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Early trip home.

I woke up to the fact that I am a young person in an old body. I have had an iffy back for many years due mostly to being stupid and thinking I can do things I shouldn’t. So I woke up to limited movement, but I tried for another day, because I was so close to Death Valley.

Darwin

There is a great documentary on Darwin,CA on YouTube.

Post office and Dance hall

Art everywhere but no other services for miles.

My drive through of Death Valley is not much, all the good stuff picture wise is a hike I could not do.

First pull out

I spent the night just outside the park at the Pads on blm land. Lots of room but no signal.

Adding this for Solo Travelers. I live with my daughter, and I caused her a little anxiety by staying in a no-signal zone. The saving grace is that we use the 360 service on Google. She knew where I was, but was still worried since I hadn’t talked to her since the night before. I got in touch as soon as I got a signal, but I had caused her unnecessary worry. Most of the West has a lot of areas, especially in National Parks and Monuments, with no cell service. Be aware that your family will worry, so check in often if you fall Ill or hurt yourself as I did.

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Painted Rock Petroglyphs

This is a really nice place to rest for $8 a night. It is BLM, and camping fees go toward upkeep. No hookups, but nice clean pit toilets. The camp hosts do a great job. Must register via Recreation.gov; they accept no cash. Per hosts, if you have T-Mobile like me, there is no signal. When you exit I8 register with site pending, when you arrive, pick a site, and when you have signal, pay and done.

Special thanks to Glenn of the Cactus Atlas for his YouTube video of this site.

The petroglyphs are believed to be from the Oldham peoples. My pictures don’t do them justice.

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Organ Pipe Cactus

Why AZ, why not? Just a few miles north of the park is a big blm area where I stayed the night before. Lots of room and a great T-Mobile signal. Make sure you do what you need to because there is no service in most of the park.

Organ pipe cactus

I took the Ajo mountain loop, pay attention to the length restrictions and prepare to spend at least 2 hours driving time. This is a one-way loop with a potty 2/3s of the way. Next time I will plan to spend the whole day on the other loop it is a lot longer.

Ajo mountain loop.

The song below touched my heart the first time I came to the desert Southwest.

Man walks among us.

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Rosie refit

After a couple of short trips, using covid precautions, I decided to change my layout in Rosie.

Bed Raised and put in the back.
Kayak, chairs other camping gear.
In front potty, for now.
Sink
Over sink baskets
water system

I purchased a Alpincool fridge and a Jackery500 for power. I have 10 gallons of fresh water and 5 gal grey.

Heading out for a few days and see how comfy she is.

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Rockin and Rollin at Oliver Lee Memorial State Park

I stayed during the “Bomb Cyclone”, don’t you just love all the new words for bad weather.

I bought an Annual Camping Pass $225 for out of state which allows me to stay for free if I don’t want hook ups or $4 for w/e and $8 for full h/u where available. So this 10 day stay was free.

Oliver Lee Memorial State Park is 12 miles south of Alamogordo NM and is a beautiful place on the edge of Dog Canyon. Plenty of hiking and history.

Dog Canyon

The story of Oliver Lee depends on who is telling it. He was a rancher and maybe a bit of an outlaw. He did have a really cool ranch house, which you can tour. The restored home is full of period pieces from the area and the self-guided tour of the grounds will show you ranch life in the desert.

All of the campsites are on the hillside and mostly level with picnic tables and fire rings. Every site has a great view.

Out of the 10 days, most were windy and overcast. The day of the bomb produced a full 24hrs of wind and a little hail.

It is almost always windy in the valley so keep that in mind when parking on a hillside, orient your rig facing north or south, out of 10 days I only had 1 day of winds from the west that really rocked me.

This was also my first time using my solar more than just a day or two, everything worked perfectly and considering the amount of time it was overcast I had no problems.

Yucca almost ready to bloom.

Safe Travels

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Elephant Butte State Park

October 2018

This place is HUGE.

I have to say I was a little overwhelmed at first so I just went straight to the main entrance.  There are 173 developed campsites. 144 with w/e. 8 w/s/e. Primitive,  boat in and beach camping.

My site was level and a picturesque.

I woke the first day to the sounds of Gambel Quail covey moving from one level to the next. They sound more like a prairie dog than a bird and I enjoyed their morning wake up calls daily since they don’t start till way after sun up.

I was also fortunate to be there during a full moon.

And a nice rain storm with extras.

 

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Blanca Colorado

On the way to Blanca, Co. back roads, of course, I came across the memorial to the Texas Cattle Drives on RT. 71 plenty of room to pull off and rest.

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I stopped off in Limon at the KOA to do laundry and dump and fill and then on down to LaJunta KOA which is right next to a Walmart Supercenter to stock up on groceries. I know what to expect at KOA when I need to get things done.

The drive from Lajunta to Walsenburg on Rt.10 is scenic, mostly ranch land.

Lathrop State Park on Hwy160 just outside Walsenburg is a great place to stop. E/W hookups and great views.

The mountain pass on Rt.160 is a gradual rise and descent and Matilda, I finally decided on a name for my bounder, had no problems at all.

The Blanca RV Park wound up being my home for a month and I enjoyed every day in this charming  little town. My view out my front window was Mt.Blanca.

Be sure to put Blanca RV Park on your list if in the area. Full hookups are $30 a night also weekly and monthly rates available. Great WIFI and helpful managers. The owner is hands-on and is working on an expansion of 50/30 amp sites. Convenience store, propane and gas on site. Noisy during the day from Rt160 and a railroad track in the back but quiet at night.