol of the World”.
Post pic of hatch
We planned on spending 3 nights in Elephant Butte, wanted to check out the area, especially the reservoir as well as what is interesting in the area, thought we might stay here next winter. Checked into Lakeside RV Park, a Passport America campground, it is meticulously kept with many winter residents, situated on 2 levels, very friendly helpful staff but the park is surrounded by an industrial park with no views of the beautiful mountains. We attended the “Happy Hour” a couple in evenings to meet some of the residents, good group and always interesting to meet other Snowbirds and/or fulltime RVer’s and hear their stories of travel, etc.



Our site was curb side site, you can see we do not have any area for sitting outside, right on the road and behind us a rock wall, no view at all. Notice the rocks along side of the RV that is the front edge of our site.




Looking another direction, not from the RV, you can see industrial area. Think that was south, and north there was a boat storage area, in fact most of Elephant Butte town is storage facilities, gas stations and restaurants. Truth or Consequences is the town south for any actual shopping, groceries included.



The park was here before the Industrial Area was developed and it is a very nice park, just the sites are too small and none have any privacy at all.




The office and club house area, very nicely done and super clean.

This the pathway up to the second level, wonderful garden area on the hill.

We checked out other RV parks in the area as possible winter home next year and there are a couple of nice ones, but decided we would keep our reservation at TTRV. We drove 20 miles (32 km) back down the highway to check out Caballo Lake, nice small RV Park there but nothing much around except the reservoir which is only accessible via a walking path (nice) from the park but to get the boat in the lake one has to go through the State Park. The Elephant Butte reservoir is only accessible via the State Park also, which means paying an entrance fee each time we would want to fish or just paddle around the huge lake, not much else to see or do in the area, just not for us.
Elephant Butte Lake is 40 miles long and has about 200 miles of beautiful sand beach, average depth is 660 ft., was built between 1911 and 1916, and they actually started filling the reservoir in 1915. There is concrete boat ramp to the lake 10 lanes wide and 1000` down to the lake. There are approximately 100,000 people at the park on weekends throughout the summer. The water is used to irrigate and generate power. For more information on the dam and the State Park click the links below.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Elephant_Butte_Dike
http://www.truthorconsequenceschamberofcommerce.com/area_eb_lake.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_Butte_Reservoir

The attendant at the park gave us a 15 minute free pass so we could drive around and take a look, it is a huge park, and we stopped to take some pictures of the lake.



Think the item you see in the picture is meant to be protections for the marina.

WE were very surprised to see campers right on one of the beach areas, and we found out they are allowed.

The marina, there are huge boats here, many house boats and large boats with cabins.

We did enjoy our stay here and happy we took time to look around, but the day we planned to leave we had to wait due to high wind! OH well such is life when one travels through these windy areas in April, we are told April is the windiest month of the year here!

Leaving our Winter Home

Began our trek north, weather was beautiful, have mixed feelings, hard to leave but looking forward to seeing family and friends at home and praying the weather will be kind to us, so many storms floating around all over world the weather has been unpredictable to say the least. No wind to speak of which is good as parts of I10 in AZ and New Mexico can be real ugly if windy. We were planning to stop in Elephant Butte, NM tonight but Woody wanted to stop in Deming, NM instead, good idea I thought, keep the first day short and we have never stopped in Deming. We booked a night at Deming Road Runner Park, reviews were good, clean and the staff was friendly, they had a covered pool, hot tub, etc. It was nice to arrive early and have a nice relaxing evening. The pool didn’t have any water in it, did not ask why, but probably would not have used it anyway. A good day!

short trip south

We made a trip to Naco, Mexico today to renew Woody’s I94 permit (his permission to be in the States), we just needed to walk across the border into Mexico, purchase something and walk back, same as last year. The weather was beautiful and the trip is interesting, driving into the Mule Mountains to Bisbee and south. Bisbee and Naco, AZ are close, except for the signage; one can not tell where Bisbee ends and Naco begins. Naco sits in a huge valley and the mountains in view are in Mexico, can also see the huge wall running along the border.

The wall runs for miles and the Border Guards say all it really did was create good business for the ladder companies. The vehicle you see is a Border Guard, in some areas they patrol the fence with armoured Hummers.

The white line you see is the fence going over the mountains.

This crossing was closed, only opened for certain traffic.

When we walked across the border there were Mexicans being brought back to Mexico and again when we left they were dropping another group of illegals at the border. There are about a 1000 illegals coming into AZ everyday!

A couple of curious people peeking through a small hole in the fence.

A view of leftovers from the Bisbee Copper mine that can only be seen as you drive towards Bisbee from the south, this complex is huge as was the mine.

Thanks to my dear husband, he drove onto a side road and climbed through some bush so we could get these pictures, saw this last year but too late to stop, this time I had the camera ready but just couldn't get a good shot from the highway. It really is awesome to see!

Kartchner Caverns

We visited the caverns with friends Jim and Shirley, touring the largest cavern on the 13th, “The Big Room” and the smaller one “The Throne Room or Rotunda” on the 19th. The tours are fairly costly but well worth the price. Kartchner Caverns is a State Park so a fee for entrance to the park has to be paid then the cost of the tour, smaller cavern is 18.95, large cavern 22.95 per person. The tour begins at the Discovery Centre where a short video is shown in a lovely theatre, explaining how the caves were discovered, some pictures and information regarding the care and preservation practices that were undertaken while the caverns were prepared for public viewing. After viewing the video there are many interpretive displays to investigate as well as a very nice little store and a small café named “The Bat Cave”. We did not make reservations for the tour of “The Big Room” until we arrived at the park so we had time to wander, grab a bite to eat at the café, food was very good, all freshly prepared and of course Shirley and I had to check out the store. The proceeds from sales at the store help support the park so we were pleasantly surprised to find reasonably priced good quality unique items, eco friendly items, example t-shirts made from fibres of old t-shirts along with samples of “how they create new fibre from old t-shirts”, many gems, books, DVD’s, CD’s relating to caving and the Caverns along with the usual mugs, hats, calendars etc. I purchased a book with some nice pictures and information after our tour of the second cavern.



A catus with interesting growth, the area around the Discovery Centre is very nicely landscaped, many plants are named, there are many species of sage growing in the gardens.

Shirley and I along with Jim and Woody wandered around the gardens, it was a very nice day.

There are benches placed along the paths as well a large covered picnic area.

Entrance to the caverns photographed from the garden area with telephoto lens.

The tours are booked every 20 or 30 minutes all day (depending on which cavern) and led by a knowledgeable, informative volunteer guide as well a volunteer who follows the group. The tour begins with the guide explaining the rules, and how careful we must be while in the cavern to not damage the cavern, we then take a ride on a tram passing the original sink hole where the 2 cavers crawled though and found the caverns and up to the parking area close to the cavern. After disembarking from the tram the guide explained that we would be entering through several sets of sealed doors to keep the inside air out, as we entered the second tunnel the guide explained how to fold our jackets so the jacket would not flap and create more lint than necessary as well so that our coat sleeves would not accidentally touch any of the formations or rock walls. The caverns are very warm and moist; we also walk through an area where we are misted with water which is done so our very dry bodies and cloths will not suck any moisture from the caverns and it also assists with keeping lint from floating around. We were very impressed by the care that is taken to preserve these caverns, they are living caverns, which is very unique, from the beginning to end these caverns are awesome and one just cannot explain the jaw dropping effect that happens when viewing the formations in the caverns. For more information and a few pictures click on the links below. No cameras are allowed in the caverns as well as any other loose items, as in food, water bottles, etc. There is a good reason for that, as people dropped their cameras over the rail, set up tripods on the rocks, dropped sunglasses, etc. when the first tourists were allowed to bring in such items.
There are a couple of videos on this site, they are good but cannot compare to visiting in person.
http://azstateparks.com/Parks/KACA/science.html
http://www.amwest-travel.com/awt_kartchner.html
http://tourcochisecounty.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/kartchner-caverns/

We enjoy the company of Jim and Shirley very much, they are fun, easy going, interesting people to spend time with. We will miss them very much, they are leaving on Thursday and said they will not be back in AZ next year but invited us to come and visit them in MN which we would love to do hopefully next year on our trip home.

Patagonia State Park and other stops

Today we took the scenic route (HWY 82) to Nogales and see what we could see. A couple of Coues deer crossed the road in front of us but they darted into the thick bush along side the highway quickly and Woody could not get any pictures. It is a beautiful drive with views of grassy plains with mountains in the background then up into the mountains where the landscape changes dramatically from grassy plains to hillsides covered with various bushes, trees and cacti with views of valleys as we drove south winding our way up over and around the mountains.

Close up of the rock formation in the above picture, I love all the colour and different formations.

We decided a visit to Patagonia Lake State Park would be our first stop, one of three lakes in the area, a small park with a fairly large marina, small campground, visitor centre, store and of course the 265 acre man made lake that is home to many species of fish; provides the opportunity for water skiing and other water sports, although there are restrictions on weekends due to the number of people the lake attracts. Lake Patagonia sits in a valley surrounded by small mountains. The lake was created by the damming of Sonoita Creek in 1968 and The State Park was officially opened April 1, 1975. For more information on the park click on the link.
http://azstateparks.com/parks/PALA/index.html

A view of the arch bridge as we walk towards the lake.

The lake is bigger than it first appears in this picture.

Looking the opposite way.

From another view of the lake.

There were a few ducks floating around enjoying the nice day.

A boat coming out of the marina onto the main body of the lake. The arch bridge in the background.

Prickly Pear catus with a hint of pink.

The park sits in a large valley, can only view a small portion of the lake from the road on the way back to the main road. This picture is zoomed in on the camera.

Another view of the valley.

Not sure where the gravel road ends up, we didn't check it out.

We continued south to Nogales, AZ just to take a look, of course it was New Years Day; we had the dogs with us so did not stop anywhere interesting in the city and plan to go back to visit this historic city. As with the rest of southern Arizona the Spanish were among the first non natives to inhabit this area as early as 1539 and there are many ghost towns in the area due to mines running out of gold and other precious metals. Nogales was named by the Spanish for the groves of walnut trees that grew abundantly on the mountain sides and was eventually split when the Gladsen Purchase was completed, creating the border between Mexico and Arizona, and splitting Nogales; Nogales, AZ was incorporated in 1893.
http://www.arizona-leisure.com/nogales-arizona.html

On the way home we drove down the main street in Patagonia, a small town of around 800 people and as with most of these little towns, after the mines shut down and the railroads discontinued trips through the town the town almost disappeared. Patagonia became a town for artists, bird watchers has some great restaurants and a theatre, it is a nicely kept little town. For more information click on the link:
http://www.patagoniaaz.com/history.html

A view of main shopping area of Patagonia.

This building was right across from where we parked, a couple of the stores were open but we did not do any shopping.

A look down the street in the opposite direction.








The whole trip was around 200 km (127 miles) and we plan on going back to visit again.

Birds & Sunset

A beautiful sunset taken at Tombstone Territories RV Park December 29th, our RV is parked with windows facing west at the end of a row so we always a wonderful view of all the sunsets, some are spectacular like this one. This is one reason we love staying at this park in the desert with views of the mountains in every direction.

Another plus of having the site we have is we have 2 trees, one just outside our windows so we can enjoy the birds every day, and another at the back of our site, there are tons of birds in the park, many different species, we put feeders up on the front tree and our neighbour hung many feeders on the tree at the back.

These pictures were taken through our window, Woody says he is going to sit outside to catch some more photos, it is amazing at how many birds hang out at the feeders and in the trees.

The humming birds should be back in February as they were last year they are many species that hang out at the park so hopefully we can catch some photos of them. .