New Mexico, new adventures

After Silver City we drove to Gila (as in monster) and visited a very interesting friend of a friend, a former nurse who grows and processes herbs and makes botanicals such as ointments, salves, and teas. She had quanset hut-type greenhouses, a straw bale drying shed, an irrigation canal, and lots and lots of plants. I was surprised to learn that the last frost could be as late as May 15 and the first frost in early October. She was at something like 7000f feet. We then beat feet (or is that beet feet?) to Alamagordo then on to Weed. Our Anchorage friends are classic snowbirds and have built a beautiful, relatively simple, elegant, small house in ranching country. We had a wonderful time learning about the area, meeting their friends, soaking in the high desert, and visiting. After they bought their property they had soil conservation and forestry people come by to offer advice; the clear message was to cut down 80% of the trees! By thinning out most of the junipers and pines, the ones that remain have a chance to thrive. And the grasses have a chance to grow. I guess that took about 3 years and their land is much more open than the adjacent unmanaged Forest Service land. Next step: bring on the cattle. Our friends let their neighbor graze cattle on the land and the cattle break up the soil, poop, and nibble the grass; all of which are good! We visited the cattle ranch and saw the one-day old calf... And we saw that cute little guy get kicked in the head when he tried to nurse from the wrong cow! While we were focused on that drama Nancy THOUGHT a bug landed on the back of her knee, so she swatted it. Turns out it was actually another calf that was checking out Nancy and the swat caused another bovine comotion! It's not all pastoral tranquility in the farmyard! After a couple of days we headed north, camped in Las Vegas, NM, then continued to Denver. We have visited with old rugby friends of nancy, walked through the quaint downtown of Golden, and took an awesome bike ride through the extensive bike trails of the greater Denver area. Tomorrowowe head to Fort Collins. Happy trails!

A Forgotten Thought

We've stopped for cats sitting in the road, carribou on the loose, slowed down for free range cattle, been on the lookout for deer, but stopping for pigs was a first. As we were on our way to Silver City a mamma and her 3 pigglets scurried across the road without caution. Thank goodness they safely make it across the road and not ended up in someon's frying pan!

High Dessert Potentials or Not

Our drive through east central AZ was an unexpected bonus, even the nonscenic routes were incredibly scenic, plus we have a new area to add to our potential 2nd residency - Show Low, lakeside & Pinetop AZ. We chose that route because i once looked at VA job opening. High dessert, pines, junipers, LOTs of lakes for kayaking and a very friendly bike shop and visitor center. Mountain and road biking options were numerous. We were headed toward Silver City NM, it was touted as a grt small city, artsy, mountain and rode biking potential and hot sunny weather. What more could a retiree ask for. Well on first blush, it was not!!! We arrived at dinner time, the scenery was scrubby, with some dessert bushes and tree, kind looked runned down and too much traffic. We navigated to an RV park close to the down town area and rented a cabin for 2 nights. Nothing to get excited about, but clean and met our needs. The next morning we drove toward out of town for an oil change and the underimpression did not improve, BUT after lunch we walked the 5 blocks to downtown and visited the bike shop, then the yarn shop and then moseed around the downtown visiting and talking to shop and gallery owners, as well as a few locals who recognized us as visitiors. The general theme, Silver City has a real sense of community, living in the downtown or close University seems to be the desirable location, active or people with stimulated minds are drawn here and it is very artsy with numerous galleries. Aestetically it still underwhelmes me, but there is something catchy here. Today off to Gilia, which is up the road to visit woman who makes her own botanicals and then we drive to Weed,AZ to visit a friend.

Basin and Range and beyond

...or, it's a long way from Winnemucca... Nevada was grand, but not as warm as we had hoped. We headed south along a flat basin and then east over a series of mountain ranges that were separated by the intervening basins. Route 50, the so-called loneliest highway, is an established, if demanding, bicycle route. There are long stretches between water. We are really enjoying driving along and thinking what it would be like if we were biking the same route. I think route 50 would be more fun if someone was carrying our camping gear! We re-supplied in Ely, NV, and stopped for the night in a state park. There was a lake with lots of ducks and some families fishing from shore. We took a hike before dinner. Beautiful campsite but when the sun went down it was cold. In the morning we packed up and moved on to Great Basin National Park and had breakfast in the sun when things warmed up. But the problem was...things never really warmed up enough! It could be said that Ididn't do my homework, but, as i like to say, if you know how it's going to turn out, it's not really an adventure! GBNP was almost empty. Its claims to fame are Lehman Cave and a 13,000 foot mountain, neither of which exude warmth! We did a cave tour and it was very interesting, almost fabulous, in a stalagtite and stalagmite kind of way. Later at our campsite we saw a couple of turkeys. We were at 7,500 feet so it was another cold night. Next stop, Capitol Reef National Park. We finally hit the jackpot! The place was amazing. There is a huge up-lifted, well, cliff. Think one half of the grand canyon. And it was warm. We biked the 20-mile scenic drive, hiked in the early morning, saw deer in the pastures with the hourses, and met some folks who had just met and spent a few days with our neighbors who were in Zion NP. Did i mention it was warm? No cell phone coverage but the place was fabulous. Funny thing, these parks seem to be populated with recently retired people!!! After a couple of days we drove down to Lake Powell (glen canyon). The scenery just knocked our socks off! Especially in the morning light. We camped at Bullfrog Basin last night, in fact we slept in the Honda, which was great. We could watch the (almost) new moon set out the back window. And it was warm. This morning we went for a bike ride then we packed up and took a ferry across the lake. Utah surprised and impressed us! We had been to Arches and Zion and the Grand Canyon on previous trips but there is so much to see...I guess we will have to come back! Whizzing through Arizona and on our way to NM!

Idiot Wind

Just a quick note about an episode a couple of days ago... We drove about an hour across rolling hills of high scrublands, dark skies, light rain, and random basalt outcropings. It was sureal and playing in my head was Bob Dylan...Idiot wind, blowing like a circle around my skull, from the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol... And then we visited the dam and it was grand! Tonight we are in a budget motel in Winnemucca, NV. Basin and range country.

High Dessert Cruising

We've made it to Nevada. Since our last post we have woken up to rain, driven through gray skies and stayed in a cozy cabin in the moutains in north eastern Oregon. It seemed a great comprise to camping in the snow, rain and cold. We drove out of Oregon today, over several mountain passes and the awesome high dessert region of Eastern Oregon and northern Nevada. The scenery was stunning with rolling hills, geological outcroppings and mountains in the distance. It wasn't designated as a scenic byway, but it was in our eyes. I love having the opportnity to see so many small towns and communities. Tomorrow we head south and then east to spend a few days at the Great Basin National Park in Baker NV. It is very close to the Utah border. We're looking forward to staying put for a couple of days and doing some hiking and biking and waking up in our tent in warm, sunny weather!

The best of in-tent shuns

Well I'm sitting in the dark, in the tent, and NF is wrestling with her sleeping bag & pad...but she took a time out to help me navigate to the blog editor. Sound trivial? HA...it was not! Today (Sun 4/15)we crossed back into the US at some place that sounds like Orville...in Washington. It's in the Okanoggin Valley (thats not the real name but the map is in the car). There were wall to wall vineyards and orchards, all pretty naked still but an impressive expanse of agriculture! We tootled south for a while then set off to explore the Methow Valley. That was an interesting mix of outdoor rec tourists and, again, agriculture. Some friends are thinking of getting a place there but I would consider it a nice place to visit. We are not too far from the Grand Colee Dam, so we found a State Park and are camping here for the night. actually we are right next to the Chief Joseph dam. When i was but a wee lad i had a collection of Indian pictures from cereal boxes and chief joseph was one of them. Perhaps tomorrow i'll find out more about him. We had a super supper tonight, cooked on our little stove and now it's great to be in our little tent! Till nest time, C

Cassiar highway

The Cassiar Highway rocks! First time i have driven it - what an adventure it is with its twists & turns, stomach dropping hills, lack of shoulders & steep drops. You never knew what was around the next bend! The remoteness and awesome scenery made it such an interesting drive. Yesterday we took a detour from our route and drove to Stewart BC & Hyder AK. The first time down the road to Stewart was quite anxiety producing with its narrowness, curves, avalanche warnings every several miles, remments of big slides, fog and lots of snow on the sides. Stewart is a coastal town, misty and rainy, 36 miles from the main road. Reminded us both of Valdez with all their snow (make anchorages snowfall seem small) and Seward but smaller without the fishing. It is an old town with many buildings still standing from the 1800s. We stayed in this grt Inn with an incredible view of the estuary from our room and a sitting room with an even larger view with a gas fireplace to warm it up. Sipping champgne in the sitting room felt very decadent. We took a bike ride in the mist to stretch our legs and see the town, afterwards we took advantage of their dry sauna to vwarm up. All in all we felt like we were on a plush vacation - doesn't take a lot for us to feel that way!!!! Hyder is just 2 miles down the road from Stewart. Now Hyder on the other hand to be perfectly blunt was a dump. Stewart's roads were paved, but as soon as u cross the boarder, muddy with giant potholes. The houses looked like they were falling apart and pieced together. Not sure what Keeps hyder going, it felt like being on the other side of the tracks. Today we made it to Prince George; as the drive progressed i realized we were leaving the long stretches between communities and sparse cars on the roadway and are now back in the mainstream - cars passing and driving through communities every 30-40 miles. I will miss the peacefulness of having the road to ourselves, but every mile we are nearer to warmer temperatures and getting away from the snow!!! If u see any misspelling or puncuation errors plz feel free to correct in your head, we want to have fun writing and not worrying about the small things!

Day Three

Another amazing day on the road! Spring is coming to the Yukon Territory but the vestiges of winter are hanging on. At times we were driving east through a valley and on our left the mountains were bare while on our right the north-facing mountainsides were still buried in snow. We started the day in Haines Junction on a segment of the Alcan that we last drove in 1991. Most of the old steel truss riveted bridges have been replaced by pier supported concrete structures. The Alaska-Canadian highway (Alcan) was hastily constructed in 1943 & 1944 and they have been improving it ever since. Toward the end of the day we turned on to the Cassiar highway...sort of an alternate, more rustic, somewhat shorter route. We are comfortably slipping into road trip mode; motel tonight in Dease Lake, British Columbia. The tent wil wait for warmer weather!

The start

Our adventure started a bit later than planned, with one false start(we realized we didn't have the camera at the end of our road). We were on our way, midnite Easter. We missed Easter dinner but had it for breakfast at at our good friends Mercy & Elliott's house where we spent the night. Monday involved last minute errands and we were off by noon. We made it to Tok for dinner at Kathy and Dave's place (Chris' prior boss). Tuesday involved visiting with Tok buddies, destudding the tires, and on the road. We are overnighting in Haines Junction, Yukon with an awesome view of the mountains. It still feels like winter so we are not in our tent yet!!!!