Tuesday, March 19, 2013

City of Rocks State Park, NM

I was lucky.  After overnighting in the parking lot at Cabela's in Glendale, AZ, we drove into D & R Family RV at 8:00 am (without an appointment) to see if Ron could check our solar regulator, which had stopped working.  It was Monday morning and things were busy.  Ron had some things to do, but got to me a hour later and took the panel off the wall.  He checked all the connections, and one of the wires had worked loose.  He tightened it up, then checked my batteries to see if they had any loose connections and checked the fuse in that compartment.  All was well, and by 9:30 Katie and I were on the road again.

It was an all day drive, with a few stops along the way for potty breaks, gas/propane fill ups, lunch, etc.  It was a little windy on and off during the day and I took it easy and stopped a lot; after my last long, windy drive, I wasn't taking any chances with my wrists and thumbs, which still aren't completely healed.  We arrived at City of Rocks State Park in Faywood, NM after 5 pm.   (Actually, because of the time change, it was after 6 pm. Between being in California in the normal time, then changing to Daylight Savings Time, then going to Arizona who seems to have it's own time zone, and now on to New Mexico, which is Mountain Daylight Savings Time, I wasn't at all sure what time it was, but I thought it was 5.)


Below is a long distance view of the rock formations seen from the road coming down to the park:


 This is the Visitor's Center, where my friend Hazel, is Volunteering.


I drove around the Visitor's Center to the sites with electrical hook-ups, where the volunteers with full hook-ups are also parked.  I had called Hazel from Silver Springs and told her I'd be there in a half hour, so she was walking toward us when we parked the rig.

It was getting pretty close to day's end, and Hazel offered to drive us around the park to show us the sites available.  I've never seen anything like this.  She assured me The Palms would easily fit into the places along the roads and between the rocks to get to some of the more hidden campsites.

There were quite a few I would have liked, some were taken, some were empty.  There are some fabulous sites that are almost enclosed with rocks, but my solar panels wouldn't get enough sun in that type of site, so after Hazel dropped us off back at The Palms, I asked her if she would lead me to the one I liked best for now, right behind the Botanical Garden.  I didn't think I'd be able to find it again, and also thought she might help me back into the site and get level.  All these huge rocks were a little intimidating to me.  She was happy to help - thanks, Hazel!

This is the site I chose:
  
Our campsite at City of Rocks.

Of the sites I liked, it's the closest to the Visitor's Center.  It has the "rock room" out the kitchen window and a view of the road in front of me with huge rocks out the dinette and cab windows, and a wide view of the plains and mountains and sunset out the couch window.
 
The back of our site, with a little rock room.

Across the street - if you click on this photo you can see the campsite to the left.

At lunch time today Katie and I took a walk down to the Visitor's Center and I took some pictures of that area.  Hazel was working the center today, but was in her car driving away for lunch when we talked to her and the center was closed while she was gone.  Next time we walk down, I'll get some information on the rocks and how they were formed.  Hazel told me yesterday, but I don't remember it all.  Lava rocks is all I remember.

I thought these rocks looked like some kind of animal.

I love the photo below - hard solid rocks under a soft fluid sky.


I'll have more information about his unique area and some more photos next time.

This was our first sunset, isn't it beautiful?


WELCOME to our newest follower, AC S!  I don't see anything about a blog or profile, so I can't tell you anything other than she has a very pretty photo.  AC S, if you are an RVer with a blog, let me know and I'll give you a shout out!  Thank you for following along with me and Katie, and Welcome Aboard!

From Me and My Dog, have a great Monday, everyone!  :)