Tombstone, AZ

Today we went 25 miles down the road to Tombstone.
It was fun to see the old styles and tourist-y shops.

Benson, AZ

Wild flowers in the desert

We started out with a plan to leave around 9 AM. Jim & Linda were all ready and we thought we were too.... Until we tried to start the engine. Nothing. Dead in the water.
So we called Good Sam's Club and they sent a truck to give us a jump. They were there in about 30 minutes. However, the jump didn't start us. The guy banged on the starter and varoom! The engine turned over and roared to life. We all gave a cheer and a sigh of relief. We were on the road by 10:30.
We drove to Benson, AZ. about 223 mile west of Los Cruces, NM.
The weather was sunny and bright. Of course we had a head wind. We were glad it was an uneventful trip.
We arrived at the SKP Campground around 3 and were soon set up and settled in.
Jim & Linda are a few sites away. They came over and we ordered pizza from a local place. We enjoyed it and their company (as always).
We will stay here 2 nights then head up to Casa Grande for a week.

White Sands, NM

Today Scotty, Jim, Linda & I went to White Sands National Monument.
The weather was great. Sunny and warm. Not too hot.
We even used snow a saucer to slide down the dunes! It was Great Fun!

I was surprised that the dunes were so large.
Much higher than at the beach.

Scotty & I

Linda & Jim

The mountains looked very dark compared to the white of the sand.

Space History Museum

The Space History Museum

Little Joe II

Moon Rock

Jim & Scotty tried to land the shuttle in a simulator.
(look at the screen) Jim crashed!

Scotty was able to land it!

There was so much information and many exhibits. (did you know that the space suits weigh over 200 lbs. or that because there is no gravity you grow 4 inches in space?)
They also have an IMAX but we didn't go to that. We had a great time.

Over the mountains in NM

Today we left the Ranch and drove over the mountains to Alamogordo, NM.
The drive was beautiful!
We drove up in elevation and found spring had touched the apple trees!

We even went through this tunnel!

We drove up to 8000 ft.


Then the road dropped 4315 ft in 16 miles!
We could see White Sands National Monument spread out before us.

April 14th

This is "The Ranch" from the County road. It truly is out in the middle of nowhere!

Some of the "locals"

We spent today doing odds & ends. The things that you have to do to the RV whether you want to or not. It was a good day for it. The weather was great. Sunny and warm with little or no wind. Tonight we are having a thunder storm. The wind is rocking us all over the place. I hope it passes fast.

Linda & I walked around "the Ranch" and took these pictures.

Carlsbad, NM

Carlsbad Caverns, NM

Ranger Scotty was ready for our hike!

Flowers as you enter of the Cavern.

We hiked to the bottom of the Caverns. It was a long hike with many switch-backs.

Water is always a factor when nature is sculpting!

curtain formation

We had a wonderful time with our friends Jim & Linda hiking in the dark, trying to take pictures
& using our imaginations to see things in the formations and shadows.
It took about 90 minutes for us to hike down and 2 minutes to ride the elevator to the surface. Thank Goodness we didn't have to hike out!

Another day at the Oasis

A couple more pictures of the canals

Pictures of the "pool"












This is a great place to do nothing!

We all decided that we like it here so much that we are going to stay another night. So we will start for NM on Monday morning. There's no hurry since we aren't on any schedule.

Balmohea State Park

A Desert Oasis

We hit the road early today so we could get closer to civilization to pick up a cell signal to call to reserve our sites at Balmohea State Park.
We arrived around 1PM and were soon set up across from Jim & Linda.
The Duos Flamingos are hanging out next to a wall out of the wind. With all the birds here, they don't mind at all.
There is pool here (the size of a small lake) fed by the San Soloman springs built in 1935-38.

The waters are protected because there are 2 rare and endangered small fish in the canals. The Comanche Springs pupfish & the Pecos mosquitofish.

Part of the park was built by the CCC in 1940. Small cottages that are converted into motel style units.

There is also a 3 acre wetland with native reeds and bulrushes. I heard a rail of some sort, but haven't seen it yet. There are tons of sparrows, swallows and redwing blackbirds along with the other natives like doves, ect. I'll try to get photos of them for tomorrows blog.