The last couple of
weeks have been challenging and a little scary.
We left Roswell, New Mexico feeling rested and excited to
get back on the road. Before we could head out we had to take care of the
important tasks of dumping our waste tank and washing off the weeks’ worth of
sand that had built up on the Big Lebowski.
We were lucky enough to find a carwash with a large truck bay
near the free dump station. After washing the Big Lebowski we kept smelling
pooh. We had already emptied and cleaned the waste tanks at the RV dump
station. Our tanks were closed and we were not leaking anything. We checked our
feet, we checked Doug, and still could not find the source of the smell. While
pulling out we noticed that someone had cleaned a horse trailer. Great, the car
wash recycled their water, but evidently did not filter it very well.
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| The pooh wash. Roswell, NM |
We headed North West towards Ruidoso, New Mexico where we
planned to stay a couple of days. The ride to Ruidoso was a little mountainous
and we had to disconnect the tow car and drive separately for a little ways. I
didn’t really mind driving the car, but having to pull the tow dolly is a
little nerve wracking. The tow dolly for the car tends to bounce when the roads
are less than perfect and make a lot of noise. I drove white knuckled and
prayed the whole trip over the mountain. We made good time getting to Ruidoso,
NM. We checked the website for the Inn of the Mountain Gods and found that they
had an RV park advertised.
How awesome, we could
stay on the Indian reservation near the casino.
We were so excited. We tried calling the phone number listed
but no one was answering the phone. After about four attempts to reach someone
we decided to just find an RV park near the Indian reservation. When we checked
into the park we found out that he RV park on the reservation is first come
first served. No one ever answers the phone.
We stayed at Twin Spruce RV Park in Ruidoso. Twin Spruce was
a nice little park with two tiers. Just like the rest of the town, it too is
built on the side of a mountain. We originally requested a site on the top
tier, but once we got to the site we quickly realized that we were not ready
for mountain camping. The sites were as level as they could be for being on the
side of a mountain.
Tracy was in the process of trying to put the jacks down and
level the motorhome when the Big Lebowski decided to slip backwards off the
jacks. Luckily the jack controls are near the emergency brake and Tracy was
able to stop the Big Lebowski from rolling down the mountain side. Tracy tried
again. Once he was finished we looked down and realized the jacks were so far
up that the tires were six inches off the ground. He felt this was unsafe and
drove down to the bottom tier where the slots were more level.
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| Our RV slot at Twin Spruce RV Park in Ruidoso, NM |
The owners of the RV park are nice people but we felt like
they were pressuring us to book the full week because Memorial Day Weekend was
coming up. Park rates jump dramatically on a holiday weekend. We had only
planned to spend a couple of days and then head to Valley of Fires National
Park. Twin Spruce RV Park is pet friendly, and just like every other RV Park
they have a strict leash rule. However, there is no designated pet area where
your pets can be off the leash to exercise or play, so Doug was a little
miserable. The Wi-Fi at the park was non-existent when the wind blew, which was
about 90% of the time during our stay.
Due to the strict pet policy we had to keep boss lady in the
motorhome and not let her roam at night like she prefers. So the first night we
had to listen to her whine and meow all night. This was fine until another cat
sprayed the outside of the bus.
I was not happy about
this new aroma we were sporting.
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| Big Pinon tree that sat above us. So glad it did not slide on to us. Rudsoio, NM |
Now we smelled like horse pooh and cat urine. A real
cesspool. Not a great mix. I forgot the rule the second night and let the cat
out. At the very least she could keep the other cat away. Luckily it rained the
second day we were there.
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| Boss Lady |
Ruidoso is a beautiful little mountain town, but it is also
very touristy. It can be expensive if you don’t watch your wallet. The Inn of
the Mountain Gods Resort sits on the Mescalero Apache Tribe Reservation. It’s a
very nice resort and small casino nestled in the mountains. I had visited the
Inn of the Mountain Gods about thirty years ago and had remembered a huge,
round, copper fireplace in the center of the lobby. I had looked forward to
seeing this again, but the fire place was taken out during a renovation about
20 years ago. I was a little disappointed at this revelation, but things
change. It was replaced by a large water fountain.
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| Inn of the Mountain Gods on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation near Ruidoso, New Mexico |
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| Water fountain inside the resort hotel. Inn of the Mountain Gods. |
We toured the art displays at the resort and ate breakfast
in the casino. Tracy wanted to do the zip line across the lake, but they were
closed due to the wind. We returned to the RV park and lounged around for the
rest of the day.
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| This was my favorite sculpture on display. It is called "Morning Song". |
Tracy decided he
would try the zip line at the Ski Apache Ski Lodge instead.
He called to make reservations, but had to leave a message.
The web site says they are open daily, year round. We decided that since our
stay was up at the Twin Spruce RV Park, we would drive to the Ski Apache Zip
Line after we took the Big Lebowski over to the Valley of Fires National Park
and setting up.
The drive from Ruidoso, NM to the Valley of Fires National
Park is a little mountainous. Ok, a lot mountainous. We had to drive
separately, Tracy in the Big Lebowski, and me in the car with the tow dolly. We
made pretty good time considering the drive is a steep winding path up one side
of the mountain and then down the other side. After getting set up at the
Valley of Fires we made the 30 mile drive back to Ruidoso to go to the Ski
Apache Lodge on top of El Capitan Mountain.
The drive back to Ruidoso went quickly in the little car,
but the ride up to the Ski Apache Lodge took a while. It’s only a twelve mile
drive up a winding, narrow, mountain trail. The road consist of nothing but
blind switch back, hair pin curves up to the top of a mountain. This was the
longest ride of my life. I am afraid of heights. I have known this about myself
for a very long time. We made our way up the mountain with me clawing at the
dash, gripping the car door, and Tracy laughing at me the whole way. It did not
help matters that when I did open my eyes and dare look out the window all I
could see was the edge of a cliff going straight down. I suddenly developed an
irrational fear of just flying off the road. I was scared and way out of my
comfort zone. Doug didn’t seem to mind the drive. He just hung his head out the
window sniffing the air.
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| This is a picture of the road taken from a look out about 9 miles up the Mountain |
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| This is a picture of the road taken from a look out about 9 miles up the Mountain |
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| This is a picture of the road taken from a look out about 9 miles up the Mountain |
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| This was the elevation at the look out. There is still more to go! |
It took us almost an
hour to drive the twelve miles up the mountain.
The Ski Apache Lodge looked a little deserted when we
arrived. There were only a few vehicles in the parking lot. We did find a
grounds keeper who informed us that the lodge was only open Thursday thru
Sunday. This was Wednesday. Tracy was a little upset at this discovery. The
website said “Open Daily”. The guys attitude was “Hey, you can come back
tomorrow.”
We spent some time walking around and viewed the valley from
the top of the mountain. It was pretty, but also very chilly since there was
still snow on the ground. I wished I had remembered my sweater. Then it dawned
on me that we would have to drive back down the mountain. Knowing what to
expect made the drive down seem a little better, but for some reason the cliff
was still on my side of the vehicle. How is this possible?
We visited the Lincoln National Forest at the base of the mountain. It is a very beautiful place. This is also the final resting place of Smokey the Bear.
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| Tracy at Lincoln National Forest near Ruidoso, NM. |
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| Lincoln National Forest |
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| Lincoln National Forest |
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| Lincoln National Forest |
We made it back to
the Valley of Fires National Park before sunset.
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| Valley of Fires National Park, NM |
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| Valley of Fires National Park, NM |
We enjoyed watching the sun go down and ate dinner and
planned to go hike the trails the next day. Just as we finished cleaning up
from dinner the wind started blowing a little hard so we decided to get out the
weather radio.
There were no wind or storm advisories for the area so we
figured it would just pass.
After about an hour the wind got even stronger. The
sustained wind speed had to be at least 40 mph and it was hitting us broad
side. The big Lebowski was rocking. The pilot light on the refrigerator would
not stay lit so we had to move everything to the ice chest. Luckily I had
gotten ice on our way back to the park.
We were both getting
scared.
When I am scared it’s ok, Tracy calms me. BUT when we are
both scared, I know it is time to really worry. The wind was sustained with
huge gusts that made us feel like we were going to get blown over. We tried to
sleep that night, but it was really hard. Sometime around 3:30 in the morning I
finally gave in and fell asleep for a couple of hours. I figured we had
survived that long, and it wasn’t going to matter if I was awake or not, there
was nothing I could do.
I woke up at 6:30 am to find Tracy sitting and starring out
the window. We sat there most of the day watching the clouds hang over the
mountain range. Finally, sometime around 5 pm we decided to move the Big
Lebowski to a more aerodynamic position because the winds had not let up for 24
hours.
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| Valley of Fires National Park, NM |
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| Valley of Fires National Park, NM |
It was not feasible to change the Big Lebowski’s position in
the slot we were camped in, so we had to take the car and drive around to find
a new location. We found one spot at the top of the hill that would allow us to
position the Big Lebowski into the wind, rather than against it. The new
position did give some relief from the wind shaking the motorhome, and we were
able to get a little sleep.
We decided that as
soon as the wind let up we were leaving.
I thought about our ride from Texas to New Mexico with the
wind blowing us all over the road and how it just stopped once we crossed the
state line. I figured out that the wind stopped at the state line because New
Mexico was saving up all their wind for this one location, they were holding it
up. Saving it for this one occasion.
We woke up early the
next morning and left.
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| Valley of Fires National Park, NM. It is hard to believe that such delicate life exist in such a hellish place. |
The wind was still blowing, but not like it had been. At
least now we could safely escape the Valley of Fires National Park prison. That
place should be renamed to the Valley of Howling Winds.
We headed west to
Socorro, New Mexico, Home of New Mexico Tech.
I attended college there right out of high school. I got to
tour the grounds and see the changes that have been made in the last 25 years.
I enjoyed the walk, and Doug enjoyed a dip in the fountain. We ate at a
restaurant that was my favorite back in the day. The El Sombrero Restaurant is still
good after all these years.
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| "M" (Magdalina) Mountain, Socorro, NM |
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| New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM |
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| Doug took a swim in the water fountain. |
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| El Sombrero, Socorro, NM |
We stayed at the Walmart parking lot since we were planning
on heading out the next morning. The Socorro, NM Walmart must be a popular stop
because we woke up the next morning to find a parking lot full of RVs.
I have to add that we both slept like the dead that night.
Until I woke both of us up laughing at a dream I had about my nephew. In my
dream he was insisting he was a leprechaun and had to hide his treasure. His
treasure was a bunch of broken stuff and he had to hide it before his mom threw
it away.
We headed north and
took a short cut around Albuquerque, NM.
We were headed to Gallup, NM. I wanted to visit some of the
Indian ruins in Western New Mexico. We stayed at the USA RV Park. The facility
is very nice, well maintained, and active. They had a designated dog park and
great WiFi, even with the wind. My only gripe was that the park is all gravel
and the sap from the Pinon trees makes the gravel stick to your shoes, Doug’s
paws, and the cat’s fur. We spent our time there mostly picking pebbles out of
Doug’s paws.
We ate at the World Famous El Rancho Hotel in Gallup. This
is a little hotel where movie stars used to stay while filming western movies. If you’re a fan of old westerns you would
recognize the names of Jane Wyman, Allan Ladd, and Ronald Regan. The menu list
a whole host of choices, all named after a famous person who stayed at the
hotel.
The next morning we
decided to head north to get closer to the Indian ruins we wanted to
visit.
We stopped in Shiprock, NM. Shiprock is a town located on
the Navajo Indian Reservation. It’s a good size town and we thought we might
stay there. We pulled into a parking lot next to the McDonald’s and noticed a
really nice laundry mat next door. We needed to wash a few blankets that will
not fit in our little washer, and decided to do them there.
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| Shiprock, NM |
While we were waiting on our laundry we were approached by
little girls selling homemade cupcakes for $1.00. I bought one so they would go
away. I gave the cupcake to another set of kids that arrived later. I hope it
wasn’t poisoned.
Then we were approached by a drunk Indian asking for change.
Tracy pulled the change out from his pocket. There was two dollars in quarters
so he gave the guy a dollar. They guy had the nerve to ask for the rest of it,
but we told him no we still had to dry our clothes and that was all we had. He
went on.
Then while Tracy was outside another drunk Indian approached
him and demanded Tracy give him his change. Tracy told him no and went back
inside the laundry mat. We decided we would leave Shiprock as soon as our
laundry was finished, and head towards Farmington, NM. I was a little bummed
because I really wanted to see the Zuni Indian Ruins, but we could still see
the Aztec Indian Ruins outside of Farmington, NM. Better safe than sorry. I am
sure that there is more to Shiprock than what we experienced but I did not want
to stick around to find out.
It’s unfortunate but all I could think of while we were in
Shiprock was the stereotype of the drunk Indian. I really don’t like to
perpetuate that stereotype, but that was our experience while driving thru the
Navajo reservation in Western New Mexico.
We made our way east
to Farmington, NM.
We over nighted at the Walmart. Not too bad, the parking lot
was clean and quiet. Again, we woke up surrounded by RVs.
The next morning we headed to the Aztec Indian Ruins National Monument.
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| Doug and Boss Lady catch a nap in Farmington, NM |
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| It was shortly after I snapped this photo that I realized I am a Cat Lady |
The next morning we headed to the Aztec Indian Ruins National Monument.
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| Aztec Indian Ruins National Monument, Farmington, NM |
The Aztec Indian Ruins National Monument is small. The walking path is less than a mile long, but does get steep in some areas. During our visit a storm blew in and we had to sit in one of the kivas. I was entertained by Tracy dancing around and singing made up Indian chants. Some of the other visitors were annoyed, but watching Tracy being silly made the time pass. The rain did not last too long, but it was cold.
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| Inside the Great Kiva, Aztec Indian Ruins National Monument, Farmington, NM |
Even with the rain storm our visit was over in about two
hours.
We then headed north
to Durango, Colorado.
It’s a short drive from Farmington, NM. We encountered a few
areas with steep grades, but nothing so steep that we had to take the tow car
off. The decent down into Durango was quite steep, but since it was downhill we
did not worry too much. Once we reached the bottom of the mountain one of the
back brakes went out.
Luckily there was a
Walmart nearby.
The local O’Rileys had the part we needed in stock and Tracy
rebuilt the brake in the Walmart parking lot.
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| Tracy repairing the brake |
We found an RV Park outside of town and spent two days there. The Lightner Creek RV Park is a nice mixture of RV slots and rental cabins along the Lightner Creek. They had decent WiFi, a dog park, and heated pool. But most importantly it was close to the Full Blast Adventure Zip Line Tour!
The first night at
the RV park in Durango we thought we had closed the cats door.
I guess we did not close it well enough. Boss Lady proudly
bought us a prize in the middle of the night. I could hear her batting
something around and made Tracy get up to see what she had. It was a big
chipmunk and she was not happy when he took it away from her.
The next day Tracy begged and pleaded with me to go on the
zip line with him. I am a spectator, and he is the thrill seeker. Flying thru
the air attached to a little safety harness does not appeal to me. The very
thought scares the hell out of me. When I even considered the zip line, I had a
vision of my large ars plummeting to the ground in a firey crash. I don’t know
where the fire came from in my vision. I guess my imagination adds it for
dramatic effect. There was no way I could be persuaded, so I reassured him that
it was good for us to spend time apart and enjoy separate activities on
occasion.
Tracy’s Zip Line Tour started at 2 pm so we went and walked
in the Historic Downtown area of Durango. It’s a nice downtown area and is very
busy with people from every walk of life. We got a hot dog from a street vendor
and ate lunch on a bus bench. I prayed the hot dogs were not tainted and we
watched people walk by. The street vendor also offered split pea soup which
smelled great, but I am normally not a fan of thick green slime.
Tracy enjoyed the Zip Line, but said it was not as adrenalin
pumping as he would have liked. It’s a good thing because he was hyped up and
excited when I picked him up. He is still sore more than two days later.
The next morning we
headed west to Cortez, Colorado.
The drive is a sustained 5 to 6% grade with an 11% grade
thrown in going up the mountain and a sustained 5 to 6 % grade down the other
side of the mountain. So again we drove separately. We had to stop to let the
Big Lebowski cool off just before we reached the top of the mountain, but the
view was spectacular. Once we arrived into Cortez we parked the Big Lebowski and
drove out to Mesa Verde National Park.  |
| Tracy getting ready for his Zip Line tour in Durango, CO |
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| Lake Durango, Durango,CO |
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| Twin Buttes, Durango, CO |
I don’t know what I
was thinking when I said I wanted to go see the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde.
I guess I did not associate the word cliff with the word
mountain. The drive to the cliff dwellings is a 45 minute, 23 miles up a
mountain with blind, hair pin curves and switch backs. At least this road had a
decent barrier and pull offs. I still felt scared and worried about driving
over the edge.
We made it half way
up the mountain when Tracy realized we needed gas.
So we drove back down to the check in and found out that
there is gas available at the camp ground, which is located about a quarter of
the way back up the mountain. The drive up was worth the trip (both times). The
view is unbelievable and the cliff dwellings are awesome to see. It’s like
nothing else. Words and pictures do not do them justice.
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| Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
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| Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
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| Me & Doug at Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
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| Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
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| Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
We visited the museum and watched the educational film. The
hike down the trail to the cliff dwellings is only half a mile. What they don’t
tell you is that it’s a steep grade down, and then you have to hike back up.
The walk down was not so bad, but I had to stop three times to catch my breath
on the way back up. Fortunately, I was not the only one who had to stop and
rest.
After visiting the museum and walking down the trail to the dwellings, we drove back down the mountain stopping at some of the pull outs to take pictures. Tracy got several good pictures of deer and other wild life while I held on to the car for dear life. I did not want to fly off the mountain. Tracy still laughs at me about this, and for the life of me, I do not know why I have this irrational fear.
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| Museum at Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
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| Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
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| Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
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| Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
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| Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
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| Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
After visiting the museum and walking down the trail to the dwellings, we drove back down the mountain stopping at some of the pull outs to take pictures. Tracy got several good pictures of deer and other wild life while I held on to the car for dear life. I did not want to fly off the mountain. Tracy still laughs at me about this, and for the life of me, I do not know why I have this irrational fear.
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| Comfort Station Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
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| Deer at Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
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| Deer at Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO |
We will be heading towards Utah next, but will visit the
Four Corners Monument and dip down into Arizona for a couple of days first.
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