April 2017 - Kona Kitty Arrives

If you remember from our Facebook posts in March we sat through a horrible dust storm before finally being able to leave Deming, NM. But we did make it out on time, April 1st we started on our way and here is the link for April's journey http://www.rvparky.com/trip/5803817986162688. Our main goal this month is to finally adopt our new traveling companion, Kona the kitty aka Mr Kit-T-Kat.

The trip from Deming to Alamogordo, NM was uneventful, but then we turned onto Hwy 70 and started across the mountains and Apache Flats. While we were met with some beautiful country near Ruidoso, NM at 8000 feet, we also were snowed on…lol Yep, April 1^st and snow.

It was a short lived flurry and soon we were passing by the place where John Tunstall was killed. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/murder-ignites-lincoln-county-war  His murder led to the Lincoln County Wars and this is where the Regulators and Billy the Kid truly came to life. It seems no matter where we go we are constantly surrounded by history. Unfortunately this part of history seems to be rapidly falling to the way side with our younger generation, such a shame.

As we rolled over the pass and off the mountain range we were headed toward one of the greatest government cover ups in history. Uh, I mean a simple confusion by a few townspeople. Yep - Roswell, NM. Even though it was April 1^st there wasn’t any fooling in this part of the country - we were surrounded by Alien stories, alien artifacts,  local believers and travelers who either believed or wanted to.

Bottomless Lakes State Park

We had reservations to stay at a great little state park that was just a few miles out of Roswell - the Bottomless Lakes State Park.  We had read mixed reviews but are pleased to say it has our seal of approval – especially at $18 per night. Saying this place was interesting would be selling is short, but it was interesting and totally out of place in this flatland, who woulda thought.

It didn’t take long to get settled in and we were back living quietly. The lakes had a couple of nice trails to hike and Susan and I took full advantage. Aww but the lure of aliens continued to tug at Susan so we found ourselves standing in front of the International UFO Museum and Research Center  http://www.roswellufomuseum.com/  where we found aliens. Of course Susan had to get pictures standing in front of the little Silver men…..yep, SILVER not

She is loving this - glad she talked me into coming

GREEN. Hey, we were looking right at them and they were silver. Anyway we spent a while examining all the newspaper documents and well, some ridiculousness, before finally succumbing to the fact that aliens had POSSIBLY, MAYBE crashed in Roswell….lol

We had planned a second destination in Roswell, the Roswell Museum and Art Center http://roswell-nm.gov/308/Roswell-Museum-Art-Center . However, upon arrival to this massive building we were disappointed to find it was closed on Monday’s….ugggh. So we left Roswell without seeing the art museum, but still scratching our heads about those aliens and headed back to the Bottomless Lake.

For fact clarity, the lakes really are not bottomless, but are very deep…lol We were due to leave this water hole in the flat land on April 4^th. We awoke early to make the final leg to see Kona, ahhh but it is never that easy. We were once again met with howling winds in excess of 40 MPH and after a few short minutes checking the weather to find it was only going to get worse, which it did with gusts to over 60 MPH, we decided to stay another day. Our sight was booked for the evening but the park found us a different spot where we relocated to and hunkered down to ride out yet another wind storm.

It always seems though that when plans delay good things come and this was no different. The evening before, Susan and I met a very nice young lady and her daughter, Shannon and Tallulah. The layover allowed them to come over and visit. We really enjoyed spending the evening with both of them and look forward to crossing paths again.

The next day we were rolling toward Texas and the Palo Duro Canyon http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/palo-duro-canyon which is about half an hour south of Amarillo.  While there were still residual winds, the trip across the plains were not bad and we arrived without incident. Once we had checked in with the park ranger we unhooked the truck and began our journey into the canyon. We had read differing stories about the road in and found them to be correct. It was a 10% grade of over a mile and hairpin blind turns made it a bit interesting as the coach easily took every inch of the highway navigating the way down!

Looking into Palo Duro Canyon from the road at the top

Wow, what a view does not describe this place!  It is dubbed the “second Grand Canyon” and while nowhere near as big as the real Grand Canyon, it is still very impressive. What we found was a State park that was laid out for people to enjoy. We have rarely seen a park of any kind laid out so well. From roads to trails, ample pull outs, four RV campgrounds, several tent camp areas, an Amphitheater…etc was something to behold. I could go on and on about this place, but we were there with a single mission, to meet Kona the “Travel Kitty” for the first time. He was being delivered from Oklahoma and we were ready.

 Shortly after we arrived my mom and aunt showed up in mom’s RV with that special delivery. I suspect it was a good trip as my mom has a kitty (Calvin) from last year’s litter (half brother to Kona) AND a kitty (Diesel Hobbs) from this years litter (full brother and litter mate to Kona). If that isn’t enough they also had Patches (Poodle) and Pickles (a Poodle/something mix)…lol all of this was in a 26’ RV.  My aunt also has a litter mate to Calvin but they decided 3 kittens and two dogs in one small camper with two humans was enough so Lex did not make the trip to the canyon.

We were thrilled to see everyone once again and to meet Kona for the first time. All we can say about him, he is a handful, afraid of nothing, loves everyone, requires to be near you and supplies endless laughs and periodic frustations….lol He will be a great addition to the road show.  Kona is a Ragdoll kitten, so he should grow to be a pretty big boy.

We had a great visit with mom and Roberta and all the animals, AND took a trip to Amarillo for lunch at the Big Texan Steakhouse http://bigtexan.com/ …. but after only a short four days they were on the road again headed to other destinations. We will see them again in September if our paths do not cross again before that.

We all shared Big Texan onion rings

Once the family was gone Susan and I decided we must adventure a little. I didn’t know whether I would be able to walk enough to enjoy some of the trails or not but I was bound and determined to give it a try. We started out on a couple short trails, ½ mile or so, then stepped that up to about 1.5 miles. I wasn’t doing too badly so we decided to kick it up a notch.

The next day we set out on a 6.5 mile round trip journey to the Lighthouse Rock. Man oh man was that a neat hike. The trail was pretty good for the most part. It was wide, relatively flat and not too hard of a terrain until we reached the final ½ mile of the first leg of the hike. At that point it was nearly straight up, rugged, rocky, loose silt, you name it.  It was a tough climb! During a brief stop to regain footing I looked back to Susan who was maybe 100’ behind me and asked if she was ok. She said she was but didn’t know if she was going to continue. I completely understood and encouraged her to remain within her comfort zone. I climbed a bit further, looked back and not surprisingly she was climbing again. That is one thing I love about this woman, she has determination and grit.

Susan was still considering this ledge...

When we finally reached the top, we stopped again to just look in awe. The last few feet was climbing up on a ledge that was only about a foot wide, hugging the side of the mountain and inching to the much bigger rock formation to walk on. Oh and there was nothing but straight down from the 1’ ledge. I told Susan I was going to try and I climbed up. Now 30 years ago I would have done a back flip up on the ledge, not now. Not being as nimble as I once was I was fighting an inner fear but I made it. Susan wasn’t too sure! But again after just a couple minutes she took a deep breath and that inner drive took over. In just a few minutes she was on top of the world with me. I honestly couldn’t do anything but give her a hug and a big kiss and tell her we did it.

I was so proud of her, actually of both of us, but for two different reason. For me because I have had so many days over the recent months that I couldn’t walk across the room let alone hike 3.5 miles, climb a mountain and hug a ledge to reach the top. For Susan because I knew her fear of heights had not won out over her determination to succeed. I guess you would have just had to be there.

We made it to the Lighthouse Rock

After about 15 minutes or so of being on top of the world, it was time to go down and start the trek back to the truck. Down sucked worse than up but we managed, laughed and carried on. The remainder of the hike was pretty uneventful except that we were worn out. We went on to conquer a few more hikes, explore some more of God’s awesome creations and just have a great time.

One of the great things about this life is – we meet people all over and often unexpectedly.  One day while we were at the top of the canyon checking emails we saw what looked like a familiar rig pulling in through the park gates. We had met David and Sondra Kahanamoku in Willis, TX back in the winter for the first time and had had no other contact with them until now. Then poof they pull into the same State Park we are in…lol It was good to visit with them and get to know them better.

Other friends we had only met on the computer but as happens with many full time

Lunch with Ed and Patricia

RV’ers they became Facebook friends. Ed and Patricia Lipson arrived in Amarillo shortly after we arrived at Palo Duro and when schedules collide, it must be time to meet.…lol We met them in person for the first time for lunch at the Stripped Zebra Soda Shoppe (no joking) in Canyon, TX. We all seemed to hit it off and they followed us back to the park after lunch. After they toured the park they stopped by our rig and we had another good visit.

A couple days prior to departure from the canyon Susan and I took a trip to Amarillo for a bit of “site seeing”. We went to the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum https://www.aqha.com/museum, the Amarillo Zoo https://zoo.amarillo.gov/, and an RV Museum http://rvmuseum.net/.

AQHA Museum

The AQHA Museum was pretty neat. However, it is a place I would have found more impressive and interesting in my younger years. I haven’t owned a horse in over 30+ years and have only ridden once in the past 10 years. If you are into horses, horse racing and horse history and are in the area – it is worth seeing.

The zoo was small but we were pretty much the ONLY people there. We ran into one other person when we first arrived  - that was it! I have never been to a zoo and been the only people in the whole park.  But we had the place to ourselves so we took our time, talked to all the animals and just enjoyed. They did not have a large collection but they did have Lions and Tigers and Bears – OH MY! We timed that excursion just right though - as we were leaving two tour buses full of students showed up, that was close…lol

After the zoo Susan and I headed to Ed and Patricia’s rig for another visit and to see there rig (something I was dying to look at because it was the first 53' Powerhouse coach I had ever seen). We had another great visit. Ed told me and showed me everything about his rig while Susan and Patricia chatted. It was Ed and Patricia who convinced us we needed to visit the RV museum. Susan had read information on it and we had thought about visiting it but were not sure. The Lipsons assured us it was a must see and they were right.

Museum's in back - just ask and they will show you where

And we learned something...

So for our next stop of the day Susan and I headed to the Jack Sisemore Traveland RV dealership and their RV museum http://www.sisemoretraveland.com/. This was basically a man’s toys he had collected over time and decided to turn them into a museum…..it was very cool to say the least. He had the Flexible RV, the red and white one that was used in the Robin Williams Movie “ RV”. He had the very first Airstream trailer, serial number 1. There was the very first Itasca motorhome, serial number 1. He had MANY Harley Davidson motorcycles and some of them were also serial number 1. There was a Bultaco dirt bike, serial number 1. He had a 1918 Harley left hand side car (1 of only two ever made). He had a HD motorcycle Army edition  and a travel trailer that were used in WWII. Inside the trailer was a battleship photo that has been signed by the past 17 Presidents (not including Obama and Trump). There were also many more motorcycles and RV’s that I can’t even remember. Again Susan and I had perfect timing  and were the only ones in there. And just like at the zoo, as we walked out they were escorting in a tour bus full of Texas travel coordinators for a tour…lol. If you enjoy RVs or just good history and are ever in Amarillo, put this place on your list to see.

Then *Poof* just like that it was time to leave the Canyon. Susan and I had even extended our stay there by two days - we tried for four, but being Easter weekend they were booked. So on Good Friday morning we set off west and headed to Tijeras, NM and the Hidden Valley RV Park http://hiddenvalley-rvpark.com/ .

This place was once a KOA and actually it wasn’t bad considering we had read some bad reviews. But like most bad reviews, what you typically find and what people really complain about are two different things…lol. Because we had extended our stay in Palo Duro Canyon we only had three nights in Tijeras, so we had to sight see fast. We booked this park through our RPI membership so rates were only $13 per day ($7.50 site fee, $2.50 electric fee and $3.00 for 50 amp service).

 The highlight of this stop was a 200 mile motorcycle ride

http://www.rvparky.com/trip/4876755813269504, part of which took us up the Turquoise Trail (Hwy 14) and the Sandia Crest Byway (part of the Cibola National

Forest) https://www.go-newmexico.com/Sandia-Crest-Byway/#.   The road to Sandia Crest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandia_Mountains was only 14 miles but climbed

Albuquerque from above

to an elevation of  over 10,400 feet and some of the most hairpin turn roads you have ever seen. Once on top it was breathtaking. From the top looking east you could see over Albuquerque and the view to the northwest was the hills leading to Santa Fe.  Oh yea, and if you looked down at your feet, there was snow. We didn’t stay at the top long, but the ride up and back was pretty impressive.

Sandia Crest - SNOW!

Once back down the mountain we again started up the Turquoise Trail http://www.turquoisetrail.org/ and headed on to Santa Fe. Along the way we passed through a couple of old mining towns and among them was Madrid, NM. Now if you have never heard of Madrid shame on you! If you ever saw the movie “Wild Hogs” you saw Madrid. Much of the movie was filmed right there at “Maggie’s Diner”, which really wasn’t a diner at all and was a Hollywood prop that was built specifically for the movie..lol. The whole town though was pretty cool with lots of people, many food choices, and a vast array of shopping opportunities. We finished our day by continuing to Santa Fe for lunch at my favoreite place Taco Bell. The ride home was again very windy – Susan is pretty sure the wind never stops anywhere west of Texas.

After leaving Tijeras we were headed to the little town in the middle of nowhere, Pie Town, NM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_Town,_New_Mexico and an event that had been promised for quite a while. Now Pie Town is a tiny place (population as of 2010 was 186) on the Continental Divide noted for what else but homemade pies…lol

We pulled into the Pie Town RV Park http://www.pietownrvpark.com/, yep they had one. Rates are $25 per day or $135 per week. They do have a monthly rate that is even more reasonable but we didn’t have a reason to stay there for a month. We quickly settled in as our goal destination was planned for the next day.

East Sugarloaf Mountain

Pies are good but they were not why we were there. Susan and I had a destination 8708 feet above sea level, just south of Datil, NM. We had a date with East Surgarloaf Mountain and Susan’s dad, Donald Hyde. Donald used to have a place in the Homestead subdivision at the base of the mountain.  He passed away in January of 2005 and a couple of her family members had made the trek up the mountain several years ago to scatter his ashes to the winds atop the majestic setting. Susan was unable to go with them on that journey but I had promised her we would go together one day.

April 18, 2017 became the promised day.  We knew what lay ahead - a climb that was filled with expectation, adrenalin, heartfelt thoughts and even a bit of dread. This climb was essentially straight up and without any type of trail at all, just Susan, me and the mountain. When we arrived at the base of the mountain we took a four wheel drive fire road for a few miles around the mountain scouting out the best possible place to climb.

Finally we decided there was no good spot so we parked, got our backpack, trekking sticks, sunscreen and away we went. I must say I had already been having issue with

That looks like the top to me!??!

low oxygen levels due to the elevation as the base of the mountain was a little over 7000 feet and I was dreading this climb. But I knew I could not let my wife down, not today and not on this event. We struggled but we decided after a short time the best plan was to move up maybe 50 feet or so and sit a moment to catch our breath. We took our time and yes, being persistent pays off.  It took about 1.5 hours or so of climbing and we made it, or so we thought. We had actually made it to within maybe 100 feet of the top. The remainder of the way was straitgh up with no solid ground and more dangerous than the benefit, so we decided we were there. The only thing up there besides some stray cactus, rocks, a few flowers and a few scrub trees were tons of Rocky Mountain Sheep tracks, they were everywhere. We laughed and claimed we were as good as the sheep, just much slower..lol

What a view!

Anyway, after a short time on top of East Sugarloaf Mountain enjoying the beauty of

Straight down - almost

our viewpoint, a few photos, some memories and a moment of thanks, we headed down. The down trek probably scared us way more than the up. The footing was horrible, loose gravel, large rocks that rolled under foot and yes, it was still steep. Thank goodness for our trekking sticks as mine saved me at least a couple times from a certain fall and more than likely a roll for a couple hundred feet at least.

We finally made it back to the base of the mountain - we had just completed our mission. I hoped Susan felt fulfilled, I know I felt so proud to be able give her this moment but more importantly to share this moment with her.

Remember how I mentioned earlier that we “thought” we were at the top? Well when we were finally at the bottom and driving away we realized the “actual” peak was behind the one we were at…oops! From our vantage point on the mountain we could see a short rise but it was not the absolute top. Where we had thought we were within 100 feet or so, we were more like 200 yards from being there. I asked Susan if we needed to re-climb to get to the actual top and I was happy to hear the simple word…..NO.

We climbed that mountain - HOT DAMN

With that undertaking out of the way we headed to Pie Town Café http://www.pietown.com/   and had a burger!!!  We did not have pie at the Café but a couple of days later we did have pie at the Pie-O-Neer http://www.pieoneer.com/. Both restaurants have been featured on CBS Sunday Morning on the Food Network. The Pio-O-Neer has a host of other accolades and awards and you can read about those on the website. We can honestly say both places had GREAT food and if you want more information than that you just have to go to Pie Town and try it for yourself.

Where ever we go I always look to see if there are any good motorcycle roads and this time was no different. Pie Town is just a short ride from one of the top 10 motorcycle roads in the United States, AZ Highway 191, aka The Coronado Trail, aka the Devils Highway http://www.rvparky.com/trip/5300335755657216. Susan and I were fortunate enough to have time and be in the right location so away we went. This was an awesome trip, the turns, the curves, the thrill of riding along the edge of mountains with lines of sight going straight down. Even though I know Susan had a moment here and there of uncertainty, it was two lanes of magnificence and we rode it!!

Our next stop after leaving  Pie Town was Show Low, AZ to meet with our good

Randy and Deb

friends Randy and Debra LaBrash. If you have followed our blogs you will know that we met Deb and Randy last year in a swimming pool at Thousand Trails Lake Texoma and we have run into them a few more times since then. While we didn’t get a camp ground right in Show Low we were able to get set up only 15 miles away in Clay Springs, AZ at the Arizona High Country Campground http://www.arizonahighcountrycampground.com/. It is a nice quiet little park that took a bit of wiggling to get our big house into and set up, but we made it. Park owners have had the campground for a few years now and have been slowly making improvements. The daily rate was $35 and more than what we normally allow ourselves; however, the park accepts Passport American discount for two days so our four day stay was only $105 plus tax. They do have a great monthly rate of $375 plus electric but we rarely sit still that long.

Shortly after set up Randy and Deb stopped by for a visit and it was almost like Christmas as they came bearing gift!  Ok, it was stuff that I had ordered and had sent ahead to meet us but it felt like gifts.  Deb had many things planned for us to do and this included a superb “tour” of the surrounding countryside – complete with history and fun facts along the way. And boy did we get a tour! I don’t even know where all we went, but I am sure we didn’t miss much…lol We saw lakes, Rocky Mountain Sheep, more lakes, SNOW, deer, campgrounds, a mountain community named Greer, AZ, another lake, the little Colorado River and lunch. Yep they even feed us at a neat little restaurant, The Rendezvous Diner, in Greer that was unlike most things seen in life, but man the food was good.

After all of that they still had one more trick up their sleeve and away we went to Eagar, AZ where we stopped at the 26 Bar Ranch. Now if you have no idea the significance in the 26 Bar Ranch, it was once called the Milky Way Ranch and was owned by the Mars Candy family. Ohhh but that aint enough because in 1965 it was bought by none other than “The Duke”….Yep we were sitting in front of John Wayne’s Ranch and while we could not go in, Randy had a great story about a previous visit when they were able to go into the home. I could just imagine John Wayne riding his horse across over the hill….  it was pretty cool just to look at the place from the road. After a full day of touring and a great lunch they finally brought us back so that we could go home and relax.

The Duke's Place

I told you we stayed at a nice campground there but there was more to the campground than meets the eye. Low and behold it backs right up to National Forrest land and hundreds of miles of back roads. While Susan and I don’t have an ATV or a UTV it did give us some really nice places to hike and walk. Did I mention a UTV may be on our list of purchases?

Our time there was short but we did have time for one more meeting with our friends for breakfast and they joined us at the coach for Susan’s Taco Tuesday before we hit the road. Thanks so much for your hospitality Randy and Deb, ya’ll made this four day stop a ton-o-fun and we look forward to seeing you again!!!

Our next stop was Bullhead City, AZ http://www.bullheadcity.com/  at Ridgeview Resort http://www.sunriseresorts.com/resort-locations/ridgeview-rv-resort/.  We booked this campground under our RPI membership so daily rate was only $16 per day ($10 daily campsite fee, $3 daily resort fee and $3 daily surcharge for 50amp service). We had planned to be in Bullhead City for two weeks but to stay at two different campgrounds – both were RPI parks but the second park was booked during our first week. So, we had originally booked to be at this campground for only one of the two weeks but when they informed us they would be able to accommodate us for our entire stay – we decided not to go anywhere.  

Bullhead City is located on the Colorado River and just across the river is Laughlin,

Laughlin at night from our RV - close enough :)

Nevada. Little did we know when we booked this campground that we were going to be there for the Laughlin River Run motorcycle event. Even though I LOVE motorcycles and Susan loves to ride, neither of us really care for big crowds or roads full of two wheel cowboys. So instead of partaking in the “events” we laid low, stayed out of the mess, soaked up some sun and enjoyed the hottub. It may have been over 100 degrees some days but the nights were still cool and unfortunately the pool was not warm enough to swim.  

While the weekend bikers were in Laughlin, we did escape and took a short motorcycle ride to Las Vegas. We had decided to look at the Thousand Trails Las Vegas campground and the FamCamp at Nellis AFB to see which one we wanted to move to when we left Bullhead City. We had heard the Vegas TT was rather cramped and after a very brief ride through it was a pretty easy to see that what we had heard was correct. So we drove on to the FamCamp and found one of the cleanest most spacious parks we’ve seen to date. Bet you can guess which one we decided on but more on that next month...

Relaxing with a cold one - that's my girl!

Beyond that we took life easy as daily temps exceeded 100 deg and seemed to spend a few extra hours by the pool and relaxing in the shade or inside. Awww, April in the Mojave Desert! We arrive when most people are leaving but that way there are not so many people….lol


See you in May!