MKSW Deserts & Parks In 2 months we drove 6858 miles. We were in 10 states, experienced 9 National Parks, visited with 8 family members and friends and were in 3 of the 4 main United States deserts – Mojave Desert, the Sonoran Desert, and the Chihuahua Desert.Just 2 people, 2 dogs, 1 great camper and…
SW Deserts & Parks We stopped for a quick drink at the Historic St James Hotel saloon in Cimmaron, NM, built in 1872. In its day the St. James was visited by many famous lawmen and notorious outlaws and was the scene of many murders. The dining room ceiling still shows the signs with 22 bullet…
SW Deserts & Parks We decided to take a short detour to add the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado to the trip. The tallest sand dunes in North America seem to appear out of nowhere as the rolling plains approach the Sangre De Christo Mountains. We hiked among the dunes and the dogs enjoyed…
SW Deserts & Parks We met Alan’s brother Erik and sister-in-law Lalani for a couple days of skiing and relaxing in Taos, New Mexico. We stayed 4 nights at “Mountains in your Face” VRBO and it did not disappoint. Alan and Erik spent 2 days skiing at Taos Ski Valley, a ski resort established in 1955…
SW Deserts & Parks Santa Fe, New Mexico is another beautiful city in the high desert (about 7200 ft.). Understanding the importance of blending in with the surroundings, we decided that desert cities have rules that all the homes must be painted in one of “the 50 shades of beige”. The beige buildings in the beige…
SW Deserts & Parks Neither one of us can seem to spell Al-buh-ker-kee. With a sad farewell to the Grand Canyon we headed to Albuquerque, NM with a stop at the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted desert.We stayed at the Turquoise Trail Campground, a pleasant RV park in the foothills of The Sandia Mountain outside…
SW Deserts & Parks We pulled into our campsite, within the South Rim section of the park, and instantly had a rather large elk stroll past, totally unconcerned with anyone in the campground. After quickly setting up the camper we headed over to the Rim Trail and took in the view. What can we say about…
SW Deserts & Parks Flagstaff, AZ is a nice mountain college town. MK almost went there to finish her B.A. We spent one afternoon checking out the area, driving through Northern Arizona University and up the mountain to see SnowBowl, the local ski area. It was surprisingly crowed despite the lack of fresh snow. We finished…
SW Deserts & Parks Leaving Prescott, AZ brought us through the small town of Jerome on our way to visit Sedona. Jerome is built on a hillside and the town looked like a cool place to stop and browse, unless you are pulling a camper. We weren’t able to stop but we will plan our visit…
SW Deserts & Parks On our trip from Palm Springs to Prescott, AZ we stopped at Lake Havasu City to see the London Bridge. We enjoyed lunch under the bridge in the small English town replica with shops and cafes. The London Bridge was sold to Robert P. McCulloch, a real estate developer, because it was…
SW Deserts & Parks Palm Springs was as far west as we made it on this trip and our mark of the halfway point of our total trip. We happily camped at the Palm Springs/Joshua Tree KOA, a top-notch KOA with 3 hot tubs (hot spring fed), a heated pool, mini golf and an extra-large dog…
SW Deserts & Parks The Salton Sea was created in 1905 when water from the Colorado River spilled out of a poorly constructed California Development Company irrigation system and into a basin in the desert. The spillage continued for 2 years before repairs were completed creating California’s largest lake; 15 miles wide by 35 miles long. …
SW Deserts & Parks Lake Tamarisk RV Park in Desert Center California is a small cooperative built around a man-made lake. We learned while meeting people in the heated pool and hot tub that they had a Canada vs U.S tournament on the golf course surrounding the park while we were there – Canada won. It…
SW Deserts & Parks Tucson found us camping at the Diamond J RV park, it was a nice place to stay while we explored the Tucson area. On the first morning of our stay Owen ventured a little too close to a nasty cactus – the Jumping Cholla. He escaped with a face and paw full…
SW Deserts & Parks Mexican Canyon Train Trestle is one of the last standing large trestles along the railroad route from Alamogordo (near White Sands National Park) to Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Steam engines made the climb the up 4327 vertical feet between the 2 towns from 1899 to 1947. The Lake Valley Historic Townsite is about…
SW Deserts & Parks In SouthEastern New Mexico is Carlsbad Cavern National Park, a series of natural limestone caves formed over 250 million years ago. We first took an elevator down 750 feet into the earth! Freaky! The “Big Room” was very impressive in size measuring about 4000 ft long and 225 ft high! We took…
SW Deserts & Parks Although the trip may seem excitement-filled already, THIS is our view while driving hundreds of miles between “exciting” stops. So please don’t question why the Marfa Burrito place (below) made us very happy. Marfa Burritos in Marfa, TX; It’s the places that are hard to find and don’t look like much, which…
SW Deserts & Parks The first National Park of the trip did NOT disappoint!!Our campground – Rio Grande RV Park – was right along the Rio Grande. Every place we went, we could see the river between the US and Mexico. It was extremely remote. We had some Wi-Fi at the camp store but there was…
SW Deserts & Parks Just off the highway, on a short frontage road, we found a public art exhibit called Cadillac Ranch. Created by “Art Farm” in 1974 in a wheat field near Amarillo, Texas. Ten Cadillacs from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s were planted nose first into the ground and tilted at the same angle…
SW Deserts & Parks We weren’t sure if we’d get out of the unplowed Kansas campsite but with some 4 wheel drive and a lot of gas, we made it. Campground had about 10 full-timers (sounds horrible in this weather) but was otherwise quite empty, and snowy! Alan noticed a missing lug nut on the camper wheel…
The SW Deserts and Parks Trip Begins, SW Deserts & Parks First Day – We drove 8 hours south to Lawrence, Kansas, just to end up in 17 degrees and 17” of snow! How far south does one need to go to get away from MN winter weather? Hopefully we’ll find out. (Odie is an attentive…