In the Arroyo

Our trip this morning began with a stop at the Royal Scepter Gem & Mineral shop and museum in Silver City. It was a fascinating place with lots to see, but we didn't get a whole lot of information. We had a nice visit with the owner and she told us about an arroyo twenty minutes away.



So, of course, we took a ride past the towns of Bayard, Hurley and the airport where the road turned to gravel for a bit and then we dropped down into the riverbed. Fortunately, it was dry!


We grabbed our bags and started walking up the arroyo looking for valuable gems. We found pretty rocks, but nothing valuable. We spent at least two hours wandering and sharing our discoveries.

Then the clouds really rolled in and we decided to get out of the path of the storm. It never did rain but, wow, did the wind blow. When we arrived back at the coach, we were rockin' and rollin'. Doug prepared a fancy pizza for us and we were finally rocked to sleep. Never lost power!

Pinos Altos (Tall Pines)

Ha! You probably thought we were going to Silver City after yesterday's post. Fooled you! Actually, we are about six miles north of Silver City in the teeny, tiny town of Pinos Altos. 150 years ago, gold was discovered in these hills and this rough and tumble town grew almost overnight.


We are parked in an old apple orchard/rv park called Continental Divide RV Park. It's full of old, crummy trailers and converted rvs, but it's central to all of the things we want to see and the price is right.


We drove a narrow, windy road up into the mountains where the continental divide runs right through the rv park. Since we are at 7000 feet, I'm guessing the nights will be below freezing. And the scenery here is so different from the desert. It's green and there are trees everywhere. It almost reminds us of Idaho.


After we got all set up, we took a ride through historic Pinos Altos. This is the museum and yes, it's as old and rustic as the picture portrays. This was Grant County's first private school house, built around 1866. We didn't have a chance to go inside, but we certainly will before we leave.

This is the opera house. It was built in 1969, capturing the flavor of an old west opera house. According to the signs on the front doors, it is still used to present old fashion melodramas. I would dearly love to see one of those!


And this is the historic saloon, built in 1865. There were several more historic sights such as the original cemetary, the first courthouse and Judge Roy Bean's store site. But we didn't get pictures of everything. Maybe later.

Tomorrow, we will check out the Silver City visitor information center and the local rockshop for maps of the old mines in the area. Most of the mines are on BLM (bureau of land management) property and are open to anyone. Of course, we won't enter the mines themselves, but there is plenty of rockhounding material in the tailings piles.

Lots to report in the next week as long as the weather continues to be good. There are reports of heavy winds and a few rain showers over the next few days. Wish us luck!

Change of Plans

The wind finally died and we had a beautiful, hot day. There were a couple of free dvds to return to the Redbox and a quick stop at the rockshop before we leave town and then we started getting ready to move on.

Our plan had tentatively been to start east towards Texas. But at the last minute, we decided to go north to Silver City. There are so many sights to see that direction like the Gila Cliff Dwellers National Monument and the Catwalk. Plus, there are lots of old mines up there in the hills and the rockhounding is supposed to be spectacular.

So, that's our plan for tomorrow. Some clouds rolled in during the evening and we hope they keep rolling on.

Redbox Code 3/2/09

For our readers that asked for the Redbox promo code......

Free movie code good only for today March 2nd, expires at midnight MS72K3

Good at all redbox locations

Simple and fun. I'll get to our real post later.

Another One Bites the Dust

We love our coach! Years ago, my mother gave me a tiny plate with the following saying on it. "As I was wandering o'er the green, Not knowing where I went, By chance I saw a pleasant scene, The cottage of content."

This little plate hangs on the wall beside my bed and I often think of our motorhome as our "cottage of content". We have everything we need contained in less than 400 square feet. We can go where we want, stay as long as we want and move when we choose. Our expenses are less than half of what we were spending living in our "sticks n bricks" house. What a wonderful way to live!

When the announcement came that Western RV (our manufacturer) had closed it's doors, we were stunned. We knew the economy was slowing, but this was before everything tanked. It was a little nerve racking thinking that we were now an orphan coach without a supplier or support for problems. This hadn't happened very often that a motorhome manufacturer just stopped producing it's product.

And then the economy took it's nosedive. And one after another, the rv industry started folding. National RV, Travel Supreme and Alfa Leisure all shuttered their doors. Other rv companies began closing plants and downsizing their work force. Fleetwood, Coachman, Tiffin, Newmar and Country Coach all face cash crunches and layoffs.

Today, one of the major, major players in the rv industry, Monaco, headquartered in Coburg, Oregon, with manufacturing facilities in Oregon and Indiana, the company that offered a variety of RVs, from entry-level priced towables to custom-made luxury models under the Monaco, Holiday Rambler, Safari, Beaver, McKenzie, and R-Vision brand names, issued termination notices to it's employees.

It's a shame to watch another sector of the ecomony fail. But we, like many others will continue to roll down the highway and live life our way. We'll find all of the treasures that this amazing country has to offer and do it on a budget. Our money will trickle up through the economy. We'll continue to boost the livelihoods of small rv parks, cafes, grocery stores (and big oil companies) instead of greedy mortgage companies, wasteful local governments and stupid politicians. We still pay our fair share of taxes and in some states our unfair share of taxes. But, our "cottage of content" will keep moving and spending and finding joy.

Racin' and Rollin'

We are middle class, redneck, nascar lovin' fans. So, we enjoy hanging around home on Sundays to watch the race on tv.


Doug washed and sorted rocks during the commercials and downtime. We have both been excited to get the tumblers going.


After deciding which rocks to tumble (we have buckets full), Doug added the powder and water that helps grind the rough edges.


He loaded the tub onto the machine and started it up. The tub has a rubber lining, so the noise if quite muffled. But, after an hour we were a little bothered by the sound.


Doug cleared a small space under his desk and placed the tumbler on a towel on the floor. Amazing difference. (He slid it back under the desk where he has plenty of room for his feet.) When the coach is totally silent, we hear a sound like soft rain on the roof.

In a week, we will check the stones and change the powder to a finer grit and add water, then tumble them some more. It's an experiment with common rocks, but maybe we'll get some neat specimens.

Wind and More Wind

The ferocious wind has been keeping us inside! At times, we can barely see across the valley due to dust storms. We're sure glad that we don't have to be out on the freeway in this mess. Several people have told us that this is normal for spring in New Mexico. Guess it's time to move on and revisit later in the year.


The wind calmed a little this afternoon, so we drove back to Cookes Peak to look for carnelian. Instead of climbing the hills, we stayed on the flat valley area and the weather was quite pleasant. We both picked up more stones and will have to check with the rock shop to see if we found carnelian or just more pretty rocks. Either way, we like the ones we have gathered.

We are pretty content just staying home. I've been reading like a fiend. The library at the clubhouse is terrific with several books that have been on my list. And I am ready to get back to my genealogy research too. Doug is happy to play his Wii game (The Godfather) and sort through rocks. It's rare that we feel bored or antsy.

Tumbling Cookes Peak

Armed with a map of the area, we took a drive north of Deming to an area called Cookes Peak. There's lots of ranching country here and we saw our fair share of cows. We drove about 15 miles into the back country to the foothills and then parked near an earthen dam.


We started climbing the rocky outcrops on the hills and picking up rocks. Doug picked up tons of rose quartz and other good stuff. I was looking for carnelian. Unfortunately, I don't really know what it looks like so I just picked up stones that looked nice. I later found out that I was looking in the wrong place for carnelian. It isn't usually found on the hills, but down on the flat areas. Ooops.


One of the things that interested us in this area was the petroglyphs. Several people had told us that they were well worth the hike. It took a while to find them but after wandering the hills in the pounding wind, we finally did.


Some of the drawings had an authentic look to them........


And some were a little hard to believe. I guess it doesn't make any difference. We enjoyed them all and took lots of photos.

By mid afternoon, the wind was so strong we had to get off the hills. We gathered our treasures and headed back towards town.


Now that we have so many (emphasis on many) nice stones, Doug decided we needed a tumbler to make them nicer. So, off we went to Red Roof Rockshop. The manger/owners are truly nice people who have spent a lot of time identifying rocks for us and explaining rockhounding. They were happy to sell us a double rock tumbler and all of the stuff necessary for producing beautiful stones.


Doug had the best time setting it up and glancing at the instructions. Then he was off to sort stones and get ready to rummmmmmble. (I mean tumble.)

Deming Do-Over

Yay, moving day again! After about a week in one place, we are more than ready to move on. We were debating whether to head north to Silver City or east into Texas. We have some friends in Donna, TX that we were hoping to see before they begin their journey winding their way home to Kansas.

And then it happened.........Doug found a rock store. They gave him directions to Cooke's Peak where the best carnelian and petroglyphs can be found. Hmmmmm. Little change in plans. We still packed up and moved. (We weren't all that thrilled with the Little Vineyard RV Park.)


About a mile east of Deming is the Dream Catcher RV Park. It's an Escapees park, which you might not recognize unless you are an rver. It is a membership club that has quite a few of it's own parks and provides discounts in many, many more independent parks. The weekly rate is so good that we are here for another week. As you can see, the park is wide open and there is tons of space.



The campground hosts are incredibly friendly and nice. We put our awning out as soon as we were settled and before we could blink, two people in the park came over to advise us that this is the windy season in New Mexico and it wasn't a good idea to use the awning. As the day wore on, the wind never abated. Fortunately, the weather has turned very warm and even the wind feels good. For the first time since we left Washington, we have turned the air conditioning on for a few hours. Maybe spring has sprung!

After spending the afternoon on a couple of errands, we settled in for the evening until a glimpse of red drew us outside.


A few clouds had rolled in, setting the scene for a spectacular sunset. It has been a while since we have had one this beautiful. We are so spoiled.

Yay Redbox

We spent another quiet day around the ole homestead. And then I made a discovery that I had to share with you. It's called Redbox.


Maybe you already know about it, if not, it's a vending machine that rents DVDs. Big deal...you say? Well, first, the rentals are only $1. Which is a really good bargain. But, anyone that knows me, knows that I like even better bargains. So, I found on the internet that on Mondays, Redbox gives a promo code that makes one DVD free! Of course, I had to try it out.

After checking for locations on the Redbox website, we made a quick trip to the local Walmart. Right inside the entrance, in the foyer, is the vending machine. Armed with my promo code, I used the touch screen to request the movie Mama Mia. I swiped my debit card and entered my email address and bingo! The dvd appeared in the slot!

When we got back to the coach, there was a confirmation email about the dvd rental (can you call it a rental when it's free?) and a reminder to return it by 9pm the following evening. Too coooooool! We have walked past these machines a thousand times and never even thought about them. They are everywhere. Now we'll be catching all of the new movies. (Monday only)

So, that was our excitement for the day. In the future, I will try and post the Redbox code on Monday mornings so you can all take advantage of a great deal too.

I've Got Plenty of Nothin' and Nothin's Plenty For Me

We just spent two whole days doing nothing. The weather was nice and there was no reason to do nothing. We just did it.

A few of the mundane tasks were accomplished like laundry and some cleaning. We did break down and buy a new coffee maker. The old one had a crack in the thermal carafe. And lately, it would quit brewing about half way through, so we would have to cycle it twice. We were beginning to get a little nervous about the safety of the machine and decided to bite the bullet. The thermal carafes are a really nice touch. Doug drinks coffee all day and it's nice to have it hot. After a lot of research, we found the Hamilton Beach on sale at Kmart and I found a $5 coupon online. A quick trip to the local Big K produced the desired result. Hot coffee!

That was the extent of our adventures. We watched the Nascar race, read books, played on the computers and Doug has his favorite game on the Wii. It's the Godfather. Lots of violence......yuck.

A nice weekend to enjoy the blue sky and warm weather right from the comforts of home.

Rockhound State Park

Doug is still collecting rocks. And today, I helped him. We found one of New Mexico's neatest state parks, Rockhound State Park. It is probably the only state park that allows you to pick up treasures and take them home. They do limit it to 15 pounds but trust me, when you are carrying 15 pounds of rocks down the steep mountainside, you are glad that it's only 15 pounds.

We arrived in the early afternoon and paid our $5 day use fee. The visitor center was closed so we just drove in and parked in the day use lot. We grabbed our bags and headed out onto the Jasper Trail.


Very quickly, we wandered off the trail into gullies and up the slopes. There were interesting rocks everywhere! Since we didn't really know what we were supposed to be looking for, we just picked up anything that caught our fancy. I guess Doug's fancy was caught more than mine, because after two hours in the hot sun, he was carrying the full 15 pounds and I had a mere 5 pounds.

We decided to call it a day when the tarantula wasps (ugly looking, huge golden wasps) wanted a ride in the car. They were evicted and we drove to the other side of the park where the campground is located. Oh my gosh! What a fantastic campground. It sits on the hillside overlooking the valley and every site is huge with it's own covered patio and picnic table. They include water and electricity for just $14 a night. But, most of the sites are first come first serve, so the chances of getting in are not great.

It's so beautiful, we would love to spend a few nights there. We just haven't decided yet. We stopped at the visitor center on our way out of the park and it was open. The volunteer was delighted to tell us all about the park and what we should have been looking for. Thunder eggs, geodes, agates and several other stones are on our list for the next visit.

Doug recycled some cans on the way home to our crockpot that was full of chicken and rice. Nice dinner, nice day.

Little Vineyard RV

We relaxed at home today other than a quick trip to Walmart. Although, that was exciting in it's own way. We found milk for $1.50 a gallon. It never goes that low anymore!


Anyway, I thought I would just show you some pictures of where we are staying. Deming isn't quite the city I was expecting. For some reason, I was picturing a good size city that was modern and up to date. To my surprise, it's just a dusty little town. Many of the businesses are closed and dilapidated. And the many rv parks are tired as well.


Someone at the last park recommended Little Vineyard RV and the price wasn't too bad, so we gave it a shot.


The office and the activity center are nice. And the manager seemed friendly enough.


As I mentioned yesterday, the park is just a huge gravel parking lot. No trees, bushes or anything green. Where are the vineyards???? But, we have a picnic table and the roads are wide and that makes it easy to maneuver the coach. For those of you who have complained that there are rarely pictures of me........that's my shadow!

Moving day again! We always look forward to moving on to new adventures and today, we added a new state to our map. We are in New Mexico.....Land of Enchantment.


Our day started with a gorgeous sunrise and I knew it was going to be a good day. We were on the road a few minutes after ten. Being the middle of the week, I-10 wasn't busy so we had time for lots of scenery gazing.


The scenery got real interesting when the first Nascar semi passed us in the opposite direction. The race this weekend is at Fontana in Los Angeles and all of the race cars and equipment are headed that direction. We grabbed our cameras and snapped shots as the carriers shot past us. (The pictures aren't great since they were doing 75 miles per hour and we were doing 70.)


We managed to get photos of about 20 of them, including my favorite, Kasey Kahne. It sure made for an entertaining trip! Before we knew it, we had crossed the Continental Divide and were in Lordsburg, New Mexico.

Of course, we stopped at the visitor center and collected an armload of brochures about southwest N.M. There is so much to see and Doug has a couple of places marked to look for fire agates and other stones.

We ended up in Deming a little before 2pm at the Little Vineyard RV Park. It's pretty much just a large, gravel parking lot but it will do while we are running around sightseeing. (And gathering more rocks......lol) There is plenty to see so we will probably be here a week.

Cochise Stronghold

The storm from the coast finally made it to us. Thankfully, it had just about worn itself out. We had no rain, but heavy winds and lots of dark, threatening clouds. By noon, the skies were clearing and we got our heavy coats and drove into the canyon of the Cochise Stronghold.


The Apache Indians, led by Cochise, used these rugged mountains like a fort during the early 1800's. It was home, sanctuary and protection for the indians. In fact, Cochise was born here and after a blunder by the U.S. Army, conducted many attacks on the white men from these hills. After his capture in 1871, Cochise was transfered to a reservation where he died a few years later. His body was returned to his stronghold and is believed to be buried here somewhere.


We drove the winding, narrow, dusty dirt road up into the rocks where a campground has been provided by the Coronado National Forest. From there, we walked the Nature Trail for about half a mile.


There were lots of small signs with information about the different plants in the area and how they were used by the native indians. We were the only ones on the trail and it was easy to imagine silently walking the paths in mocassins while searching for food and shelter.


There were longer hikes available too. But neither of us felt like a six or ten mile hike this late in the afternoon. So, we simply admired the fabulous scenery and absorbed some history. Just think of how much more we would have learned as children in school if we had been able to follow the physical footsteps of our ancestors.

Geocaching Willcox

We were expecting an overcast, cloudy, gray day today. So, we decided to find some geocaches in the area. That way, if or when the rain started, we could head home without interrupting something like hikes in Chiricahua.

Our first stop was in downtown Willcox. This old railcar is across the street from the historic train stop. It's just down the street from the Rex Allen Museum. (For those of you old enough to remember Rex Allen)

It only took Doug about one minute to find the cache tucked up under the back side of the car. It was a tupperware type container with a few little goodies inside.

After that easy find, we drove to the other side of the freeway, where we found Stout's Cider Mill. Next to the store, was an empty lot with a display of a mine entrance and a couple of coal cars.


And, that's where Doug found the next cache. In fact, he tripped over it before he found it. The cache was a fake rock that blended in with the rest of the scenery perfectly. We signed the log book and tucked this back with the other rocks for the next geocacher.

Of course, we had to check out the cider mill. When we entered, a sweet, older lady poured us samples of the cider. Good stuff.....but, we aren't really cider drinkers. While wandering around the store, we discovered a bakery in the back. They bake world class apple pies using three pounds of apples per pie. When the crust goes on top, it looks like a volcano. I have never seen pies this tall! Of course they have lots of other items for sale too.

Also next door to the cache is a visitor center. We stopped in briefly and then continued on our way to the next cache.

We went from cider to wine! Unfortunately, the winery was closed today. Doug searched for the cache while the gps signal was bouncing all over the place. He was having trouble nailing down the coordinates so I walked over to the information container hanging by the front door.


Guess what I found inside! The cache! This geocache was just a log book. I signed it, returned it to the inside of the info box and we were off again without sampling any wine. Bummer.


Our next stop was the Willcox Playa Wildlife Area. The Willcox area is known for it's population of sand cranes. These beautiful birds travel from as far as northern Canada to feast on the grain fields that are so prevalent in this area. We saw several flocks flying overhead, but there were none at the viewing pond.


We did find the cache though. And inside was a gold dollar! We pocketed the cash and signed the log book. That was a fun one! We did leave a watch in place of the coin.


As you can tell from the blue sky in all of the pictures, we never got the predicted rain. So, we continued to our fifth geocache. This was in another wildlife viewing area that was provided by the Arizona Electric Power Plant. It's a nice picnic area with a raised viewing platform that includes high powered binoculars for watching the birds in the fields as well as the nearby lake. I took a picture, but the birds are so far away they look like little white spots. The cache was in an Altoid tin attached magnetically inside one of the metal hand railings of the viewing platform.


Our final cache for the day was near the small town of Cochise. Being an ex postal worker, I had to get a photo of this sign out by the highway. It's for the Cochise Post Office established in 1886.


The geocache itself was right out on the highway. In fact, attached to the highway sign! I stayed safe and sound on the side road while Doug dodged the traffic and found the tiny metallic box stuck to the back of the tall part of the sign.

After signing the log book and returning the geocache, we turned the car towards home.


We found this sign that gave us both a chuckle and thought we would share it with you. We never saw the earth fissure, but we drove carefully anyway!

One of the things we love about geocaching is finding places that never show up on brochures in the visitor centers. There are so many out of the way parks and historic sites that keep life interesting.

Willcox, Arizona

We got a semi-early start this morning. Well, ten o'clockish. First, we stopped at Gas City for our propane then headed east on I-10. The drive went fine although the weather was gray and cool.


We arrived at the Fort Willcox RV Park about 11:45 and found an older park. It doesn't have the "it" factor for us but it's convenient to some of the sightseeing that we want to do. Doug hurried to get the satellite tv dish set up so we could watch the nascar race. Since Arizona doesn't use daylight savings, all of the tv shows are an hour earlier than our clock. Throws me off every time! So, we had an hour to kill until the start of the race.


The park is nearly empty except for a few park models and some older rvs that are extended stay vehicles. The park appears to be under new ownership so maybe there will be some improvements.


The rec hall is worn and tired just like the town of Willcox itself. It was sad to see that about half of the buildings were shuttered and dead. Out near the freeway are the usual dozen fast food joints, gas stations and a Safeway.


We are parked next to the propane tank and the dumpsters. But, we have 50 amp power and excellent phone and internet service. I guess not every park can be a resort. The owners are nice and it's a Passport America park, meaning the price is 50% off for us so we're not complaining.


Besides, we have some really nice neighbors. Everywhere we look are birds and bunnies.


And maybe we will get some nice sunrises out the front window. We do have a nice view of the Chiricahua mountains. (I think)