Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Dream Catcher RV Park, Deming, New Mexico

September 16, 2019

Temperature 89

Taco Tuesday

Generator Maintenance

Blue Skies 

What a difference.  This was a day ago.

This was today when I started my morning walk.  A beautiful blue sky with not a cloud in sight.  This is the kind of day we have been waiting for.  There was a gentle breeze, why I could even bring the patio awning out.  Thank you Lord for such a picture perfect day.  Yes, it stayed this way on into the evening.

Walking around this is the first rig I took a picture of.  This belongs to friends of ours who have decided that living in a stick and bricks house is not for them.  As Shawn tells the story he walked into his bosses office one day and asked Do I really need to be here in the office to do my job?  Could I work from home, or for instance, wherever I call home?  His boss replied As long as you do your job you can work from anywhere.  That was it, the house was sold and Shawn and Andrea hit the road full time.  No, they don’t use the tractor for shopping, etc.  They have a car that Andrea drives and follows along in.

Then I caught this rig leaving the park.  Are you kidding me?  Talk about having the best of both worlds if that is you like big rigs.  Yes, that is a MiniCooper sitting behind the cab.  What seems funny to me is this is a monster of a trailer and yet there are hardly any windows on this side.  Must be dark inside.

Time now for the project of the day.  I change the oil in the generator every 150 hours or once a year, whatever comes first.  This week I’ll also pick up some STA-BIL and run it through Graybeard’s engine and the generator since we’re going to be sitting stationary for a bit.

Time now for Taco Tuesday.  A whole bunch of us got together and went to

which is a complex that houses

This the Arcade

the bowling ally

the restaurant

our group gathered for Taco Tuesday

After supper some went and played miniature golf, some went bowling, and a group of us went to the movies.

This is the first part of our group who got there early.

 We went to see Overcomer.  This is a movie that is filled with a powerful mix of faith, a twist of humor, and a ton of heart.  Overcomer dares to leave you filled with hope, inspired to dream, and asks the question: what do you allow to define you?

Our group’s reaction to the film

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  You can’t ask for a much better day than today.  Thank you Lord for the day and the wonderful life we live together.

Thanks again for joining us today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Dream Catcher RV Park, Deming, New Mexico

September 16, 2019

Temperature 82

City of Rocks State Park

Last night we rocked and rolled again.  The wind just howled for hours on end.  Despite knowing that the vent covers over the vents were securely locked down I honestly thought they would be ripped off.  Then, like so many other nights it just stopped.  Like someone threw a switch somewhere and turned off a giant wind fan.

When we awoke this morning all was still.  Not a whisper of a breeze.  It’s just crazy.  The sky was bright blue and clear, and the sun was shinning bright.  How different from the last three days.

When I saw our friend Mary later in the morning I asked her Does it always rain around here?  Is the wind always this strong?  She replied Yes the wind is always strong.  About the rain, last year when I was here for four months it never rained one day. 

We both decided that such a beautiful day should not be wasted.  It was time to get out and about and see what we could find.  One place we had in mind was only thirty minutes away so off we went.

In due time we arrived at our destination.  It was City of Rocks State Park.  City of Rocks gets its name from the incredible volcanic rock formations found here.

The park encompasses a one square mile area in the scenic Chihuahuan desert region of southwestern New Mexico at an elevation of 5,200 feet.

The city is a geologic formation made up of large, sculptured rock columns, or pinnacles, rising as high as 40 feet and separated by paths or lanes resembling city streets. These rocks were formed about 34.9 million years ago when a very large volcano erupted. Then, erosion over millions of years slowly formed the sculptured columns seen today, creating a stunning, otherworldly landscape.

Wait it gets better but our first stop is at the Visitor’s Center.

Guess what?  Just our luck it was closed due to lack of staff.

Take a look at the grounds around it.

City of Rocks offers hiking trails, excellent mountain biking, wildlife viewing, birding, stargazing, picnic areas and camp sites,  If you like to boondock, and you like to hike this is the place for you.  But campsites are hard to get, you need to reserve at least six months in advance.

These sites offer water and electric and can be reserved.

A typical site.

But enough is enough we are here to view the large, sculptured rock columns, or pinnacles that are at the heart of the park.  Take a look and let your imagination run wild.  There are turtles, whales breaching, little dogs, grumpy old men and so much more.

Look closely and you’ll see a brown post.  Each time you see one, it means that this is primitive tent camp site.  I don’t know, sleeping in the shadow of these monsters?  I’m sure it is an experience one will long remember!

Like I said, there are those who do indeed tent camp among these giants.

Time now to go up for a better view of the whole area.

The top.

What a view from the top.  That’s the park and the campground.

The surrounding mountains.

Well, it was finally time to go.

Hope you enjoyed the day with us.  This is one spectacular park.  As I said earlier, if you like boondocking, like hiking, then you must plan to spend some time here.  Even if you don’t like to do either, you should still put this park on your bucket list of things to do.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  A bonus, Barbara was able to take part in Ladies Night Out.  She just got home and had a wonderful time.  I’m so glad she got to go.  She had a pedicure and supper out with the ladies.  A perfect way to end a perfect day.

Thanks again for joining us again today.  We always enjoy your company and your comments.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Dream Catcher RV Park, Deming, New Mexico

September 15, 2019

Temperature 77

Here We Go Again

Don’t know if you noticed, but I fixed the link above so that it now opens in a new window.  This makes it a lot easier to use.  No more having to hit the back arrow to return to the blog.

Last night the heavens opened up again.  Honestly, I have not been in rain storms so intense and so powerful for a long time.  It sounds like hail on the roof.  It lasted for hours.  The net of it was that when we woke this morning we found ourselves sitting like an island in a lake.  I wish I had taken some pictures.

The first part of today was OK.  Overcast with a few peaks of sun.  The temperatures never got out of the 70’s.  The one thing I can’t get used to yet is the constant high winds.  Our neighbor has a flag and it is always standing straight out.  At times I wonder how it manages to stay on.  Its obvious that the patio awning is going to stay rolled up and away while we’re here.

Come now to about 5 pm in the evening and the weather alerts started going off again on our phones.  The forecast was for rain mixed with hail, wind gusts of 60 mph plus, and thunder and lightening.  I stuck my head out the door to snap some of our angry clouds.

Thankfully the forecast of gloom and doom did not completely materialize.  Not yet.  We had rain and lots of it but no hail.  The winds also were light.  Yes, we had the thunder and the lightening.  This time the power stayed on.  It’s too dark to take pictures now but we are once again an island unto ourselves.  Overall, we’re good so far but who knows what the night will bring.  They are still forecasting more of the same later tonight.

I will confess we’ve been here three days and I’m not liking this part of the country a whole lot.  It’s desolate.  Deming, for instance has nothing to offer.  There’s a Walmart and that’s it.  Anything else is over an hour a way.  Want RV parts?  Your only recourse is Amazon.  Which is strange given the number of RV parks in this town.  It’s got some of the worse weather we’ve witnessed so far.  Really, this weather can get old real quick.  I honestly don’t find this a very enchanting land at all.  Bottom line, this will probably be the only winter we spend in the Southwest.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  Like I said, just more of the same in terms of the weather.  I spent most of the day watching the NHRA drag racing finals from Reading, PA.  Then there was football, until the signal went because of weather.  It’s back now but the game is a waste.  Ah well, there is always tomorrow.  Tomorrow, well tomorrow who knows what I’ll find to do.  Maybe we’ll venture out to see what we can find.  Time will tell.

Thanks for checking in with us today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Dream Catcher RV Park, Deming, New Mexico

September 14, 2019

Temperature 79

White Sands National Monument

Talk about a drastic change in weather.  A couple of hours after we arrived the skies opened up.  Rain came like it was coming from a thousand fire hoses.  There was thunder, loud, raw and rolling across the park.  Lightening came in all directions, sky to ground, horizontal across the sky, and then a large strike on the perimeter of the park.  It carried on like this for over an hour.  Then all was quiet.

Until this morning.  Then it started all over again.  Only this time with a twist.  Rain, yes, Thunder, yes.  Lightening, yes and then came the twist, we had one strike in the park and that was the end of the electric for a bit.  Thankfully, it came back on a short time later.

Let’s go back a bit.  Rather then come straight here from Roswell, we of course made the one stop at Desert Paradise RV Park.  This was a last minute decision once we decided  we wanted to visit White Sands National Monument.

The largest gypsum dune field in the world is located at White Sands National Monument in south-central New Mexico. This region of glistening white dunes is in the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert within an “internally drained valley” called the Tularosa Basin. The monument ranges in elevation from 3890′ to 4116′ above sea level. There are approximately 275 total square miles of dune fields here, with 115 square miles (about 40%) located within White Sands National Monument. The remainder is on military land that is not open to the public.

The area is so large that it is even visible from outer space.

Once in the parking lot we made our way to the Visitor’s Center.

This is the Visitor’s Center building.

Regarding the construction of the building and the Monument itself.

When it was completed.

The unique design features of a Spanish pueblo adobe building.  See how many features you can identify in the picture that follows.

White Sands Monument might not have been.

So how did the white sands in this area come to be?

 

What keeps all this sand from just blowing away?

What I was amazed to learn is that this island of sand is part of a larger park.

There are exhibits in the museum, such as

How plants adapt and survive.  They grow taller, quicker and sometimes they just hold on with a vast network of roots.

Animals, likewise, change and adapt.

There are other exhibits as well but time now to go for a ride.  We’re going on an 8 mile drive through White Sands National Monument.

First stop, payment is required but since we have a National Pass we don’t have to worry.

We’re on our way!  If you have any doubt as to where you are, this sign makes it clear.

Dune fields ahead.

We stopped to walk the boardwalk running through the dunes.

The view from the boardwalk.  Majestic.  Breath taking.

Back in the car we came to the loop where the road turned to sand.

The road here is a washboard and the key to driving on it and not shaking everything loose is to – drive fast, the faster the better!

I so wanted to go sliding down a dune, but I thought better of it and settled for a walk.  Later I discovered that sledding is not all that easy.  Unless you wax the bottom of the sled you obtain from the gift shop you are not going to go anywhere.

The sand was so soft.  At times hard to walk in because you would just sink in.  But it wasn’t hot, not even warm.  That I discovered is because the sun reflects off of it.

In due time we completed the loop and where on our way back out.

Words fail me when trying to describe this place.  Awesome.  Amazing.  Awe inspiring.  This is like no other place on earth.  It is just spectacular.  Not been here yet?  Put it on your bucket list of must places to visit.

Our day on The Road of Retirement is now coming to a close.  We are absolutely thrilled that we were able to visit The White Sands National Monument.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit the The White Sands Missile Park and Museum.  We’re settled in at our new home and enjoying the park.  We did some shopping and located the shop where we have to take Graybeard.  We have more storms on the horizon so it looks like it is going to be another interesting evening.  So be it.  We’ll take it as it comes.

Thanks again for coming with us.  We always enjoy your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!