21 March 2021 Kirkland NM to Delores CO

 It was a short drive from Kirkland New Mexico to our next stop Delores Colorado. Neither one of us had been is this part of Colorado before which is a shame since it is very scenic with lots of interesting rock buttes. Its only a 1.5 hour drive on US64, to US410 to US160 that is relatively flat, at least no really big hills to climb. We are staying at West View RV Resort ($35 per night with weekly discount) just north of Cortez. It’s a pretty new park and looks really nice. They are in the process of adding a new section with over a hundred sites, a new group patio and three new cabins. Sites are spaced well apart and have nice grass lawns. Quite a change from the gravel parking lot in Kirtland. We did drag the back stabilizers (no damage) in the gravel as we pulled into the site, since it seems to be sunken a bit in the middle. We have two national parks and four national monuments to explore over the next two weeks. 

20 March 2021 Shiprock

 Having seen Shiprock in the distance over the last several days, we were looking forward to seeing it up close. Ship rock is located on the Navajo Nation reservation. It is a monadnock tower that rises 1,583 feet above the surrounding terrain. It was originally the neck of an ancient volcano, 70 million years ago. The surrounding rock eroded away leaving it towering above the surrounding terrain. It can be seen from over 100 miles away and was a major navigation marker for explorers. We drove down US491 before turning onto Indian Service Route 13. We drove along route 13 until it crossed a lava dike that extends out from Shiprock. Along the base of the lava dike there is a rough dirt road you can take all the way to the base of Shiprock. A high clearance vehicle is a must. The Behemoth navigated it with no issues. We did not go all the way to the base, but roughly halfway, where there was a nice view of the rock, before heading back. We did not want to do anything that would cause the local Navajo any concern. Then we headed back to the Wanderer where David began the tedious task of doing our federal income taxes. Grrrrrrrrr.

Shiprock

19 March 2021 Chaco Canyon

 After visiting Aztec Ruins NM earlier in the week, we decided we needed to visit Chaco Culture National Historic Park. After researching the park, we determined our best option was to go in the north entrance. The roads into the park or dirt roads with limited maintenance. There are warnings on the web site that the roads to the southern entrance can be VERY rough if not impassible. The roads to the northern entrance are gravel until the last 8 miles to the park entrance when they turn to dirt. We headed east on US-64 and then south on US-550 until we can to NM7500. We followed the signs for the park. About 2 miles on NM7900, we turned onto NM7950 shortly after we turned onto NM7950 the pavement ended and were on gravel. The road had a LOT of washboard. Leslie was driving and she did not like the washboard. We kept on going, but it really did not get better. About 8 miles from the park entrance, the county maintenance ended and the road turned to dirt. It was a little rough in places not easily passable. We were a bit surprised by the amount of traffic on the road. When we hit the park entrance, the roads turned out to be paved. We stopped to get our entrance sign pictures before heading for the visitor center. We stopped at the first overlook which was for Fajada Butte in the distance. We were surprised to read that there was an ancient sundial on the top of the butte, which along with three large boulder slabs, was used by the ancient Puebloians to identify the spring and summer solstice and the equinoxes. We gave Etta a chance to walk around before proceeding on to the visitor center. The visitor center was closed but they had information on a table out front, including maps and information of trails. But we could not find the park stamp. As we stood there, a ranger stepped out of the visitor center and we were surprised to see it was the same ranger we ran into at Aztec Ruins NM. She went and got the stamp (but it had the wrong date set) for our passport. She also informed us that was a park fee of $25, so we decided to just get a year long passport card. It was a bit of a surprise that they were charging for access to this park considering the horrible roads getting to the park and that the visitor center and store were closed due to Covid. The ranger told us which trails we could take Etta on, so we went back to the Bohemoth to eat lunch and make our plan. Our next stop was Hungo Pavi Ruins along the canyon loop drive. We took turns walking out to the ruins while one of us stayed at the truck with Etta. It was warm enough that we did not want to leave Etta in the Behemoth alone. We then made our way to the Chetro Keti Ruins. We took Etta on the trail to the ruins but not into the ruins. Then made our way along the cliff face to see the petroglyphs . By the time we were halfway along the trail, Etta was beat, so Leslie took her back to the Behemoth while David proceeded to Pueblo Bonito, the largest of the ruin complexes. Pueblo Bonito covers 3 acres and was the cultural center of the Pueblo society from 800 to 1200AD. The different ruin complexes were built at different times and show changes in architecture as time progressed. The building works were very impressive considering they were built by hard labor with primitive tools. At is height, there were 1000-2000 people living in the canyon. They also built roads between Pueblo centers in the region that ran very straight for miles. A very sophisticated society that just disappeared in the late 1200s with no clear reason why. We had planned to do a three mile hike with Etta, but it was clear she was not up to it. So we made one more stop at Pueblo de Arroyo. By now we were getting a little burned out on Pueblo Ruins so we decided to head back home through the south entrance for variety. As we got to the end of the loop road, Leslie spotted the park elk herd lying in a field. This herd had come down from the Rocky Mountains in 1966 and stays in the park year round. The road from the south entrance to NM9 is a dirt road for 33 miles that goes through private land. The road is rarely maintained and can get very difficult when wet. Fortunately it was dry for use and actually in very good shape until the last ½ mile before hitting pavement at NM9. The last ½ mile was a bit rough, but nothing that would stop the Behemoth! Maybe it had been recently maintained, but it did not live up to the warnings on the park website. The drive back to Kirtland was easy. This part of New Mexico is very flat with grassy fields for as far as you can see. In the distance, as we headed north on 371, we could see snow in the mountains of Colorado, and eventually we could see Shiprock to the west. 

Entrance Sign

Fajada Butte

View through portal at Hungo Pavi Ruins

Great Kiva at Chetro Keti

More ruins at Chetro Keti

Petroglyphs

Ruins at Pueblo Bonito

Kiva at Pueblo Bonito

Kiva Angel

Kiva at Pueblo de Arroyo

Elk Herd

15 March 2021 First 2021 National Monument

 We visited our first National Monument for the year 2021 today. We drove the 20 miles to Aztec Ruins National Monument after lunch to allow time for things to warm up. The ruins in this NM are not Aztec, they are ruins from the Pueblo Indians which used this site from the late 1000s until late 1200s. The site was excavated by Earl Morris in 1916 which led to its protection as a national monument in 1923. The site was called Aztec Ruins based on old Spanish maps which tended to label all Indian ruins as Aztec. The visitor center was closed due to Covid restrictions, but we were able to do a self-tour of the site using an internet audio tour. We did get our NPS Stamp in our passport book, but really miss not being able to watch the park movie. We had tried to search for the movie on Youtube last night but could not find the official park movie. One of the great Kivas had been rebuilt in the 1930s by Earl Morris, and the CCC, based on his deductions from his excavations in 1916. The original building had been built with timbers brought in from over 100 miles away. It was an interesting tour through some of the rooms and the great Kiva. They believe that this site was an extension of the Chaco Canyon society. On the way back to the Behemoth, we ran into a park ranger and were able to ask a few questions about the site. The Ranger had started in 2019, during the park closure, so was not quite up to speed on the park information. But we did learn about a new national park program called Bark Ranger, where dogs can become NPS mascots! After walking the ruins, we wandered down another trail to the Animas River, which took us across a segment of the Old Spanish National Historic Trail and the remains of an ancient road from Chaco Canyon. This area is surrounded by three healthy rivers, the Animas, the San Juan and the La Plata.  Its easy to see why this was a perfect place to build a Puebloan settlement. 

Entrance Sign

And another Entrance Sign

And yet a third Entrance sign!

Inside the rebuilt Great Kiva

Ruins of another Kiva and the surrounding dwellings

Doorways in the ruins of dwellings

Selfie in the ruins

Animas River

14 March 2021 Albuquerque to Kirtland, NM

 We took our time getting things ready to hit the road this morning. One reason was that we knew it was only a four hour drive, the other reason was there was a big storm blowing through and the weather predictions showed it was suppose to clear up by the early afternoon. We hit the road about noon. The wind was still blowing hard (20-30MPH with gusts up to 50MPH) and it looked like we might hit some snow showers around Cuba NM. Once we were on US550, the wind, although gusty, was primarily a head wind so it really was not a big issue for David. We climbed from 5500ft altitude to 7500 feet altitude near Cuba NM and crossed the Continental Divide for the first time since 2019. We drove into a pretty strong snowstorm as we climbed toward Cuba and the temperature dropped. Leslie played like she was asleep so she didn’t have to see the snow. The snow was accumulating to a couple of inches on the roadsides, but the main lanes were only wet. As we dropped in Altitude the snow turned to rain and finally stopped. We pulled into the Homestead RV Park ($32 per night with GSC) in Kirtland around 2:30. The office was closed, but when we called the owner came by to check us in. It’s not a fancy place, just a big gravel lot. Only 8 sites were open for transients, the rest of the sites were filled with work campers. But it is easy to get our big rig into and out of from the highway and it is centrally located for the places we want to visit.

Ice building up on the nose cone of the Wanderer

9-13 March 2021 Albuquerque

 David ended up working Tuesday through Friday without much time to do much else. Friday evening we got out to Church Street Café for our first dose of NM Food. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Saturday we had hoped to go hiking at Tent Rocks NM but found out it was completely closed due to COVID restrictions. So we decided to get some running done to stock up on our favorite brands since the next two months we will be in the boonies. We then went to Gruet Winery to do a tasting and walked out with a case of our favorite wines. Following Gruet, we went to Trombino’s Bistro for dinner. It had been recommended to us by a colleague of David’s and we were very happy with the food and service. We will need to return next time we are in town. After dinner we went over to David’s colleague, Andy and his wife Debbie’s home. Andy started his tour in his garage where he and his daughter (who is an engineer at Sandia) put together models for a mini car racetrack and an elaborate train set also beset with a total living village around it.  Also inside the garage were two Cadillac sport cars. Awesome!  They showed us Andy’s audio room, which was AMAZING. The room was designed to be acoustically perfect. Combined with the wonderful high-end audio and video equipment and we were overwhelmed by the incredible sound. We could have stayed there for days! But we needed to get back to the Wanderer to take care of Etta. We walked in to find garbage strewn all over the floor! She has never done this before and we were very surprised that she had been able to open the garbage drawer and pull the garbage bag out of the container. She ate an absorption pad that had been under a salmon filet and another that had been under some tenderloins. Leslie called the pet emergency room to see if we needed to bring her in, but they could not give us a recommendation one way or the other. We decided to ride it out, knowing we could get her to the vet if needed.  If she showed signs of sickness we could move quickly. Etta had spent months on the street before we got her, so David figured she would probably pass it without too much trouble. Leslie stayed up late to keep an eye on her, just in case.

Amazing New Mexico Cuisine

Tasting wonderful Reds at Gruet

Native statue

8 March 2021 Amarillo, TX to Albuquerque, NM

 We departed Texas today on our way to Albuquerque. Once again, the wind was blowing hard from the west/southwest. Fortunately the Wanderer is heavy enough that it does not blow around very much but the head wind really cut into our fuel mileage (6.2 MPG). End result was we pulled into the American RV Resort ($58.00 per night no discount) with only 5 gallons left in the tank. The drive west is also a climb. We have gained 5600 feet in altitude since the time we left Spring Texas. Everything was brown and there was barely a tree in sight most of the way. But you could see a long ways! David has work for the next four days, so our fun time will have to wait until Friday afternoon.

6 March 2021 Palo Duro Disappointment

 Our plan for today was to go into Palo Duro Canyon State Park and hike the Lighthouse Trail for our first hike of the year. Unfortunately, we forgot that due to COVID-19, you have to have a reservation to get into a park due to occupancy restrictions. We pulled up to the park gate and could see a sign saying they were sold out before we remembered our experience with trying to visit Lost Maples State Park last fall. The ranger informed us they were sold out and they were sold out for Sunday as well. But he said the private ranch next door had trails that we might be able to hike. So we had to turn around and exit the park. We decided to check out the ranch next door. They do jeep and horseback tours into the canyon. So we stopped in to learn we could hike their jeep trail (about 2 hours round trip) for $20 per person. Since we did not know what we would be able to see, combined with having to share the trails with jeeps and horses, we opted out. Instead we drove into the small town of Canyon and walked around the town square and explore the shops on the square. On the way out of town we noticed signs for a vineyard. A vineyard in the Texas panhandle? Intrigued, we pulled into Creek House Honey Farm. First stop was the gift shop where Leslie picked up so local honey. Then we went to the tasting room. We learned they don’t sell their own wines, but are a Mead brewing house. We learned that Mead is fermented honey. They sold a variety of flavors, which are added in the final stages of the fermentation process. So we got a flight of four flavors. One of the flavors was straight Mead (Queens Revenge), next was a mixture with Merlot wine, the third was a blackberry flavor and last was a lemon flavor. Neither one of us could remember ever trying Mead before. We did not enjoy the straight Mead but really liked the other three. So we we relaxed and enjoyed our Mead before heading for home. 

Canyon Town Square

4 March 2021 DFW to Amarillo Texas

 The drive from DFW to Amarillo is long (367 miles, 7.5 hours) and BORING. Everything is brown this time of the year, and the terrain is flat with really no scenery to enjoy. The only exciting part was we were down to 5 gallons in the fuel tank when we pulled in to the Oasis RV Park ($53.00 a night with GSC). The Oasis is our go to place for Amarillo. Lot’s of room, big sites and wide roads. The wind was blowing really hard the whole drive. So by the time we got set up all we wanted to do was plop down and relax. 

Sunset in Amarillo

1 March 2021 On the road Again!

 We pulled out of Spring Texas today after a four-month stay. Our first stop was Terry Vaughn RV to get the Wanderer’s state safety inspection accomplished. We had to wait for the only guy that could do the inspection to finish up with another customer (45 minutes) to get the inspection. In the meantime David talked with one of the repair technicians and found out they were inspecting new trailers coming in and rejecting almost half of their deliveries because of factory defects in workmanship. Even with their custom orders! Surprising! After completing the safety inspection we drove to Arlington Texas. We are staying at the Treetop RV Resort ($83.00 per night, no discount) near the Parks Mall. It’s a nice park but there are a lot of obstacles close to the roads. While following directions of the park employee into our site, the back end swung out and hit a post close to the road. The Wanderer was damaged on the rear drivers side, back around the electrical cable reel. Fortunately, only some cosmetic  paint and body damage, but David was kicking himself for hours. We won’t have an opportunity to get it fixed for months, but it won’t slow our trip down. We got setup and got ready for two very busy days.