The Wandering RVer

The Florida Mountains

We knew we were going to be in Tucson in less than a week, so we had the “special bolts” shipped general delivery to a post office there. 4 wheeling would have to wait. We heard about a dirt road around the Florida Mountains and thought, well, if it gets too bad, we can always turn around!

After a quick stop at the Spring Canyon Recreation Area, a separate unit of Rockhound SP, we went in search of Gap Road SE. The ladies we met at Luna Rossa winery had told us a family member had recently purchased a large ranch on the backside of the Florida range. She assured us the land wasn’t posted so when we came to the impressive entrance to the ranch, we knew we had found the right road.

The spring wildflowers were putting on quite a display as we got closer to the mountains…

At first, the road was a simple unmaintained dirt road, easy enough to travel…

I use an app called onX Offroad to find trails and to navigate when Google maps thinks we are clearly lost.

You can download maps before you set off on an adventure in case you find yourself without service in the backcountry. The problem we ran into was because it is part working ranch and part BLM land, there are so many unmarked trails, it can be difficult to know if you are actually on the trail you want to be. A couple times we had to backtrack, but doing so gave me plenty of photo ops…

The first closed gate we came to had me wondering it we would have to turn around, but upon a closer look, I could tell it was easily opened. It is meant to deter cattle not vehicles…

We did run across a 2 wheel drive pickup truck coming from the opposite direction. The driver told us he had accessed the road from Hwy 11 which was our endpoint. I was glad to have confirmation it could be done!

One of the things I really like about OnX is it can track us, even without cell service. I can then save the map of our adventures…

When we made it back to a paved road, I stopped tracking us and looked at the stats for trail…

Steve decided the perfect way to end the day would be to stop at the other award winning winery in Deming, Lescombes Winery…

Our bartender, Chrissy, certainly ranks right up there for a sense of style when it comes to taking a selfie…

After an adventure filled day, we headed back to Waldo. We only had a couple more days at Rockhound and were determined to see and do everything we could pack into our stay!

Coming Up…

The places you find when you are looking for ghost towns!

New Mexico – Land of Enchantment

Booking our travels months in advance can be a definite struggle, especially if we have to coordinate with an event or a meet-up with friends. By the time we got confirmation Steve would be working at an RV rally in Tucson, the only RV site available at Rockhound State Park just outside Deming, New Mexico was a boondocking site. But I wanted to go to Deming!!! We would just have to make do!

Normally, boondocking isn’t an issue since we have a generator plus our fridge and furnace run on propane, as well as electricity. With forecast lows in the 40’s, we knew we’d have to run the furnace. Do you think we remembered to check the propane level before heading to New Mexico? Of course not. We were about 17 miles from the campground when Steve realized we needed propane. Shouldn’t be a problem, most Love’s truck stops dispense propane and so do a lot of Tractor Supply companies. The was a Love’s in Las Cruces AND a Tractor Supply! Wouldn’t you know it, that Love’s didn’t and Tractor Supply was out. Yep, I’m still inserting choice words! Several phone calls later, I finally found an RV park in Deming who sold propane IF we could get there by 4:30. Phew! Shouldn’t be a problem. At 4:29 we rolled in and thankfully their clocks weren’t fast. Finally we could head to our site.

We spent our first day in Deming picking up the remaining Jeep parts (yep, it still wasn’t completely back together) and checking the visitor’s center for interesting things to do in the area. We discovered Deming has a Historic Landmark Walking Tour and an app to tell you about the buildings. Our first stop was the Deming Luna County Mimbres Museum, built as an armory in 1917…

Unfortunately, the museum was under repair so we couldn’t go in. The app would give us relative information about each building and often an interesting story as well. Like at the J.A. Mahoney building (no relation)…

Apparently, in 1906, the superintendent of the Deming public school and the principal of the high school, both married men, got into a shootout over the “rights of favors” of a school teacher. The shootout left the principal dead, shot in the middle of the forehead. A grand jury declared the shooting was in self defense and no charges were filed.

While I enjoyed hearing about all of the buildings, I was intrigued by the murals and sculptures…

We thought we would wrap up our first day with a stop at the Luna Rossa Winery…

But, as it turned out, we met some of the locals who convinced us to go with them to the Happy Camper Clubhouse for dinner and “mix tape bingo”.

While we didn’t win at bingo, we definitely won with new friends!

The plan for the next day was for Steve to button up the Jeep and I would go in search of some of the famous thunder eggs, geodes and jasper found in the region. It didn’t take me long to get distracted by the wildflowers…

There are marked trails, but you are free to explore everywhere on the mountain and surrounding hills. One of the things which makes Rockhound SP unique is its “finders keepers” instead of “take only photos” policy. I had picked up quite a few “pretty rocks” when I looked back towards Waldo to see if Steve was done working on the Jeep. That was when I realized how high up I had climbed.

In hindsight, I should have stopped, but then it became about reaching the top, not about “pretty rocks.” When I had climbed as far as I felt I could, I took a picture of the campground…

I had to zoom to 10 on my phone before Waldo was clear…

I texted Steve and asked him to take a picture from Waldo, but, try as he might, he couldn’t quite find me…

Upon my return to Waldo, I found Steve still slaving away. Come to find out, trying to work without a bench or all the proper tools can be a challenge. At long last, he was ready to re-install the front drive shaft, my off-roading plans would be saved! But wait!!!!! The new to us front drive shafts took different bolts than my old driveshaft. Special bolts, the kind you can’t buy in a parts store or hardware store. (I’m running out of choice words and beginning to recycle them now.) Since there was nothing more he could do until said special bolts were ordered, we called it a night…

Coming up…Spring Canyon and the Florida mountains

Just so you know, in New Mexico they pronounce it Floor -ee- da! Thanks for coming along.

Finishing Up Our 17 Days Across Texas

Grateful to have the Jeep back, we set off to explore our new surroundings. We started at the park’s visitor center. They have a wonderful museum which explains the history of Seminole Canyon going back 12,000 years. The park contains over 200 pictograph sites. There are ranger guided hikes to several of the canyons and one site is only accessible by private boat. The hikes range from easy to moderately strenuous. Since I’m not one for “moderately strenuous”, Steve and I walked the Maker of Peace Trail around the visitors center.

Bill Worrell created this sculpture as a tribute to the Desert Archaic people. It is their pictographs that adorn the canyon walls.

Once we were done, we headed to the Pecos River High Bridge…

Just like the Amistad Reservoir, the Pecos River is at a near all time low. You can see from my 2022 picture just how narrow the river has gotten in the last 2 years…

We stumbled onto a former RV park managed by the Corps of Engineers. The state park ranger told us it has been closed for over 20 years because of the falling river levels.

The drive to the boat launch did provide several overlooks to the river…

We drove down to the long closed boat ramp which ended almost a 1/4 mile from the edge of the river.

The blue dot is us and I promise, the Jeep was not in the middle of the river!

Across the river, we could see and hear the cows, sheep and goats grazing on the other side. We drove up to the picnic area and walked the nature trail. It doesn’t look like much maintenance has been done in recent years, but there is still signage to identify many of the native plants and a view of where the Pecos River ends at the Rio Grande River…

Unfortunately, you can no longer actually see either river, but some of the wildflowers were already in bloom…

The next day we headed out to the Box Canyon boat launch on the Rio Grande River. This launch was in even worse shape than the Pecos River launch…

But it did provide a great view of the Rio Grande…

Our last day at Seminole Canyon was spent ordering batteries for Waldo and parts for the Jeep. But I did take a walk along the Birding Trail. They have a nice bird blind and the trail is paved…

Before we headed out, I was excited to find my first cactus in bloom…

Fort Stockton was on the way to our next campground. Steve parked Waldo at the Love’s Truck Center to purchase and install the new batteries. He disconnected the Jeep and I headed to the parts store to pick up parts. The battery install went smoothly but the parts run turned into “awww crap” since not all of the parts came in 😦 Still inserting choice words.

Our final stop in Texas was the Saddleback Mountain RV Park in Balmorhea. It is a no frills park for sure, but $20 a night full hook-up sites are a rarity. When we arrived, there were several semis in the gravel lot adjacent to the park. They were transporting windmill blades. It’s hard to fathom how huge they actually are…

The red truck you can see on the left is a full size quad cab pickup. And there is a person in a yellow shirt in the center of the picture. This gives you an idea just how monstrous they are.

The reason for picking this park was its proximity to Balmorhea SP. They are renovating their campground so it is closed right now. The CCC built the park in the 1930’s and it is the world’s largest spring fed swimming pool, described as “a cool oasis in the high desert”…

More than 15 million gallons of water flow through the pool each day, gushing from the San Solomon Springs. The pool is up to 25 feet deep, covers 1.3 acres, and holds 3.5 million gallons of water. The water temperature stays at 72 to 76 degrees year-round. Excerpt from their website.

We didn’t swim, but I couldn’t resist taking off my shoes and letting my feet dangle in the pool…

I imagine, in the heat of summer, this place must be packed!

It was an interesting, sometimes frustrating, mostly wonderful 17 days in Texas. Waldo left, happy with his new batteries and the Jeep is still a bit sad with no 4X4, but happy to be drive-able! Thank you for coming along.

Up Next…Deming, New Mexico

Home of Rockhound State Park

What Else Can Go Wrong?

Leaving Mustang Island SP was a bit of a challenge. Usually, we drive the Jeep to Waldo to hook it up as our “toad” (towed, for those of you unfamiliar with RV speak). But since the Jeep was still out of commission, we had to back Waldo up to it. Not the easiest way to hook-up, but we managed. Our next stop was Lake Casa Blanca International State Park in Laredo. I agree, it is a hell of a long name for a state park.

Before we could head to our site at the state park, we had to drop the Jeep off at the shop. They were quite understanding of our instability to back up with the Jeep attached to Waldo and offered to tow it from the parking lot across the street. We lucked out in finding this shop because they also ran a salvage yard and happened to have a Jeep identical to ours. With assurances the Jeep would be ready on Wednesday, we headed to the park. I was quite excited about getting the Jeep back, there were quite a few things I wanted to see in Laredo. We were only going to be in town until Friday morning. We found an H-E-B (H-E-B is my favorite grocery store in America!!) in Laredo with a parking lot large enough to accommodate Waldo and stocked up on provisions before heading to our site. Once there, we were stuck until we got the Jeep back.

Once we were settled, a walk across the park road brought us to the edge of the lake, a perfect spot to kick back and fish. The sweet acacia ( uh*kay*shuh) were in bloom, showing off their yellow puffball flowers…

But, the nearly constantly gusting winds prevented us from doing any fishing, instead, we contented ourselves with playing Yahtzee. Tuesday evening, Steve noticed a problem with Waldo’s chassis batteries. One of them wasn’t charging. Gee, I don’t have any way to go into town to buy new ones. Hmmm, what to do. Insert choice words here! The decision was made to keep the battery charger on it until we could get replacements. An inconvenience, but not really a problem. I spent Wednesday anxiously awaiting the call from the shop saying the Jeep was ready while Steve serviced all the batteries. Around 5pm, a call finally came, only to inform us it wasn’t ready…insert more choice words here! Thursday morning we got the call….YAY! The shop was kind enough to send someone to pick Steve up so we didn’t have to call an Uber. With the Jeep finally back where it belonged, I took our site picture…

While the Jeep was drivable, it still didn’t have any 4X4. Steve wanted to rebuild the used front drive shaft he bought before installing it. I nodded and smiled while he explained what that entailed all the while thinking, “Yada, yada, yada, is my Jeep done yet?” I have to confess, when he talks about working on vehicles, all I hear is the mumbled sounds of the adults on the Peanuts cartoons.

Friday morning found us packing up and heading west to Seminole Canyon State Park near Comstock, TX. Several phone calls on the way confirmed there weren’t any Waldo batteries or Jeep parts to be found within 100 miles of Comstock. Not to worry, we have a battery charger and I didn’t want to have fun 4 wheeling anyhow.

We had to drive through Del Rio to get to Comstock. Del Rio is home to The Amistad Reservoir. When we drove passed it in 2022 is was pretty low…

But conditions are worse now…

The reservoir is only at 26% capacity. All but 2 of the boat ramps are closed and there are numerous warnings on the National Park Service website about boating hazards.

Settled in at our site at Seminole Canyon…

Thoughts turned to dinner and the tomahawk steak we purchased at H-E-B…

Steve did a fantastic job of grilling it!! Trust me, it tasted even better than it looks! We spent the evening in a meat coma and planned our adventures for the next four days.

Coming up…

Exploring the Comstock area and up to Balmorhea (and Waldo gets batteries!)

Visiting the Texas Gulf Coast

After leaving Louisiana, we headed for the gulf coast of Texas. There are 8 state parks along the coast and 6 of them have camping. Since we’d already been to Galveston Island SP two times, we decided to check out some of the other parks.

We started with Sea Rim SP in Sabine Pass.

I read reviews (usually) and nearly everyone complained about the nonstop barrage of mosquitoes year round. And, yep!, they are that bad!! But knowing in advance made it much more bearable. A liberal dose of bug spray and a bit of tolerance toned it down to mildly annoying.

The Gambusia Nature Trail Boardwalk is named for the small gambusia fish you will see in the marsh. It has several interpretive signs and covered benches along the .7 mile trail.

We saw plenty gambusia, along with a couple water snakes and some turtles. We only saw one small flock of American Coots. In case you ever wanted to know, a flock of coots is called a commotion! Most people assume coots are ducks but what makes then so different is the fact they do not have webbed feet…

This picture is from the Cornell University "All About Birds" website — This picture is from the Cornell University website “All About Birds”

You can drive along the east and west beaches for miles, with the center section reserved for non-motorized travel. While we did in fact do that, I’ll be darned it I know what I did with the pictures!

We set a day aside to go into Sabine Pass to see the lighthouse (which I believe is technically in Louisiana).

We were getting ready to leave when we saw the Lucky Johnny trawler heading out into the gulf.

Our time at Sea Rim was over much too soon, but that means we’ll just have to go back another time!

Our next stop was Mustang Island SP outside of Corpus Christi. This was a place that had been on my To-Do list for years and I was quite excited about our stay. Unfortunately, my excitement vanished when we arrived. Not because it wasn’t everything I had hoped. But because the transfer case in my Jeep had grenaded somewhere along the way. We now knew what that sound was we had heard 😦 He discovered when the t-case grenaded, it also took out the front drive shaft, ripped out several wires AND put a hole in the fuel line. Oh joy! He did all the repairs he could do at the campground and found a shop at our next stop to complete the job. So….he spent our time there “mechanic-ing” and I read books. I did manage a walk on the beach, but my heart just wasn’t into it but then I found something weird in the surf…

No one seemed to know exactly what is was/is, so I’ve dubbed it my Texas Gulf Coast Alien.

The only other picture I took the entire 4 days was an early spring promise of a beautiful yucca plant flower bud…

Looking back on it, it could have been so much worse. We could have been 5 miles down the beach when it happened or on the highway doing 60 mph. But knowing that did not help how I felt at the time! So,with high hopes of a repaired Jeep, we headed off to Laredo. More about that next time!

Where Have You Been the Last 2 Years?!?!?

I know, I know. We’ve been missing in action as far as updating the blog, but I am going to try to re-motivate myself. We’ve been lots of fantastic places and I’ve struggled with where do I pick back up. Do I go back to where we have been? Or do I just start with what’s been happening recently? The “plan” I’ve come up with is to get you all up to speed on where we are, what’s going on and what’s coming up first, then, throw in random places from the past. So with that in mind, here goes…

2024

We had a major change at the end of 2023, we opted to stop selling Christmas trees for Hayes Farms. It was a tough decision. It was a huge part of our lives for the last 5 years. We had gone to Florida in October with the plan of selling trees, but, things change. We still sell fireworks for New Years so we started 2024 in Florida. We spent our first night back on the road at our favorite Harvest Host, Southern Grace Lavender Farm. It is always a pleasure to stay there and it breaks up the long drive out of Florida. Then we headed west to Blakeley State Park in Spanish Fort, AL. From here, it was an easy drive into Mobile. We missed their Mardi Gras celebration by 1 day, which was kind of OK with me. I’m not a fan of big crowds or impossible to find parking. After doing a Google search, we found The Oyster City Brewing Company…

This is Dane, our bartender. Apparently taking a selfie, before taking our picture sounded fun. It’s not the first time it has happened and I’m actually a bit disappointed now when it doesn’t happen.

We walked the boardwalk trail passed the “hiding tree”. It is said that it was a hiding place for Confederate soliders trying to escape capture after loosing the battle of Fort Blakeley….

Next, we headed to Palmetto Island State Park in Abbeville, LA. In case you don’t know, all Louisiana state parks offer a camping discount for people 62 and over! Score! It pays to have an old man for a husband, hehehe. My main reason for stopping there is they have 3 ponds/lakes that are connected by a kayak trail, but the weather had no plans to cooperated with me. Don’t let the patches of blue sky fool you, it was cold!

Instead we decided to check out the local, come on! you know what’s coming…brewery. Adopted Dog Brewery in Lafayette did not disappoint!

There are many impressive live oak trees in the area, but this one really stood out to me. It definitely has a desire to live!

Up next, 17 Days to Cross Texas

The Area Surrounding Moab

National parks aren’t the only reason to visit the Moab area.

The Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway (Hwy 128) is located on the edge of town. This 44.5 mile drive along the Colorado River, shouldn’t be missed. There are numerous camping areas along the river, as well as several boat launches. One of the beaches we passed had a couple families enjoying the spring weather…

I imagine in the heat of summer, this place would be packed!

Spring flowers added a splash of color against the red cliffs…

The snow capped mountains in the distance added another layer to the landscape…

Iron oxide colors the land a lovely shade of red…

Not too far off Hwy 170 you can find the remains of the coal mining town of Sego. Around 1910, Henry Ballard discovered an exposed vein of coal and began buying up the surrounding ranches. After mining for a year, he was bought our by investors from Salt Lake City. With grand plans, a boarding house, store and numerous other buildings were constructed. The first coal washing plant west of the Mississippi was also built. And a town was born. Originally named Neslen, in 1918 it was renamed Sego in honor of the sego lily that grows there. The mine changed hands several times before finally being abandon. Water shortages, mechanical problems and fires kept the mine in the red for most of its lifespan. A more complete history of the town can be found here. Today, there are few buildings still standing…

The Book Cliffs surround the ghost town of Sego and offer another reason to visit. Historians have identified 4 distinct styles of petroglyphs on the cliff faces.One can only imagine the stories that were being told…

Unfortunately, several have been defaced over the years .

I hope you enjoyed our journey through the Moab area. The national parks are why we decided to come here, but this area has so much more to offer.

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Canyonlands National Park

A mere 28 miles from the entrance to Arches lies another, lesser known or visited park, Canyonlands National Park .

Canyonlands is divided into 4 districts, the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, and the Rivers (the Green and the Colorado). Island in the Sky is the most accessible with paved roads, scenic vistas and easy to reach hiking trails. Reaching the other districts requires 4×4, horses, overnight hikes into the backcountry and a special permit.

We only had one day to visit Canyonlands and decided to take the Islands in the Sky Scenic Drive. We chose to drive to the end and work our way back to the entrance. The park rangers has warned us about limited parking at the Mesa Arch Trailhead and , as expected, it was packed when we drove by. With stunning scenery at every turn, it’s hard to take it all in. From deep canyons to vast mesas, the views just keep coming…

The cyclist in the above picture, yes, that minuscule black dot, provides a sense of scale.

When sensory overload begs you to find a seat and just take it all in for a moment, find the best one you can!

If you think I’m crazy, at least I don’t have my back to the edge of the cliff while someone takes my picture…

While you are gawking at the landscape, don’t forget to take in the things at your feet…

In my opinion, cacti create some of the most beautiful flowers. You’re not going to pick a wildflower bouquet, but you might end up with a hundred or so pictures on your phone.

It was around 4pm by the time we made it back to the trailhead at Mesa Arch. With only a handful of cars remaining, we easily found a spot and hiked the .6 miles to the arch. While Canyonlands NP is obviously named for, well, its canyons, it does have 80 or so arches. In comparison, nearby Arches NP boasts over 2000 arches (the highest concentration in the world). We had no problem finding someone to take our picture…

Or taking crowd-less pictures of the landscape…

We still had a few hours of daylight left when we finished the Island in the Sky drive, so we decided to take the long way back to Waldo via Pucker Pass 4×4 trail.

We weren’t very far down the trail when we came across a possible problem. With the kayaks on the top, I wasn’t sure there would be enough clearance. Plus the trail at this point had turned a bit rough…

While we made it though without any problems, the vehicle you can see behind us turned around. Soon, we were back to switchbacks and more amazing scenes…

If you look closely, you can make out the trail near the bottom of the canyon. We found an area to pull off the trail and take the required selfie…

Moonrise over the cliffs signaled the impending sunset…

As the shadows began to lengthen, we knew it was time to move along…

The Colorado River signaled the end of the trail and our day’s adventures…

It would be easy to spend a week or more exploring Canyonlands. Maybe next time!

Up next – The Area Surrounding Moab

Thanks for coming along, I’d love to hear your thoughts on our adventure.

Arches National Park

Last year, we visited Arches National Park. OK, so I’m a little behind in posting but, in my defense, we did just spend 6 weeks with very limited connectivity. Anyhow, back to Arches. We stayed at Ballard RV Park in Thompson Springs, Utah. We chose Ballard because it was close to everything we wanted to see, but didn’t have the Moab crowding.

We drove into Moab to pick up information about Jeep trails and National Parks so we could plan how to make the best use of our week in the area. We were disappointed to learn the entrance to Arches was generally closed by 11am due to overcrowding in the park and usually reopened in the late afternoon. We passed the entrance to Arches on our way back to Ballard’s and the car lining up to get in for the afternoon was nearly a mile long. We weren’t too keen on the idea of sitting in line for hours!

The next day, we decided to take a BLM road that looked like it went all the way into Arches from the back side. As we rode along, we were treated to some of Utah’s wildlife…

As well as some wildflowers and incredible scenery…

When we reached the boundary of the park, we were quite happy to find an open gate and a sign stating this was a fee area. Since we have a National Park pass, we drove on in!

Our goal was to spend the day exploring and deciding which arch we wanted to photograph at sunrise a few days later. We drove the entire length of paved roads in the park and saw some amazing arches and a very appropriate warning…

Our sunrise photography decision was Turret Arch as seen through North Arch. With our decision made, we headed back to Waldo via paved roads. As we exited the park, I made a time lapse video of the line of cars waiting to get in…

Dang!!! Luckily, to get there and set up for sunrise photography, we’d be coming into the park at 4am, shouldn’t be too bad at that hour.

We arrived back in the park a few days later, well before sunrise. There were lots of cars in the parking lot, but the ranger had told us many of those would leave as soon as the sun rose above the horizon…

We to the base of North Arch in the dark and took up our wait for sunrise. As expected, there were lots of people waiting with us…

But, 10 minutes after the sun broke the horizon…

The crowd began to thin. Steve found a place he wanted to be and so did I. Two very separate places!

My patience paid off with my favorite shot of the morning…

Turret Arch seen through North Arch. Notice the lack of people!

With sunrise behind us, we set off for our next adventure…

I love my Jeep!! The pictures I took don’t really show how bad the road was…

But the road was definitely worth the views!

The only other way to get to Tower Arch is a 10 mile hike ~ no thanks! It was nearing noon, so Steve and I found a place for lunch…

Not a great picture, but you get the idea. We had about 5 more miles to go before we reached the park boundary and the scenery just kept being amazing…

We finally made it back to paved roads and called it a day.

Whether you are a hiker, a 4×4 enthusiast or a see it from the car kind of person, Arches National Park has something for you!

Up next…Canyonlands National Park

Fall In Michigan

September was passing us by much faster than we hoped. October was knocking on the door promising cooler weather and shorter days. You might remember, I don’t like the cold very much, actually not at all. I was fairly ready to join the southern migration!

One thing we hadn’t taken the time for yet, was another one of those “Michigan things”. We had to go to Cops & Doughnuts! The first Cops & Doughnuts opened in Clare, Michigan. The site had been a bakery since 1896. It was within weeks of closing when all nine members of the Clare Police Department decided to come to the rescue. According to their website, the business plan was written on the back of an empty pizza box. (I’ll bet they didn’t take that to the SBA) It didn’t take long for Cops & Doughnuts to become “a Michigan thing” We didn’t want to drive all the way to Clare, but lucky for us, the business has been so successful, they have opened up several other precincts, including Jay’s Precinct in Gaylord, MI.

Unfortunately, I was caught up in smells so good they aught to be illegal that I forgot to take any more pictures. The interior is decorated with police memorabilia and branded souvenirs. I ordered what they call a “Long John” It is their version of an eclair and Steve had a maple glazed cinnamon bun.You’ll just have to take my word for it, they were huge and delicious!

Only a few miles away was the other reason we had gone to Gaylord. The city maintains an 80 acre park for a herd of Elk. The city has been the caretaker of this herd since the 1980’s. There are several viewing areas where you can sit comfortably (aka warm) in your vehicle and watch the elk. Late September is mating season and we watched the dominant bull strive to defend his breeding rights. All of the cows were lazing up near the feeding area, every so often a bold young bull would walk up the hill to take his chances. Every time, the dominant bull would bugle and charge after him. Chasing him back down the hill to join the rest of the bulls. If one of the cows would wander to far, he would round her up and return her to the feeding area…

“Hey you with the camera, I’m only one years old. Aren’t I cute?”

“You always know just what to say handsome”

If you’ve never heard an elk bugle, this is what it sounds like

I really enjoyed watching the elk, but it was time to head back to Bambi Lake. We would be caravan-ning with Mike and Dawn to our next location and there was still plenty to pack up before we left.

Now, we were ready to say goodbye to Michigan (until next time)…

Up Next…

In a southwesterly direction