Oklahoma!

So, since our live version of “The Extreme Weather Show” never ends, on we go from Santa Fe, New Mexico. We took a leisurely drive into Amarillo, Texas and found the Amarillo Ranch RV Park. It was a nice park, has an indoor pool and spa, and very large pull through sites. We got there with temps in the 90’s, but the following day the winds picked up and the temps cooled way down.  The forecast for the 3rd day called for freezing, so we decided that was enough for Amarillo. Upon packing up to leave, the icy winds raged and kicked up a huge dust storm as we headed out E/B Hwy. 40. It took about 2 hours driving to get us out of the dust and winds.  We continued on into Hinton, OK, where we found the Red Rock Canyon State Park. This was a pretty cool park hidden among some spectacular canyons of red rock right in the middle of the immense flatness that is central Oklahoma. We pulled in with nice, sunny weather and found the park nearly empty.  Found us a spot at the very back of the park, next to bathrooms and showers, then watched as the weather turned progressively worse as the night unfolded. Again, icy, RAGING winds tried to blow our trailer off the face of the Earth, and icy rain dumped on us in the night and into the next morning.

Home in Red Rock Canyon. Lots of socializing here...NOT!

Fishin' pond under the cliffs.

They encourage rappelling at Red Rock Canyon State Park. Here is one typical rappelling face.

The drive into the canyon...

The weather the next day was TERRIBLE still! The forecast called for snow, but all we got was 60 MPH winds and temps in the 30’s, with occasional rain flurries. So much for trying to hike around the park. 

A couple days of that and off we went to Lake Thunderbird State Park in Norman (OKC) Oklahoma. This park is split on opposite sides of the Lake and we randomly picked the Indian Point side.  They had some lakeview full hookups, a bit pricy at $28/day ($27 with Good Sam discount). The lake was nasty looking reddish/brown water (the dirt around it was of the bright red variety). One of the locals camping near us said they referred to it as Lake Dirty Bird.

Lakeview at Lake "Dirty Bird", as the locals refer to it...

Lake Thunderbird

We went into OKC and visited the Oklahoma City Memorial Museum and Park, a very somber experience. Then we went downtown and walked around the area called “Bricktown”. 

This is the Survivors Tree at the Oklahoma City Museum and Memorial. This tree stood in the middle of the parking lot across the street from the front of what was the Murrah building. The explosion demolished most if not all of the cars parked in that lot, but this tree withstood the power of the blast.

The weather stayed pretty blah and cold while we were at Lake Thunderbird. We did manage to take a short drive to the other side of the lake and check out the Clear Bay camping areas. If I had my “druthers” I would have probably preferred to stay there.  The RV sites looked like they had water and electric, most if not all were large concrete pads and spacious sites, and they went for $25/night (or probably $24 with Good Sam). There was a dump station at the front area of the driveway.  Clear Bay had a lakeside cafe, horse stables with horse riding opportunities, a nature center, and boat launch.

Terrible weather that we were still in, we headed into Tulsa where we had to have some minor repairs done to the trailer and a Keystone authorized repair place there was the only one I could find along our path that had an appointment available within a reasonable time frame.  More on that next time...

Santa Fe, NM

Our first stop in Santa Fe was the Hyde Memorial State Park, which was in the mountains at about 8400 feet. The air was a bit on the thin side. This state park lays claim to be the first state park in New Mexico. It was a bit rough to get to, we had to tow through some VERY skinny streets, with A LOT of closures and construction going on. But we finally made it. The sites with power (only) for trailers were off the main road that leads to a ski area. There were several good hiking trails in the area and we had fun on the East and West Circle trails. I think it was the East Circle trail that we took which was a 3 mile hike up the mountain with a 1,000 foot elevation change. At the top we were at 9,440 feet above sea level.  Good hike!

A view of the valley floor from the East Circle trail.

"YeeeeeHawwwwwww, we made it to the top, 9440 feet!"

But, of course, we did have weather issues, GO FIGURE?!! On our third day, after temperatures in the 60's and 70's, we just had to get snow! We got several inches of the white stuff. Is this what snowbirdin' is all about???!!!???

Our campsite at Hyde Memorial State Park. Nobody told us that to be "snowbirds" in RV terms, we were supposed to follow the WARM weather!"

We only stayed at Hyde Park for 4 days. There was no cell reception and no internet access while we were there, so we headed to another RV park outside of Santa Fe, the Rancheros de Santa Fe Campground. It was an old run down KOA campground, but they had laundry, cell reception, and wifi albeit weak signal. We had to hang out for at least 2 days and maybe 4 because we were waiting for our Alternative Resources mailing. So to kill time, we went into Santa Fe to walk around the Plaza area. That looked to be one of their main touristy things to do. Other than that, it looked to be geared toward the summertime activities being so close to the Rio Grande river. The "highlight" of our stay at this RV park was the New York style pizza we got at a nearby shop called Pizza Centro.  Mmmmmmm, tasty. Looks like we will be outta here tomorrow, on to Amarillo, TX!

New Mexico views...

From Deming we headed to the City of Rocks, a New Mexico State Park halfway between Deming and Silver City.  This was a spectacularly scenic spot, the campsites are scattered among very large boulder outcroppings.  I felt like we were in the middle of a Star Trek location shoot.  The New Mexico park system has reservation sites, first-come-first-served sites, some with power and water, others without.  We found a perfect site for our fifth wheel, site #18. It was extremely spacious and secluded, no hook-ups boondock style, and the park itself had no dump station or sewer hook-ups.

Site #18

Jeanne and the kids at City of Rocks

A Star Trek alien planet?

Unfortunately, our stay was marred by high winds and dust storms, but we still had a good time.  There were hiking trails around the perimeter of the park and up to a scenic overlook area.

A few days here and we headed to Rockhound State Park just outside of Deming.  This is a small state park that actually encourages "rock hounds" to hunt and take rock samples (15 pound limit is requested). The campsites were spacious and spread out, this park had a dump site, and we took space #13 which had water and electric.  It was still a bit windy at this park too.

Home at Rockhound State Park

The park as seen from the mountain trails

From Rockhound State Park we went to the Oliver Lee State Park outside of Alamagordo, NM. This is another tiny state park at the base of the Sacramento Mountains at Dog Canyon.

Space #24 at Oliver Lee State Park

If you are ever near this area, a must see is the White Sands National Monument area adjacent to the White Sands Missile Testing area. (Don't worry, they block the roads to this area when they actually are testing missiles).  The monument area is 275 square miles of awe-inspiring whiteness. It felt like being in the snow fields, like we were supposed to put our jackets on, except it was 80 degrees and sunny. We watched as our footprints in the sand disappeared quickly with even the lightly blowing winds sweeping across the desert. Eerie!!!

"Where's my jacket?"

That is one big dune!

We packed up from Oliver Lee and went to Roswell, NM looking for UFO's or aliens. We stayed at the Bottomless Lakes State Park.  This time we made reservations for a 5 day stay, but I would probably forgo any more reservations in New Mexico State Parks.  They charge an extra fee for reservations and every park we went to had plenty of vacancies in the first-come-first-served spaces, many of which were better sites than our reserved ones. We continued acting as a magnet for terrible weather, encountering a HUGE dust storm with 50 mph winds in Roswell. The temps also fluctuated big-time, one day we were in the high 70's and the next there was a flash freeze warning in the morning. Oh well, that's how it goes with our travels. Now you all know that if you know we are approaching your location......RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES!  While in Roswell we just HAD to see the UFO museum. It was only $5 to get in and it was interesting to see.

Looking for a first-come-first-served camping spot?

Well, we are about done here in Roswell. Next up, we will probably head towards Santa Fe. We'll let you know next post. If no post ensues, just figure we got abducted by aliens...

Arizona in my rear-view mirror...

Next stop, the Saguaro SKP park in Benson, AZ. This was our last hurrah in the state of AZ. The SKP park was very spacious and nice, with a large tract of desert and walking trails out the back gate. Again, as in Nevada, we quickly spotted a big corn fed farmer type wandering into a local restaurant packin' heat in a belt holster (in layman's terms, openly carrying a firearm in public). Later in our stay, while I was getting fuel at a local gas station, the mechanic from the garage next door wandered in, him too packin' heat in a belt holster. I spoke to him about it and he says AZ has no concealed weapons ban, no permits required, and all firearms can be carried loaded. WOW! I guess you don't argue the cost of a brake job here!

Our home in Benson AZ at the Saguaro SKP Park

Hiking in the desert, one would think texting on a cell phone should not occur!

Madison, "The Princess" waits on mom to finish texting during their desert walk.

Our first touristy thing was a visit to Tombstone, about 25 miles from our park. Several of the streets are blocked off to traffic and you can wander shop to shop, check out the bars and restaurants, or see several wild west shows, including the re-enactment of the Shootout At The OK Corral. The drawback to this whole experience is that EACH attraction/venue charges separately, so you could potentially rack up a hefty entertainment bill for the day. They do trolley tours and a stage coach tour of the town, and there are numerous folks wandering around in character wearing period costumes. Of course we could not leave without checking out the Boothill Graveyard.

Downtown street of Tombstone AZ

Things don't change over the course of decades and centuries!

One of the old West characters wandering the streets of Tombstone...

My new pal in the Tombstone Jail. Quick, send bail money!

One of Boothill's residents...

These are the ones who put Tombstone on the map.

Next on our tour we decided to visit a place called Council Rocks. It took us 16 miles out a 4-wheeling type dirt road outside of Tombstone. A short walk up a trail into some picturesque rock formations to a "cave" created by massive rocks leaning on each other. The local indians of ages ago used the area, there being evidence of holes ground into the stones, used for grinding grains in, as well as petroglyphs painted on the rocks.

In the hills of the Council Rocks, outside of Tombstone, AZ

Rock formations at the Council Rocks area.

Bisbee, AZ was an interesting town, kind of jammed in canyons and reminded us of the French Quarter in "Nawlins". We walked downtown and took the Queen Mine tour. That tour took us into the Queen Mine that was huge in copper production, as well as some gold and silver, until they ceased mining there in 1975.

"47 degrees down in the mine and you are going dressed like THAT?!?!?

The streets of Bisbee, AZ

Down in the heart of the beast, Queen Mine.

After a week at the SKP park, we said, "adios" to good ol' AZ. We drove to Deming, NM for a short stopover at the Dreamcatcher RV Park SKP/Rainbow Park. We scouted two of our next stops, New Mexico's Rockhound State Park, and the City of Rocks State Park. Descriptions of those escapades are soon to follow...

Whole Lotta Nothin' in Casa Grande

So, Casa Grande, AZ was a bit desolate, to say the least. The SKP park was about 10 miles outside of the main "town".  It was situated surrounded by miles of flat desert which was nice to let the dogs run free.  Woody, the chihuahua almost got left there after he took off after one of the owls which appeared to nest in the ground.

The dogs living the motto, "All that roam are not necessarily lost!"

We did get a chance to have a nice visit with cousin Linda and Roy in Queen Creek. Got caught up on family doin's and whatnot. We met them for lunch at a Cheesecake factory in the Chandler mall.  That is one large mall! 

My quest continued while in Casa Grande for the screw-on extension rod/handle for my black tank valve which I had previously broken off and have been using needle-nose pliers to empty my black tank. I was a bit surprised when I went to a place called the RV Store.  It was a small parts store but when I asked the clerk there if they had any such screw-on rods, he said no and that they could not even get replacement rods from the factory any more.  I also inquired about the "T" rubber weather-type stripping for the top and bottom of my shower door and he gave me the same answer. Well, that don't work with me.  I remembered an RV parts/sales place in Mesa (Adobe RV Sales) from a year ago where I had bought just such a piece of weather stripping.  We returned there and voila! Screw-on extension rods by the truck load (slight exaggeration on my part). Unfortunately they were out of shower door stripping. But any time you happen to be in the Phoenix area and are in need of RV parts or assistance, I highly recommend Adobe RV Sales in Mesa.  Their staff is extremely friendly and helpful. 

When we were told by some folks that "boondocking" was exciting, boy, were they right!

Our next adventure took us to another SKP coop park in Yuma, AZ, the KofA Ko-op. This park was a bit nicer as far as SKP's go, they actually had a pool! Lots of activities here as well, shuffleboard, horseshoes, and many planned activities like bingo and a Friday night "Taco Night" where we caravanned down the road to a private ranch. It was quite "rustic" so to speak, kinda a quonset hut shaped frame covered in fabric and partly under camouflage netting, dirt floor, wooden tables, and is a legit business called "El Rancho Tacos".  The food was touted as authentic Mexican, and it certainly was.  The Cowboy taco and the shrimp tacos were TASTY!

Our home in Yuma, AZ

The chef, hard at work in the "kitchen" at El Rancho Tacos. Come on, camo netting?!?

The dining room for El Rancho Tacos.

We had read in several blogs and heard from the locals here that Los Algodones, Mexico was THE place to go for medications, dental work, and eye glasses and exams. It was only about 20 minutes from our location, so we decided to go check it out.  We parked in the LARGE parking lot at the border run by the Indian tribe on whose reservation we were located, then walked on across the border.  It was a simple walk across, no lines to stand in, no customs to go through. Once in country, we immediately locate Liqui's Purple Pharmacy, the one pharmacy that had been recommended to us.  Wow, the prices were ridiculous! We loaded up on several prescription medications (here, no prescription required). My generic Protonix cost a whopping $15 for 60 ct. 40 mg tabs, about $0.25 per pill. We got some generic Zantac, 100 tabs for $3.  Wow!  Los Algodones is a small area jam packed with pharmacies, wall to wall dental services, wall to wall eye glasses and optometrists, and the usual vendors "ankle-to-elbow".  We walked around town for a bit fighting off the hawkers (another exaggeration on my part - the vendors were actually very well behaved and did not hound us all the way down the street).  The place reminded me of Disneyland, jam packed with American tourists (most of them elderly). We had heard that we needed to get out of town fairly early, the exit lines can be a Disneyland-ish 3 hours long in the afternoons. So we heeded that advice and scooted by 11:00 am.  It was an interesting morning and I highly recommend anyone staying even remotely close to Yuma for any period of time to hit Los Algodones for their meds, dental work, or optometry work. The folks we have talked to that have utilized the dental and optical services in Los Algodones swear by them. One woman had some (16) individual teeth capped (white caps) and she said her caps ran about $380 each.

Yes, the building is REALLY painted purple!

Especiales de día.

A shot of downtown Los Algodones...

Let's hope a $3 haircut doesn't LOOK like a $3 haircut!

Looking down the sidwalk of one of the main streets.

Lots o' dental and optical...

Before leaving Yuma, we just HAD to rent an ATV and hit the desert.  Jeanne had never been on one before and I quickly discovered that she is DEADLY behind the wheel! "No Dear, just kidding..." We found a stretch of desert just on the east side of town off Fortuna Rd. that turned out to be perfect for Jeanne the Newbie, lots of flat land and lots of hills and valleys. We had a blast, but then I got to drive (it was a two seater UTV Yamaha Rhino).  I made Jeanne a tad bit car sick when I got carried away with the donuts and abrupt turns through the hills and around the flats. We had FUN! You would be amazed at how fried you can get in the desert in just 3 lowly hours of ATV-ing.

Jeanne's new nick-name is Helen Wheels. Get it? Hell On Wheels?

Such an intense STARE!

C'mon, BOTH hands on the wheel!

Well, it is time to move on eastward bound. Until next stop...

We're off, again!

With Pop stabilized, we headed back out on the road again.  Our visit to California would not be complete without a stop in to check on our son and daughter-in-law, Chad and Crissy, at San Luis Obispo.  We stayed at the El Chorro county park again and spent the weekend visiting.   We had a very nice time, taking a walk out of Avila Beach in some actual SUNSHINE.  Chad and Crissy then took us for dinner to Schooner's, a small beachfront restaurant out in Cayucos.  It was great food at a nice, oceanside location.

Next day we set out on foot downtown SLO and cruised all the shops and sights. We also took in the historical San Luis Obispo Mission in downtown.

Oh, wow. Standing on church grounds and no lightning strikes! I must be living right....

And while in SLO, Chad of course had to get his Madison "fix".

Must be some kinda eerie connection between the two, don't you think? It's something in the eyes...

From there it was onward ho.  Our next "Griswold Family Vacation" travel day started out appropriately. As I loaded things up, taking boxes out of the storage area I managed to snap off the aluminum arm to the black tank valve handle. Great. "@%#$&*!!!" Thankfully, I was still able to empty the black tank using a pair of needle nose pliers. So we headed toward our preferred destination - Lake Mead and the federal campground there.  Upon arrival, in the just-turned-nighttime hours, we were greeted with the "Campground Full" sign across the driveway, on a weekday no less! "@%#$&*!!!" It was rather fortuitous that we found the Railroad Pass Casino nearby, which allows 3 nights of overnight parking for RV's (no connections).  So now the plans changed...again.  For some reason I guess we are not supposed to be at Lake Mead right now.  So we headed into Congress, AZ and stayed at the SKP/Rainbow Park for a while. Not somewhere I would say is a "must see" area, but at $95/week it was a good stopover spot.  The park had full hooks and was good, gravel spaces.  They had a manicured desert garden area that was nice to walk through and the weather was mild (finally!)  

"Cacti..." 

"Cacti..."

"And more cacti!"

"I am communing with Nature. I am one with my cacti brethren!"

Our home in Congress, AZ. Note the BLUE skies...

We have now decided to not try and plan too far ahead and just "leap frog" our way across the country.  You just never know where it is you want to head to on any given day and our new motto is "Plans Change".  We might have to have a sign made with that motto on it.  Anyway, our next stop was...stay tuned.