Gila National Monument, NM

Summer is clearly going to have its good points and bad points. Wednesday we walked/hiked about 3 miles to get to the Gila (Pronounced Hee-la) Cliff Dwellings, and man was it hot. That was the bad part. On the way back to town, we passed Gila River, and decided to go dip our feet in to cool off. We ended up doing more than that, or at least, I did. The current was pretty swift, and the water was a great depth for swimming and floating. I walked about 100 yards or so upstream and floated down to where Paul was waiting for me to make sure I could get out of the water ( since the current was really strong). I ended up making that trip about 5 times and had a blast doing it. It was a fun way to cool off on a hot afternoon. So thats the good part. We can swim and boat if the weather gets really hot!

The cliff dwellings, as a snapshot of history, were pretty interesting. The Mogollon Indians have lived in this area for a long time, but the Cliff dwellings were built and occupied for only a hundred years or so, in the late 1200s. There are 7 caves that contain over 40 rooms, some of which have been destroyed over time, but some are still in reasonably good condition. You can walk through several of the rooms and get a sense of how they lived, although not much is actually known about the actual inhabitants and why they left.

          The road to get to the monument is a very long and windy road, with ups and downs and lots of curves. It was only 44 miles, but its a 2 hour drive. The thought of having to pull the trailer down that road had Paul and I laughing continuously. As we were driving, Paul also commented that he would hate to be the propane truck driver making a delivery-two minutes later we actually saw a UPS truck booking it down the road.

As it was, it was a very scenic drive through dense forest. In fact, I was completely convinced that I was going to see my first bear, elk or eagle while driving in that forest, so I spent the entire day with my camera in my hand and my finger on the button. No such luck. We did see 4 separate herds of deer in just that one day- however, I have decided that if there is one animal universal to every state, its deer (the universal bird would be the Mourning Dove. They are everywhere!).  I barely take pictures of deer anymore, unless they are particularly cute.
               Yesterday we left Silver City early in the morning. We were planning on travelling about 300 miles but we also wanted to stop and do a short hike along the way. It’s a hike through Whitewater Canyon, and the trail was partially built by using Catwalks above the canyon. The canyon is really deep with a lot of water rushing through multiple waterfalls. It was about 2.2 miles, so it didn’t take too long, but was worth the effort. On the road there, we had to ford our first river while towing the Everest. It wasn’t all that deep but it had a strong enough current to splash water up pretty high.

After hiking and eating lunch, we were on our way. There was a wind advisory, so Paul definitely had both hands on the wheel. We wanted to make it to Winslow Arizona (such a fine sight to see!), but we were tired enough to stop sooner than that had we been able to find an RV park that was suitable. We didn’t find anything, so we ended up going just past Winslow, and stayed at Meteor Crater RV park. Its near a meteor crater, surprise, surprise. We actually went there several years ago with the kids.

Today there was another wind advisory, so we hit the road early with the intent to stop early in the day. We called an RV Park in Needles CA, to see if they had a spot for us, and were told they did. I was thrilled, since the weather was hot, and the RV park is on the Colorado River, and has a pool and hot tub. When we arrived, however, the girl pretty much laughed at us and said they were booked completely. Once we explained that we had called ahead and was told there was space for us, the manager found a place for us for the night, which was nice of him. We spent the afternoon at the pool and hot tub, and later on, watching all the RVers arrive. There were an amazing amount of RVs that arrived towing boats behind them, instead of a car.
Tomorrow we will be one day closer to Fresno.