Rockhound State Park, New Mexico

After leaving Hot Springs on Sunday, we stopped 30 miles down the road toward Yuma - at Pilot Knob.  I've heard a lot about this LTVA, some good, some bad, and I wanted to check it out for myself.  It was sandy, large, and quiet, and there was lots of room to park away from other RVers.  There were many low bushes, but nothing tall to hang hummingbird feeders in.  Beautiful mountains nearby as you can see in the photo below.  I liked it.  There aren't really any campsite areas that I could see, but it worked for me - just drive until you're level and stop.  Put out a couple of chairs and you're "home."

Sunset at Pilot Knob our second night.

Katie and I left Pilot Knob on Tuesday morning on our way to New Mexico.  We stopped in Yuma to do some shopping at Wal-Mart.  Another stop was made at PetSmart to get some food for Katie and have her nails clipped.  Then on to Sam's Club.  I was not a member and wanted to check it out.  I belong to Costco, but I don't see many Costco stores when I'm on the road.  There are many more Sam's Clubs.  I decided to join Sam's and did a little shopping there and filled up the gas tank, too.

Then we took off toward New Mexico, and made it as far as Gila Bend, where I pulled over at a Love's gas station and parked in an end spot next to all the truckers.  I was too tired to drive further after walking around all the stores for hours.  Wednesday we hit the road again and drove for five hours, I think.  We passed the Continental Divide - I always like that, for some reason.

We finally arrived at Rockhound State Park in the afternoon.  I thought it was 3:30, but it was actually 4:30.  (All those time changes.)

There are only six dry camping sites, and just two were taken, so I had a good choice.  I decided on Site #4, which I haven't camped in before.

There was a BIG AWFUL THING that almost happened on Friday.  Super scary!  We had been here a couple of days and I wanted to get a different view and maybe get a little closer to level, so I moved The Palms.  I slowly turned The Palms and kept getting out and checking the corner of the shade structure that you can see in the photo.  I wanted to be parallel with that side, but didn't want to hit that corner.  As I was slowly driving forward I heard a scraping noise and got out and looked - the corner of the structure was right on the side of The Palms.

WOW!  That would have been really bad if I hadn't been driving really slow and immediately stopped at the sound.  I got back in and drove slowly backwards, got out and checked for holes in the side of The Palms.  Nope, only a slight colored line from the paint on the shade structure.  Needless to say, I moved out a bit and decided I'd better be happy with the current view.  Whew, that was a close one.  Can you imagine if I had punctured the side of the motor home?  I would not have been a happy camper.  Even thought I have duct tape I could have used to cover the hole - Beverly Hillbillies, anyone?  LOL

Anyway, when we arrived on Wednesday I pulled in, opened the door and was immediately bombarded with the sound of birds singing and the sight of birds everywhere.  Sitting on the cactus, flying alone and in flocks, scratching in the dirt - it was so welcoming.  I had forgotten about the birds here.  Here are some of them - this bird is a Cactus Wren - they sing a lot and are very photogenic!


The bird below landed on the side mirror and startled Katie, who was sitting up front in her car seat.  She didn't bark, but got very alert and watched the bird until it few away.  We've had a few land on the hood of the truck and come up around the windshield wipers and hang out.  They also land on the roof and sit on our antenna.

We also have Curved-bill thrashers:

and White-winged Doves with their "small black dash under their cheeks... bright red eyes and vivid blue eye rings," from my field guide. I don't remember noticing the blue eye-ring on these guys last year, isn't he beautiful?

And here's our beautiful sunset our first night here at Rockhound State Park:

It's always such a satisfying end to the day when we have a nice sunset. And guess what?  I saw another "first" bird - I'll post his photos next time.  I was pretty excited - and he's beautiful!

From me and Katie, have a great Monday, everybody!  :)

Final photos from Hot Springs LTVA in California

Last week we were in California on standard time and Saturday night we changed to daylight savings time. The next day we drove to Arizona and stayed there for two days - no daylight savings time there.  Thursday we landed in New Mexico - Mountain Time.  I still don't have all the clocks set, but I think all-in-all we are one hour ahead.  Thank goodness my cell phone keeps track of the time zones.  I use it to set all the others in The Palms when we change zones.

So...  here are the final photos taken while we were in the Hot Springs LTVA.

I saw these Gambel's Quail while we were walking, but I knew they were in the area.  They are such beautiful birds.

And this Hairy Woodpecker was seen on the same walk.  I think since the Canadians are here for the whole season and put out feeders, by the time Katie and I arrived, there were a lot of birds at their sites.  We had very few birds in our campsite, though.

I lightened the photo below to see his markings better.

Hey, Mom!  Throw the ball!

Katie's usual place when I'm doing laundry.  I take the bunk apart and put the down comforter on the couch in a pile and Katie is always there when I come back from the laundromat.  My old duvet, which I've had for 8 or 9 years finally bit the dust.  It came apart all across the top, right below the seam, a few months ago and I love this old duvet so I double stitched it.  Then it started ripping again right below my seams, definitely time to replace it.  While I was in San Diego, Trish and Kennedy and I went shopping and I found a super good deal on a new duvet at Home Goods, so it was washed and dried on this day and it's just as soft and comfortable as my old one.

This is the new duvet.  The old one was an off white color , and this one is grey and white, so I changed out the scarves I use to tuck under the mattress and then put down for a privacy screen at night.  This white scarf is perfect.

It replaces this one - remember?  I liked it, but it just didn't go with the new grey and white.

Katie and I walked down to the Hot Springs when we first got there and I went inside to talk to some of the people soaking.  Dogs aren't allowed so I left Katie outside the fence.  

She is still so good when I want to walk away and leave her.  When I put the leash handle down, she sits and stays.  She's very patient.

I finally got a photo of the Sea Level Elevation sign on the highway; I always notice it too late to snap a picture.  As we were driving home from the movie theater last Saturday, Tom noticed all the signs showing the elevation, which at times was more than 30 feet under sea level.
 

And here's our little friend, Round-tail Ground Squirrel.  One afternoon he ran to this bush, jumped up and landed on the branch.  I caught him mid-jump.

He got settled and had a meal.

And finally, our campsite with the warm, pink eastern skies at sunset before my family arrived:

Katie and I had a good time at  Hot Springs LTVA this year, especially because the kids came to visit.  While they packed up I did the same, and when they pulled out around 1 pm on Sunday, I was right behind them.  First I drove up the road to say goodbye to Bea and Peter and thank them again for their help pulling me out of the sand, and then a quick visit with Jimbo to say goodbye and check out his new floor in his Lazy Daze motor home that Peter laid down while he was here.  It looks great!  Peter has photos on his blog - click the link above to see the new floors.  :)

Then we drove out of the campground and headed east to Pilot Knob.  I've never been there and wanted to check it out.

From me and Katie, have a great Saturday, everyone!  :)

 

Family Visit - 3 of 3 - Oasis/Hot Springs photos

On Friday afternoon we walked over to the Hot Springs so the kids could see the area and decide if they wanted to go back in the morning and shower in the hot water or sit in the hot springs.  Kennedy was also very interested in the "oasis" in the middle of the giant palm trees, and she wanted to swim in it.  I wasn't sure about that, and wanted to check with some of my neighbors who had been coming here for years to make sure it was okay, and that the water was okay, too.

We got a thumbs up on both counts, so we decided to walk down on Saturday morning before breakfast and take a dip.  Here are some of the photos:

All three kids in the oasis - Graydin didn't actually get in the water, he was just on the edge.

I was trying to get a good photo of Kennedy and Gavin in the water when Graydin did a total PHOTO BOMB!

Here's the shot:

Swimming to the middle.  Look at the smile on Kennedy's face - what a swimmer she is.  Gavin didn't really want to swim, but was urged...

So graceful.

Everyone takes a shower before getting into the oasis and/or the hot springs tubs.

As we were talking, I said something about re-surfacing and re-painting the tubs.  He said he was surprised they painted the concrete, they probably should have left it alone.  The constant hot water coming up from underneath the concrete would sooner or later cause the paint to peel in this type of situation. It would have a more pleasing appearance, I think, without the peeling paint. 

Peeking through the pipe carrying water from the large tub to the smaller one.


I didn't go in, but I did stand under the shower and then put my feet into the hot water in the tub.  It was way to hot for me to sit in. 

Pups looking on - but being very good waiting for us.

I want to apologize for not posting any photos of me in my new bathing suit - that I bought three years ago and have never worn.  Unfortunately I don't do "selfies."  LOL!  Oh, and no photos of Trish either.  I took a couple of her with the dogs, but they were blurry, and since she didn't want to soak or swim, no photos in the water.  She kept us company and watched over the dogs, though.  Tough job, but someone's gotta do it.  ; )

We enjoyed the springs and the oasis, and I'm glad the kids had a good time in both.

And that's the end of the family visit to Hot Springs LTVA.  Thanks so much, Trish and Tom, for coming all this way to spend some time with me.  I really appreciate it, and know it was quite a bit of work for you guys.   I hope we can do it again next year, maybe in Borrego Springs?  And maybe we can get Kristy and Matt to bring the rest of the grandkiddles?

From me and Katie, have a great Friday, everyone!

Family Visit - 2 of 3 - Night time photos

The nights at the Hot Springs LTVA were nice because the winds had calmed down and the temps were lower.  After we were all sprayed with bug spray, the mosquitoes didn't bother us, either.

The first night I cooked lasagna and made garlic bread and salad.  The boys had spaghetti with melted butter and Parmesan cheese on the top.  Tom did the rest of the cooking all weekend.  He's a good cook and great on the grill, so we were all very well fed.

Nights were spent cooking and eating and talking around the fire.  And of course, S'mores!  The kids brought a folding fire pit; it's in sections that are attached and it just folds up into one square to store.  Pretty nifty!

Tom and Trish getting the burgers for the kids grilled:

Trish snapping a picture of the sunset.  Can you see the dogs sitting on chairs, both watching Tom getting food out of the cooler?  I just noticed that.  :)

Tom in his camp kitchen - without a pop-up top - heavy winds during the day made us remove it.

While Tom was grilling the burgers for the kids, he got out some of his homemade Sushi and grilled Linguica for us to snack on.  I'm not a sushi person, but I loved the Linguica.  I had gotten some chips and the makings for our special homemade onion dip which we always have when we're together, and also hard boiled some eggs for deviled eggs to have as Hors d'oeuvres.  I totally forget them both and didn't even prepare them.  :(  I was so distracted all weekend, I think I had temporary ADHD. 

This is the folding fire pit.  (...and Trish's Uggs.)

We had two boxes of wood and two wood bundles, so plenty of wood for two nights' fires.  We used it all, though.

It was a bright, crackling fire - and at one point when Gavin was walking by in his PJs, a big piece of burning cinder caught his pants on fire.  He started yelling and jumping around.  Grammy to the rescue!  I ran over and said, Pull your pants down!, and we both tugged them down and he pulled his leg out.  The next day he had a red mark where the cinder was.  Fortunately, Trish buys the kids good fire retardant pajamas.  See the hole in his pajamas below?  The hole was hard around the edges, which must be what the retardant does.  I told him this was a camping memory he'll never forget: caught on fire while camping.  Wow!  Can you imagine what could have happened if he had regular non-fire resistant clothing on and a hot ember caught it on fire?  (Can you tell he was snuggling the dogs?)

S'mores the first night - happy faces!

And filets on the grill the second night - happy Grammy!

Graydin is pretty enthusiastic about his burger!

And Gavin with his S'more. He cooked his marshmallows two-at-a time and put both marshmallows in the S'more.  Then he had a second one.  Unfortunately, his request for a third was denied.  Geez, I could only eat one, waaaay too sweet, even for this sugar lover.  I guess I'm finally an adult.

Here's Kennedy on her i-Phone.  She is the grandkiddle with the Touched by Charms jewelry business, and she spent some time on the phone (probably not on the business, I'd guess!).

And that's all I have for night time photos.  Tomorrow I'll post the photos from the Hot Springs.  The kids actually swam in the Oasis, too. 

From me and Katie, have a great Thursday!  :)