Happy Trails

Leaving the Sonaran Desert isn't easy!!!

2012-02-04T15:08:00.000-05:00

LEAVING THE SONORAN :-(

Leaving behind the beauty, the solitude of the Sonoran desert was hard, leaving behind our new friends was harder.
We headed north on Highway 85 and saw this beautiful ranch at the base of this mountain and forest of saguaro. WoW! Nice place for a ranch!
One thing Chuck noticed when we left Ajo and headed out on the highway is that our trailer's RV brakes were working now! What the heck??? Well, he said that he wants to camp at a campground tonight anyway, to plug into electric and recharge the MotherShip's batteries.

After we turned east on I-8, I found this beautiful piece of heaven. Not sure, but if you click on this image it will go to full size and then if you strain your eyes a bit, you will see the saguaro all the way onto the foothills of these craggy mountains! The Sonoran Desert was so green!

I-8 was almost deserted then we entered I-10! YIKES! Most of you know that I do not do busy interstate highways very well! I even have a prescription for what I call "passenger pills"! I-10East was packed from folks travelling towards Tucson! OMG! It was not this busy, crowded, hectic highway when we were headed west just 2+ weeks ago!

Thankfully, Chuck was headed to just a few exits away to one of his favorite campgrounds, exit 211 at Picacho. He has stayed at the KOA there several times and has always liked it there. I was ready to get off I-10E and didn't care where we stopped! Ha!

The Picacho KOA was very nice, clean and affordable.

I apologise for not taking any photographs there, but

we got there early and OMG we had wifi! We hadn't read email for over a week! For the remainder of the day, Chuck and I read email and caught up on Facebook! Then we went to the wonderful little restaurant next to the KOA office, Frankie's Chuck Wagon! WOW! For those of you who know us personally.... you know we like to eat! Frankie knows how to cook! She puts together a steak dinner that is hard to beat! The place is small, but it was full! Not just KOA campers have discovered her culinary prowsness! Locals keep her busy too! So if you head that way... better call first, Frankie is only open 3 days a week!

The next day the sssllloooowwwww Wifi was still calling so I managed to put together the first part blog of this journey and that took 4 hours! It was frustrating, but I got it done.

Next morning, we got ready to head East again on I-10. (groan...) As we were doing our road checks before we pulled out of the camp, lo and behold!, the MotherShip's running lights were now working! Now we had brake lights and running lights working? The Sonoran Desert not only worked her magic on us, but apparently on the Mothership as well! It was probably just the bumpy dirt road out of our boondocking spot... but what ever... we were almost 100% working again! Now if the truck would just keep the MotherShips batteries charged while we were going down the road we would be ok!

One thing I can say about the Southwestern states is how beautiful most of their overpasses are when you approach a city. This one was just west of Tucson!

Traffic was just as bad today as it was 2 days ago on I-10! YIKES! About an hour east of Tucson, Chuck pulled over to get gas. I managed to peel myself off the ceiling and unglue my feet from the floor and walk into the gas station for munchies. Dang... I really do not do city interstates very well at all! What happened? I used to be able to drive through any city on any interstate with no problems! I was fearless! No More! No thank you! I like back roads whenever possible! That is where the real America lives!

ROPER LAKE STATE PARK

SAFFORD AZ

Leaving I-10, we headed north on Highway 191. We have a favorite campground up near Safford AND a favorite Mexican restaurant, Casa Manana in Safford as well! We first visited Roper Lake State Park four years ago and fell in love with it.We made reservations for 2 nights.

Snow still on the mountains here and definitely cooler than our time boondocking in the desert!

The campground was almost deserted when we got here. Depressing brown foliage everywhere, Spring had not sprung in this corner of Arizona. The park was still beautiful! The weekend came and the park acquired a lot more RV's!

The lake was a lot lower than it was four years ago! The drought has greatly affected it!

The campsites are great! Most of them suited to the larger RV's but there are several suited for smaller campers too, as well as tenters.

Huge, clean restrooms with great showers are always something we look forward to!

The main thing we love about Roper Lake State Park is the Natural Mineral Hot Spring here! Not overly hot at 92 degrees, it is great for a nice long soak!

We took the hound herd back to the MotherShip, put on our bathing suits, then dressed warmly and drove back here, to get into the inviting hot tub! At 92 degrees, the water wasn't too hot, but a lot warmer than the 50+ degrees of the day! This tub was built by park workampers/volunteers about 20 years ago!

We decided to stay two more days here, we called home and found out it was colder than here and windy... so we just stayed put! Besides, we had a great Mexican Restaurant to go to only 12 miles from the park, Casa Manana! They make the most wonderful sour cream enchiladas! We remembered them from four years ago and they were every bit as good as we remembered! We went there 3 nights out of four if that tells you anything! Best enchilada sauce I have ever tasted!

WE MADE IT HOME !

If you remember, we had a very snowy Christmas.

The photo above, you can see just a few sprigs of forsythia peeking above the layer of snow!

Imagine our surprise when we got home and the forsythia not only survived but was blooming! Only 6 weeks after the snow! What a nice welcome home! We got home a week ago today! Laundry is done, MotherShip is unpacked and now we start preparing for our summer workamping job in Virgin Utah! We will be working at Zion River Resort RV Park, 12 miles west of Zion National Park! We will leave here mid April and work until Mid Oct.

Drop by for a visit if you are in the area!

We hope you have enjoyed these 6 blogs taking us from Truth or Consequences NM to Sue's Pond near Yuma AZ to Quartzsite AZ to our boondocking experiences near Ajo AZ and Roper Lake State Park!

It was a fun 3 weeks on the road!

Now we have to get the MotherShip and The Beastie (our truck) to the shop and see if they can fix the electrical problems!

Happy Trails from Geri, Chuck, the hound herd, Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar and of course from The MotherShip!

Boondocking With the Sagauro

2012-02-02T14:03:00.000-05:00

LOVING THE SONORAN DESERT !

Finally we see the sign "Entering Ajo".

As soon as the MotherShip is docked, Chuck sits down with a glass of wine to toast the beauty that is the Sonoran Desert. Saguaro cacti surround our campsite!These royality of the desert are huge! AND very old. Most are 50 years old before they start growing their arms!

We arrived in the late afternoon, and before long Ann and Bill walked up for a visit. They, along with RV Sue, arrived the previous day. Soon, the Arizona sky treated us to our first Sonoran Sunset!

The beauty of the sunset reflected in the back window of The MotherShip!

Is there anything more beautiful than a windmill at sunset with saguaro all around?

The desert night sky. Glorious first night here! It was fun to share it with Ann and Bill.

Ann plays with Samantha, her beagle. She had to get Sammy a special pair of booties while in Quartzsite because Sammy cut her foot on a piece of glass. The booty protected her feet! She actually loved them and wore them proudly!
Ann has a great stained glass business. She creates stained glass windows for RV's! She makes them to fit the front door or cresent shaped ones to fit snug in the corner of RV windows! If you remember about 3 blogs ago, I showed the stained glass window of Jerry the cat? That was Ann's creation! If you would like to take a look at her work, this is her website!
www.littlehousestainedglass.com

The next morning, the sun rose with blinding colors. Here you can see the reflection of the sunrise against the MotherShip on the left with the actual sunrise on the right! The desert skies are amazing!

MEETING THE BAYFIELD BUNCH !

Just as Chuck and I were getting ready to walk our hound herd, we got to meet the famous bloggers from Canada! It was ultimately through Al and Kelly that we found this beautiful spot in the desert! They told Sue via their blog, http://thebayfieldbunch.com/
then Sue told me and introduced me to their blog. I have been following it ever since! Great folks who drift down to the SouthWest from Canada! They travel with 2 dogs, Pheebs and Motormouse... who didn't get to come and meet the hound herd!

Chuck having a serious conversation with Al and Kelly! The Bayfield Bunch prefers boondocking over staying in campgrounds and have discovered many free BLM (Bureau of Land Management) camping areas thoughout the SouthWest.

It was great meeting you two! Thank you for letting us share your piece of heaven! Wish we could have stayed longer!

Radar and DoogieBowser look out the door of the MotherShip hoping to see Pheebs and Motormouse!

Scotty taking it easy on his doggie bed!

Later that morning, the hound herd did get to visit with Samantha and Julie. Ann and Bill went hiking and ended up at our front yard for a fun visit! Really glad we met them at Quartzsite! They are from Oregon and this is their first visit to the Sonoran Desert!

Then Sue shows up and we have a party!
Ann found a sign painted on an old piece of tin scribbled in Spanish translated to "This camp occupied". The hound herd have to check out the visitors. From Left, Chuck, Sue, Ann and Bill, hounds... white one is DoogieBowser, black etc is Scotty and red/brown one is Radar.

Unfortunately, the desert is littered with trash, more than just the small tin sign! In the above photo of Ann and Samatha you see an old kerosene can that Chuck found discarded and here is the body of an old Radio Flyer wagon... some of the discarded items are great reminders of days gone by!

The MotherShip sits amid the saguaro, mountains and a copper mine on the right!

This was our front yard, we loved it here!

Colorful Ocotillo near our campsite!

Sometimes, it seems the saguaro are purposely striking funny poses! See the little Casita travel trailer tucked behind them? BLM land has lots of folks taking advantage of the Arizona sun and the free camping!

The day gave way to strong winds, leaving us with weird windswept clouds above us!

No real sunset tonight, just these unusual clouds.

The next morning Chuck decided we needed to leave. The batteries in the MotherShip were not holding a charge, even after Bill brought down his generator yesterday and charged them for an hour. We need to leave this beautiful place and go back home to trusted and known mechanics to get the MotherShip checked out!

The MotherShip in the distance with a grouping of saguaro, Ocotillo and barrel cactus against in impossible blue sky makes leaving here harder.

Goodbye Darby Wells Road

Leaving and headed north through Ajo AZ.

We hope you enjoyed boondocking with us!

Happy Trails from Geri. Chuck and the hound herd!

On the road ro Ajo AZ !

2012-02-01T13:21:00.000-05:00

ON THE WAY TO AJO !

Restful sunset at Sue's Pond with white egret and great blue heron in the background.

Ann and Bill left the day before, and we were to meet them the next day at Sue's Pond near Yuma.

Sue was there also when we arrived! We had decided to stay at a nearby campground with utilities so we could charge up the MotherShip's batteries.

We finally got there about sunset, just in time for the evening performances of the coots, the white egret and the great blue heron!

Ann and Bill's Casita reflected in Sue's Pond.

Sue's PTV and BLT camped under a cottonwood tree at Sue's Pond. PTV Perfect Tow Vehicle and

Best Little Trailer!

Chuck, Sue, Bill and Ann all enjoying a perfect sunset!

The next day Sue, Bill and Ann hitched up their Casitas and headed to Painted Rocks!

(exit 102 on Interstate 8 near Gila Bend AZ)

Chuck decided that we should stay in the rv park one more night to get a full charge to our batteries. We were still experiencing some electrical problems.

The Casita Convoy spent that night at Painted Rocks. They had a great boon docking campground there. Ann also gave such glowing reviews of the petroglyphs there, Chuck and I decided to stop on our way to Ajo AZ.

PAINTED ROCKS AZ

Please remember, you can click onto any of the photographs to view them full size!

When you first walk into the area of the rocks, you see this huge pile of rocks in front of you. Every single one of them has rock writing of some sort! It reminded us of the petroglyphs found at Three Rivers in NM.

Some of these stones were covered with petroglyphs!

This rock was about the size of a very large pig!

This was a very interesting stop, one well worth making. Chuck and I decided not to stay at the campground here, but to head on down to Ajo to meet Ann, Bill and Sue boondocking at Darby Wells.

Because we have so much to show you from our visit at Darby Wells, I will continue on the next blog. Hope you enjoyed your visit !!! Geri, Chuck and the hound herd.

Quartzsite days

2012-01-31T13:33:00.000-05:00

Solar !!!

RVSue has a solar panel mounted on her van, the PTV! (Perfect Tow Vehicle), she is showing Chuck how she raises it up to catch the best of the sun's energy!

Next, Bill comes over to check it out. Bill and Ann have a solar panel attached to their Casita also!

Solar panel is up! Chuck and Bill approve while Scotty and DoogieBowser look for Sue's crew!

Her dogs come by later for a visit!

You can see Bill and Ann's solar panel mounted at a permanent angle on their Casita in the background!

The "Q" Experience

Quartzsite takes on a carnival experience every Spring! Colorful tents pop up like weird desert blooms!

The closer you get to the carnival, the worse the traffic becomes!

Flags flying, children crying, feet dying!

We walked and walked and walked! So Many vendors! So little energy! LOL!

Traffic going in to town, traffic leaving town! I was lucky, I just bought a couple of pair of socks and some ice cream!

"Q" Gives a sunset !

Our campsite at Dome Rock lit up our last night there! What a sky, what mountains!

The Ocotillo cactus behind Sue's rig, reaches

up into the sky as if to greet the sunset!

This was our last campfire and our last gathering of friends! Clete and Chris had left this morning and tomorrow this campground would be empty!

Oh.... but what a glorious sunset for our goodbyes!

Our last morning... from left to right:

Sue, Chuck, Bill and Ann, ??? and Rosemary (jeeeeeze--- I forgot your husband's name!),and Jim and Carol, all pets there and accounted for!

Jim and Carol left right after this group photo! Several folks had already left, but they had arrived a few days earlier than we did... sadly I didn't get any photos of some of these nice folks!

Bill and Ann left next, headed to Sue's Pond near Yuma. Sue and Chuck and I decided we needed breakfast at the great Mountain Quail Cafe! Then we filled propane tanks and headed back to the "Q" circus to see if we missed anything! Sue picked up a few needed gadgets and some LED lights. We spent one more night in camp and then we headed down to Sue's Pond near Yuma! We had so much fun (EXCEPTING for the electrical problems!) and we were glad we made the trip! We made new friends and reacquainted with our old friends! Life is good!

See ya at Sue's Pond next then on to Ajo!

Geri, Chuck and the Hound Herd!

On The Road Again, Continued !

2012-01-30T14:01:00.001-05:00

Hi again! We arrived at our home base in Truth or Consequences NM on Saturday, Jan 28. I am going to backtrack a bit from my last blog because I had such a poor wifi signal, I couldn't upload several of the photos that I wanted to show you from Sue's Pond near Yuma AZ.

Texas Canyon

First thing I want to set straight is that Texas Canyon is located at the second rest area as you enter AZ from the East! The whole area of Texas Canyon is a beautiful area and worth exploring! I spent several days there way back in the early 1980's when I was travelling and living in my slide in camper on my GMC pick-up truck! This area is wonderful for your imagination to explode.... remembering all the TV westerns!

RV Sue's Casita parked next to the pond. Not sure if I mentioned it or not, but this beautiful pond is located on BLM land (bureau of land management) and you can camp there for 2 weeks FREE, but there are no hook-ups. You have to go into Yuma to dump the black and grey tanks and fill up with water!

The MotherShip and the BLT (Best Little Trailer) enjoying the sunset at Sue's Pond!

Quartzsite !!

We arrived on Friday the 13th ! Only a couple of hours (if that long) north of Yuma, we finally arrived at Quartzsite and found all of our friends and their shiny white Casita's nestled at the base of Dome Rock!

Friday the 13th soon lived up to it's reputation! As Chuck was unhooking our truck from The MotherShip, the electrical cord that connects from the truck to The MotherShip that runs the brake lights, recharge the batteries on board the trailer etc etc while on the road. When Chuck unhooked that cord between the MotherShip and the truck, that cord slipped off where he usually places it when he pulls the truck away. The cord got stuck behind the rear guard flaps bar that sits in the receiver hitch of the truck. Before I could yell at Chuck to stop, he pulled forward and pulled that huge electrical cord out of the MotherShip and it landed on the ground! Yikes!!!! One of our new and friendly Casita friends, Bill, came over and can you believe it??? Bill is a retired electrical engineer and in just a few hours and a couple of trips to town for parts, he and Chuck mended The MotherShip!!!!

Not totally fixed, but fixed enough to get us home. Trailer running lights weren't working and neitheWoW! So great to meet you! So nice of you to help us!

MotherShip Lives Up To Her Name!

The MotherShip soon became the meeting place! Several windy, cold days made sitting outside uncomfortable! We all gathered in the warmth of The MotherShip! From Left to right, Sue, Bill, Cleet, Chuck and Sue with the ever present Bridgette who never wants to leave Sue's lap! :-) ScottyBoy is comfey at Sue's feet!

Sue's Crew consists of 2 Rat Terriers, Bridgette on her lap and Spike at her feet! They keep her company on her travels in her Casita! Sue is a retired schoolteacher from Georgia and she has a cool blog you might want to check her out: http://rvsueandcrew.wordpress.com/

Unlike me, Sue posts almost everyday and she is a very good writer and her blogs are fun to read!

First Campfire

What a feast! Everybody donated something and we

hot dogs and had lotsa goodies to go with them!

Speaking of Dogs... seems everybody had at least one!
Jim and Carol brought the one, the famous in Casita worlds, Jerry the cat!

Meet Jerry, the Cat!

Jerry, the cat sits on Carol's lap at our gathering! Jerry is very social, he has been travelling with Jim and Carol for 6 years and loves it! Bill's wife Ann, even made a special stained glass window for Jerry's Casita (that he generously shares with Jim and Carol!)

Jim, Carol and Jerry!

Goin' to the Dogs!

Ann, relaxing with Samantha!

Bill and Julie, his lap warmer!

Clete and Diego!

There were several other campers with their dogs, but seems I got distracted and didn't get their photographs! It was a fun group as you can see! We had a ball. I will post again tomorrow, more about the Quartzsite experience and our friends!

Wishing you lots of laughter in your life!

The MotherShip Crew,Geri,Chuck and the Hound Herd!

On The Road Again!

2012-01-24T11:27:00.000-05:00

Headed To Yuma to meet RVSue!

We finally took the MotherShip out of dry dock,

filled her full of good eats, clean sheets and doggie treats! This is the longest we have been dry docked

off the MotherShip since we first boarded

her almost 2 years ago!

On the 2nd Tuesday of January, we climbed aboard

and headed out of our home base of Truth or

Consequences NM! The destinations being Yuma,

Quartzite and Ajo AZ!and lo and behold, the one main thing we forgot was our MiFi aircard from Verizon! YIKES! So I am very late posting all our fun news we want to share. Forgive me. Today 1-23-2012 finds us in Picacho AZ KOA, hooked up to shore power and I have a weak, but workable wifi signal!

Therefore, I am gonna try to get out part one of our journey to Sue's Pond near Yuma AZ! So far I have been working at this blog about 4 hours!

SLOWWWWWW wifi connection here! PLEASE BE PATIENT! If I can't finish it all here, I will finish when we get back home to T or C!

Just short of the I-10, I was a bit surprised to

find windmills spread across the New Mexico

landscape! We have seen hundreds of them in CA and TX, but never until now had we seen them nestled in this SW corner of NM!

After almost 6 months dry docked in NM,

we are now crossing the state line into Arizona!

The second rest area on I-10 in eastern Arizona is one of my favorites, Texas Canyon! One can just imagine the old cowboy westerns where the bad guys are shooting at the good guys from all the big rocks and boulders at this rest area! Love it!

Right after we pulled out of Texas Canyon rest area, this truck passed us pulling a humongous BBQ Grill!

Chuck was all ready to pull in and follow them! That darned grill was bigger than the truck pulling it! YUM!

We both love good Bar-b-que! That is one thing that we haven't found in NM! That and a good seafood restaurant! Oh well..........

We were headed west going through Tucson, when we remembered Al (from the www.bayfieldbunch.com blog) had mentioned the at the same exit as the hospital there was an In-N-Out burger! One of Chuck's favorites and he has not had an In-N-Out burger since his California days! So when we saw the blue H hospital sign we took that exit and parked in the big parking lot behind the restaurant and we pigged out on the best burger I have ever had! Now I understand all the commotion about In-N-Out food! It is the best ever! Honest!

Just west of Tucson, we saw our first Saguaro Cacti!

What giants these guys are! Royalty of the desert SouthWest! I wish you could see all the way up the mountain in the distance, Saguaro cacti marching up all over those hills! You can click on any of the images in this blog and bring them up to full size.

When I lived back east, before my first trip to the SouthWest, I used to see paintings of the mountains layered in different hues of blue and wonder why... it sure didn't look like anything I was familiar with! Well, you get out here and sure enough, the mountains are really layered in blues. This is also known as a Saguaro Cacti forest! See all the Saguaro? Not like a forest back east, but a forest none the less! Absolutely amazing to see!

The Saguaro forest extends up those mountains in the background...much as pines etc would cover the mountains of the east! All those "dots" are cacti!

SUE'S POND !!

Finally we arrive at Yuma on Thursday and find Sue's pond just north of Yuma! This is a beautiful little BLM site, you can "boondock" here for 2 weeks free!

For you non-campers, "boondocking" means camping without water, electric, sewer hookups. Most RV's can go 2 weeks or more with careful conservation of resources before having to dump the black tanks (sewer) or having to refill water supply. This pond is isolated, beautiful and there are about 20 or so RV's camped around the pond! Certainly warmer here than than up north! It runs mid-60's day and mid- 30's at night.

It seems I have lost most of my Wifi signal, as it's not letting me upload anymore photos to the blog. I will continue when we get back to Truth or Consequences NM about Friday or Saturday! I can't believe we forgot our air card! Sheeeeeesh! We leave Picacho KOA tonight headed to one of our favorite AZ campgrounds in Safford.... the Roper Lake State Park. We will stay there 2 nights (it's danged cold still at home!) and then head to T or C!

We love you and remember, if you want to leave a comment you have to go all the way back up to the headline "On The Road Again", click on there then come all the way back down and leave your comment.... or heck, you can just email me!

Wishing you a great day as we get The MotherShip ready to take off!

Geri, Chuck and The Hound Herd!

WoW! We got a WHITE CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-23T10:36:00.001-05:00

It started snowing last night just as darkness was taking over. It has snowed all night with lots of wind to go with it, causing snow drifts all over town! It is still snowing and we have 90% chance of snow all day and 40% chance of snow tonight! Truth or Consequences NM doesn't normally have this kind of snow. It snowed last weekend and now again this weekend! So it looks like we will have a great white Christmas!

The wind blew all night, but left our Christmas lights still hanging... sort of !

That wall is 3 feet tall... the snow drift is almost to the top this morning... up to the top now, 3 hours later!

The MotherShip sits across the street,

still waiting for a destination!

Last weeks snow just covered the top of this cactus, not sure it will withstand being buried

in snow this week!

At 7am, I went out with broom in hand to brush off the snow from the satellite so we could watch weather reports on tv. Stepped in drifts up almost to my knees!

This is the back of Chuck's truck, looking out through the kitchen window!

Scotty has been in snow before, he gets busy making yellow snow!

This is the wrought iron decoration we have hanging on the tall wall between us and our neighbor Larry.

The snow looks really cool on it!

Scotty has been down in the snow for a few minutes. Our Florida dogs, DoogieBowser and Radar look to him for advice about this weird, cold, white stuff!

Our faithful mascot for The MotherShip, Cosmos, looks a bit lost in this world of white!

My Florida car also looks a bit lost with

all this white stuff!

DoogieBowser got off the porch long enough for his feet to touch the snow, then he hightailed it back up the steps and refused to come walk in the snow!

Radar and Scotty seemed to not

mind the snow at all!

My art table. Though since it was under the porch roof, I thought it would be safe from the snow....wrong!

This is where I had been framing some prints before all the cold weather hit!

MOM! Not now mom! It's hard enough trying to do this in the snow... and you gotta point a

camera at me? SHEESH!

It's still snowing! The wind is still blowing!

Our high temp today is supposed to be 35 degrees!

This is my first white Christmas since the 1980's when I was living in Telluride CO.

Chuck's last white Christmas was in the early 1990's in Pine Mountain CA, so this is a real treat for both of us!

So from all of us, to all of you,

We wish you a very Merry CHRISTmas!

Happy Trails from Geri, Chuck and the hound herd!

ps... if you want to leave a comment... and we hope you do, if the comment box does not appear below here, please go up to the top and click onto the title of the blog: "WoW! We got a white Christmas!" and the comment box should magically appear!

Chicken Fried Steak

2011-12-19T22:15:00.000-05:00

Wow! I cooked Chicken Fried Steak!!!

Thanks to Jools of www.joolsjaunts.com traveling blog, I have learned how to make one of Chuck's favorite meals! (Mine too!) With her permission, I am gonna pass the recipe on to you!

You need tenderized round steak, you can pound them yourself or get them tenderized at the meat market like we did! First thing is get smaller pieces of meat than I did! Ha! I shoulda cut them in half! One piece would have fed both of us and fit in the cast iron fry pan better!

Put some milk in a bowl... I used a fry pan because my bowls were too small and rounded... if ya got smaller pieces of meat, or if I had cut them up smaller, a bowl would have worked fine!

After you have dipped the steak in milk, dip it into a plastic bag that has All Purpose Flour in it along with salt, pepper to taste and shake it up, coating the milk wet steak in flour.

Get the cookin' oil hot, not smokin' hot though, Jools says that ruins the oil! Heat it over medium flame. Use only enough grease and not too much like I did! Make it about 1/4 inch deep, lay the floured, tenderized round steak into the hot

oil. This will "set" the breading on the steak when it's dropped into the fry pan. Jools didn't say exactly

how long to cook the steak, I just turned 'em over a couple a times until they were good and brown.

Now you gotta make the gravy! Scrape all the goodies off the bottom of the fry pan and discard some and leave some. Leave only about 5 TBSP of cookin' oil in the bottom of the fry pan. I sifted about 1/2 cup of All Purpose Flour while 3 cups of whole milk was heating on the stove. Don't boil it, just get it hot! Slowly add the sifted flour to the frying oil

Slowly add the flour to the frying pan, making a medium thick paste, continue stirring browning

the flour. When this mixture is nice and brown and

and bubbly, start slowly adding the heated milk. Keep stirring while doing this. It will become thick, creamy gravy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Jools likes her gravy all peppery.

When it's done, put the gravy over the chicken fried steak and hot mashed 'taters. It should look sorta like this!

Chuck and I are ready to dig in!

YUM!

Nothing left to do now but the dishes!

Chuck? Chuck where are you?

I cooked.... honey ???

Hope ya'll get a chance to try this chicken fried steak. It's the first time I ever made it and it turned out pretty darned good! List of ingredients:

Tenderized Round Steak
Vegetable Oil
All Purpose Flour
Salt and Pepper
Whole Milk (or as Jool's grandma called it, "sweet milk" as opposed to "buttermilk".

So today you got to take a trip around my kitchen instead of the highways. Prolly not as exciting, but still fun! If you want a more defined version of the recipe, click onto the link above for Jool's blog and the real recipe!

Just a note to let ya'll know, the big bad storm that swept through the Southwest pretty much missed us here in Truth or Consequences NM. We have had 2 days of some rain and lots of dark gloomy clouds, but that's all. No snow, no blizzards, no flooding and no warm weather either! But we are fine and still enjoying our winter here!

Also, another heads up! Sometimes the area to make comments to us does not show up. If you don't see the comment box at the end of this blog, go back to the top and click on to the title...Chicken Fried Steak, then come back down here to read the comments that have been left and hopefully add your own!

Happy Trails from the crew of The MotherShip!
We hope you have a great Christmas with your friends and family!
Geri, Chuck and our Hound Herd

Soaking in the Hot Springs

2011-12-18T10:21:00.000-05:00

As ya'll know, Chuck and I love to soak in the wonderful hot mineral springs that are what Truth or Consequences NM is all about! We really love Riverbend Hot Springs in the warmer months, all of their springs are outside facing the Rio Grande River and the spa is just a beautiful, artsy place that we love to visit. Chuck and I workamped there the summer of 2009. www.riverbendhotsprings.com

This is our friends Larry and Betty Harmon, full time RV'ers and bloggers visiting us and soaking at Riverbend! www.mountainborn.blogspot.com/

But this week, Chuck and I decided to soak in a different hot springs resort. Blackstone Hot Springs.

http://www.blackstonehotsprings.com/

Here they have what they call "The Wet Room". WOW! What an experience!

Here, you get a whole room all to yourself with a huge tub with all different levels you can sit on! You can soak as deep or as shallow as you want! The water is HOT! WE WENT IN VERY SLOWLY... ABOUT AN INCH AT A TIME! In just a few minutes we were all the way in and soaking. It felt soooooo gooooood!

Next to the tub is the steam room! The steam is caused by a big waterfall of mineral hot springs water! You sit under it, as Chuck is in this photograph... and it relaxes all your muscles. You leave the steam room feeling like a limp noodle! We loved it. Also included in this room is a shower, so after we soaked our hour, we took a shower and headed home totally relaxed and renewed! I totally recommend that anybody take time to experience soaking in a mineral hot springs. The ones here in Truth or Consequences have no sulpher odor.. or any odor of any kind for that matter! The whole town sits on a huge aquifer of mineral hot springs that are some of the best America has to offer!

Chuck and I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

New look for the blog... help!

2011-12-08T20:23:00.001-05:00

Thank you for joining us on the MotherShip

The weather is cold outside in the mid-40's and still some snow clings to the ground! The sky is blue and the sun is shining, but it's cold outside! I have decided to stay inside and revamp our blog. I have been reading several new blogs lately and admiring the way they are laid out. I have spent several hours already trying to learn how to put a large photograph in the header..... finally got that down! I really admire RVSue's blog. Hers is done on wordpress instead of blogger. Take a look! She's a great writer and her blogs are fun to read.

http://rvsueandcrew.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/love-is-where-you-find-it-benson-az/

She just left our area and she has a new solar panel installed! Interesting reading and the lady is funny!

I love her blogs! The main thing I like about her blogs is how easy it is to comment, and respond to the comments. She has a whole blog family following her and wishing her well. I am seriously considering a change to wordpress for that feature! Please take a look and tell me what you think!

Another blog writer that I look forward to as much as I look forward to my morning coffee is The Bayfield Bunch. He is an interesting writer and excellent photographer now boondocking in the AZ desert near Ajo. Every morning he takes me along with his wife and dogs in his jeep bumping over the barely dirt roads as he explores the Sonoran Desert landscape.

He uses Blogger like I do, but I mean he uses it to the best possible exposure! He has a big header photograph.... I love his use of the column on the right sie. filled with all sorts of information... I still can't figure that one out! Tell me Al... how do you do that ???

His blog link is:

http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

On the right side of his blog are the links to many other bloggers you might want to check out. Almost all are RV travelers with lots of good information.

How did you do that Al ??? :-)

Check out The Bayfield Bunch! You will enjoy it and let me know if you like his layout.

I have managed new colors and I think it's more readable this way. I would appreciate some constructive suggestions because while it's cold like this.... I'm gonna be working on our blog design!

I'm adding a few more snow photos for you to look at too! You Florida friends should enjoy that!

Scotty is pretty cool about the snow. At 16, he has pretty much seen it all and is not in much of a hurry to finish up and get inside where it's warm!Our roadrunner seems to have survived pretty good!

Our truck wants to go back to Florida!

My Cactus survived the snow!

This photograph is from our front yard In Truth or Consequences NM. Turtle Mountain and the Caballo Mountains habe a heavy dusting of snow!

Email me, let me know what ya think! Like this version better than the old version???

earthdancerimages@yahoo.com

Lost Photos, New Friends and SNOW!

2011-12-02T13:00:00.001-05:00

LOST PHOTOS

I had put my little Fugi camera away last summer, opting to use my trusty old Nikon D-70. It has a much faster responding shutterspeed for when I am shooting through the windshield of the truck as we go speeding through all of beautiful America! Chuck is a great tour director!

I got the Fugi out the other day, when we went down to Percha Dam State Park to visit our fulltime camping buddy Sue. Surprise! Surprise! Had some images on the memory card of time spent in Torrey Utah.

Chuck and I have fallen in love with Utah! It is one of the most beautiful states we have visited and we are excited that we will be working in Utah this summer!

If you look to the right side of this blog, you will see a list of past blogs.... any one of the years with summer months will have Utah photographs listed! This last summer we posted all the wonderful petroglyph sites we visited there.

We love Torrey Utah! If you think Sedona AZ is beautiful, you ain't seen Torrey Utah! This was taken from our campground... looking north ! There is a buffalo herd somewhere in that field...

This is also from our campground looking west at the alfalfa fields being irrigated! While staying at Torrey, we stayed at 1,000 Lakes Rv Park and highly recommend it!

This was taken from one of the backroads near Torrey. It was a good dirt road with lots of views! Chuck and I have mostly been staying in campgrounds the past few years. But we have "met" fellow campers on their blogs who prefer boondocking. There are many places around Torrey to dry camp!

Torrey Utah is surrounded with beautiful red rocks! Torrey is Sedona 30+ years ago, when I first visited Sedona. Sedona is now such a touristy trap, overgrown to the point that most of the original beauty I found there is now hidden by "progress"!

Torrey is a small town on a small highway. One gas station, one grocery and several good restaurants!

Here is a link to Torrey:

http://www.phunnyfarm.blogspot.com/2010/09/torrey-utah.html

OK We are caught up on the lost photos of summer, now for the current life of the MotherShip Crew!

MEET THE HOUND HERD!

Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar are our furkids!

Meet Sue! Sue is a lady full timing in her Casita. We met her through Emily who linked us to her blog. Sue's blog is well worth reading! She is an excellent writer and I look at her blog every day. Unlike me who posts only sporadically, Sue posts almost every day and it's always interesting!

http://rvsueandcrew.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/power-runs-through-it/

Sue is in the process of getting solar installed! She is from Georgia, soft spoken and funny. She travels with her "crew" of 2 rat terriers Bridgette and Spike. She left Georgia several months ago and has had gypsy feet ever since. She and her crew have become good friends and will be missed as she heads for warmer weather in the deserts of Arizona! Chuck and Sue are looking at the maps as we share some of our favorite places with her!

WE GOT ICE AND SNOWFLAKES!

We are the tail end of that storm that roared into California yesterday! Our winds came last night, but not nearly as strong here as in Alburqueque or California, but real gusty at times! The temp is now 37F and this morning when I walked the hound herd, there was ice on the "duck pond". the duck pond is a wash tub we keep under the gutter to catch rain so we can water our plants!

Poor duckie is stuck in the pond!

The winds were so strong, all the leaves on our mulberry tree blew off!

Looking west, over Truth or Consequences NM, you can see the bad weather coming in over the Black Range Mountains! Right now, at noon, we are seeing snow flurries floating around!

MotherShip awaits her orders! She is ready to take off for warmer weather if her crew would just get on board! We now dock the MotherShip across the street from our place. Chuck trades helping our elderly neighbor with yardwork so that we can dock nearby. We are lucky to have such good neighbors here!

Happy Trails to you from the MotherShip Crew!

More Cranes and Bosque del Apache

2011-11-26T17:06:00.001-05:00

I guess I used up all the available space on the last blog about the cranes, so I will finish here. If you are just coming into this blog, there are 2 more related blogs before (and below) this one!

Cranes are so graceful as they cruise over the fields, looking for a place to land.

At the refuge, there were always so many cranes around, it was hard to single just one out.

There were viewing stands and viewing blinds giving the photographer a wide open view to shoot. The problem during Festival of the Cranes week is finding a parking space near the viewing areas!

Remember, if you want to see the photographs larger, just click onto the picture!

It was hard to believe how many cranes were there, in the fields, in the air and in the water.

The best time to see a gazillion birds is near sunset!
Here the cranes are flying in and landing prepared to share waterspace with the Snow Geese!

I want to go back, taking Chuck with me and our camping friend Sue (she went to Chloride with us also) when we go! I keep talking about it, now maybe when they see the blog, we can actually set a date for a return visit!

I know there were a lot of photographs to wade through on these 3 posts, but now you should know that I took over 1,000 images that day.... it has taken me this long to whittle that quantity down to the few you see here! It was hard to edit out some that remain my favorite photos, but not wanting to bore you, my friends, to death with too many photos!

Happy Trails and Happy Holidays to all of you until we meet again!
Geri and Radar!

Bosque del Apache

2011-11-26T15:01:00.001-05:00

Sitting just off I-25, exit 139 to the east,highway 380 sits the small, dusty western town of San Antonio. It's one of those towns with one intersection, one blinking light, a gas station, a veggie stand and two of the most dyn-o-mite ever burger places. The Buckhorn Bar and Grill on the right side of the road and The Owl Cafe on the left side! We prefer the one called Owl Cafe. Both places were full of ambience, and both are worth a visit to test the burgers yourself! Well, back to the only intersection and the blinking light by The Owl Cafe, turn right! That is highway 1, and about 12 miles down the road is Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge. About 8 miles down the road, on the right, is Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park. It is the only nearby campground and can be found online. This is where Chuck and I and Emily camped a few weeks ago, it's not fancy but it's clean, affordable and nice campground hosts!

This week, I go alone! I just left Monticello behind me and Radar and I are visiting the refuge solo today!

SNOW GEESE!

As I pulled into the parking lot of the park office and gift shop to buy a ticket to tour the refuge, a loud screaming, squawking and unbelievable noise reached my ears from the other side of the road! The air erupted with Snow Geese! I quickly went in, got my ticket and entered the refuge and headed over to where the geese were going crazy!

Geese were everywhere! Gazillions of them! Loud, screaming, screeching, squawking geese! You can't even imagine the sound! Amazing!

Finally the sheer numbers started dwindling, the geese started settling down and quiet once again! They were so many Snow Geese I could not have even imagined there would be this many! I have heard that because of the drought out here in the west, that many more birds are here this year than in previous years.

Bosque del Apache manages over 1,900 acres of wet lands, bringing in water from the nearby Rio Grande river. The water is channeled into canals that travel all through the refuge.

In the 1940's, mountain lions, coyotes and prairie dogs were considered "nuisance animals", today. coyotes have the run of the refuge, mountain lions are being studied and prairie dogs have been re-introduced and today there exists a population of nearly 100 elk.

DUCKS !

An explosion of ducks!

The ducks were always exploding into the air! I had very few pictures of them calm in the water and of those, all the ducks were bottoms up like this one! I don't know my ducks, but there were a lot of different kinds all being sociable with each other and sharing lake space!

CRANES !

Close to 18,000 cranes winter at Bosque del Apache every winter! Thw skies, the water, the fields are full of beautiful cranes! Each year the refuge has "Festival of the Cranes". A week long celebration of the beautiful bird, complete with classes, art shows, craft fairs and guided tours happens mid-November.

www.FestivaloftheCranes.com

Cranes were everywhere you looked! In the air,

they are just such majestic birds.... so full of grace...

Whether coming in for a landing...

or on the ground, the tall bird always seems to look intelligent, graceful, beautiful and photogenic !!

Exploring back roads and old dusty towns!

2011-11-26T12:14:00.001-05:00

Back Roads to Monticello NM

Last week, Nov 17, Chuck and I were supposed to go camping at the Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park so I could go take part in the Festival of Cranes. Chuck was feeling out of sorts with a cold, so I decided to go exploring on my own! I had always wanted to go explore the "almost" ghost town of Monticello NM.

I got up early, grabbed my camera and my dog Radar, and off we went to hit the dusty back roads!

Monticello isn't very far from Truth or Consequences!

If you are travelling on I-25, take exit 76 and head west (left) to the "T" and turn north (right) on the next road. Follow the signs to Cuchillo and Highway 52. Turn west (left) at 52 and go about 5 miles to Highway 142 and turn north (right) to find Monticello about 12 miles down the road.

The first 8 miles is flat, good road but not too exciting except for the blue mountains

layered in the distance.

When you see the road start to go sharply down, hang on because you are almost to Placitas NM.

The road into this beautiful valley is steep, but not gut wrenching like some we have traveled. You can see from the photo above how steep it was. For some reason, blogger isn't letting me enlarge my images, but you can click onto them for a better look!

The valley floor was full of golden cottonwood trees, wearing their best autumn colors!

Placitas is just a collection of small ranches scattered about, very pretty but no actual town that I saw. A few more miles up and down the road, I came to Monticello!

Monticello started out as a collection of old, really old abandoned cars and trucks!

Chuck would have loved seeing these old cars!

There were several older homes, still lived in. The streets were dusty dirt roads, but well maintained.
The road ended and I had to turn around, thankful that the MotherShip was not attached behind me. As I headed back out of town, this view of Monticello....

came into view. I grabbed my camera for one last photograph of this quaint, dusty old western mining town, sitting on a dead end road.

I decided to get back on I-25 and head north to San Antonio and Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge!

Radar seemed to be in full agreement, he was enjoying not having to share the view with Scotty and DoogieBowser! See you next blog at the refuge!

Happy trails!

Geri and Radar

Chloride Canyon

2011-11-04T17:54:00.000-04:00

Chloride Canyon

What a journey! This is a single lane dirt road that crosses Chloride Creek about 40 times before you get to the top! We rode over so many rocks! You gotta do this road with 4 wheel drive, a high road clearance, and a brave heart! There are no high cliffs or big roadside drops to make you faint hearted, just the sound of rocks scraping along the bottom of your vehicle if it isn't high clearance enough!

You are gonna see lots of the windshield wipers and radio antennae in the pictures. Let me repeat... this was a very bumpy road! It was hard to get a good image without the wipers or antennae in the way!

As I said, it was also very narrow! I let Chuck drive this road... and glad that I did!

The yellow trees you see are cottonwood trees! They are turning colors all over New Mexico now!

Even the rock faces are colorful, these were sorta blue with red rusty colors!

Here you can see how the road tilts down to the left! There were so many tilted places but they all came out blurry because of the bumpy road! I only got one good one out of about 10 photos I took! Sometimes I felt like we might be nearly tipping over!

There were lots of nice rock formations to gawk at along the way!

Some of the rock formations were pretty darned close to the road!

Once and a while, the road would level out and widen a bit...

only to start another narrow, twisty turny road....

Higher up, most of the trees were bare...

but dodging roads around big rock walls kept Chuck's attention!

We even saw some petroglyphs near the road!
I wasn't sure if they were real or just faked by bored hunters! Linda, from Chloride says they are real and that there is a cave nearby that has more petroglyphs inside, we will try to check those out next time!

We were surprised to see cattle and cattle holding pens so far into the canyon!

At on Chloride Creek crossing, we actually had to go through water... about 3 inches deep! haha! But there must be a seeping spring nearby because there certainly hasn't been any rain in weeks!

Yep! That's the road ahead! So many rocks, it was hard to tell the creek bed from the road... and narrow too!

And then we meet a big white truck! No place to pass so what to we do? We back up, back into the creek at a lopsided angle and the other driver gets about 1/2 way past us and he's all lopsided too... and tell us to pull ahead. That way he gets past us and we were both in the clear! We were really lucky, we only met 2 trucks on this trip!

The cottonwood trees are really so pretty on the dirt roads!

The rocks just seem to keep jumping out at us!

Another dry creek crossing!

We even saw a very old log cabin/shack on the way!
Chloride Canyon became the adventure for a lot of prospectors in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Mr. Harry Pye discovered silver there and the town of Chloride was born! Of course, Harry Pye didn't get to spend much of his earnings from the silver as the Apaches ended his life and his prospecting!

We hope you enjoyed this journey up Chloride with us! Next adventure will probably be back in San Antonio NM at the Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge with the Festival of the Cranes... when the sandhill cranes return by the hundreds each winter!

Happy Trails from Geri, Chuck and our hound herd:
Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar!

Cruising the back Roads

2011-11-04T13:41:00.002-04:00

Doggie Time !

Doogie Bowser loves cuddling with Chuck!

All the dogs love cuddling with Chuck!

At home in T or C NM!

Radar strikes a pose!

Back roads from Chloride!

Chuck and I went back to Chloride for our annual Halloween visit! After all... what better place to spend Halloween than in a genuine western ghost town ??

This time, Chuck followed me into the Apache Kid Campground in Chloride and we got the MotherShip all set up. I drove my 4x4 Chevy TrailBlazer so that we could explore the back roads around Chloride! We

knew from the locals that to do some of the roads, a 4x4 would be needed!

Road to Beaverhead

Because I was driving... I didn't get as many photos as I usually do. The road to Beaverhead was take highway 52 from Winston north a few miles then turn west on highway 59. Highway 59 was all paved and easily traveled! It is very twisty and turny in some places, but nothing that made me nervous. It was a decent road.

The scenery was beautiful, mountains all around us. We went through a small town called Poverty Valley... or maybe Poverty Gulch. We can't agree on what the name was! HaHa! I was hoping to shoot some images of old buildings but nothing in Poverty but very nice summer homes and scenic log cabins. Nothing old and quaint.

The sky had incredible buttermilk clouds floating through an impossible blue sky all day!

My TrailBlazer is getting used to all these new mountain roads. If you can see the lettering just above the bumper, Chuck gave me a sticker that says

"My Escape Pod" ! Gotta love it! We decided to turn around before getting to Beaverhead, because we also wanted to check out a town named "Dusty"!

I mean if you see a name like Dusty on your New Mexico map, you expect old, weathered, falling down western buildings right? Well, I was hoping... but

all we found were dusty dirt roads! Ha!

We found an old cemetery up on a hill..

it was really old and in a nice location with a view!

Dusty seemed to be a town with only one or two ranches, and lots of beautiful mountains in the distance. The dirt roads were in very good shape, just very dusty!

Chuck and I want to come back and explore that small canyon between those rocky hills. Might be an interesting hike!

Beautiful skies, gentle hills, the road was fun!

Pronghorn Antelope!

Then suddenly up on the hill, we saw two pronghorn antelope! It is always a treat to see any kind of wildlife along the road, but pronghorn antelope are just so beautiful! You can click onto the image to get a better view!

Just before we got back to the road to Chloride

we saw this old adobe building! Chuck took the photo for me out the passenger window! All day I had been hoping for an old building just like this!

The next day, we got up early and headed up
Chloride Canyon! What a ride! That will be my next blog!
I hope you enjoyed the journey on the the two back roads we visited on this blog. New Mexico is really very beautiful! Right now all the grasses have turned brown because of the drought, but it is still beautiful in our eyes! We really feel right at home here!

Happy Trails until the next adventure!
Geri, Chuck, and our hound herd Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar !!! Always ready for an adventure!

2011-10-28T21:58:00.002-04:00

Hello Emily! Emily is our friend from Kansas! She also blogs under the url:http://followingthewinds.blogspot.com/

Emily solos in her 16' Casita! We met her at Birdwatchers Campground in San Antonio NM. After setting up campers, we headed out to Socorro to eat pizza. Stuffed and sleepy, we went to bed early with the anticipation of visiting Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in the morning! Vee's of Sand Hill cranes were in the air, flying to the refuge and we were excited!

Here is Em standing next to 2 bronze sandhill cranes.

Below is the link to Bosque del Apache.

http://www.friendsofthebosque.org/

Nov 17th and 18th, Chuck and I will be going back for the Festival of the Cranes! Thousands of Sand Hill Cranes come to the refuge every year! It is quite breath taking!

Chuck and I strike a pose!

Snow Geese against an Autumn landscape!

The Autumn colors are amazing! Cottonwoods are turning gold while various reds and bronzes add to the overall beauty!

At dusk, just as we are about to leave, we see our first cranes! Chuck and I are going back for more hopefully before the festival!

This is why we are called The MotherShip! Many of our friends have smaller Casita or Oliver travel trailers! They are like the satellites to our MotherShip! This is Emily's Casita she calls "Eggie" parked next to us!

Emily, Chuck and Sue in front of the old saloon in Chloride NM, our favorite ghost town!

http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nm/chloride.html

Sue also travels solo in her Casita! That is Sue with her "crew" of rat terriers Spike and Bridget. This is the first time Emily and Sue have met in person! They have been reading each other's blog for some time. Sue's blog is here:

http://rvsueandcrew.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/keeping-it-real-along-the-rio-grande/#comments

Emily and Sue photographing the Doodle Dum house in Chloride NM!

Ok, I had to get a picture of it too! This is where Cassie Hobbs made her furniture and all of her wonderful crafts! Cassie is gone, but her art lives on in the general store!

Below is Donna Edmund. She and her husband, Don, have lived in Chloride 32 years, slowly restoring some of the buildings there. This is the old style cash register found in the "general store" now a museum.

The store once belonged to a mining company, when the price of silver declined, the mining company boarded up the store and moved on.

When Donna and Don purchased the store some 33 years ago, they found a perfectly intact general store from 1922! Everything was covered in bat guano and rat droppings. It took 3 years to clean the shelves,

to clean everything on the shelves

and re-open the general store as a museum! It is full of everything from chewing tobacco, baby shoes, mining equipment, well pulleys, saddles, and a post office!

Chuck, Donna and Sue stand next to a table full of chemists tools needed for the mine!

Even the hoop for the old hoop skirts the women wore in those days!

Donna demonstrates how the old post office typewriter still works!

Next to the campground, behind the museum, sits Harry Pye's cabin! Don, Donna and their daughter Linda totally renovated the interior of the old cabin, leaving the outside as original ad possible! I love this bathroom sink!

The outside of the Harry Pye cabin!

Emily, Sue and crew and Donna outside!

The outhouse even comes complete

with a satellite dish!

Chuck and I love Chloride, we go every Halloween! What better place to spend Halloween than in a ghost town? We would love to have you come join us sometime!

While shopping in downtown Truth or Consequences NM, believe it or not... Chuck found a beer called..

MotherShip Beer! Can you believe it??? An organic beer brewed in Colorado! I just had to take a photo of it to show ya'll because I knew you wouldn't believe it either!

Happy Trails to you from Geri, Chuck and our hound herd, Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar!

Maho and Yuti come to visit!

2011-10-28T14:43:00.000-04:00

I am very behind on the blog! I will try to get caught up! The MotherShip landed Chuck, Geri and the Hound Herd at their home in Truth or Consequences NM mid-August. We will be staying here this winter, leaving mid-March for our workamping job in Virgin Utah at The Zion River Resort. http://www.zionriverresort.co

This will be the longest amount of time we have been off the road and out of The MotherShip! September 7th-10th, Maho and her friend Yuta, visited us from Tokyo Japan! Maho workamped with us 2 summers ago at Riverbend Hot Springs! http://www.riverbendhotsprings.com/
We had a great time at Riverbend and Chuck and I adopted Maho! It was good to see her again and meet her friend Yuta!

Maho and Yuta with the miners at our favorite Mexican restaurant La Cocina, in T or C!

Maho still takes pictures of her food before eating it!

Yuta finishes his plate, but Maho still has some to go!

Yuta, Chuck and the Hound Herd in Chloride NM!

Maho relaxes while Chuck and Yuta drink beer and work the BBQ grill loaded down with huge porterhouse steaks! Yummy dinner!

Maho, Yuta and Chuck soaking in the beautiful hot mineral springs of Riverbend Hot Springs!

http://www.riverbendhotsprings.com/

They were only here 2 full days, but we had a great visit! We hope they will come back and visit again!

Oct 6th and 7th, Paul and Diane Thibodeaux visited is! They are fulltimers... meaning they live in their 5th wheel full time going from workamp job to workamp job, exploring America as they go! I guess I must have been brain dead, I carried my camera but took no photos! We did a tour of our favorite ghost town of Chloride and ate dinner at our favorite local restaurant, Groovy Gritz! Good meal! Good Time!

We hope that Paul and Diane come back for a visit too and we wish them safe travels wherever their Gypsy Feet lead them!

That's all for now... will work harder to keep ya'll in the loop with us! We are enjoying our "vacation" at home and we are praying for a mild, snow free winter!

Mother Nature gave us an amazing sunset our first week home! This was taken from our front yard looking at the Turtle Mountain as the sun painted it red and even reflected the red off the storm cloud above the mountain!

Happy Trails to You!

Geri, Chuck, Scotty, Doogie Bowser and Radar!

Lake Powell at Wahweap Campground

2011-07-22T11:58:00.002-04:00

This is our favorite campground for just kicking back and relaxing! Beautiful, big, concrete level sites with excellent fire pits, charcoal grills and picnic tables! The lake is the result of the Colorado River being dammed up and providing power for as far away as Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson. The waters that formed Lake Powell covered up the beautiful area known as Glen Canyon. If you haven't yet read "Monkey Wrench Gang" by Edward Abbey, I suggest you do so! Great book about this area.

The entrance to the campground!

We had a trio of ravens that visited our camp site daily, this is one of them. They "talked" constantly! :-)

This was our camp site at Lake Powell this year.

The colors here are the muted pinks of the sandstone formations, the brilliant turquoise of the water and skies. The colors change constantly, shifting with the clouds and the rotation of the Earthmother.

There was rain predicted and we got some, but generally the skies were amazingly blue and decorated with a few clouds.

Seems there are several companies catering to European teens, touring them around the southwest in vans pulling trailers loaded with tents and supplies. We have seen them in almost every campground we visited! What a wonderful experience for them!

Lake Powell is always full of boats!

With more arriving daily! This is a huge houseboat!

This is the dam that creates Lake Powell.

Remember, you can click on to any photo to bring it to full size for better viewing!

House boat docked on the lake.

The colors and textures here are amazing!

This is only one area of the marina!

There are also other marinas around the lake.

At the north end of Wahweap are the Bluffs.

There are about 6 of these little shelters.

Great place to come meditate, read a book or

just sit back and enjoy the view!

This is the "swimming beach" across from the campground.

This was a visitor one night when it was almost too

dark to get a good crisp image. But I was amazed

at how the dusky light picked up the pink and blue hues.

We were here during the full moon!

This is the orchid like flower of the mesquite tree. The flower is about as big as your thumb nail!

When we were here last year, we also visited Lee's Ferry! This is about 45 minutes from Lake Powell and worth the visit! Here is a link to that blog in case you missed it! http://phunnyfarm.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

Another really good book about Lake Powell is "Wet Desert" by Gary Hanson. Both books I have suggested are fiction novels, but fun to read as well as informative!

I am behind with the blog again, we have visited Zion National Park last week and this week we are in Panguitch Utah. We leave here today to go back to Lake Powell for one last night then on down to Camp Verde AZ to visit our friend John from our Riverbend Hot Springs days! We get to see John about once a year! Slowly we are heading back home to Truth or Consequences NM.
We hope you enjoyed this visit to Lake Powell and keep in touch, we love hearing from you!

Happy Trails to you from The MotherShip gang, Geri, Chuck and our furkids, Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar!

Monument Valley Tour

2011-07-12T14:07:00.006-04:00

On July 8th, Chuck and I took a wonderful tour of Monument Valley! We had already decided we didn't want to take one of the tours that crowded you into the back of a pick-up truck with bench seats that fit 3 across but were invariably packed 4 to 5 people across like sardines! These tours were usually people who arrived in big tour buses and poured out the door of the bus and onto the backs of these trucks. We had asked our friend, whom we had met the year before, silversmith Emmanuel Gray to recommend someone! He told us about Monument Valley Safari, they give jeep tours! We found Nate Holiday, owner of the tours and signed on immediately!
We had scheduled to go the next day on Thursday but Thursday came a huge windstorm that blew dust all day!
It was almost as bad as what you saw happening in Phoenix! After the storm, the air still hung heavy with dust, like looking through dirty glasses! So Nate agreed we should put it off until Friday so we agreed to meet at 9 am the next day. Friday was the perfect day! Nate assigned Duffy Holiday as our guide. Duffy was also interested in photography and knew where to take us!

Meet Duffy Holiday, Tour Guide extraordinaire' !
The first few miles going down into the valley are rougher and tougher than you can imagine! Unless you are ready to install a new front end or new shocks, or maybe unless you are in a rental vehicle, I suggest you hire a Navajo/Dinah tour guide like Duffy! Last year after less than 5 miles we turned our truck around! Next day it rained, so we had to wait until this year to take our tour!

Monument Valley is amazing! No wonder the Dineh people love living here! This is their home and we are fortunate that they are willing to share this beauty with us!

Duffy was always wiling to share information!

The Three Sisters formation

With beauty all around me....

I walk in beauty...

The one thing to remember, you are touring somebody's neighborhood, their home. Be respectful!

Duffy brought us to this arch formation and took our picture, look real hard and you will see us near the middle. A reminder... you can click on any of my photos and take them to full size for better viewing!

The size of this rock was huge!

Duffy was always ready to share information with us about Monument Valley.

Sheltered under the rock were other unusual rocks!

Also sheltered under the rock formation were a few petrogyphs....

Even with 18mm wide angle lens and backed way back, I still could not get this whole rock formation in my frame!

Then Duffy took us to a new arch. One of the nice things about taking a tour like this, Duffy was kind enough to take photos of Chuck and I together! Under our feet here, is a very fine red sand!

I just thought the other arches were huge! Then Duffy brought us here! Above and below is the hole in the roof!

Those little, tiny figures below the hole are Chuck and Duffy! This pace was immense! It felt like a church, like maybe you should be speaking in whispers! Like you should be speaking to God with your heart!

(remember, you can click on any of the images to bring to full size!)

As always, Duffy would help us understand by drawing pictures in the sand, or on the rocks. He really wanted us to understand the Dineh culture. We appreciate him so much!

This was my favorite arch! It just felt holy!
(no pun intended!)

Right next to that cavernous arch was this one, above and below. Also a very nice arch, but just not as amazing as the previous one!

Suddenly 2 of the bigger tour trucks came pulling up loaded with people! The silence was shattered. We left.

Duffy took us over a huge sand dune, good thing the jeep was four wheel drive!

We passed the Totem Pole formation.

This was taken at the last stop on the tour,
Artists Vista.

We will always remember the beauty of this place

The Mittens! This famous formation can be seen from the gift shop. This is one of my very favorite places to visit! I must thank Colleen Cole who brought me here at least 30 years ago and introduced me to Monument Valley! John Wayne loved it here too and he shot several movies here. This is definitely something to put on your bucket list. Here is the tour information on the tour we took: Monument Valley Safari 928-209-1364 or 435-727-3340. It was a great day and we thank Nate Holiday and Duffy Holiday for making it so memorable.
We also want to thank Emmanuel Gray and his wife Marjorie for telling us about Monument Valley Safari!
And thank you Emmanuel for fixing my ring and 2 bracelets! Emmanuel is a wonderful Navajo/Dineh silversmith and I love the earrings I bought from him! Beautiful!

That's it from the MotherShip! We are now docked at Wahweep Marina Campground overlooking beautiful Lake Powell! We hope you enjoyed this tour of Monument Valley! Happy Trails to you, until we meet again!
Geri, Chuck and the hound herd signing off!

Newspaper Rock, Utah

2011-07-10T23:24:00.000-04:00

Newspaper Rock was amazing! Small area of rock absolutely crammed with rock art symbols! I shot several areas close up, so you could see the details better. The best part is that this rock art was protected by an overhang! Protected from the weather and from the sun, these photos turned out really clear!
Take a look!

Remember, you can click onto each photo to takeit to full size so you can read this sign and see the rock art close up!

As I said earlier, this rock art is concentrated on one relatively small panel, well protected by the chain fence.

Also protected all these years by the large overhang above it.

It was amazing how clear these petroglyphs were!

In some areas, the art is crammed in, even drawing on top of drawing, this was in the middle, the easiest area to reach. Below was less active because it was near the top.

The quality of the rock art here is the best!

Isn't this truly Amazing?

My favorite petroglyphs so far!

To the left of the panel...

On the right side of the panel....

I tried to cover the whole panel

with these photographs!

Hope you enjoyed it!

Scottie and DoogieBowser, (Radar is hiding behind Scottie!) love to go with us on all our road trips! We hope you are enjoying them as well!

Reporting from the MotherShip, docked in Monument Valley! We take off tomorrow for 4 days in Page and Lake Powell AZ! See ya'll then!
Happy Trails from Geri, Chuck and the hound herd!

Canyonlands to the south

2011-07-10T20:18:00.001-04:00

July 5th, Chuck and I took a long drive. We started at Sand Island then up to Newspaper Rock and then over to Canyonlands, The Needles or southern part of Canyonlands. We showed you the north part of Canyonlands, just north of Moab Utah, The Needles is south of Moab and north of Bluff about 1/2 way.

We decided to show you the Canyonlands and give you a break from the petroglyphs and show you some beautiful rock formations!

This is why they call this area the Needles!

Around every turn, the panorama was amazing!

The Needles Outpost has gas, snacks and a
pretty cool campground too!

The campground had some really nice boondocking sites

More Needles!

The Dutch shoe formation!

The slab that fell off the main piece of rock doesn't look very big in the photo, but in reality, it's about the size of a city bus!

The Canyonlands journey is worth making!We both like the southern Canyonlands a bit better, but both parks are very beautiful and worth the visit!

Next blog we will catch you up on Newspaper Rock and show you some amazing rock art!

Happy Trails from the MotherShip!

Geri, Chuck and the hound herd!

Sand Island Rock Art

2011-07-08T14:05:00.001-04:00

Just a few miles south of Bluff Utah, you will find a sign on your left announcing Sand Island. It doesn't tell you what it is, just turn left there! You will find a rock art panel easily as big as the one we found on Potash Road in Moab!

From a distance, it is hard to tell how large this panel really is. It extends from the far left behind that big rock to the far right, beyond the frame of this picture.

Remember you can click on the photos to enlarge them to full size, making seeing the rock art easier!

Of course, graffitti is always a problem!

The one thing I have never seen, even in the petroglyph books, is that pair of "oars" top center! Maybe that is modern graffitti, I haven't a clue!

From a distance, it was hard to tell this panel existed. The fence it below was the clue!

The second part of the panel...... this panel was well protected by the rock overhang.

Twin Rocks, landmark in Bluff Utah

Hope you enjoyed the petroglyphs from Sand Island.
Next posting will be about Newspaper Rock, one of the more popular rock art panels!

Happy Trails from the crew of The MotherShip
Geri, Chuck and the hound herd!

County Road 146

2011-07-06T22:39:00.002-04:00

This is how Chuck and I spent July 4th, 2011!

First you have to go north on Highway 191, 16 miles to County Road 262 towards Hovenweep National Monument. When the road start getting real bad, look for Hatch Trading Post on the left. It is all covered in trumpet vines and not hard to miss. It is all fenced in and vines are everywhere, the first piece of obviously cultured green life in the desert! Reset your odometer to zero and let the journey begin. (I can't believe I didn't take a photo of Hatch Trading Post!) Just past the trading post is the road to Hovenweep, do NOT take that right hand turn, go straight! Sooner or later you will find a sign that tells you that you really are on County Road 146!
Remember to reset your odometer at the trading post to zero. At 9.3 miles you will see an oil terminal, turn right, this is County Road 146. The county road signs out here are very small and difficult to read!

This rock looks like a mushroom that has lost it's top!

The nearby rock is just a weird rock column with flat black rocks on top!

The road is pretty much 2-lane road! Good thing we never met anyone the whole trip!

At 9.8 miles, you will find the first Petroglyph panel.
It will be on your left!

Click on each image, you can make the photo full size.

There have been many years of rock art here, some images are drawn over other older images!

We passed an old abandoned cabin. Must have been a small working ranch at one time.

The road meanders through some interesting country

This is also oil country, you will pass several grasshopper oil rigs and collection areas like this!

At 12.9 miles you will see another panel off to the left.

Like the other panel, this will have some newer art drawn over the old. Click on each image to see it full size.

In these two photos, you will see an example of modern rock art. A Navajo (Dineh) family with a horse drawn wagon.

It looks as though this had once provided shelter, some rocks were stacked pueblo style.

Most of the sites are easy to find, there will be a short side road leading off main road, beware of soft sand!

Just past the last petroglyph panel, you wil drive through a great cottonwood grove. The temps dropped 10 degrees in here under the trees. Good place to walk the dogs!

The road becomes even more narrow

The road becomes more challenging with high twisty curves, but it is a do-able road, 4 wheel drive would
be good!

At 16. 7 miles, you will arrive at 3 Kiva Pueblo Ruins!
Very interesting!

You can climb down the ladder into the Kiva, but we chose not to. Too hot at 102 degrees to consider doing this!

At 18.6 miles, look up high on your left! You will see the remains of some pueblo cliff dwellings!

Back on the road again,

The road continues to curve in "S" curves, sometime over high cliffs leaving the passenger,
(me!) breathless!

We passed an old abandoned that Chuck thought might possibly be a line shack, where the cowboys go in winter to keep an eye on the cattle.

If you look across this field, click on to enlarge, you will find 3 caves cut into the wall of sandstone!

We were surprised to see that a local rancher uses
them for storage! The first stored farm implements,
this middle one held hay, the third one held tractors and equipment!

The road gave us two more surprises before we were done.... but my camera was done, dead battery! Just around this sandstone formation, we found a beautiful home built into the sandstone. Not like the cliff dwelling of old, all you could see were beautiful windows and a front door and several solar panels! It was amazing and I am sorry (DUH!) that I didn't bring spare batteries! Life goes on. You will just have to plan a trip here and go exploring with your own camera and spare batteries! The dirt road emerges back on Highway 191, 42.8 miles from Hatch Trading Post and about 25 miles from the campground! We had a great 4th of July! Thank you for joining us! Our next blog will be from Sand Island where we found another great petrogyph panel, and Newspaper Rock a well known petrogyph pane and Canyonlands National Park, the southern end of the park we visited while in Moab.
Tomorrow the adventure begins again, we leave Bluff and head out to Monument Valley! On the road again!

Happy Trails, reporting to you from The MotherShip docked in Bluff Utah!
Geri, Chuck and the hound herd, Scottie, Doogie Bowser and Radar!

Road Tripping from Hanksville to Bluff Utah!

2011-07-06T17:53:00.002-04:00

This is where we left off on the last blog. At this intersection in Hanksville 24 turns left and heads up to Goblin Valley State Park and Interstate 70. Bearing right puts you on Highway 95 headed to Bluff and more amazing scenery. Glen Canyon Recreation area to name one.

The scenery along Highway 95 is as diverse as it is interesting and beautiful!

Shortly after turning on 95, the earth on the left side turned orange and had bright green small shrubs growing all over the hillside, looking like polka dots from a distance!

Once again, we find ourselves on the

road less traveled!

The real beauty starts showing after you pass Highway 276 on the right, that road takes you down to Bullfrog Landing on Lake Powell. We have never been there, but hear it is beautiful!

The red rock walls show up,

towering over the highway!

There are green trees against the red rocks.

There are a few steep hills,

both up and down...

But the view around the next curve is worth it!

Hog Springs is a great pace for a picnic break!

Clean pit toilets too!

I never get tired of red rocks!

Or balancing rocks...

Or the views that surprise you at each turn!

Yep! That's what I'm talking about!

Click on the picture and realize that

those little black dots at the base of that

rock pillar are cars!

Lake Powell is beautiful!

See the arched bridge in the center?

Click on the photo to enlarge it!

There is another view of it!

And a closer view...

Crossing the Colorado River!

Road Tripping from Torrey to Hanksville UT

2011-07-05T10:40:00.003-04:00

There is only 35 miles between Torrey and Hanksville Utah, but it shows you some of the most incredible beauty America has to offer. Highway 24 runs through the indescribable beauty of Capitol Reef. Other parts of the road make you feel like you are visiting another planet!
I just want to share some of Highway 24's images with you!

Choosing the road less traveled is the way Chuck and I explore the real United States of America!

Meanwhile. DoogieBowser snoozes in the back seat!

There are beautiful rock monuments all along Highway 24, and remember all these images in this blog were taken in just a 35 mile stretch of road!

There are grey rocks

There are striped rocks,different colors just layered inches at a time.

There are red rocks, towering red cliffs, red rock monuments....

There are white rocks

And rocks that look like swiss cheese!

There are rocks that graduated from white to red color

There are rocks that become towers

The layers of colors the Earthmother shows off like layers of her petticoat!

What do the people who live in this strange land do?

They raise sheep......

They grow alfalfa .............

They raise cattle ........

They bake wonderful bread and cinnamon buns in a brick oven out in the back yard!

They raise horses!

And they love old junk cars and trucks and wreckers!

Highway 24 makes a left hand turn here and heads up to the interstate. Going straight, we are headed to Bluff and our next blog we will take Highway 95 and pass through some more beautiful country!

Happy Trails!
Geri and Chuck and the Hound Herd reporting from The MotherShip

Fish Lake Utah

2011-07-02T12:12:00.000-04:00

Radar LOVED Fish Lake! There were chimpmunks and prairie dogs everywhere and every chance he got he was at the windows looking for them!

Please Mom? I wanna go out and chase 'em !!!

MOM! PLEEEZZZEEE! I wanna chase them!

First one popped up...

Then two !!!

Then THREE!

MOM! They are EVERYWHERE! I can catch them!

I know I can!

Awww MOM! You are no fun at all!

For 4 days Radar kept us entertained running from window to window. Running from couch window to chair window to bedroom window! He escaped every chance he got to go off hunting! Needless to say, Radar had a great time... DoogieBowser and Scottie slept most of the time!

Chuck and I loved Fish Lake! The campground was rough, uneven but huge camp sites with picnic tables and a fire pit and a great view of the lake!

That is The MotherShip in the middle, the bronze one!

We woke up the morning of June 29th at 6 am to hail pounding the roof of the MotherShip! It was LOUD!

The campground was near a stand of beautiful Aspens

The "Pando" stand of Aspen was near us, but we never made it there. The stand of Aspen known as the Pando is a clone colony of a single male quaking aspen and is estimated to weigh over 6,600 tons making it one of the heaviest known organisms in the world. The name Pando means "I spread". Hard for me to think of Aspens as an organism, I just love them!

Here is the link to the blog when we passed by these same Aspens in the fall. The colors are magnificent!

http://phunnyfarm.blogspot.com/2010/09/fish-lake-road.html

Today we leave and head down to Bluff Utah for four days! We loved the Cadillac Ranch campground when we were there last year, so we are headed back for another visit! Lots to see and do from there!

So we are on the road again......

Happy Trails from The MotherShip!

Geri, Chuck, Scottie, DoogieBowser and Radar!