Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:  Kiva RV Park & Horse Motel

June 29, 2020

Temperature 97 Degrees

Worship At Our Home Church In Colts Neck, NJ

Foraging for Staples

If You Just Look You Can Always Find Something Interesting – M Mountain

Time to get caught up.  Yes, I know I missed a day.  I just, well, I just sort of forgot to post yesterday.  Maybe because we really hadn’t done anything.  Nor discovered anything interesting.  Ah, but what a change a day can make.

We’ll begin by going back a day to Sunday morning.

We began our Sunday morning with worship at our home church in Colts Neck, NJ.

Various members of the congregation read the morning scripture lesson which was The Sermon On The Mount.

There was special music provided by two members of the choir.

Pastor Scott delivered the morning message.

The service concluded with the singing of Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.

Now we jump forward to today.

Knowing that Elvira would need fuel when we left, and knowing that after we left this area there would be no travel plaza for over 200 miles we decided to see what we could find.  We headed south in the direction we would be going to discover what we could find and lo and behold we found this Phillips 66 Travel Plaza.  Right off Route 25, easy off and easy on.  The diesel fuel lanes are wide and well spaced.  The only negative being they do not participate in our fuel discount program so we’ll have to pay full price.

Continuing south along Route 25 we discovered more of those ever impressive mountains that are everywhere in this area.  However, the best was yet to come and it would really pique my curiosity.  More about this in a minute.

We continued south to Socorro and our real destination which was Walmart.  We needed to go foraging for some basic supplies.  We both agreed based on what we saw today this has to be the safest state we have been in to date.  99% of everyone we encountered was wearing a mask and practicing social distancing.  This state definitely is taking COVID-19 seriously as should everyone.

Leaving Walmart we decided to stop at McDonald’s for a cold drink.  As we left the parking lot I spotted it.  Look close, at the top of the mountain in this picture is a large letter M.  I just had to know, what was this all about.

Once home I went to the internet to try and figure it out.  Here is what I discovered.

 

The M is a lasting symbol for the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT).  The school is a public university in Socorro, New Mexico. offering over 30 bachelor of science degrees in technology, the sciences, engineering, management, and technical communication, as well as graduate degrees at the masters and doctoral levels.

The M was placed on the mountain way back in the early 1900’s.  Since then every year there is an annual trek to the letter to repaint it with marble dust and water.

Hikers start at a staging area at the base of the mountain and then hike about 2 miles over rough terrain with a rise in elevation of about 2,250 feet.

As is the tradition at NMT for more than 100 years, students are encouraged to carry 50-pound bags of marble dust to the M. Once at the top, they dump the marble dust onto the rocks under the supervision of spotters.

Regarding the annual event one graduate of NMT stated:  Painting the ‘M’ is much like going to school at Tech – it’s difficult, but worth the effort.

So there you have it.  There is something to be discovered, something to be learned no matter where you find yourself.  Including here in the middle of seemingly no where.

That’s it for our day on The Road of Retirement.  We’re hanging in there despite the heat.  We’re also finding things to keep us occupied and busy.  But not too busy that we can’t get in a nap every now and then!

Thanks for hanging in there with us.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira 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 never been before.

See you on down the road!

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:  Kiva RV Park & Horse Motel

June 27, 2020

Temperature 94 Degrees

Conclusion of our tour through. . . 

Petrified Forest National Park

&

Painted Desert

How Far Can We Go When The Low Fuel Light Comes On

Today is just another day in paradise for us.  Yes, it is hot once again but so be it.  Elvira is partially shaded on both the driver and passenger side.  We have reflectex in the bedroom window and in the shower skylight, the two hot spots right now.  What this means, bottom line, is that the AC doesn’t run continually; while still maintaining a comfortable 79 degrees inside.

Time now to get back on the road and conclude our tour of the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert.

This was our next stop.

Moving along we come now to the area known as The Tepees.

The Tepees consist of colorful eroded conical hill formations that resemble teepees in the southern section of the park. They are located between Newspaper Rock and the Blue Mesa loop road.

The tepees consist of thick deposits of grey, blue, purple, and green mudstones and white minor sandstone beds, and are colored by iron, manganese, and other minerals.

They are absolutely stunning and take your breath away when you see them for the first time.  Much as with the Grand Canyon neither words nor pictures does them justice, you have to see them for yourself.

The next turnout we came to was for

The turnout takes you to a 3.5 mile loop road through Blue Mesa.

Displaying green, blue, lavender, white and brown banding, these Blue Mesa deposits are thought to be at least 220 million years old. Buried within these ancient layers of mudstone are telltale signs of an ancient conifer forest.

Driving the Mesa loop road we also catch our first glimpse of the petrified logs that give the Petrified Forest National Park its name.

Leaving Blue Mesa our next turnout was at Crystal Forest.

This is where you will find a fantastic display of petrified logs dating back to the time of the dinosaurs.  A hike was necessary in order to see them up close and in person.  But, it was well worth it even in the heat of the day.

The massive petrified logs were scattered everywhere.

This explains how the petrified logs came to be

• 218 million years ago this spot was the edge of a river channel
• fallen trees crisscrossed the channel and were buried beneath layers of silt
• over time silica enriched groundwater percolated through the trunks replacing the organic matter in the wood and creating a replica in quartz
• continuing erosion eventually brought the quartz logs back to the surface

So who cut the wood?  No one.  Eventually cracks develop in the petrified log and they break off in pieces perpendicular to their length.

Time now to get on our way.  We missed a few turnoffs and the visitor center at the end of the park where we ended up was closed.  It was a tour we are so glad we took.  The desert here is so vibrant, so colorful and so stunning.  Words and pictures simply cannot do justice to the natural beauty that is here.  If you’ve been here before we hope we stirred up some wonderful memories.  If you’ve never been here before we hope we’ve encouraged you to put it on your bucket list.  It is not to be missed.

Leaving Crystal Forest we noticed it for the first time.  It being the low fuel warning light on the dash!  We had been so engrossed with the beauty around us we had not noticed it before.  Yikes!  How far could we go?  How much fuel did we actually have left?  We were not even completely out of the park yet.  We had never, ever let the tank get this low before.

We finally came to the exit for the park and not a gas station in sight.  All we could do was head north toward the Interstate (no idea how far that was) and hope before we had to get out and push we would find a gas station.  The GPS said there was a gas station in 16 miles, if it was correct.

Yes, we made it – with a gallon left! We resolved there and then to never, ever let the tank get below a half a tank.  Regardless of the price per gallon at the closest gas station.

All in all we had a great time.  A fantastic tour through some absolutely stunning landscape.  Along with a bit of high drama following.  What more could one ask for in their day!

That’s it for today on The Road of Retirement.  We’re stumped as to where to go in this area since so far everything we’ve discovered we’ve also found closed due to Covid-19.  Ah well, we’ll make the most of our time here and do what we can.

I’ve said it before and I will continue to say it with every breath that I take we are among the most blessed and fortunate couple on the face of the earth.  So I close with this

Thanks for stopping by today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira 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 never been before.

See you on down the road!

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:  Kiva RV Park & Horse Motel

June 26, 2020

Temperature 97 Degrees

Petrified Forest National Park

Painted Desert

Someone please tell me what time it really is, please?  When we arrived yesterday we never bothered to check what time zone we were in nor what time it really was.  One thing was for sure, all the shows on DISH were seemingly at a strange hour.  This morning I finally decided I had to know.  Guess what?  We gained an hour.  We are now only two hours behind family and friends on the East coast.

Let’s go back a couple of days.  While we were at Homolovi State Park we decided to do some sightseeing before we left.  We, as you know, went to Standing On The Corner Park in Winslow, Arizona.

 

We also decided to visit Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert.  The National Park Service would lead you to believe that the Painted Desert is part of the Petrified Forest National Park.

The way I see it, though, it is actually just the opposite.  The Painted Desert covers 7,500 square miles and extends northward to the Grand Canyon and it contains all of  the Petrified Forest National Park. Well, whatever, both are well worth taking the time to visit.

We began our tour of both at the Visitor Center.

While here we toured exhibits, had Barbara’s National Park’s Passport Book stamped and met with a ranger to gather brochures and acquaint ourselves with not-to-be-missed sites on the twenty eight mile drive through the two parks.

It was now time to begin the drive.  We debated, should we or should we not fuel up before we left the Visitor Center.  The price of gas was rather expensive.  We decided not to.  A decision that would come back to haunt us later on.

Let’s get on the road.  We’re at mile one, only twenty seven more miles to go.

The first overlook after leaving the visitor center.  Are you ready?

Our first view of the Painted Desert.  I stood and looked in awe.  What an incredible landscape, vast and colorful – where surprising shapes suddenly spring out of the endless plains.

 

It may be hard to imagine but the desert stretching away in front of you was once hot, humid, lush and green.  It was a tropical rainforest with abundant vegetation where dinosaurs and reptiles roamed, fish, claims, snails and crayfish moved through rivers and giant 180 foot conifers reached to the sky.

 

 The color variations we see today are the result of iron in the sediments and the length of time the layer was exposed to air during the oxidation process.

Moving on.

This is the Painted Desert Inn that began as a petrified wood and native stone house built by homesteader Herbert David Lore prior to 1920. It operated as a tourist attraction, offering food, lodging, and tours for nearly twelve years

In the late 1940s, the Painted Desert Inn became a Harvey House when the Fred Harvey Company assumed management.  It was a popular waypoint for travelers along Route 66 (more about this later).

In 1987 it was designated a National Historic Landmark.  Today it is a museum but, unfortunately, like so many attractions we’ve come across due to Covid-19 it was closed.

Time to get back on the road.

This pull out is the highest point along the driving route and it provides a 360° view of the Painted Desert.

The colors, hues, and shapes just blew me away.  Isn’t it beautiful?

To think that dinosaurs and reptiles once roamed this land.

If this panoramic view were all the park had to offer, it would be worth a trip.

But there is much more to come.

The next stop on the route is an overlook for Newspaper Rock, where more than 650 petroglyphs dating back 2,000 years are displayed.

Between 1250 and 1380 AD, ancestral Puebloan people inhabited this location.

Petroglyphs adorn multiple rock faces along the perimeter of the prehistoric village. Pueblo inhabitants scratched images and symbols in black desert varnish to reveal lighter stone beneath.

The real thing.

We’re at the half way point in our twenty eight mile drive through the park and we’re going to call it a night.  Much more to come over the next couple of days.

And so another day on The Road of Retirement draws to a close.  We have a great spot and a wonderful new home.  The only thing we did today was to go to Home Depot and Jersey Mike’s.  Barbara got caught up on our laundry.  I, on the other hand finished my outside arrival chores.  I scrubbed the bugs off the windshield and put our privacy screen up.  A rather easy day for both of us.  It’s just the kind of day we like after a long day on the road.  Time now to put our feet up and have a glass of wine.

Thanks for stopping by today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira 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 never been before.

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:  Kiva RV Park & Horse Motel

June 25, 2020

Temperature 97 Degrees

Travel Day

We knew that today would be a long day on the road so we decided to get as much done the night before so we could get an early start.

We decided we would even pull the front slides in before going to bed.  That’s when things got interesting.  I pressed the drivers side slide switch – nothing.  OK.  I pressed the passenger side slide switch – nothing.  This was not good.  Nor funny.  What in the world was going on.  One more time.  This time I pressed and held the switch for about a second and then released it.  Just like that the slide began to come in.  Same for the other side.  Come on now, don’t tell me we have a ghost onboard Elvira also?

The next morning we were up early determined to be on the road by 8 am.  The back slides came in without an issue.  Time now to raise the jacks.  The last time I did this I was greeted with a loud bang.  This time they came up without a whimper.  We do, indeed, have a very interesting rig.

Time 8:06 am and we were on the road.  Once again the generator was running, the AC was on, and the refrigerator was doing just fine.

I decided to experiment some more today with Elvira.  Once on the highway I set the cruise control for 63 mph and decided I would leave it set while going up hill and down dale.  How would it do on the hills?  Would it overheat?  Would it be able to keep the set speed?

The answer to the above questions:  no problem with the hills; it did not overheat; yes, it kept the set speed without an issue.  Some more valuable lessons learned.  I’m beginning to finally relax while driving Elvira.

One big mistake today, we never set up the camera.  I mean we passed some absolutely jaw-dropping, spectacular scenery.  This is a mistake we’ll never make again.

Today was the longest drive day for us in a long time.  We drove for a total of five hours with only one short stop.  We were planning to stop for a bit at a rest area but everyone we passed was closed.

Did you catch the little sign in the upper right corner?  We are definitely in cowboy country.

No missing the stop and register sign.  But which way was the office?  Was it to the left?  Or to the right?

Kudos to my sweetheart she found it right quick.

 

Before she even finished registering a gentleman in a golf cart said follow me.  We are in row one, site two.

Here is our new home for the next twelve days.  Our site is a pull through,  hard packed dirt, reasonably level, 50 amp, and with good site separation.  We even have some shade on either side which is especially appreciated in New Mexico during these warmer months.

We even have enough room on one side for the car.  I could have pulled up a bit farther but stopping where I did

put all utilities right at hand.

So what do we think of our new home?  Our initial impression is a positive one.  The park is neat, well taken care of, and there doesn’t appear to be any trash lying around.  Our kind of home.  The only issue is there is nothing, like not a thing in the immediate area to do.  What we did discover in other surrounding areas was, unfortunately, closed.  I believe I sense a Mexican Train Marathon about to begin!

That was our very long drive day on The Road of Retirement.  About those reluctant slides from the night before, they went out without an issue.  I’m just hoping they come back in the same way when the time arises.  One more thing, I decided while setting up I would check the water in my house batteries.  Boy, am I ever glad I did.  The four six volt batteries took almost a gallon of distilled water!  Dodged a bullet this time.  Once again God has blessed us this day.  A safe trip.  A wonderful new home.  Problems averted.  Yes, God is good, all the time.  Well, it’s been a long day so if you’ll excuse me I’m going to get my PJ’s on and turn in early.

In closing.

Thanks for stopping by today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira 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 never been before.

See you on down the road!