November into December 2018

November was a relatively quiet month for us- we did some stuff around the house, and our daughter Jess came to visit for a few days.

That was actually pretty "exciting".
She had never been to the Desert Bar but had been hearing about it for ages, so we decided to take the Teryx there, using the back trail. Sadly, as you can see from the picture, we tipped it over.

Luckily no one was hurt and we continued on our way to the bar for lunch.
















After that excitement, things calmed down for a week or so.  As Thanksgiving approached we realized that other than Jess, we wouldn't be having any company for the holiday. That's unusual, and we got to thinking that there was no point in staying home if that was the case.

We threw out some ideas of where to go, and landed on Joshua Tree National Park.  Jess had never been there, it is only about 2 hours from her and about 3 from us. So, we packed up the trailer and took off.

We had cooked the turkey before we left, and decided to have our family's traditional Thanksgiving dinner- Turkey Enchiladas. We had a great day and had even found a spot in an RV resort with 4 pools and 6 hot tubs!







Joshua Tree National Park is obviously named for the unusual Joshua Trees that live inside the park- but I think its misnamed.

It should be called Boulder Park because the real fun of the park is climbing all over the boulders!

Joshua Tree is a small park and isn't as well known as some other parks, so it never dawned on us that it would be so popular the day after Thanksgiving!  We waited in line for over an hour and a half just to get into the park!

 We decided we might as well wait it out, even though we knew that parking would be an issue. Instead of parking at the hiking trails, which was our original idea, we parked along the roadway and explored the boulders nearby.













It wasn't exactly the outing we had hoped for, but we had a great time, and got to show Jess at least a little bit of the park.







Once Jess left for home, we had no intention of doing the same. Since we were out and about already, we kept going.

Our next stop was El Paso, to check in on Paul's mom.  Since it was a two day drive, we broke the trip up with a stop in Tucson, where we met up with our friends Dave and Nancy.

 After a couple of days with Paul's mom, we headed for our next destination- Bisbee, Arizona.











Our objective was to tour the copper Queen Mine.  We have toured quite a few mines in the past...so many that I could probably have passed on this one, but off we went.

After donning our hard hats, we boarded a small train that took us 1500 feet into the mine.

The tour was actually very interesting, and was conducted by someone who used to work for the mining company.

When I think I am going to be bored, I try to pay attention and find one or two bits of information I can come away with on a tour. I wasn't at all bored on this tour, but still, my favorite take-away was how they would use dynamite to blow an area into rubble. They set an ever increasing circle of dynamite sticks, and connect them together with fuses.
When they are done, they light it and walk around the corner. They don't have to go too far, because the way it is set off, it implodes, instead of exploding. They also needed to stay nearby so they could count the explosions and make sure there wasn't a misfire.

Once we were back on the surface, we drove past the mine on our way to our next destination.










Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument has been on our bucket list for quite a while, and we finally made it there. This national monument is in southern Arizona and shares a border with Mexico.
Pictured is the Organ Pipe Cactus that it is named for.








Our plan was a simple one. Relax, explore, relax some more. And that's what we did. There are two scenic drives- we drove both of them. There are numerous hiking trails.... and most had incredible views.....

At night the weather was perfect for sitting by a campfire watching the sun set.

Once we had had our fill, we headed back home.

And yes, I am on a mission.

Joshua Tree National Park (11-05-13)

 The Hikes

So, in between relaxing in the hot tub, and doing laundry, we’ve gone to Joshua Tree National Park to do some hiking.  The first trail that we picked to hike is closed due to flash floods back in September. 

  We asked the Ranger’s opinion on another trail to hike, and she suggested Coyote Mine.  Well, anytime you say “mine” , sign Paul up!  We got directions and headed out on the “trail”. Unfortunately, the directions were terrible and the trail is unmarked.  We wandered around looking for this mine for a while.  We did come upon some great views along the way!

It’s not unheard of to have unmarked trails in the desert.  We had two GPS’s with us so we weren’t worried about finding our way back home.  We finally found “the mine”.  There were just a few timbers left, and some tailings. No other signs of activity. 

So, we left and headed back to the truck.  We took a different route, and hadn’t realized how high up we were from the valley until we came across this area.  We had the choice of picking our way down the boulders or turning around.

We slowly picked our way through the boulders down the hill, and made it back to the truck. 

Paul did some research and found a trail he wanted to try- to another mine- no surprise there!  We took Split Rock Trail to Eagle Cliff Mine. Split Rock trail was pretty neat- full of the huge boulders that make up Joshua Tree National Park.

Once again we had to hike up a pile of rocks to get to the ridge.  We couldn’t find an actual trail on the way up, although on the way down, we found it.  We know there is a miner’s cabin atop this ridge, and we thought we had decent directions to find it.  Wrong again!

  After reaching the ridge and searching for the cabin, we came across two women who were also searching.  They had the guide book with them so the four of us teamed up.  I couldn’t believe that the directions in the book said something like “ Go to the right of the big boulder, and turn left at the three slanted rocks.” Really?  Look at this picture. There’s nothing BUT boulders.  Which “big boulder??”

The “cabin” is built into the side of some boulders, and the entrance is hidden by a large tree.  If you look in this picture, you can see one of the women we were with.

The cabin was really cool-it has been left just as it was when it was occupied, over 100 years ago.  I am guessing they make it hard to find so it doesn’t get vandalized.

 

Anyway, it was a pretty cool destination, and the whole hike was only about 4 miles.

As our map indicates, we have now moved on from Indio and are staying near our daughter, just outside of Los Angeles, right on the beach (and the flight path for LAX!).

Miscellaneous things in Colorado(05/20/12)

Well, I hope you all enjoyed Paul’s post.  He may be sorry he volunteered to write it, since I may try to get him to do it more often!

We were lucky enough to witness a solar eclipse while we were at Mesa Verde. I really like Lunar eclipses better, because I can just watch them occur, without worrying about having special glasses etc.  Although we knew about the eclipse, we almost missed it.  After hiking the trail to the highest point in the area, we decided we had enough time to do laundry before dinner.  While we were loading clothes into the dryer, someone asked us if the rumor about there being an eclipse was real.  Well, rats, of course it was, and here we were, just loading clothes.

  Luckily we had about an hour and a half before the “ring of fire” would take place.  We dried the clothes, ran back to the trailer, threw some cheese and crackers etc in the truck, and drove the 40 minute ride to reach the overlook where the rangers would be to hand out glasses and answer questions. They handed out little pieces of paper with pinholes in them so we could all “view” the eclipse. Doesn’t that look exciting?  There was a real camaraderie among everyone there, and those who actually had special glasses, were very nice about sharing them with those of us who didn’t get there early enough to get a pair.

 

While wandering around chatting with people, I found a much better way of viewing the sun.  Several people had cameras, binoculars and telescopes set up.  This guy had the best set up that I could find, and he was awesome about letting everyone get a good look.

The shadows that were created while the sun was eclipsed were really cool.  I remember seeing those strange crescent shapes during an eclipse when I was a kid.

By the time we got home, it was 9 pm, so it turned out to be a very long day.

Dozer has decided that Mesa Verde is one of his favorite places.  There were an abundant number of grasshoppers for him to eat, and the wildlife kept him quite entertained!

Taking a break from hiking and learning about ancient civilizations, we spent one day on a road trip.  We were within 40 miles of Four Corners and I didn’t want to leave the area without checking it out.  The spot where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah meet is on Navajo land, and there is a small charge for the privilege of seeing where they all come together.  There were also quite a few booths set up where we could buy anything from jewelry to T-shirts.  We managed to walk out without anything, although the jewelry was some of the most beautiful I’ve seen in a long time.

After leaving there, we meandered through Durango, CO and ate at an excellent Mexican restaurant on the way home.

Mesa Verde National Park, CO (05-18-12)

OK,  It’s Paul writing this Blog with Sue’s input of course, see if you can tell the difference. So we left Natural Bridges National Monument after boondocking for two nights and I gotta say the new trimetric gauge that I installed was quite the stress reliever to me. Now I know how low our batteries got and how much amps I’m drawing at any given time. Way cool and I’m sure you guys will agree. Now off we drove to Mesa Verde the home to more than 600 ancient cliff dwellings, and, at one time, home to the ancient Puebloans that lived in this area from 500 A.D to 1300 A.D.   By about 1300, everyone had left, and although no one knows the exact reason why, scientists do know that there was a 30 year drought at about that time, and feel that the problems that the drought caused,- lack of water = no water for plants, crops fail, game moves on to wetter area, etc. played a major role.
You should see the road into the park! Holy cow!  Steep grades and switchbacks like I’ve never seen. No worries though, the F450 took to it like it was a Sunday stroll in the park. The campground was made for little trailers and small class C rental motorhomes which we see everywhere in this part of the country. The spot assigned to us was on a uphill curve and I had to back down around a overgrown bush/tree at about 120 degrees with a uphill ditch on the other side so little room to maneuver. We got it but it wasn’t fun to say the least.  
The first group to settle here lived up on top of the mesas in houses that they built into the ground called pit houses. Picture a square hole in the ground with a wooden timber roof structure packed with mud and brush. They lived in these to be close to their crops of beans, corn and squash that they cultivated.  As the land was plentiful the Indians began spreading out over the Mesas as the families grew. The age at which they got married was believed to be around 13 with a life expectancy of 30 so I could only imagine at the rate the families grew.
Later they began to build above ground homes of stone,again on top of the mesas near their crops. Some of these homes were like apartment complexes with many connecting rooms.   
The last group living there were the ones who began living in the really interesting cliff dwellings. It was believed that they moved to the cliffs as families and groups for many reasons but no one knows for sure. Some think it was to better pass the long winters  by building on the southern exposed cliffs. Others think it was a defensive move yet there were no signs of war and the Europeans had yet to touch north America. 

We took tours of the two largest cliff dwellings, Cliff Palace and Balcony House, both very interesting and pretty well preserved. The guides were very knowledgeable and presented well, telling us where they sleep, cooked, stored food and had ceremonial meetings.  What they couldn’t tell us is what they did with their dead and where they went to the bathroom.  There were no signs of either to be found. The trail to and from them was also very interesting- having to climb wooden ladders, crawl through a short tunnel and scale the side of a cliff.
 

Speaking of tunnels, did I tell you about the tunnel you need to drive through to get to the cliff dwellings? Well, it was way cool !  They dug through the sandstone mesa at one point to avoid having to drive way around it with more switchbacks. We found it to be the right place to test the new air horns I installed on the truck. They sound just like a freight train and just as loud.  

Horn in the tunnel

Death Valley, Part 3 (03-21-12)

I’ve been hearing about “Scotty’s Castle” since we got to Death Valley.  Honestly, I was ready to skip it altogether- it’s a tour of a mansion that was built here in Death Valley.  So many people said we should go to it though, that I changed my mind and we took both the house tour and the basement tour (it shows all the underground tunnels, electrical set up etc).

Let’s see if I can give the short version of the story behind the castle.  First of all, it was never owned by Scotty, nor did he ever live in it.  It was built and owned by millionaire Albert Johnson and his wife Bessie.  Scotty was “Death Valley Scotty”- a con man that convinced many investors, Chicagoan Alfred Johnson included, that he owned a very productive gold mine in Death Valley.  Sight unseen, many businessmen invested thousands of dollars, which Scotty promptly spent lavishly, in order to appear wealthy.  Alfred got suspicious and decided to trek out to CA from Chicago to check on his investment.  He, of course, discovered Scotty’s deception, but having been a businessman stuck in an office who always wanted an adventurous, cowboy life, he enjoyed Death Valley, Scotty’s company and especially his tall tales. They became lifelong friends and Alfred continued to “invest” in Scotty’s mine. Alfred and his wife ultimately built a vacation home, but Scotty would brag about the house as if it were his, and Alfred didn’t contradict him. He enjoyed the “show”. Often when there were visitors, Scotty would say goodnight, head to the bedroom, then walk out the door and go to his own modest house. Scotty also told people that the house was built on top of his mine, and Alfred would have the servants go to the basement and bang pots on the wall to prove that there were miners down there.

In 1931, several years after construction had begun, the Federal Government informed Alfred that he was actually building on the wrong plot of land- about a mile from his actual property. Alfred stopped building immediately, and after several years and an act of congress, he was allowed to re-buy the land.  He used the house until his death, but he never finished building it.  The picture shows half of what should have been the pool, but it was never finished.




All of the tile had been purchased, as well as all the tile to finish all of the outbuildings, and it all still sits in the basement tunnels.
Alfred was an engineer, and an innovator, so the house is full of gadgets and systems that were well ahead of their time.  Building a castle in the extremely remote area of Death Valley was challenging, to say the least.  Alfred used local materials and his engineering skills to build a castle that could survive the desert heat. That made the tour interesting (especially for Paul), but too involved to detail in a blog post!  Suffice to say that the tour did turn out to be very interesting and well worth it!




Once the weather cleared, we were able to take our drive through Titus Canyon. It’s a rough road through a beautiful canyon.  We had originally intended to hike up some side canyons along the way, but the weather was still cold and there weren’t too many places to park the truck. There were several places that I just closed my eyes and trusted Paul’s driving as we drove on the narrow road with sheer cliffs.  Not much maneuvering room for a long wheel based dually.








Once we got over the pass, the views of the canyon were amazing.  The colors are very vivid.

The rest of the drive was through a canyon with steep, tall walls.

I’ve had to rush through this post- we have extended our stay by another day or so and I bought 24 hrs of internet at a ridiculously high price, and then we went swimming all afternoon, so I have only tonight to get this finished.

Death Valley, Part 1 (03-14-12)

Death Valley is not at all what I expected. I guess I’ve always pictured the “valley” but didn’t give much thought to the fact that it’s tough to have a valley without the mountains! I also had in mind a completely desolate area, with the sun constantly beating down on everything below, and overbearing heat. That’s partly true, and would probably be even more true if we were here in the summer, when the temperatures reach 130 degrees. As it is, we came at a great time of year. On the days when it is really warm- in the high 80s, we head to higher elevations, where it’s much cooler.  It was in the 50s at Dante’s Peak, but in the mid- 80s at the trailer yesterday.  One of the hikes we want to do still has snow cover, so we’re putting it off for a few days. The key is to get up and out early in the day.  It hasn’t been overly hot in the mornings, but by afternoon it’s pretty steamy. Or it would be steamy if there was any moisture in the air, which there isn’t.  The humidity is about 11%. Very little moisture makes it’s way to Death Valley-with two inches of rainfall per year, it’s the driest place in North America.  The weather approaches here from the Pacific coast, but the clouds have to go over several mountain ranges before reaching this valley.  When the clouds reach the mountains, they dump their moisture on the western side, leaving a “rain shadow” on the eastern slopes, and blocking most of the moisture from reaching this valley.


  Death Valley has the lowest elevation in the United States-the Badland Basin is 282 feet below sea level.  Ironically, about 100 miles away is Mount Whitney, the highest elevation in the lower 48, standing at about 20,200 ft above sea level.
The precipitation that does make it here never leaves. It evaporates, leaving the minerals behind. Part of the basin is covered in white minerals- mostly table salt.





Our first day here we drove down Artist Rd. at sunset and were there in time to see “Artist’s Palette” lit up pretty nicely!  It’s hard to see how vibrant these colors are in a picture, but it was pretty amazing.









For our first hike we took the Golden Canyon/Gower Gulch trail, for a total of 6 miles and lots of hill climbing. For perspective, there is a person in the picture above- in the center, bottom half of the photo- looks like a small dark blot. The views were spectacular on this hike.  The mountains here have a texture to them that I’ve never seen anywhere else. Whichever way I turn my head, it looks like a painting.  It’s the first time I’ve thought that maybe a 3D camera would be a nice thing to have!