I have to share this, our sister got her Christmas present assembled and some of her chicks are old enough to go in, what a cool coop!!!!

We stayed at Bluewater Lake from May 17-31.  From our side of the lake our camp site had a great view of the primitive camping areas on the opposite shoreline.

Love to all,  B&D

 ( Writing this from Bluewater Lake on May 30. )

On May 18, the day after setting up camp we went to Gallup to do laundry and look around. We stopped at the Red Rock Canyon State Park for a look-see. It was a cloudy day but I have to show some pictures anyway, wow!
We  then went to Grants and visited the Malpais National Monument Information Center and found that there are nine mapped out driving tours in the Grants-Gallup area. ( the map below gives an idea of the tours ).  Over the two weeks of camping at Bluewater we have taken all the tours.  Just awesome!

We have never seen a campground that had it's own
​US Post Office.

This is Churchrock at the trailhead.  You can see that many of the camp sites had horse stalls behind them.

These would be a lot prettier with a blue sky.

And driving home on I-40, this is what we encountered for about a five mile stretch.  At out camp it was dry.

This is definitely a park to come back to, beautiful scenery and lots of room  between sites and good internet!!!

On May 12 we took a day trip to Taos, NM and did the Enchanted Circle Drive passing through Quanta, Red River and Eagle Nest, with a side trip through Cimerron Canyon.

Our next move on May 10 was to Hyde Memorial State Park, north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where we stayed for seven nights. There are several campgrounds along US-475 that make up the state park. The small campground with electric sites was at 8300 ft elevation while other rustic camps continued up to the ski area at 10,350 ft elevation. And that elevation was at the bottom of the ski lifts. 

On May 8 we moved camp to Clayton, New Mexico just across the border from Texas off US 64.   We only stayed two nights but really, really want to come back to this camp.  Off the beaten path, without any phone or Internet service but really beautiful.

The first picture though was during our drive east.  Now that's what I call a dip in the road!

Clayton Lake State Park has a public viewing site of a Dinosaur Trackway.  It is very beneficial to stop first at the visitor center to watch the ten minute video of the history of the trackway.  Then you take the short quarter mile walk over the dam to see the tracks and enjoy the gorgeous views of the lake and campground.

On May 4, while staying at Lake Meredith, we did a day trip to Palo Duro Canyon south of Amarillo.  It is advertised as a smaller Grand Canyon and lives up to the name.

On May 3 we moved camp from Santa Rosa, New Mexico to Lake Meredith north of Amarillo, Texas in the Panhandle. Here are pictures of several of the campground around Lake Meredith.

On April 28 we went on the north Shoreline hike at Santa Rosa State Park.  Beautiful one and a quarter mile walk with tons of picture taking. 

While camping on April 26 at Santa Rosa State Park, we took a day trip to Roswell, NM and visited the Air Museum and the Roswell Museum and Art Center.  Great day.

We spent hours at the art museum, these are some of my favorite pieces.

( Writing this from Santa Fe, New Mexico on May 14.
                                       Happy Birthday tomorrow to Robynn!!! )

A day trip on the 24th of April took us up to Manzano Mountain State Park about fifteen miles outside of Albuquerque .  This was a campground that we would consider camp hosting in the summer when going north gets to be to much, very much our cup of tea.

This is the Dam control tower at Santa Rosa State Park.

Tucumcari is east of Santa Rosa, and both are on the Historical Route 66.   While camped at Santa Rosa State Park for two weeks we took several day trips to surrounding towns.   We did Tucumcari on April 22.  First are some pictures of some of the old signs on 66.

After cruising Main St. we toured the Mesaland Dinosaur Museum.  Many of their fossils are excavated from their field nearby.  Very good collection.

From the museum we went to Ute Lake State Park to eat our lunch and lucked upon the Chuck Wagon Cook-Off Event.  the cook-off was the next day but the day we were there was the wagon judging.  There were eight wagons at this event and all the owners were eager to share details of their  hobby.

Great day, hope to catch a Chuck Wagon Cook- Off again they are held all over the US.

On April 19, the campground site we found at Santa Rosa was just as nice.
​We really loved the library in Santa Rosa, the Historic Route 66 Highway had lots to look at and we found great Mexican restaurants in town.  
​The one drawback was the poor internet signal at camp which turned out to be a blessing since we got the chance to know the staff at the library in our two weeks stay. 

   To close out the day, we drove to Dog Canyon to look at the small campground there, not something for bigger RV's but a beautiful drive.

April 13, we left the Temperate Zone RV Park in Deming for Brantley State Park in Carlsbad, NM, taking US-375 to US-180.  
A lake view site with electric and water hook-ups was $14/night.  Our Annual pass covered $10/night  of the cost.  We stayed for six nights and stayed super busy the whole time.

At the shower building a Says Phoebe was nursing her young.

​On the 14th we spent the day at the New Mexico Living Desert and Zoo.  All the animals were rescue animals that live in the Chihuahuan Desert.

Ocotillo coming into bloom.

For the first half of April we got the rest of our possessions out of the Vineyard Storage in Deming. We went to a car show, saw the movie Zootopia (loved it), had Easter dinner with Vickie and James and the other campers at our park and enjoyed two Saturday night get-togethers at the club house. 

Fun times in the club house.  One Saturday, homemade salsa and guacamole for the taco dinner.  The next week Doug brought homemade tamales for everyone. Doesn't get any better than that.

I'm trying to get caught up to present day so the next couple blogs will be long.  Hope they aren't to hard to load. Let me know in comments at the end of the blog if you are having trouble.

Leib drove out to Deming from Michigan to help us install the solar on the Arctic Fox.  He arrived on the morning of the 11th and after his tent was up we went to the Deming Rock and Mineral Show. The next day we drove up through the Gila National Forest to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, over 8000 ft elev.

First the mounting station had to be re-worked for the new trailer.  On the left is the finished panels . The one at the front is stationary. The bigger one can be tilted 0-90 degrees. Each panel has it's own set of marine deep-cycle batteries and has different functions inside the trailer.

            On January 10 we picked up our Arctic Fox. 😀

Our dream home on wheels!!!

We stayed at Wild West RV in Maricopa for five weeks after picking up the trailer.  We spent a lot of time customizing the trailer to our needs with more work to do when we got back to Deming.  We did manage to go to do some sightseeing.

The Wertz Gourd Farm Festival was at the county fairgrounds in Casa Grande.   The American Indian Performance was excellent and the Gourd Art Competition was gorgeous.

We drove around the county, went to the New Mexico University Farm Tour, visited the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument and the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site and BLM Campground. 

Even spotted some wildlife.

January 19 we headed back to the Temperate Zone in Deming.  The day started out gloomy and then the beautiful sun came back

Most of December was spent at removing the solar system from the Aliner and putting the equipment into a storage unit in Deming.  Then detailing the Aliner in preparation for the trade-in on a new travel trailer.  We would buy the new trailer in Arizona and bring it back to the TZ in Deming to install the solar when the weather warmed.

The first half of December we were at the Temperate Zone RV Park, 15 miles north of Deming.  We had full hook-ups so we didn't need the solar.

The night temperatures in Deming were getting down into the 20's , so on December 19 we moved to Wild West RV Park in Maricopa, Arizona, ten degrees warmer day and night. Also, Mesa, AZ was close by and had dozens of RV Sales for us to find our new travel trailer.

One day trip that was especially memorable was the drive to Superstition Mountains and Roosevelt Lake, north east of Phoenix.  Here are several pictures from that day.

One of the winter campers at Wild West had a powered parasail. The weather was nice enough that he could ride most days.

At the end of December we located the trailer of our dreams and put down the deposit.  An Arctic Fox 25Y by Northwood.

​To close, here are some Christmas pictures and a very beautiful sunset near our campground.

Our winter camps were divided into two locations:  Deming, NM at the Temperate Zone (TZ) owned by Vickie and James  and  Maricopa, AZ at the Wild West RV Park.

Leib joined us at the TZ for a week at Thanksgiving on his way from San Francisco to Michigan.

One of the places we visited with Leib was City of Rocks State Park.  The bottom picture is one of the camp sites.

Our new truck, we picked up the day before Thanksgiving.

We hiked to the summit of Spring Canyon.  The little white specks in the first picture are the campgrounds at
​Rockhound State Park.

We had a great time with Leib having lunch in Palomas, Mexico.

The view of Cook's Peak at our camp site at the TZ.
​Night All,  B&D

After leaving Arizona we set up at the Temperate Zone RV Park
15 miles north of Deming.  We paid for three months rent and plan to stay an additional three months in order to establish New Mexico residency.  With our lease in hand we transferred our AAA insurance and then registered the truck here and applied for our New Mexico driver's licenses.  We spent the next two weeks doing all the fun stuff like changing addresses, health insurance, bank accounts, library cards, doctors and voter registrations. And learning where everything is in town.  

Besides Deming, the other town nearby is Silver City, 35 miles to the north.  Both have good shopping and lots of things to do. 

Entering Silver City from the south on US-180.

Between us and Silver City is the Chola Copper Mine that has been in continuous operation since 1909.   There is a viewing area on US-152 right off of US-180.

I took this before he flew off.

                                                                  Night all.     Love, B&D

On October 7, a month ago, the temperatures were in the high 90's.   So that seemed like a good day to hit an air-conditioned museum.  First we went to the visitor's center and picked up the directions for the walking tour through the historical section of Wickenburg, which ended at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum, both very worthwhile. 

It was a beautiful day and it was the best western museum we have been in this year.

Hope y'all enjoyed the pictures.
​Miss you,   B&D

On our third day in Wickenburg the rain stopped and we went to town to check out what was available. Close to us was a SafeWay Market and on the other side of town was a Bashas Market, both good stores.  We stopped at the visitors center and picked up information on museums , parks,and restaurants.  There were lots to pick from.  The afternoon was beautiful so we drove to the outskirts of town and stopped at the Hassayampa River Preserve. We explored the desert garden with nicely identified plants.  There were three hiking/walking loops but we had to come back another day since it was close to closing time.  

More of Wickenburg tomorrow.
                                                            Night all.       Love,  B&D

It was late in the day on October 3, when we arrived in Wickenburg, Arizona, after driving through three states in one day.  We had used our Benchmark Atlas to locate a possible BLM dispersed camping site near Wickenburg, taking US-93 to Vulture Mine Road, looking for Vulture Peak Road.  I directed us down the wrong road and ended up getting us lost; you would not believe the terrain we drove over!  By the time we found Vulture Peak Road it was getting dark.  Luckily we have set up camp so many times it wasn't hard to do in the dark.  We liked our new spot so much we stayed for ten days and we will definitely go back there in the future.

When we turned onto Vulture Peak Road there were two RV's camping right off the main road. We drove a mile and a half further in without seeing anyone else to find this gorgeous site.
The next day was very hot, then we had to days of rain.
The sky was so beautiful, watching the thunderheads rolling in, and we love the sound of thunder.

As the sun started to set the rain stopped and gave us a beautiful sunset.  

And of course the rain gave us breathtaking flowers.

There was so much to do in Wickenburg, we will share some of our adventures in the next blog.

Have a good night.   Love,  B&D