Update Archive

Archive 2/21 - 3/2/2005:
2/21/2005 - (351 miles – 8 hrs) My new neighbors are working at the refinery in Gallup… which means they are up and moving around at 6AM each morning (I know, boohoo), it’s very annoying. Especially since they are parked right next to me and the exhaust from their truck set off the Gas Leak Detector inside the coach. Talk about a wake up call… that is one loud alarm.
We drove to the Salinas Pueblo Missions today.
2/22/2005 - Spent the day packing for our departure tomorrow.
2/23/2005 - (343.3 miles - 6.5 hrs) I was going to stop in Truth or Consequence but we arrived to soon and I couldn’t make myself stop. So we kept going… all the way to Deming, NM. It was sunny and bright in Grants but we ran into some wind and rain with lightning in the distance. It was super cool to be in the sunshine and look over at a cloudbank and see lightning. The wind was pretty bad at times. Thankfully it was a headwind and not a crosswind. All in all the trip was uneventful… I swear it was uphill the entire way, but that could have been the headwind. I have cramps in my right leg from pushing down on the accelerator so hard. Tomorrow we’ll drive a bit further and set up at our base camp. There is a lot to see around here.
2/24/2005 - (219 miles - 5 hours) I found out that the Gila Cliff Dwellings are closed because the road washed out. Major bummer, I really wanted to see them. I heard about another attraction out that way called The Catwalk. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I thought we’d go take a look. The drive was beautiful, up through Silver City, NM. On the way I could see lighting in the distance, very cool! About 30 mile from The Catwalk we ran into a thunderstorm that scared the bejezzus out of me. I don’t think I’ve ever been that scared before. I was more scared than when I pulled the coach through Death Valley, and that was scared!! The thunder crashed right when the lightning stuck, it was that close. And then came the hail. Oh My God, that made it worse, I couldn’t see a thing! So, I turned and ran (drove, I never stepped out of the truck) back toward blue sky. It kept getting darker and darker behind us. I’m thinking we wouldn’t have been able to go out on any catwalk in that kind of weather anyway. We stopped at the City of Rocks State Park on the way back to camp. It was nice and sunny over there, warm even. What an adventure!! Gotta love it!
NOAA Lightning Safety Site
2/25/2005 - (652.8 miles - 13 hours) Holy crap, what a day. I need to pay better attention to the distances on the maps. I didn’t expect to take so long getting there, and back. Part of the problem is the whole “main street highway” system. All that really means is that you’ll go 65mph for a while and then have to slow down to 25mph to go through each and every town on the highway. Arggg! I was planning on visiting the Tonto National Monument and the Casa Grande Ruins. We made it to Tonto, but didn’t get to Casa Grande till just after 5PM… partly because I couldn’t find the park, but we wouldn’t have been in time to see anything anyway. Tonto was beautiful, well worth the trip. The mountains were gorgeous and everything is so green right now. Fortunately the sun came out while we were there so the pictures turned out pretty good.
2/26/2005 - (251 miles – 4 hours) We were going to go to Ft. Bowie but ran into a huge thunderstorm about 6 miles from the trailhead. So, I stopped to take pictures and then followed the storm as much as I could. It was so cool! Back on the freeway there were times that I couldn’t see the lighting but the cab of my truck would light up a weird pink color. I wasn’t even as scared as the other day… probably because there are so many semi’s on the road and they are all taller than my truck, they’ll get hit if anyone is going to.
2/27/2005 - (334 miles – 9 hours) What a beautiful day! We actually made it out to Ft. Bowie. The walk to the ruins is 1.5 miles one way and then you walk all around the ruins… it may not sound like a lot… but we sure were tired at the end. We didn’t leave there until almost 4PM and didn’t get to Chiricahua until almost 5PM. They let us in and we did the loop drive. It was to late to take any of the trails, we were too tired anyway. Yet another fantastic day :o)
2/28/2005 - (613 miles – 11.5 hours) We went back to the Casa Grande Ruins today. Very cool, but soooo far away. We also stopped at the Picacho State Park. It’s a beautiful place… and I saw a mountain goat! They have trails to the top, but we didn’t take any of them, it was to late in the day.
3/1/2005 - (340 miles – 10 hours) We drove to Biosphere 2 today. It’s north of Tucson but you have to drive through Tucson to get there. Man do I hate driving through Tucson… the speed limit is 55 for miles and miles and I swear I was the only one going anywhere near the speed limit. I have to be good right now because I don’t have my new drivers license yet, the one I have is expired. Anyway, the Biosphere is unbelievable! If you are ever in the area, it’s a must see. It’s not being used for anything but tours right now. Previously, eight people lived inside for two years, seven people lived inside for 6 months and then the Columbia University used it to research the impact of CO2 on earth. Very, very cool.
3/2/2005 - (280 miles – 7 hours) Today we drove to Bisbee for a quick drive by and then went to Tombstone for the tour. What a cool town! We stopped by Boothill and then I went through the Court House, walked up and down the board sidewalks, bought a chocolate-mint-chip ice-cream cone, purchased a ticket for the OK Corral re-enactment… what a great day.


New Pictures: AZ, NM