May 2024 – The Wandering RVer

Welcome Back to New Mexico

With the FMCA Rally over, it was time to move. We had come as far west as we were going to for this part of our travels and it was time to head east, once again. Our entire spring travel was built around 2 required destinations. The first was the FMCA Rally and the second was Waco, TX to meet up with friends for the solar eclipse on April 8th.

I planned on 4 nights in Alamogordo, NM to visit White Sands National Park, Pistachioland and Truth or Consequences, NM. It was going to be a lot to pack into 4 days, especially when I discovered SO many other things to do in the area.

We knew we were getting close to Alamogordo when we saw a roadside monument for the White Sands Missile Range…

What we didn’t know at the time is that when they are actively firing missiles, the road we came in on would be closed for hours at a time. White Sands NP has a page of their website with scheduled closures. Luckily, we didn’t run into that situation, but were told it happens quite frequently. I guess we really dodged a missile. Lame joke, I know, but it was funny at the time.

The missile we didn’t dodge was the Zia Skies RV park. I knew we were in trouble when we turned onto Lemin Street…

Their website mentioned a locked gate, but this wasn’t the neighborhood I was expecting! What would have been really nice is if they had sent us the gate code, since there was no office at the park. And if there hadn’t already been someone in OUR site. It is the only RV park I have ever left a review for with the heading “DO NOT STAY AT THIS PARK!”

The weather was chilly and the wind just would not quit. That explains my hairstyle when we went to the 575 Brewing Company out first night in town…

Our first full day in Alamogordo was spent at White Sands National Park. From 1933 until 2019, it was known as White Sands National Monument. The NPS still hasn’t found the funds to update the signage…

The dunes at the park make up the world’s largest gypsum dunefield and are visible from space. A 16 mile (round trip) road leads you into the heart of the dunefield. I had no inclination to hike the dunes nor to sled on them, but it was fun to watch from the Interdune Boardwalk trail…

As we walked along the boardwalk, I marveled at the windswept patterns in the sand…

I was surprised so many people were sledding these particular dunes with all the scrub growing up when they could have driven a bit further to get to taller dunes with much less scrub. I was also surprised to see motorhomes with toads in the boardwalk parking lot…

As we drove further into the dunes, the views changed rapidly. We went from dunes with lots of scrub to acres and acres of tall dunes…

The most perplexing thing I saw was a sign where the road turns from pavement to packed sand…

Look closely at rule #3. Apparently, from Feb. 1-May 31, alcohol is prohibited, but it is allowed from June 1-Jan. 31. My guess would be Feb-May are the months of peak visitors. Extreme heat in the summer and snowy conditions in the winter would make visiting less appealing from June to the end of Jan. It was March when we visited, so no picnic with beer for us at the dunes.

I did see a really cool Utility RV in one of the parking lots. Given the shape of the license plate, it definitely came from another country, but I love the mural on the back…

As we were leaving the park, we stopped to take a picture of a dunes climber and his dog taking a break…

The weather took a quick turn for the worst when we got back to Waldo! I was happy we weren’t still driving around the dunes when it started to snow/sleet…

With another National Park off the bucket list, the next day we opted to knock an Atlas Obscura item off the list – Pistachioland! I love pistachios and almost always have a bag of them in Waldo for travel days, but eating pistachio ice cream in front of the world’s largest pistachio will only happen once in my lifetime!

The United States has the largest share of pistachio farming in the world, producing almost 40% of the crop worldwide. The trees at McGinn’s farm were still in the dormant stage. It would be neat to see them loaded with one of my favorite nuts!

Thank you for coming along. Have you been to White Sands NP or Pistachioland? Let me know in the comments below!

Coming up…

An unexpected surprise just outside Alamogordo!

Sky Island Scenic Byway

Liz and I parted company at Javelina Rocks and made tentative plans for the following day to take a drive on the Sky Island Scenic Byway. Once she checked her schedule, it turned out we just couldn’t make it work, but I was determined to go anyhow. I’m SO glad I did!

I could have titled this post “From Saguaros To Snow in 25 Miles” because it would be a perfect description of this drive in late March.

Starting just outside of Tucson, the Sky Island Scenic Byway winds its way up Mount Lemmon, ending in the beautiful town of Summer Haven.

Looking out over the suburbs of Tucson, I could imagine Steve hard at work, but I soon left those thoughts behind as I started up Mount Lemmon. The drive begins with a vast saguaro forest…

As I entered the first scenic outlook, I was marveling at the wildflowers and cacti framing the views…

As I gained altitude, the cacti began lessening, but the wildflowers painted the hillsides in beautiful shades of orange and yellow…

At another scenic overlook, I found a trail leading to a small creek. I shouldn’t have been too surprised since the snow melt would need somewhere to go.

The thing that surprised me the most was the amount of bicycle traffic climbing the mountain. There were several groups of cyclists and quite a few individuals as well. I can tell you with certainty that I will stick to climbing the mountain in the Jeep!!!

The higher I climbed, the more boulder formations I began to see and the views became panoramic…

One rock formation in particular caught my attention. I imagined what the view would be like if I could climb it…

There is an app you can download and listen to as you ascend, but I didn’t find out about it until I stopped at the ranger station about half way up. It would have been interesting to listen to it explain the geography, flora and fauna.

At one of the overlooks, someone was kind enough to take my picture…

And I couldn’t help but taking pictures of the groups of people who had climbed some of the rocks to take selfies…

As I neared Summer Haven, I began to see patches of snow. After seeing cacti and wildflowers, to me, the snow seemed out of place…

Summer Haven is a cute town with a general store, resort lodges and, of course, restaurants. When I reached the end of the Sky Island Scenic Byway, it was time to reverse my course and head back down Mount Lemmon.

I stopped at the Inspiration Rock Picnic Area and found all kinds of cool/funky colored rocks. Many of them glistened in the sunshine. I tried to take pictures but they just didn’t do it justice.

I was cruising along at the posted speed limit of 35 mph when this bicycle passed me like I was parked…

I’m still going to go with “No thanks” on biking the mountain!

There are many area to pull off the road for pictures…

But sometimes there just isn’t and room and you have to be content with a “thru the windshield shot”

This is a one way record of my travels. As you can see, it only took me an hour on the way back down. I wish I had thought to record the entire trip since I was gone most of the day.

When I got back to Waldo, I texted Liz and thanked her again for the suggestion of driving the byway. With only another day or two in Tucson, we decided to meetup for lunch. She suggested her family’s favorite little Mexican restaurant with the promise of great food and a prickly pear margarita. I enjoyed meeting her daughter and seeing her and Lenny again!

Notice the matching prickly pear margaritas!

And her suggestion to try the “Tucson Dog” was spot on!

With hugs all around, we parted ways with the hope of seeing each other down the road somewhere.

The rally had come to an end and it was time to start our way back east. The entire journey so far had been about reaching Tucson on March 18th, but now it became about meeting friends in Waco for the total eclipse on April 8th!

I hope you enjoyed reading about our time in Tucson and, maybe found something to add to your next trip though Arizona!

Coming Up…

Another National Park checked off the hit list!

Adventuring Solo

Ever since leaving Florida, we have been making our way westward with the goal of reaching Tucson on March 18th. Steve would be working for Briter Products, a lithium ion battery company at an FMCA Rally. Since what I know about installing batteries, inverters and such is zilch, I would have several days on my own.

My first priority was to head to the post office to get those “special bolts” I’d been waiting for. When Steve ordered them, I looked up the closest post office to the Pima County Fairgrounds, where the rally was being held and told him to use that address. Silly me!! A little about Tucson Post Offices: there are 5 of them, one of them is within the Davis Mountain Air Force Base, completely inaccessible to non-military personnel, and only one of them accepts general delivery I was told. Guess which post office is closest to the fairgrounds, yep, the one on the base. Guess where my bolts were, on base! Long story short, I re-ordered the bolts, under my name because I couldn’t pick up mail addressed to my husband, and had them sent to the only post office accepting general delivery. Sheesh! Who knew this would be such a PIA!?!?!?!?

Interesting side note about Davis Mountain Air Force base, it has the world’s largest military aircraft cemetery.

Anyhow, we already established I couldn’t get on base, so I only got to drive by it. Miles and miles of planes!

In 2022, Steve and I visited Saguaro National Park, I didn’t tell you about it since I was slacking on writing blog posts. I really love the desert southwest, so I decided to revisit. Since we were there in March of 2022 and I would be there, also in March, I’m including some of the pictures from both visits.

I drove the loop trail again and stopped at many of the same locations. March is a great time to visit since it isn’t too hot and the wildflowers are blooming…

The Asian beetle blends in almost perfectly on this Brittlebush flower

But cacti were what I went to see!

Or, how about cacti AND wildflowers…

The barrel cacti had already bloomed, but the fruits were still forming…

You definitely do not want to fall into one of them!

Road runners are one of my favorite birds, but hard to get a good picture. I did see one, resting atop a dead saguaro…

As I was driving along, I thought I saw a saguaro in bloom. Knowing it was pretty early in the year for blooms, I almost didn’t stop to investigate, but I’m sure glad I did! As I was walking back to take a picture, I met a lady, Liz, who also seemed interested in the wildflowers, so I told her what I thought I had seen. Together, we walked a bit further and, sure enough, it was just starting to bloom.

On our walk back to the parking area, I told her all about our nomadic life and adventures. She gave me lots of suggestions of things to see and places to visit while we were in Tucson. She told me about her family and suggested maybe one day while I was there we could adventure together. We swapped phone numbers then she followed me on FB and IG. We said our goodbyes and I headed out.

I took the side road, which goes to a picnic area, and saw my first cristate or crested saguaro…

Zoomed in, I though it looked like an alien. Scientist still aren’t sure what causes this mutation, but I though it was pretty cool. If I had read more on the NPS website, I would have been able to find others in the park.

I was about 3/4 of the way around the Cactus Forest Auto Loop when I received a message from Liz. She and her son were at Javelina Rocks and was wondering if I’d be along soon. I let her know, I was only a few minutes out. When I arrived, it wasn’t hard to spot Liz and her son…

Liz was kind enough to come down to show me the easiest path to climb the formation. Once she pointed it out, she offered to stay below and take a picture of me…

Then she rejoined us and we admired the outstanding view…

It had been a great day. A visit to one of my favorite landscapes and a new friend!

Coming Up…

The Sky Island Scenic Byway

Into Arizona

On the way to Tucson, we visited Rope Lake Sate Park, just outside of Safford, AZ. I hadn’t really planned any day trips, it was just a place on the way. Had I done ANY research, I would have known, there is plenty to do!

The drive from New Mexico took us less time than we thought, so we arrived before check-in. A $10 day pass was our penalty. Luckily, on an overcast Friday in March, there was plenty of room for Waldo in the day use parking area. We disconnected the Jeep for a drive around the park while we waited for a call from the ranger’s station. In the loop we would be camping in, I saw some Gambel Quails, they always make me smile…

Mt. Graham was still wearing a thin blanket of snow…

Once we were settled into our site, we spent a relaxing afternoon playing Yahtzee (one of our favorite pastimes).

Looking at the map, I found several places of interest. The first was the Black Hills Rockhound Area, renowned for its deposits of fire agate.

Not one to miss a chance at picking up pretty rocks, we headed out. I spent our drive time reading about how to find and identify fire agate. I found a great post by The Rolling Rockhound which gave me, at least, a clue as to what we might find. I showed Steve what to look for and we set off it opposite directions. Every so often, I’d look up to make sure I could still see the Jeep…

In the end, we found lots of pieces of chalcedony and 2 containing fire agates. Without the proper tools and skills to reveal the agate, they will remain just pretty rocks in my collection.

Another area which drew my attention was the Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area. I confess, I had to look up what “riparian” meant. For any of you who don’t know either, it means “relating to or situated on the banks of a river.”

There are lots of off-road trails, but since we still don’t have 4 wheel drive, we stuck to the easy trails.

Our first stop was the information kiosk and scenic overlook…

As with several other of the places we’ve visited lately, the spring wildflowers were dazzling…

With so much scenery to take in, it’s hard to see everything, but we did our best!

We realized how a campground, chosen strictly as a place en route to Steve’s upcoming job, really could be a destination for adventures! Until next week…

Coming up…

While Steve goes to work, Laura goes to play!