Downtown Boondocking

Would you believe the Clarks are boondocked on a Moab, UT city street for the night??  I really can’t believe it either!  At the end of this dead end street there is a walking path that goes for miles all over the town so it really isn’t so bad.  The spot we had picked for boondocking was about 1/2 mile of dirt road and it rained and snowed here this morning.  As we are leaving in the morning we made the decision to not get the rig filthy. 

We left Cortez, CO right around 9am with a very nasty, cool west wind blowing us sideways.  Almost to Moab we hit rain and snow—see, I knew it was too early to go home!

Once we got settled into our spot we drove out to Arches National Park—I am starting to see why fulltimers don’t sightsee all the time—you just get brain overload and really don’t want to go look at another scenic or historic place.  That’s the way I was about Arches and I know it is a beautiful place but today I just wasn’t in the mood plus we had Emmi with us.  As with all national parks Arches has the stupid rule that dogs cannot be with you on the trails and I’m not leaving her in the jeep for any length of time.  So, no hiking for us, all the formations were viewed from the jeep or overlooks—still it was beautiful and I got some great photos.

We are heading north toward home—probably not too smart but off we go.

Mesa Verde National Park

I’m just gonna let the photos tell the story tonight, words cannot describe the awe one feels when seeing Spruce Tree House or Cliff Palace for the first time.  Ranchers looking for lost cows first discovered these ruins and as early as 1913, people were making the arduous trek by wagon and foot to view the ruins.  It is mind boggling what these early Indians accomplished under the overhangs of the sandstone cliffs.  Most of the dwellings face south to gain warmth from the sun and are sheltered under the overhanging cliffs. 

This time of year there are no guided ranger tours and many of the park facilities are closed.  Tours don’t start until mid April but we didn’t feel as if we missed out on anything—we watched a short movie in the museum about the ruins and at Spruce Tree House which you can visit on foot, there was a ranger to answer questions. 

Views forever from the 8600 foot highest point in the park.  You can see four states from this point.

First view of Spruce Tree House from the upper portion of the trail.

 

This is Square Tower House, at 26 feet, the tallest structure in the park.

 

And this is the largest of them all, 150 rooms at Cliff Palace.  Rangers lead tours of this dwelling starting later in the season.

   

We are so glad we took the time to come here.  National Geographic Traveler named Mesa Verde as one of the fifty “must-see” places of a lifetime and we agree!

On To Mesa Verde

After much discussion we decided to head over to Cortez, CO for a visit to Mesa Verde, Colorado.  Friends Angie and Ralph came here several years ago and had a wonderful time.  So we said goodbye to Gooseneck State Park this morning and arrived in Cortez just after lunch. 

We are bounced and jostled to death.  Someone forgot to tell Colorado there was lots of free President Obama money available for fixing roads!  The roads were terrible, dips and bumps, I swear sometimes we were airborne.  The roads in Mexico were better than Highway 41 and 160—and to give Colorado a break, the roads in Utah around Bluff were no better!

  When we traveled in Mexico everyone told us not to drive at night as the Mexicans allow their animals to free graze along the roads and the possibility of hitting a horse or cow was great!  Saw these sheep along the road and thought we were in Mexico for real.  Through the Navajo Indian reservation there were horses and sheep grazing along the road—dangerous! 

Scene leaving the Bluff, UT area this morning.

On the drive out to Gooseneck State Park we noticed the damaged guardrail at this spot and today got a shot of it and the probable reason for the damage Hope no one was driving by when that huge pile of rocks broke away from overhead!

The view of Mesa Verde from our front windshield this afternoon.  We are parked in a RV park again A & A Mesa Verde RV Park—not by choice, many of the state parks, USFS campgrounds and boondocking locations around here this time of year are inaccessible due to snow and mud.  So, we will stay here for a couple of days.

When I tried to purchase tickets for the ranger led tour of Cliff House in Mesa Verde National Park I was told we were too early in the season, not doing tours yet.  But the plus to that I was told is that the crowds will be much fewer!  We can handle that!

Valley Of The Gods

Our drive today took us through the Valley of the Gods on a gravel road through some fabulous boondocking country!  The rock formations in Valley of the Gods have whimsical names such as Sitting Hen and Seven Sailors.

  Seven Sailors, does that look like any sailors you ever knew Rollie??

Sitting Hen, use your imagination!

The entire drive was filled with “oh’s” and “ah’s” and sighs—a spectacular 16 mile drive.

  Monument Valley off in the distance, a later in the week trip.

The RV park in Bluff, Cadillac Ranch, is a clean, nice little park but just not our cup of tea and Michael spent a couple hours last night looking for a different spot.  Our friend Mike McFall made a comment on last night’s blog, “to0 Bad you didn't get over to Gooseneck Park.”  Well, Mike, are there any other beautiful spots you want to tell us not to miss cause this is one great spot!

Michael came out to Gooseneck State Park this morning, about 20 miles from Bluff while I bathed Emmi and did a load of laundry in that washer that I swore I would never use JoAnn and Doug!!  When he got back we dumped tanks and headed out.  Michael had told me it was awe inspiring but I wasn’t prepared for the beauty—even the drive out here was awesome.

So, tonight we are parked on the edge of a shear cliff dropping 1200 feet to the San Juan River.  There are five “goosenecks” visible here where the river makes a very sharp turn—words just aren’t good enough to describe it!  The wind has been blowing a little making us wonder if we should have parked a little bit farther back from the edge :))).  When I take Emmi out in the dark I better have my bearings or I could be in a world of hurt!  We’ve kept a close eye on her, too! 

We have three other neighbors here and there is plenty of room.  We will see what the weekend brings.

WAY down below us some rafters had stopped for a break.  The red circle is our motorhome taken from about a mile away—see, we are way up on the side of that cliff!

The little community of Mexican Hat is nearby and this is the Mexican Hat. Doesn’t look like it would take much to dislodge the hat!

It has been such a great day and we are excited to be here in this area surrounded by so much beauty.

What A Day

After a good night’s sleep in our sleepy little campground we drove into the Petrified Forest National Park about 8am stopping at several overlooks and trails before continuing on to the Painted Desert.  Here is a description of how these logs became petrified:

The colors in some of the wood were beautiful Then there was the Painted Desert—

But, the best was yet to come.  We drove by Canyon de Chelly several years ago, drove through the Cottonwood Campground and Michael claims I said, “I’m not staying here.”  So, we also didn’t see the Canyon either—I think I was just not into rustic camping at that time—maybe I was a pavement princess!  Boy, did I ever miss out by not seeing the Canyon!!!

Canyon de Chelly is a spiritual place which brought tears to my eyes—Spider Rock was just breathtaking, there is no other word, breathtaking.

There is a slit in the canyon wall in the above photo about centered—that is where White House Ruin sits.

   And other dwellings beneath ledges on the side of cliffs.

   These rock formations were along 191 as we left Canyon de Chelly driving across the Indian reservation to Bluff, Utah.

What an incredible day, words can’t describe the grandeur we saw today, it was a perfect day!  I have a ton of photographs but there are only so many you can put in a blog.

Tonight we are parked in a RV park—can you believe it?  Not sure we are staying another night, we may go to the BLM campground nearby.  The park wi-fi is excellent and our Verizon signal is non-existent!!

So, with that said, future blogs may be sporadic if we move and if you are trying to reach me by phone, it ain’t happening while we are in Bluff, UT!!  We did have another excellent meal out—San Juan River Kitchen, Mexican food and really good!

Goodbye Elfrida Hello Petrified Forest NP

Michael had everything outside finished last night except pulling in the extension cord.  I had all ready put away items I normally store when moving such as photos in frames, etc.  So, it was an easy morning for getting on the road.  I fed the birds one last time then Emmi and I  took off walking up the road, Michael pulled out of the Lazy W just after 7:30am picking Emmi and I up about a mile later. 

Many years ago we decided to go home to Montana in the spring via highway 191 which would take you all the way to Big Timber—in most places it is a nice two lane road except outside the town of Safford.  That one time we decided to go up 191 from Safford we came to a sign that said road not recommended for rigs over 40 feet.  At that time we had a truck and 5th wheel making us about 50 feet long.  The Morenci Mine is located just outside Safford and I can remember miners having their coffee breaks giving us incredulous looks as we blissfully and ignorantly went on our way.

What the sign didn’t say is that the road is incredibly steep with multiple switchbacks, I think I remember it taking us hours and hours and hours to drive 81 miles!!!! 

Today we chose a different route after consulting with our friends Jim and Linda who used to travel all over the country in a truck and 5th wheel.  Out of Safford we headed up 191 to Guthrie then took 78 over into New Mexico.  Same kind of sign—Road Not Recommended For Rigs Over 40 Feet—we are now 65 feet long—but we knew someone who had been over this road and off we went.  The road was fairly steep in places with very tight switchbacks—it was a good thing the road wasn’t busy cause our rear end was coming around to meet the front on some of those switchbacks!  It only took us 45 minutes to go the 20 miles of this part of the road—much better!  The almost 300 miles we drove today was through gorgeous country—strange rock formations, high mountains, lakes, tall pine trees and even a snow drift or two.

Tonight we are parked just outside the south gate to the Petrified Forest National Park—there is a museum/store which has RV parking, free if you don’t use electric, $10/night if you do.   Gina, just look at all that petrified wood with crystallized quartz, jasper and chalcedony in the wood.  The colors of some are just gorgeous.

Tomorrow we will drive through the Petrified Forest on our way to Bluff, Utah where we will spend several days doing day trips to Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park, Canyonlands National Park, etc.  I’m excited—we get to sightsee this year instead of blazing on home!!

Well Now!!

Such a quiet little neighborhood we have been staying in for the past two weeks—off on our walk we went this morning and imagine our surprise when we noticed one of our neighbors out with a water hose watering some shrubs—this is the good part—stark naked!!!  And he had been doing the naked thing a lot, he was as brown as the background on this blog page.  Well, now!!!!

Today was our last day here in this little piece of paradise.  Stopped in to say our goodbyes to Jeanie and Ray—what awesome new friends we have made.  We had some business to attend to over in Bisbee and arrived there in time to sample one of  The Bayfield Bunch’s favorite restaurants—The Bisbee Breakfast Club.

We’ve been to Bisbee many times and had never stopped to eat there—Michael had a veggie burger that Al recommended so highly (and Al, if you believe that I have some ocean front property to sell you in Elfrida) and I had huevos rancheros—the best I have ever eaten!  Really Michael had an omelet with the biscuit the waitress promised us was to die for and she was absolutely right!!  Both of us remarked that it was the best meal we have eaten out in years! 

My favorite cowboy who is feeling much better the last couple of days!

Our business accomplished we stopped at the Safeway that Al and Kelly frequently praised and they were right about that, too.  I got some of those individual watermelons on sale and oh, my are they ever good!

Back home to rescue Miss Emmi from being home alone and then we began to pack up as we are pulling out of here tomorrow.