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And More Off-Road Adventures

19  Feb Thursday

The Honda was due for its initial maintenance check-up so I enlisted some help, got it loaded up on my new trailer, and headed for Las Cruces.

Things went perfectly, right up to about five miles from the park on the way home.   Jeep overheated.  GGGRRRRR.  A call to Good Sam's roadside assistance for a tow, two hours later I got home.  When I bought the Jeep, I bought a service contract, 48 months.  The dealership checked and repairs for the shot fan motor will be covered.  I think I have a deductible but better than paying the whole thing.


21 Feb Saturday

We were spoiled by last week's beautiful weather.  Now we have more typical NM spring:  WIND WIND WIND and it's chilly.  Nonetheless our fearless team ventures forth.

Local wisdom says that the snakes appear after the small lizards.  So much for local wisdom.  See photo below.

Captain Bill the great snake handler.

We pulled into a small box canyon to get out of the wind.  Bill and Winston (Bill is the human, Winston is the dog) wandered over close to the canyon wall.  And then the chilling sound of the rattlesnake.  Fortunately the snake was sluggish or Bill and Winston would both have gotten nailed.  Bill and Mike both carry a sidearm and, after a volley of shots, dispatched the snake.  Note to self:  it's time to keep both dogs on leashes.  I have been letting them roam around during stops on the off-road trips.  

Did you know there is a vaccine for rattlesnake venom?  I talked to the vet here in Deming (a K-State graduate) about it.  He said my dogs are so small that the vaccine probably wouldn't do them any good.

Days later:

Well, another cow got hit two nights ago on the road into the ranch.  After dark, the ranch road is pitch black if there isn't a full moon.  Another park resident slammed into a cow in the dark.  That's two in the past couple of months.  I hope the rancher who owns these cattle considers it an acceptable risk to graze his stock on BLM unfenced land.  Fortunately, no one was injured (except, of course, for the cow).

I am still waiting to get the Jeep back.  Parts arrived in Deming yesterday (Tuesday).  The dealership is supposed to call me today to give me an updated report.  I will have to find someone to give me a ride into Deming so I can pick up the Jeep...and buy groceries...and gas...  I am out of nearly everything since I was planning a supplies run for last Friday.

Update

Got the Jeep back yesterday (Friday).  I paid $136.16 of a $900+ repair bill.  The service contract almost paid for itself in one repair.  Now...my hot water heater in the Hitchhiker has quit working. Can I please have just one month when everything works?

More Off-Road Adventures

I think on an earlier page I talked about Fort Cummings and the two soldiers who were out on patrol. Indians attacked and one was killed instantly.  The other somehow managed to ride back to the fort (it's 8 miles and very rough country).   I am clueless as to the symbolism of the coins left on the grave marker.  Maybe someone at the park knows.

The weather has turned cloudy, windy, and chilly so rides are temporarily suspended.  I drove into Las Cruces yesterday to pick up the side mirrors and a cover for the Honda and also bought a trailer to haul it.  Next week it has to go into the Service Department for its initial maintenance work.

13 February
Another beautiful (if a bit windy and chilly) day here.  Today's destination was the top of Little Florida mountain (Little Floridas), where many, many communications towers are located (including the one which supplies the park's WiFi).  Since this area is not adjacent to the park, the rigs had to be loaded onto trailers/pickup beds.  (I was a passenger this day as I am not yet a good enough driver to try this trail.)

We wandered around on the trails at the base of the mountain, trying to find where the road UP was located.  At last we found it.  Not much at the top but these communication towers at multiple locations.

Deming in the distance.

The afternoon was getting short so we came back down, found our way back to the trucks/trailers and proceeded to load the rigs.  That's where things got interesting.

One of the ramps slipped as Gilbert was driving his 4-wheeler up to the truck bed.  Fortunately, he wasn't hurt and neither was the rig.  More adventure than I wanted for the day.

We went to Switchback yesterday but I forgot my camera.  I drove my Honda since it is a less challenging trail than the one at Little Florida.

Glorious Weather Leads to Desert Trips

5 February

We are in a stretch of near-perfect weather and groups are going out into the desert nearly every day. On this trip, my guide pointed out a rock wall atop a rise (going too fast to get photo).  He said that legend says the conquistadors built it as a quick fort against Indian attacks.  Possible but not probable.

One of the nice things about a lot of RVers is that their dogs go with them everywhere.  It's been really good for Lola, as her social skills left a lot to be desired.  The caravans take periodic breaks and the dogs all jump out for water and social hour.

There is a couple in the park now from South Dakota.  They have a large farm and winter is downtime for them so they go RVing.  Their dog is a 5-month-old English Springer Spaniel, Winston.

Bill and Winston

Winston

Winston may be the friendliest pup on the planet.  He doesn't seem to know a stranger and he tries to play with the little dogs.   The little dogs, on the other hand, are not eager to have Winston stomp them.

Mike, Lola, Bill, Winston, Wenda 

There is another state park on the opposite side of the valley from Hidden Valley Ranch.  I drove up there on Monday but the park gates were locked.  Only open Wednesday through Sunday.  I will try again on the correct day.  The photo below is taken from the entrance to the park.

The beautiful weather continued for a couple more days, so I got to go on two more excursions.

Gilbert

Indian's Bathtub

This must be beautiful when there is water cascading down the rocks.

Muppet wants to go home.

 You can't really tell from this photo but we are standing at the top of a mountain looking down into the valley.  Elevation must be 6000 feet or so.

Wenda and Gilbert

Gilbert believes in only the finest, high-end equipment.  Check out the gasoline can's stopper.

FINALLY

31 January

Got up this morning to bright sunshine.  It's been raining here for 2 1/2 days.  The interior roads at the park are okay but the ranch road is a swamp.  It's passable but...

. 

The RPOD was at Jimmy's RV Repair for some maintenance.  Somehow their voice mail messages telling me it was ready didn't get to me.  I called Friday (after the rain had made the road a mess) and the RPOD had been ready since Tuesday.  That's how it got mud-covered.  I had mud from knees down; had to put my jeans in the shower to get the worst of it off as I didn't want to put so much sand into the washers at the park.

Obviously the Jeep also was mud-covered on that trip.  I had park fever so I went into Las Cruces Saturday and then back across the same road.  The Jeep looks even worse now.   There is no point in going into town to the car wash as I would have to cross the same road to get back.  The road should dry out in a couple of days so I will hitch up the RPOD and Jeep and get them both clean again.

There were 65 people at the potluck supper Friday night, a new record.  It's almost the capacity of the room.  All 70 of the lease lots are occupied and there is a waiting list.  Shanon and Jolene's management is beginning to show.

While in Las Cruces Saturday, I stopped at Las Cruces Motorsports to look at a Honda 4x4.  Decided on the Pioneer 500.  See photo below.  

Two of the guys in the park took me out today in a small convoy to give me some experience with the rough roads.  When I get more confident, I will take the dogs with me.  That should be interesting. Most of the time people go out at least in twos so if there is a problem, someone can return for help.  There is also a ham radio network and the hardcore people all have transmitters to call for help if needed.

Weather is even more changeable than KS

During last week's blast of Arctic weather, one of my neighbors was shooting photos of the storm.  I walked into his shot with the two very cold dogs.

It seems strange to see snow on the cactus.

27 January

A perfectly glorious day here in the desert.  One of my neighbors swung by in a 4x4 

and gave me a ride.  See photos.  It was difficult to come inside as it started getting dark.  Made me think of all those summer days when we stayed out to play chalk rabbit or kick the can until Mom finally came out and got us.

Steve (left) and Mike

Muppet and Lola

Note the pink grenade in the lower right corner of the windshield.

January 28

Was invited to join a group going 4-wheeling.  What a fun trip!  I would not have believed that Larry's Geo Tracker could do the things he made it do.  

My limo - the white Geo Tracker

Several stops along the way.  This was the first one.

Spiral and diamonds - looks like New Grange in Ireland

Is this a pregnant coyote?

Grinding holes

More spirals

We went through Massacre Canyon and then on to Fort Cummings.  This is roughly the route of the Butterfield Stage through this territory.

Fort Cummings

More about Fort Cummings

The Butterfield Overland Stage Line stopped at the fort.

Source of water for the fort and the stage line.

The spring house.

Spring is still in use.

Remains of the US Cavalry's corral. Pipes brought water from the spring house.

Four troopers killed by Apaches.

 History of the Mormon Battalion

More interesting stuff from the desert

21 January 

Today it is a pleasant 9 degrees, with the wind chill.  Woke up at 2:30 am from the wind gently rocking my 7 ton RV.  By morning we had snow on the ground.  The photos below were taken two days ago on an outing of 4-wheelers here at the park.  It was in the low 70’s with bright sunshine, a perfect day to go roaming around in the desert, as long as you go with people who know where they are.    I understand a couple of people are working on getting maps of the trails but nothing is finished yet.

This is rough country.  Distances are deceiving.  What looks like a short hike away winds up being miles.  Once you lose sight of your landmarks, it's easy to be hopelessly lost.  A couple of years ago, a park visitor decided to go hiking and lost his way.  Fortunately, people knew he was overdue and set up a search party with the local sheriff’s office.  One of the HAM radio operators here at the park coordinated the search.  The hiker was found, somewhat the worse for wear.  You can’t be careless out here.  There is a very interesting book on this subject called Journal of the Dead by Jason Kersten.  True story, two young guys from back East decided to hike in the New Mexico desert. 

And now, back to the 4-wheel adventure:

First stop

Muppet, Lola and Mike's black dog Indy.

I made an offer on a 4-wheeler that one of the park residents was selling but he didn't like my $.  So I am doing the homework to see about buying one to have transportation beyond the distance I can hike with Lola and Muppet.  (They got to go on the excursion Tuesday and are still noncommittal on whether they would like to go again.)

More photos:

Ore-loading chute at the abandoned fluorite mine.

This place is called The Hole.  

This area was very active during WWII.  Fluorite was a key component in a lot of war-related equipment and there were mines all over this area going full blast.  No active mines in the area any more.  The area we could see from the mine entrance was once a bombing range.  One of the guys said they practiced with concrete dummy bombs.

Fluorite

Several days later I was out with the dogs early (after sun-up but not much).  In the distance I could hear our local coyote pack barking and howling.  Surprised me, as it was the first time I had heard them during daylight.