NMMI at Roswell, NM - 9/25/2011

Well, we have arrived in Roswell, NM for Family Weekend at New Mexico Military Institute to visit with Karol.

The weather was not too bad, but continued to warm up during the next couple of days.  Karol was happy to see us and we were very proud of her efforts during the activities of the weekend.  First day was spent going to Karol's classes and we got to start off with Choir, which is always a treat.

We got an opportunity to spend a little time with some of Karol's friends, Sage & Celina, while treating them at a local fast food called Sonic.

On Sat. the troops had formal inspection and each cadet is checked out for their uniform, gun and need to repeat any of the "Blue Book" rules that their superior chooses.  It is pretty stressful for the cadets, but second year students have a better idea of what to expect.

After the cadets personal inspection, the family gets to go into their barracks to see their room.  Karol had done a great job of cleaning her room and there is very little space to accommodate their personal belongings.

As the day continued to warm up to a 93 degrees, the cadets preformed a formal march for the families.  Only a couple of them fainted, compared to about a dozen last year.  The whole process with assembly and the parade means the cadets are in formation for about an hour and a half, so it is pretty impressive with their commitment to the troop.

A few pushups before letting the cadets go off for a mini furlow overnight.

And we were off in the RV to Riudoso, which is NM version of Big Bear (not quite), with Karol and her friend, Celina.  They got to try their hand at driving, in a control environment.

And talked us into the Bumper Boats with spraying abilities.  It cooled us off, but not much thought about what to do with 4 soaking nuts.

It was a good visit, but time for Jack & Pam to move on with their NM adventures. 

Fool Hollow Lake, AZ & on the road again - 9/20/11

The lake that we accidentally discovered, was a small but very picturesque one and made us realize that we wish we had the Kayak with us.

When preparing for any of our trips, we try to anticipate the weather patterns and whether we will use and want our bikes or Kayak.  Not wanting to take too much junk, we make choices.  Soooo that being said, we decided to buy a blow up Kayak, at least we could get out and enjoy small lakes or rivers when we happen upon them.  Pretty cheesy, but better than nothing.

We went for a great paddle around the lake (well, Jack did all the paddling - only one of them at the moment), before getting back on the road.  It was calm and amazing.

We are still headed for Roswell, NM and can only lolly gag for a day here and there.  Even though we know it is suppose to be fall, here in Arizona, the wildflowers have been prolific and the landscape very green.

Jack was very interested in the Very Large Array, which is 27 white 80-foot radio-telescope antennas, that are used for research from colliding galaxies, exploding stars, black holes, as well as chart the movements of planets.  Pretty weird out in the middle of nowhere, well somewhere, NM.

Not too much farther is the Trinity Site, which is where the first Nuclear bomb was tested before WWII.  Unfortunately, they are only open 2 days a year for visitors, otherwise, I am sure I would have been in for a treat, while we would have poked around the area learning about nuclear stuff.  There is a museum on the to do list for the trip about nuclear power, so will eventually I will be subjected to it.

We arrived at the Valley of Fires Rec. Area, which is a 44 mile lava flow, only 5,000 years old.

Then we settled in for the evening and yet another sunset.  

Petrified Forest Nat. Park , AZ - 9/18/2011

Although our RV was moving south, we decided to drop it on our path to Roswell, then swing north with the Honda to visit the Petrified Forest National Park.  I was not sure how much Jack would enjoy looking at rocks, but the terrain varied and we were out of the forests for a day.  I knew things would get interesting when I saw my first rock shop.  Unfortunately, it was Sunday and we were in Mormon country, so the shop and gas stations were closed for the day.

Our first stop after entering the National Park was the Painted Desert and although the sun was high in the sky, we still were treated to a beautiful view.

We visited some Indian ruins and checked out Petroglyphs at the site.  A lady there remarked that this one looked like a stork caring a baby.  Certainly, this was not something the Indians invented for the arrival of a baby.

Finally arriving at the petrified forest, I behaved myself by not picking up one more wonderful rock to add to my large collection.  They were beautiful and it is amazing what nature can do to transform wood to rock.

It was a long day and we were staying in one of the nicest campgrounds, Fool Hollow Lake, that we have come across, so decided to hang out for one more night and relax.

Mongollon Rim, AZ - 9/17/2011

As we have never heard of or thought we were interested in visiting the Mongollon Rim in AZ, we decided we would give it a whirl.  But before arriving in that area, we made a stop at Montezuma Castle Nat'l Monument, which is really one of the Indian cliff dwellings.  Being in this area, kinda means that you need to recognize the Indian culture and enjoy their history.  While not the most impressive cliff dwelling that we have visited, it was a nice representation and still amazes us that they were able to move about in such precarious surroundings.  Certainly with my fear of heights, I could not imagine myself, scrambling up ladders to head for home.

Arriving again in a bit of rain, we took the first campsite that we found open for the night.  The Mongollon Rim is the edge of a 7500' mountain range that looks over miles and miles of forest.  Having only spent time in arid desert type environments of AZ, I was amazed to see the vast lands of forests.  What we enjoyed the most about this stop, was the bike ride that we took for several miles on a path within feet of the 2000' drop off.  The views were outstanding as well as the wildflowers along the path.  It looked more like spring than the approaching fall weather we were anticipating.

We found out that you could actually camp in what the NF calls Dispersed Camping along the cliff, but by then all the folks from Phoenix had occupied the spots for the weekend getting away from the heat.  This camping is actually free and there were large groups enjoying the freedom and lack of typical campground rules and confinement.  Hello California, why is it so difficult for us to have this kind of access to lands that we pay taxes for?  In AZ in the National Forests, you can camp without facilities pretty much anywhere along dirt roadways.  It is cool!

Jack & I decided to go back along the rim for sunset and a little vino.  Not sure we can beat Baja sunsets, but this was certainly nice and different.

 One of the cool things about staying in NF campgrounds is the price.  Since we are 65 years old, we bought what is called the "Golden Pass", which lets us camp for 1/2 price, so at $7 a night it is a deal.  The bad thing about this NF campground, is that since there were no hookup (which is fine with us), everyone runs generators.  There are some quite ones, but most are pretty loud and there seems to be a need to run them most of the day.  What happened to peace and quiet?  I remember when our family did old fashion tent camping that we really did not like the RVs for this reason, so Jack & I added solar panels to our RV and we can listen to the wind and the birds.

Finally on the road - 9/15/2011

Well, after much preparation, Jack & I are finally on the road heading ultimately to Roswell, NM.  We plan to see Karol at New Mexico Military Institute for family weekend.  Although I think I would like to do a travel blog, I am not interested in a "homework" assignment, and writing is not a strong personality trait.  I can talk and visit with people, but trying to compose is another whole ball of wax.  I do like to take photos and have spent many hours in the past trying to upload them to a few family and friends, so thought I would give this route a try.  Will let you know if I bail on continuing this site.

1st night was spent in a lovely parking lot in Laughlin, NV.  I like to play blackjack and Jack likes to sleep, so the parking lot accommodated us both.  I spent the evening gambling with the distributor for Budwiser beer in the desert (Palm Springs and beyond) and managed to drag my $60 on for hours while laughing and chatting.

The following day we traveled through an amazing thunderstorm, with hail, to finally arrive in Sedona, AZ.

The next day was beautiful, nice and cool for hiking, while thanks to a local we found a secluded site to enjoy.

The weather presented an opportunity for some great photos.

Wanting to press on to new adventurous places that we have not visited, we headed south.