After driving through a swirling sandstorm, we decided our tent wouldn’t survive a full night in the north wind. The helpful person at the Shoshone visitor center suggested spending a night in Tecopa. And nothing says delightful like Delight‘s Hot Springs Resort. They have four tubs with 104F water piped in from the hot spring. Unfortunately, the laundromat was closed. But there is a brewery and restaurant where they smoke the meat on the premises. Read more…
In preparation for our journey and change of venue we got rid of most of our stuff in Miami. It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate over time. We didn’t have too much of a hard time parting with our belongings thanks to good friends who took some stuff off our hands and college hunks hauling junk that took the rest to charity. There was one challenge in that both Erik and I Read more…
One of the pleasant surprises on this trip has been all the nice people we have met in the campgrounds along the way. I have really enjoyed speaking to so many people who have retired early and/or have sold their homes and are traveling full time. It is inspiring to talk to so many people who have opted for this lifestyle. Like sailing, everyone has a much different strategy on equipment. You have the “don’t Read more…
We made it to California and spent three nights at Anza-Borrego State Park and another three nights at Joshua Tree National Park. We went hiking every day and enjoyed the scenery. We stopped at the Salton Sea. This is an inland salty “sea” that was created from water from the Colorado River that flows in at various points in history. The water evaporates quicker than it fills up causing salt deposits. It was weird going Read more…
It has been interesting staying so close to Mexico. The border patrol presence is significant with helicopters, atv patrols and signs warning of smuggling etc. There are vehicle checkpoints on most roads within the USA that lead from the direction of Mexico. We have had to pass through many. We even got to visit the infamous wall under construction.
Spent the last three nights at the Organ Pipe National Monument which is in southern Arizona on the border with Mexico. Really enjoyed the landscape with the cactus. One of the things we have been enjoying is the educational talks by the park rangers. There are a lot of creepy crawlies that I am not used to including tarantulas. This is a picture of a tarantula home. You can see these all over the desert. Read more…
Spent 3 nights camping and hiking at Aguirre Springs Recreation area near Las Cruces. We stayed at an amazing BLM campground for $3.50 per night, in the organ mountains overlooking some fantastic scenery. There were two fun hikes from the campground.
Went to the White Sands National Monument which was way cool! Had a picnic and went for a hike. It was fun seeing the jets from the nearby Air Force base zoom past. They have to plow the roads here. Kids and adults alike were sledding on those round saucer sleds down the dunes. Reminded me of sledding back home in Rochester except people were barefoot. The hike was magnificent with nice scenery. The trail Read more…
We headed south from Albuquerque and took a detour to visit the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Large Array. This place is in the middle of nowhere. It has 27 huge dishes measuring 82 feet across. They are mounted on railroad tracks in a y configuration and can be moved over 82 miles of track to different positions. They pick up radio waves from different galaxies to discover black holes and study cool stuff. A Read more…
We left Texas a few days ago and headed north into New Mexico. Stopped at Roswell to visit with the aliens at a cool museum. They had a huge collection of information about the alien landing and sightings. It seems like every gas station in town has a alien statue and even the street lights look like aliens. Headed on to Albuquerque and stayed a few nights to enjoy the city. We visited a museum Read more…