Rainy Night in NM

Drops of rain on windshield
Downtown El Paso

 Saturday, January 31st, we drove and drove, across Interstate 10, up and over the Davis Mountains in southwestern Texas,  after spending a rainy night at Davis Mountain State Park near Fort Davis, Texas. We drove through shrubby desert no-man's," Loose Livestock" - type land with a few buttes here and there.
 We finally got off the interstate at Ft. Hancock, southeast of El Paso. We needed gas. Ft. Hancock is a tiny border town with some irrigated flatlands surrounding it. Michael noticed that old Hwy. 20 parallels Interstate 10 from that point into El Paso. So we took it all the way.  We drove a flat road past groves of pecan trees and newly planted fields. And that is how it came to be that the Pickle did downtown El Paso, stoplight by stoplight, through the southeastern new outskirts of El Paso, through an old section of the city (so many auto dealers -- it makes the mind reel!!) right through downtown, stoplights, go lights, checking my phone's map, crossing the New Mexico line, out of town south and west, and finally to Hwy. 9.
  Hwy. 9 runs east-west and hugs the Mexican border. We drove it some 50 miles to the little town of Columbus, NM,  home of Pancho Villa State Park.

 By now we had a rainy day on our hands. It continued to rain throughout the night. Our experience with New Mexican state parks, at least in the southern half of the state, is that they have little natural splendor going for them to begin with. A scrubby rocky campground in the rain is even less of a thing of beauty. So we weren't sad to pick up in the morning to head west into Arizona, hopefully to some sunshine.
                        History Lesson
 We couldn't leave the park, though, without visiting the Visitor's Center. It tells the story of Pancho Villa's raid on the little town of Columbus on March 9, 1916. The raid lasted just a few hours in the early morning before the U.S. 13th Cavalry stationed there used machine guns and rifles to catch Villa's men in a crossfire and turn them back to the south. Death toll: 70-75 raiders, 10 American civilians, and 8 U.S. soldiers. President Wilson then ordered General Pershing with 1000 cavalry troops to the area. They set up camp at Columbus and pushed into Mexico in a hunt for Pancho Villa. Pershing at this time chose to use transport trucks instead of mules to carry supplies into Mexico. He himself rode in the backseat of a Dodge Brothers car. It was the beginning of the end of the U.S. Cavalry.( I couldn't help but think about my dad who was stationed with the Cavalry - the last of the Cavalry - in Arizona- before he was sent with the infantry to Europe at the beginning of the U.S. involvement in WWII.)
    

Big Bend

Ahh, that big bend in the Rio Grande River where the river's pearl-ized sea green water wraps itself around the southwestern "bump" of Texas. Lyndon Johnson helped make this area a national park in 1964. No wonder. The Chisos Mountains tower over the heart of the park. Prickly pear, yucca, ocotillo, and sotol  plants fill in the desert landscape down to the river.
 We stayed three nights in Big Bend - two nights in Rio Grande Village campground on the east side of the park and then a third night at Cottonwood Campground on the southwest side.
 Driving to our first campground we spotted a small flock (herd?) of mountain goats resting on an upper canyon ledge. A couple of young ones cavorted from rock to rock. The watchman-big guy standing at attention alerted us to their all but camouflaged presence.


 Heading off from the campground is a Nature Trail that winds over a backed up pond area that's part of a stream running to the Rio. We were greeted by a great blue heron. We watched it high stepping- it slowly through the water, then fly off in front of us. Later on it sat at the very top of a tree near the pond. The trail continues either down to the river or up a rocky hill to an overlook and a great view of the whole area. From the top,
you see the campground on one side and the river and the little town of Boquillas on the other side. BTW there are a few enterprising neighbors from that town who keep a display of beaded items - ocotillo cacti, road runners, peacocks along with painted walking sticks - on the trail where it divides. A donation jar sits there, too.

 



The Honda Dream lives!! It passed its first 2-person transport to Boquillas Canyon about 6 miles from the campground. That included a pretty good short but steep incline and a few twists and turns. We then walked and climbed down (and back up) a mile to view the narrow entrance to the canyon with its majestic walls and the peaceful Rio Grande

meandering through. Another neighbor serenaded us from the other side of the water. The river is narrow there. A donation jar sat in the middle of the trail. It was HOT in the canyon at mid afternoon. Michael found a little shade under a mesquite tree at river's edge. We watch a black phoebe and a Says phoebe darting for insects. A couple of snapping turtles sunned themselves on nearby rocks.

Seminole Canyon

 This was a new stop for us in southern Texas. The Seminole Canyon campground sits out in the Sonoran desert 40 miles west of Del Rio, a large city where we stocked up on groceries.
Our first morning at the campsite we toured the adjacent cliff dwelling remains with Guide Jack and 7 other adults (plus 3 kids who were all coughing and sneezing, but still cute.) We climbed up into two cliff overhangs that were used 4000 or more years ago by early Pecos River inhabitants. The paintings at least date to 4000 years ago. A somewhat common pictograph found in these caves as well as others along the Pecos River Valley is an image of what is believed to be the Deer God. Deer was, of course, the main source of protein for these indigenous people so was very important,

but also, the bumps on the ends of his antlers are thought to represent peyote buttons. The Deer God legend has him bringing peyote to the first people of the earth.

When I stepped out of the Pickle our second morning there I was greeted by three deer standing close by and then I looked up to see to see an absolutely glorious sunrise. No peyote connection here, but I couldn't help but feel some leftover ancient vibe hovering.


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  We also hiked about 3 miles along the rim of the canyon and the Presa Overlook Trail. It was mid afternoon and WARM! Shirtsleeves!

The Pickle Revisited -- South by Southwest -- 2015

 All was still except for the semis traversing the stark farm scape along Hwy. 24 south of Toledo. Semis..... and one green and white 1977 GMC motor coach headed SW to Indianapolis, to St. Louis and beyond, seeking a temperature change -- above 10 degrees would be nice.

Wednesday, January 14, in 4 degrees, Michael and I left Ypsilanti, MI. Nina had commandeered her front perch under my feet.

We are not towing the old Volvo this time around. Instead Michael strapped Uncle Bob's 1965 Honda Dream motorcycle to the Pickle's backend and we plan to use that when we need to get away from a campsite without the RV.

  Flat Ohio was a frozen wonderland that morning with 5 or 6 inches of new snow. Filtered sunshine low in the sky illuminated the groves of ice encased trees that dotted the landscape.
We finally lost the snow. Indianapolis had a slight dusting of white and south of that -----none.

 Wednesday night found us at a rest stop west of St. Louis on Hwy. 44, warmed by our furnace, lulled to sleep by the diesel murmur of 20 or so nearby parked semis. Thursday afternoon and night we spent a delightful time with my brother and sister-in-law, Paul and Vivian in Springfield MO. Hearing about their daughter's family's recent 2-week excursion to Morocco over one of Vivian's fine dinners was a highlight.

                                                                 Nina's Tale
                   Thursday morning in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant, Nina chased a ball. Nothing unusual there, except this time she must have run into the curb with her mouth. Neither Michael nor I actually saw it happen - just that Nina came back to Michael with a bloody mouth. One of her lower canines was chipped and cracked. As the day went on, she seemed fine. There was no change in her ball-catching, stick-retrieving obsession. However, everything we read on line pointed to the need to tend to the splintered tooth to prevent the risk of infection.
   Once we got to Ft. Worth, TX, we located an animal dentistry hospital and made an appt. for Nina to have oral surgery. That occurred two days ago, on the 20th. The vet was able to save some of the tooth with the equivalent of a root canal and some extra bone grafting below the gum line. I think she'll be fine and she now sports a canine that has the value of a small gemstone!!!
  

The Pickle visits Ft. Worth

                    Our extra time in Fort Worth was more than comfortable due to the graciousness of Michael's sister Sharon and her husband Gary. Four beautifully sunny days in the high 60s helped, too.

Gary & Michael bike the neighborhood.

A few last pictures

Terlingua, Texas

View from the porch, Terlingua

Evening walk near BJ's



Sunset near BJs Campground

The Volvo does Old Maverick Rd.



Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend

Texas Bluebonnets

Santa Elena

               A few images of Texas
We camped at an RV Park near Terlingua, Texas, and toured Big Bend National Park in the Volvo.
On our way back to MI, we visited Michael's sister and family in Ft. Worth.



Michael's sister Sharon & Gary

                                Sharon's son Ian, Amy&Emma

Home!

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Grandma, Lillian & Bro

 As our daughter Ellen said in a recent Facebook post, "Well, that was different!" She was referring to the unbelievable difference between this (her second) birthing process and her first experience with baby-having 2 and 1/2 years ago. Five weeks earlier than planned, and a labor that barely gave her enough time to get to a hospital room made Little Bobby's appearance seem slightly surreal. But real he is, weighing in at 6 lbs. 1 oz, born early Saturday morning, March 8th, at 12:15 am.


Robert James Fox III

      Because of that very surprising phone call, our trip did a drastic about face. We were camped at BJ's RV Park near Terlingua, Texas, and were planning to spend a week there. We had toured the east side of nearby Big Bend National Park in the Volvo, traversing gravelly washboardy Old Maverick Road to reach beautiful Santa Elena Canyon on the Rio Grande, an impossibility for the Pickle (we're talking washboardy to the nth degree.) Another day we drove west in the Gherkin along the Rio Grande to the town of Presidio where we ate lunch at El Patio. And we spent some time exploring the unique area of Terlingua with its Starlight Theater and High Sierra Hotel.

    Seeing the east side of Big Bend Park will have to wait until another year because on our 4th day at BJs we packed up and started off on the 1700 mile trek back to Michigan.
    Our first night out we stayed at Michael's sister's in Fort Worth. The next day (Sunday) after brunch and a radiator fan repair (thank you, Gary, for the parts!) we left Ft. Worth and travelled to the Welcome Center on the west side of Missouri. There we got a few hours of sleep. Next stop was my brother's in Springfield, MO, just to say Hi and see their digs. That day we drove until we reached a rest stop near Marion, Indiana. The next morning it was a 2 and 1/2 hour drive to Ann Arbor, where our 3-day old grandson was waiting with his 2-year old sister, Lillian, and his proud parents.
   Yesterday we drove home to northern MI, still a hard and crusty, snowy expanse of whiteness, and a 0 degree temp this morning.
    End of a saga? Yes, for now.  We're happy to know we shared in Little Bobby's first few days. Fond memories of the sunny southwest desert will get us through the rest of this record breaking winter which we almost avoided.

Aguirre Spring

 

Windy! That’s probably the most used descriptor for Aguirre Spring National Rec Area; that is, besides breathtaking, beautiful and inspiring. Aguirre Spring Campground is tucked under a section of the Organ Mountains just a few miles east of Las Cruces, NM. at the end of a narrow, paved 6-mile ascent.  The last mile and a half or so is a one way loop and really gets into twisting and turning. At the start of the loop, we unhitched the Volvo and Michael led us to the campground in the Pickle while I followed in the Gherkin. (The fact that I only had to use two gears commandeering those hairpins helped.) The area gets its windy designation because to the east lies the White Sands Missile Testing Range - fifty miles of stretched out empty flatness. The wind picks up as the day warms. We were glad we visited White Sands National Monument in the morning, because when we drove past it again in the afternoon on our way back to the campground from Alamagordo, the Monument area off to our right was a cloud of white sand. The campground host who lives at the base of the campground year round, told us that one day last fall the wind there was measured at 120 mph.

Wind or not, it was great to wake up for 3 mornings to those rugged mountains towering over us with the early morning sun casting an orange pink glow to their craggy faces.

What? No sticks?

White Sands is surreal in its uniqueness. The only other place I’ve seen such mounds of whiteness is in Michigan – only THAT was snow!!! 

Another day at Aguirre Spring we hiked the Pine Tree Trail, a 4 ½ mile loop with an elevation change of 1100 feet.  It’s a rocky, stair-stepping kind of trail and the higher we climbed, the more I couldn’t look down, but it was a beautiful morning – sunny and not overly warm – and our hike gave us fantastic views of the Missile Range and Alamagordo Air Force Base, as well as up-close looks at the Organ Mountain peaks.