150 Miles Of Nothing

The morning ran up with a clear blue sky and after shaking off the chill of this high elevation, we got into the van and pushed onwards - down to Las Cruces, NM.

The latest plan was to climb over the St.Augustin Pass for so to descend down into the valley towards White Sands Nat'l Monument. While the climb the opposite way a few years ago proved almost disastrous for our van, the climb from Las Cruces is much shorter and didn't amount to any problems. At this time I also need to stress that I got the original 3:43 rear differential of the Chevy van replaced with the 4:11 which has proven to be much better for towing. The van is now even sporting a slightly better fuel mileage.

Starting on the climb to St.Augustin  Pass

From the top of St.Augustin Pass

Despite a busy parking lot at the White Sands we pulled in for a little break. That proved to be a mistake, as some private cars blocked the outlet for the parked RVs. And besides, the parking lot is not adequate to accommodate a huge number of visitors. But eventually we got out of there again and continued to the Walmart in Alamogordo, where we ate lunch in the parking lot.

Sierra Blanca with White Sands

The plan now was to get onto Hwy 54 which eventually reaches Santa Rosa at the I-40.

From Ruidoso the 54 passes through a number of very small towns and villages. Most of these places are obviously suffering a slow death. 

Businesses along their Main Streets are abandoned and boarded up. One gas station was completely out of gasoline, the only other charged prime amounts for gas.

Some parts of the road is actually part of famous Rte. 66 and buildings with their characteristic signs from the 50s would be worth more time to explore.

Route 66

In between the towns and villages the 54 leads through a vast landscape of nothingness. 

For quite some time we could enjoy the view of the snow-covered Sierra Blanca. What a great sight!

Your Choice

After well 8 hrs on the road, we arrived at Santa Rosa around 4pm. 6 miles north of town lies the Santa Rosa Lake State Park. We found out that their primitive camp sites, at $10 would be the right for us. With its Juniper covered area the park is beautiful and offers lots of hiking and of course, boating on the lake. To my great pleasure is ATVing prohibited. So no disturbing noise from those guys.

Santa Rosa Lake

 

We Are On The Home-Run!

It wasn't easy to say Goodbye to Quartzsite. The weather this morning was beautiful, and it seemed that the desert was beckoning us to stay around. Of course, Dixie was hanging around the entry door of the van, making sure we wouldn't "forget" her. A change of routine is all it takes to make our dog aware of that we will be moving.

An early breakfast, and the usual chores to get ready for the road - and that was all. At 7:30 we moved down the camp road, stopping a last time at the garbage dumpster, before hitting the highway.

Leaving Quartzsite behind, we entered the I-10 towards Phoenix. To begin with the pavement was good, but it didn't take long and I was praying that we wouldn't lose anything from the trailer. The right side of the lane was terribly rough and broken showing big potholes. One has to wonder how the federal government can be so negligent with keeping up the country's infrastructure.

As Phoenix showed the usual morning traffic chaos, we chose Hwy 85 from Buckeye south to connect with the I-8 at Gila Bend. It is actually signed as a Phoenix Detour route.

Traffic on the I-8 was light until the connect with the I-10. 

Weather stayed mostly very nice with little wind, until we entered New Mexico, where rain clouds showed up.

Yes, these are flowers covering vast areas of the desert

For the night we chose one of the NM rest areas. It was almost full when we arrived, so we couldn't pick the one farthest from the highway, but more than the traffic noise it is the train line going by which is of a concern. Every time a ground-shaking train comes by, it feels like it is taking aim on our trailer. 

Reminiscing Desert Beauty: 

From a recent desert walk

Cholla Cactus

Blooming Ocotillo Cactus

Brittle Bush in full bloom

Rainbow!

A Visit To Lake Havasu And The Unsettled Weather Makes Us Change Plans

 Still hanging out in Quartzsite we were hankering after doing a little sightseeing tour, and while our fridge was in need of a fill-up, we decided to take a trip up north to 35mile distant Parker where they have a Walmart. And from Parker it is only about another 30-mile trip to Lake Havasu City.

Colorado River at Parker Dam

Lake Havasu City is widely known to sport the old London Bridge, which was moved from London, UK to span the channel to an island within the Colorado River. And business people have certainly tried and succeeded to make the most of the bridge and surrounding area.

Lake Havasu State Park

Sunday was Easter and the local traffic was nothing short of any big city. People were milling around along the river walk with many wanting to board one of the local sightseeing river cruise boats. 

Above: Idiot with too much money disturbing nature

Much better: A slow moving bar

Sightseeing boat

 We took just a short walk through the throngs, then drove over to the Lake Havasu State Park, where we once had stayed for a couple of nights. This time we just drove over to the day use area where we were looking for the copy of the Campobello Head Harbour Lightstation.

Copy of Head Harbour Lightstation

The lighthouse copy is guarding the entrance to the channel leading to the London Bridge. It was fun to see it and also discover that the West Quoddy Lighthouse in Maine was standing on the opposite side of the channel. There are more known lighthouse copies along the shoreline as well.

 

The first time we had been in the city was in 1997, when we attended a promotional tour of SUNTREK Adventures. Since then the city has grown a lot. 

It was a fun tour and we took a lot of pictures along the way.

 Left: Copy of West Quoddy Lighthouse

Today, is April 1. and we are planning our departure from Quartzsite.

Two obstacles are threatening to come in the way:

The weather is generally volatile with days of strong winds and, up north, cold weather. The other obstacle is the eclipse of the sun on April 8. We found it not advisable to get into the path of the eclipse as millions of people are trying to see the eclipse within a relatively narrow stripe from where the eclips can be seen 100%. Warnings about gas stations running out of gas, parking lots being filled up and groceries running scarce, have been posted far and wide. 

Our plan is to stay west of the area and wait there until the frenzy will be over.

Not easy to find the right timing when the weather can be throwing a curveball at us any day.

We originally had planned to visit the petrified forest and painted desert, but will most like have to go south to Las Cruces, then over the St. Augustin Pass down to White Sands Nat'l Monument and onwards to Tucumcari or Santa Rosa, NM.

As Another Week Is Passing

 When we think of having around 5 months ahead of us to spend our winter in a warm dry climate it seems like a very long time. After all most people have only a few weeks (2?) for their vacation, while even need more than 2 weeks just for traveling to and from our destination.

And yet, all-of-a-sudden 5 months are over and we are planning our journey home.

Now we have already been spending 10 days in Quartzsite and we are looking into our last week in the desert.

Over the last couple of days friends have shown up coming from Holtville,CA. The heat and the bugs have driven them out and over to Quartzsite. Here we are completely free of the hordes of insects which turned out to be very, very bothersome at the Hot Springs LTVA. Most days we have a nice cooling breeze which makes it even nicer to stay here. While Quartzsite does not sport any big-box shopping malls nor even a Walmart, the local stores have most of what you would need for a couple of weeks camping. There are still a few tent-stores offering RV-parts and camp utensils. And if you are into rock hounding there are still a lot of places where you can purchase rocks for your collection. 

Our days are usually starting with an early-morning desert walk which nets us a couple of new pictures of mother nature's wonders. Besides of an occasional trip to town to get supplies we are mostly enjoying lazy days in camp.

By the end of March we will be heading out seeking a few more adventures until it is time to start the long run home.

This strange looking air vehicle came flying by one afternoon

Grand evening sky view