Summer 2015 Week 4 Day 1

Can you believe that over four weeks have gone by on our journey? Since I wait until the following week to make my post, I’m much further into the trip than you my readers are.

This was such a fun day it's getting it's own page vs sharing it with the week.

Leaving Needles CA, we decided to backtrack the 20 miles into Arizona for the less expensive diesel fuel, even though we only were down 1/3 a tank or 20 miles (C replaced the regular sized 32 gallon tank with a mammoth 60 gallon over the winter). Looking through maps, reading others blogs and trying to fit in destinations we wanted to see, I decided that while we were back on the east side of the Colorado River that we’d travel the longest section of Route 66 before crossing back in to California.

What a trip we had. Our destination was the ghost town of Oatman, AZ. The drive was a blast with hills and curves and dips and corners every few feet. And the landscape that went along with it was fun also. Just before we reached Oatman we saw a sign advising of burros in the road. 

Around the next corner, there it was. Standing to the side of the road. 

Over the next hill there were 2 more. 

Up the rise and 6 or 8 standing in the road, not moving an inch. I had to nudge one with the truck to get enough room to pass by. When prospectors first came to the area, they used burros but modernized equipment made it's way in and the prospectors didn't need the pack animals, releasing them to the wild.

Their descendents still live in the desert and around Oatman. Because humans have continued to have contact with the burros, they are quite tame and expect handouts from vehicles. 

Up in Oatman was fun, lots of old store fronts, some of which were open. There were even 2 restaurant options and we chose to have lunch in an old hotel. There was an guitarist entertaining the diners with story and song. His singing was so so but the stories of the town were fun.  

One tale involved all the money stapled to the walls. In his story, the money on the walls started with miners and their pay. The miners were paid with paper and found that the dampness and soot of the mines did not ply well with their money. So on pay day, they’d leave money on the wall to cover their bar tab. When the bartended felt they had used up their allowance, he’d take the money down and the miner would put up some more funds. Over the years, as tourists started to come through town (this is the hotel Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their wedding nght), they saw the money on the walls and added their own bills, including their name and date of visit. It’s unknown how much money is on the wall and what will be done with it, but for now it’s an interesting sight and tale.

After our visit to Oatman we headed back towards CA so we could see the Mojave Desert the next day. I kept searching the internet for a campground closer to the Mojave than 25 miles away and stumbled across some information about a Whistlestop Town of Nipton CA which had a hotel, eco cabins and campground. Phoning ahead they said they had space and we headed over. In it’s heyday, Nipton was a nice oasis town.  Today the only trains that pass through are freight trains and they don’t stop.  Nipton has converted to solar power and they produce 80% of their own electricity with a solar farm. When you arrive in “town” you stop at the Trading Post to check in. Next door is a restaurant that’s been closed for several years, then the 5 room hotel/conference center. Behind them are the campground and eco-cabins.  The cabins are wooden framed buildings with tent canvas upper walls and roofs.  They have one or two double beds, a table and chairs and a gas heater.  As part of the eco side of the business, the bath house was a Quonset hut with 2 toilets, 2 sinks, 2 showers and a sauna (which didn’t look like it had been used in a long time based on the cobwebs present). This was an all inclusive bathroom - no his and her sides, just individual stalls with doors. The floor of the bath house was dirt with a few raised walkways throughout, but none close enough to allow you to walk above the dirt from the shower to the exit door. Our RV site was adequate, a full hookup (w/s/e) in the shade of trees. The only downside to the place was the proximity of the train tracks, no more than 200 yards away. When the trains passed by, the ground shook. There was 1 train in the afternoon while we were setting up, and 2 during the middle of the night that woke me (C slept through the first). The people in the Trading Post / office were great and shared with us many details about their town including the solar panel, that they use to be the #1 lottery ticket outlet in the state (were closest to Las Vegas back in 1990) and the population of 8 year round.  Except for the train during the night, this was a great bare knuckles place and we’d consider staying here again.  Hotel Nipton, Nippeon Camp and Conference Center

The Dog House

Since we’ve been living in the "Dog House" for 4 weeks now, I thought I’d share a bit about our home for 5+/- months this year.

Our pickup truck camper is an Adventurer 116DS. In RV lingo that means the floor length is 11’6” and there are 2 slides (double slide). Not included in the length are the sleeping quarters (which is forward of the actual floor area) and the depth of the rear slide out. Our sleeping area is 8’ long and the rear slide is 2’.  Added all up the total length of our camper when the rear slide is out is 21.5 feet. However, if the camper is up on the pickup truck, it does not start right at the truck’s front bumper (see pictures), and it hangs off the back of the truck bed changing our dimensions. When traveling (slide in) our overall truck and camper length is an inch or two over 24 feet. Slide out and we’re at 26. The camper’s width is 8’ and the 2nd slide is a side slide, extending our dining area out 2 feet also.

Many truck campers have a very narrow interior floor as the truck camper living space is designed at the truck bed height. One of the unique design features of the Adventurer 116DS is that the floor of the living space was designed at the truck rail height, giving us storage underneath (basement). The higher height for where the camper floor is means our floor is level across the width (other truck campers you have to climb up in to the dinette area). This allowed the designer to put in more comforts of home; ie, double recliner, island sink. The drawback is our overall height is the same as our 5th wheel, 12'9". When the camper is  on the truck bed, the stairs to the unit do not reach the ground and we have to carry a step stool to make up the difference.

The position of the slides allows us access to the kitchen, living, bed and bath areas of the camper, even with the slides in. But when the slides go out, this thing is spacious. The manufacturer ships these units with California King mattresses, but we prefer our own Queen Sleep Number mattress, which gives us a few inches of extra storage in the sleeping area.  There's a good amount of storage inside; some overhead, 2 drawer under the dinette benches, even a wardrobe closet in the bedroom area.

Yes its a nuisance to climb up in to bed, especially when you want clothes from those overhead cabinets - and don't sit up fast when you awaken or you'll be out cold. 

Many manufacturers are using dark colored woods in their RV's, something we personally dislike. The unit we bought has light wood which helps give a bright, cheery feel to the interior. Needless to say it's been very comfortable thus far.

  

Here are some interior shots...

view coming in door - fridge and stove to left, sink on right

3 burner gas stove & oven with microwave above

dinette and kitchen

dinette booth - added decor: hat racks, sconce light and horseshoe decoration as well as a bed for Rugby

across from dinette are the double recliners.

Rugby enjoying the recliners (originally he'd use the right hand one (mine) but recently started switching during the night to the other (Chuck's).

3 piece wet bath

bedroom (bathroom is door on right)

Floor plan drawing from Manufacturer's website

While it may seem tiny, our Dog House is turning in to the perfect way for us to see North America. We've already encountered places that only had short campsites (under 30') available for last minute campers. Driving is a dream; no more worrying about whether you've got enough room behind you to move through traffic when towing the 35' fifth wheel.  Even parking at stores is simpler than the 5th wheel. Everywhere we stop, people comment on our unit. Number 1 comment by folks in Class C rental campers "I bet you've got more room in your truck camper than we have in ours."

For more information, go to Truck Camper Magazine's review of the Adventurer 116DS. http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/news/tcm-exclusive-2014-adventurer-116ds-double-slide 

Summer Trip 2015 Week 3

The start of our third week on the road had us traveling from Alburquerque to Gallup NM. Most of the journey was spent on I-40, but several times along the route we jumped on to Route 66. It was hard to find proper markings along the highway to let us know when to exit 40 and where it rejoined.  

One location we found that had Route 66 leave I-40 was Continental Divide, NM. Continental Divide consisted of 2 trading posts / gift shops and a gas station. Other than that it was just another ghost town along the highway.

In Gallup our campground was along another stretch of The Mother Road, with several little shops and strip malls along the road, although most seemed empty. The campground offered a gift shop with lots of Route 66 items as well as a very small grocery and rv supply selection. While it was nice to see an rv park with those items, we had been spoiled by the campground we work camped at last year that had a much better selection. This park had a halfway decent dog park and Rugby enjoyed running around in the dirt. USA RV Park 

Our next destination was Williams AZ and the Grand Canyon Railroad Campground.  We stayed there a few years back and chose this one for its proximity to the Grand Canyon where we had reservations for a few days later. Williams had a lot of shops and restaurants along Route 66. They claim they were the last town on which Route 66 was bypassed with I-40. The biggest drawback to the town is the location of the train tracks and the times trains pass through, blowing their horns as they cross the road, with at least one in the middle of the night. 

While staying in Williams we took a side trip over to Sedona and the Red Rocks.  We passed an open air art market and stopped to see some of the products. One vendor made metal cactus and I chose one that reminded me of the many plants and flowers we had seen thus far on our journey. Grand Canyon Railroad RV Park

After spending a weekend in Williams we headed up to the Grand Canyon and checked in to the Village RV Park, right in the heart of the Visitor area along the South Rim. While driving to the Canyon we passed through areas of rain and even sleet. By the time we arrived at the Canyon, most of the rain had stopped and we were able totravel about utilitzing the National Park’s bus system.   Our first day in the park was very cloudy with several small showers.  Our second day was bright and sunny although cold from the winds.  Grand Canyon National Park Village RV Campground

The Grand Canyon will be getting it's own blog entry one of these day - once I decide which of the nearly 500 photos we took over the 48 hours we were there make it to through the cut. Thank goodness for digital images vs print film.  You can click and click the camera as often as you want (or until your photo stick runs out of memory).

When our stay at the Grand Canyon was over, it was time for us to head further west and possibly acquire another state for our RVing map.  We drove along I-40 and crossed the Colorado River at the California border and stayed in Needles CA for the night.

Earlier in our trip, while passing through areas in Texas, we had encountered some inspection check points.  One had a dog sniff the exterior of the vehicle, the other asked a quick question as to where we were coming from and going to.  Once we crossed the Colorado River, we encountered our third checkpoint within the US - we aren't sure what this check point was about, but got the impression they were looking for boaters and trying to make sure Zebra Mussels weren’t coming into the state over that route.  (We encountered Zebra Mussel check points in Idaho and Wyoming several years back)

Ten miles from the AZ border we saw a fuel station advertising diesel fuel at $2.89.  When we crossed into CA, the price for diesel jumped to $4.39.  Oops, it seemed we made a mistake in not topping off the tank even though we weren’t 1/2 empty.

The Needles campground was lovely with purple Oleander shrubs between each site, providing privacy and also some shade from the hot sun. The odd things about this campground is they did not have an office.  Instead the host met you at the gate and escorted you to a site. His wife then came by and did the paperwork with us there.  They say people like it as it saves time from having to stop the vehicle, go in to an office to register, then return to their vehicle to set up.  Personally I like the office registration - gives me a chance to scan what they offer in terms of groceries or other local information.  With this campground’s set up, it changed our usual set up routine, taking me away from my usual duties and delaying our set up.  Desert View RV Resort

We decided that night that we would back track 20 miles to AZ the next morning to top off the tankfss before starting our California sight seeing. As we had several days each at 2 parks this week, we did not put as many miles under us as before and we ended our third week with a total of 3,000 miles travel since starting out.

Summer 2015 Week 2

After leaving San Antonio, we decided to get off of I-10 and started touring the area along State 90. The drive was great; lots of 4 lane roads but limited traffic.  Both of us enjoyed not seeing much traffic and the opportunity to travel at a slower speed and see more sites.  Unfortunately many of the sites we saw were ghost towns.

We decided to try a State Park for a campsite and chose the Seminole Canyon State Park, north of El Reyo, TX.  This State Park offered tours as it contains some of North America's oldest Native American pictographs and is one of the oldest cave dwellings in North America.  Shortly after getting to the campground, while looking out the window, I saw a roadrunner.  I ran outside quickly to let Chuck see it also.  He suggested I get my camera but the bird was moving quickly through the brush and I didn’t think I’d get a shot and figured we’d see more.  To date that was the only roadrunner we've seen.

During the days the temperature would climb in to the triple digits and overnight it would drop into the 60’s.  We spent 2 nights at the State Park and enjoyed our stay.  We also took the tour to see the pictographs.  The walk into the canyon was hot and steep but the images on the canyon and cave walls were fascinating.  While the art work was interesting, our guide who was a volunteer had too much technical information and also talked too much about another tour he was presenting later in the day.  The landscape and nature made up for all my issues with the guide though.  Spring in the desert is beautiful.

We did the canyon Rock Art tour, we decided to drive 20 miles up the road to the town of Langtry to see the Judge Roy Bean Museum.  The town of Langtry is listed as having approx 30 residents and was another ghost town.  They have a Visitor Information center which oversees the Judge Bean Museum.  There is also a Cacti Garden which was lovely with all the spring blooms on the various Cacti species.  Seminole Canyon Stae Park and Campground

 

After the heat of the canyon we continued exploring State 90 and drove to the town of Alpine.  Chuck chose the campground based on it’s name “Lost Alaskian”.  Again, the roads were empty and there we passed through many ghost towns on the journey.  This campground was chosen as an overnight stop; no sightseeing plans for the day other than those through the truck window as we traveled.  We had lots of strong winds as we rose in elevation to the west Texas mountains. The staff at the campground said the winds normally blow 10-20 mph but they were expecting gusts of up to 50 while we were there. Lost Alaskian RV Park

On Day 12 we headed on to El Paso TX and crossed into our third time zone.  Our original plans had been to do some sightseeing in the area but because we had already done several multi-night stops during the week, decided to make El Paso another 1 night in and out stop. Our campground was right next to highway frontage roads, but traffic sounds weren’t loud allowing us to get a good nights sleep. Mission Trail RV Park

Before we reached El Paso, our route had reconnected with I-10 and we left the State of Texas on the same road as we entered.  A short distance in to New Mexico, we took a right on to I-25 and had a beautiful drive north to I-40 and the city of Alburquerque NM.  We made arrangements to spend 2 nights in the area and on our off travel day, drove back to the “Old Town” to walk around and sightsee. 

At lunchtime we started looking at menus posted on various restaurants along the town square and kept finding the same typical fare; taco, rice & beans.  There was a sign indicating another restaurant down an alley and we decided to walk down to read their menu as well.  Man, oh man, are we ever glad we took that stroll.  

The restaurant was the Backstreet Grill and they advertise their food as Southwestern mixed with Baja.  The item on the menu that caught our eye was their shrimp cocktail - Tequila Shrimp with Avocado Cocktail.  As we were being seated, we saw some of the plates of food other diners had ordered and everything looked so fresh and inviting.  We asked our server for recommendations and then decided to have the shrimp coctail, a spicey beef burrito and a duck taco. For dessert we had a pumpkin maple cheesecake.

When the shrimp cocktail was served and we had our first taste, our taste buds were given a joyful experience of flavors.  The burrito was just as delicious and the duck taco was outstanding (wish we had ordered more than just one of those).  And the cheesecake was rich and creamy with just a hint of the pumpkin and maple syrup.  This was our lunch and we were so happy with the meal that we didn’t eat again until the next morning.

We now joke when we ask each other what we’d like for dinner “Alburquerque”? Backstreet Grill made a true impression on us and we want more.   Enchanted Trails RV Park

At the end of two weeks we’ve now traveled 2,142 miles.  There’s a lot more to this journey.