Mountain Spirits RV Park - Our new job!

I know you were probably expecting a blog about Canyon de Chelly, but we have been getting a lot of emails wanting to know about our new workamping job!  So here is a quickie blog about working at Mountain Spirits RV Park. 

Entrance to our park

 

We are located in Mimbres New Mexico, about 20 miles  east of Silver City! 

 

This is the view out our back window!

Meet our bosses, Wanda and Bill!

 This is only a 20 space campground with full hook-ups. Several of the guests are long-term. They are working with the local copper mine.  We have a couple who are staying here a few weeks to get out of the heat in Yuma AZ!  It is nice and cool here!  We have low 80's days and low 60's at night! Low humidity almost everyday! Perfect!

 The MotherShip is docked right in front of the office so we can keep an eye on things. Chuck and I work 3 days and off 4 days.

 Yesterday, to celebrate Labor Day Weekend, we had great food and fun!  The park provided hot dogs, buns, beverages and desserts and the rest of us brought covered dishes! Wanda decorated the office and organized the event!

Bill cooked the hot dogs on his humongous grill!  Chuck has the hots for this BBQ Grill and wants one like it! Yeah, like where would we store it???

 Everybody lines up for a delicious meal!

Wanda applies liberal amounts of mustard

to her dog!

 

.

Wanda and B.J. get ready to pig out!

 

Bruce and Elaine eat outside and share tidbits with their dog Cleo.

Cleo is grateful!

 

B.J. and Vicki are ready for the parade to begin!

 

 

So is the crowd of onlookers!

Left to right:

Elaine, Bruce, Bill, Chuck (not my Chuck!) and Clay!

 

 

 

YAY! Let the parade begin!

Left to right:

Vicki, B.J., Linda and Wanda on the tailgate!

 

 

This is really a fun little park! Folks stick around a little longer and you build new friendships easier.

Larger RV parks might pay you more, but they are hectic and when folks only stay over for a day or two you don't get a real chance to know them! We are enjoying our time here!

 

Workamping is what Chuck and I do.  We trade our labor for free rent and full hook-ups. Here, we work 3 days and have 4 days off to go explore.  Since we are not super busy here with reservations or dozens of folks coming in and out of our office with all kinds of questions... our days are laid back.  I clean the 2 beautiful restroom/shower areas, water the plants, sweep and keep the office neat and tidy and run the register.  We have storage units here also, about 50, so we collect rent on them and we also sell LP gas. Chuck fills the LP tanks, pulls weeds and waters all the green areas. This area is a lot greener than Truth or Consequences ! A lot of local farming means a great little farmers market just down the road every Thursday!  Love the fresh farms eggs, so rich the yolks are almost neon orange instead of pale yellow!

So far, we have been very happy here and we love the cooler temperatures! The cottonwoods are beginning to change colors across the field from here, down next to the Mimbres River!

 

Well, that's it for now from the crew of the MotherShip! Geri, Chuck and our HoundHerd

Scotty, DoogieBowser, and Radar!

 

Happy Trails to you until we meet again!

 

 

 

Petroglyphs, Goosenecks and Valley of the Gods!

ONE VERY INTERESTING DAY!

Last Thursday, August 16th, Chuck and I got up early and headed out. First to Sand Island, 4 miles south of Cadillac Ranch RV Park in Bluff Utah.  Most of you know I love petroglyphs!  I would love to be able to understand them, as would many others much more scholarly than I! One of my favorite panels is at Sand Island.  I did a post on it last year, so I will just post a few photos of it this year and post a link in case you are interested in seeing more.

There is only this small sign on the east side of the road announcing Sand Island, no mention of the petroglyphs. As you go down the hill, take the first road to the right to get to the rock art.

I love the old Navajo songs and stories!

 

This art is between 300 and 3,000 years old!

There is art drawn over art, some of the newer art obliterating some of the older drawings.

The drawings are dense in places, you can click on the image to view it full size.  Many animal drawings and beings I don't recognise.

Like this guy, does he look alien or what????

Many Kokopelli images on these 2 panels.  They are very large and dense with art! If you like petroglyphs this is a place you should visit!
Visit last year's blog for more photos of Sand Island
http://phunnyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/07/sand-island-rock-art.html

GOOSENECKS STATE PARK

There are about 5 or 6, maybe more, of these very deep, very tight "Goosenecks".

The older I get, the stronger my fear of heights becomes!  Knowing it is at least 1,200 feet straight down behind her, my heart was in my throat as I watched this lady backing up for a photo!

Then Chuck took this photo of 2 young men who climbed down to walk out on this ledge.... YIKES! What were they thinking? How did they get back up?
It was almost straight down to get to where they are now!

For more information on the "Goosenecks State Park", click the link below!

http://www.utah.com/stateparks/goosenecks.htm


VALLEY OF THE GODS

Valley of the Gods is like a mini Monument Valley. Up close and personal. 

However, please pay attention to the signs and don't just blow by them like this guy just did. It clearly states that this road is not recommended for RV's etc., etc., etc.

The roads are dirt, mostly narrow one lane tracks. Steep hills, sharp curves hanging over cliff edges and deep dippity do gullys! Fine for a regular sized car or truck but NOT an RV!

Chuck and I can not figure out how this idiot made it this far into Valley of The Gods under those road conditions! This was a 32'-33' Class C rental! Sheeeh!

We followed him for several miles, unable to pass him. When we finally get to a wide spot in the road what do we find?  Another RV rental coming up the hill from the other direction! This was the only wide spot in the road for at least 5 miles, so at least they met in a good spot, but what the hell were they thinking???? 

Actually, both drivers were probably terrified! They spoke for several minutes as they sat side by side, probably discussing what the road ahead was going to be like for each of them.  Here is the road ahead for the guy we were following!  He let us pass him after the other RV passed by us both! That strip of land that looks like it cuts through the road was actually a very DEEP dippity-do gully... we had serious doubts that long RV would ever get past that! The shorter RV going the other direction left scrape marks all over the rocks!

But for those of your who are the more intelligent of the human species, Valley of the Gods is certainly worth the time and visit. You don't really need a 4 wheel drive, but we did engage ours a few times. We were in my Chevy TrailBlazer.

The vistas here are awe inspiring!

I love the totem formations!

More road views....

We had a great day! Valley of the Gods and Goosenecks State Park are both on the same side road off highway 163 about 1/2 way between Monument Valley and Bluff Utah.  We went back to the MotherShip at Cadillac Ranch in Bluff and felt that wonderful kind of tired you get from having had a good day.

 

We left Bluff the next day and headed down the most beautiful road just south of Bluff, we picked up highway 191 to Chinle AZ and Canyon de Chelly our next stop!  More about that on the next post, I promise!

 

Right now, August 26th, we are now in our home at Truth or Consequences NM.  We are workamping only 2 hours away in Mimbres NM near Silver City. We work 3 days and we are off 4 days....  how sweet is that????  So on our first days off, we came home for the first time since we left in April! hahaha! Found waist high weeds in our yard waving in the wind to greet us!  We spent our first night in town at our favorite restaurant "Groovy Gritz" and with good friends Dave and Gayle Turpin.  Cactus Flats was playing good tunes on stage but Chuck and I were pooped from the drive and yard work so we left early!  Felt good to wake up at home!

 

That's the news from the crew of The MotherShip, Geri, Chuck and the HoundHerd, Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar.  Tell ya about Canyon de Chelly in a day or two!

 

Somebody has the right idea of home! Love it! Seems those 3 dogs do too! I found this photo online and loved it!

Bluff Utah - One of our favorites!

BLUFF UTAH USA

There really isn't anything particularly beautiful about the town of Bluff, but we love it primarily because of it's location to all things amazing to the Southwestern USA! There are some really cute houses here worth driving around to see and of course Fort Bluff, well worth your time to visit!
 AND of course the GOOD restaurants! But let's start with the location!   To the South of here, you have Monument Valley, Goosenecks State Park and Valley of the Gods. North and West of here you have Natural Bridges, Highway 95 to Hanksville is one of the most beautiful highways in the Southwest taking you to Capitol Reef National Park and Escalante. To the North, there is Newspaper Rock, Moab with that wonderful rock petroglyph panel on Potash Road, Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park, to the East you have Hovenweep Ruins, Mesa Verde and Four Corners.  All are day trips from Bluff! We usually stay here a week or so and go exploring. This time we can only stay a few days because we are heading for our new job in New Mexico.

GOOD FOOD

In this tiny town of Bluff, there seem to be at least 5 up and running restaurants.  Our Favorite is Twin Rocks Cafe.

Named for the Twin Rock formation towering over
the restaurant

The restaurant has a mixture of traditional Navajo fare as well as lots of typical American restaurant foods to choose from.

Corri Benally serves us our favorite! Navajo Pizza! It's is just like a regular pizza (only better!) served on traditional Navajo Fry Bread.  YUM! They even cut it in half for Chuck and me and I can't even begin to tell you how good it is!

Chuck's grin ought to tell you how much he loves it!

This is where we stay when we come to Bluff. It's not fancy but it has everything you need including wonderful owners, Diana and Tim, who treat you like family! This is our 3rd year coming here.

 The campground is small, 14 RV sites with Full Hook-ups and 4 with water and electric.  There are 14 tent sites available on a small pond with fishing allowed or you can fish in the nearby San Juan River.

 Reservations are suggested!  It's a great little campground. We are sad because the current owners are ready to retire and have this jewel up for sale!
If you are looking for a great opportunity, here it is!
Cadillac Ranch Highway 191 East Bluff Utah
phone: 435-672-2262
email: cadranch@frontiernet.net
website: www.cadillacranch.com 

If Chuck and I were a bit younger...  we sure would consider this!

Campground Kitty

Geri and Diana looking at a turquoise and silver pendant made by Emmanuel Gray of Monument Valley.

If you decide to visit Bluff, this is the road from Capitol Reef and Hanksville down to Bluff, a beautiful drive!
http://phunnyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/07/road-tripping-from-hanksville-to-bluff.html

Yesterday, Chuck and I visited GooseNecks State Park and Valley of The Gods. But that will be another blog another day.  Today we leave here headed down to Canyon de Chelly. My 3rd visit and Chuck's first.

From there we head down to Mimbres NM to our new workamping job at Mountain Spirits RV.

Happy Trails from The MotherShip and Geri and Chuck and the HoundHerd Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar!  Hope you enjoyed Bluff Utah!