January 24-28, 2014 Big Bend National Park

Friday was the first of 2 travel days in a row.  The distance from Silver City NM to Big Bend National Park in Texas was more than we need to do in a day, so we decided to stop in El Paso Texas for the night.

Our route from Silver City NM to Marathon TX

 Headed toward El Paso area

 We crossed the Rio Grande and it didn't have very much water

Rush hour traffic started about 3:30, I thought I was back in Seattle!!

We fueled up (Diesel for $3.59/gal, I’ll take it!) and hit a Walmart to shop and spend the night.  Because we only did 163 miles, we had plenty of time in the afternoon, so we went to see a movie and then out to dinner. Saturday was a longer travel day, 300 miles to Marathon TX.  When we stay at Walmart we try to get up and gone early, and this time it was still dark at 7 am when we rolled onto I-10. Around 8:00 we stopped for breakfast at a rest area.

 Breakfast with a view

 

My junior navigator 

You never know what you'll see along the way

Just east of Marfa is a rest area with information about the Marfa Mystery lights and local history. During WWII a Flight Training school opened up east of Marfa and graduated over 7,000 pilots between 1941 and the end of the war in 1945.  The rest/viewing area was developed by the local high school and dedicated in 2001.

 It's a nice rest area

 Lots of information

There were 6 or 8 of these info stations spread around the area

We stayed at the Marathon Motel and RV Park for 2 nights. We opened up the trailer after we got set up, so we could get the DRZ’s out and their new tank bags installed.  However we discovered a broken window in the trailer and Wayne had to deal with that mess first.

 I should have taken photos before we cleaned out the broken glass

Sunday arrived with plenty of sunshine and a forecast  of 70 and clear. We headed down the 40 miles of paved road to the entrance to the park.

Our original plan was to camp for 1 or 2 nights in the park, but a cold front was coming in and dropping the night time temps to the 20’s, so we decided to pass on that idea.  We only got to do one side of the park, so we chose the east portion.  At the first dirt road on the left, we headed out to the Old Ore Road.  This joins the paved down near the Rio Grande River.

 Along the Old Ore Road

 Recommended for 4 wheel drive, the road was actually in good shape

We stopped at the Visitors Center and ate our lunch, then went out to the Boquillas Canyon overlook.  We could actually see the river; here is where the river goes into a very narrow canyon, which was a mile walk in all our riding gear, and it was hot so we decided against that.

 

 I think I've seen these cliffs in about a million western movies

 

We continued around our loop, our critter count for the day was 2 coyotes, one doe who had trouble jumping a fence and a very large rabbit.  As we got closer to the paved road back to camp, the wind began to pick up.  We had a 70 mile pavement ride with a huge head wind on the way back.

The weather was changing and more wind and cold were due.   Our discount for camping was only good for 2 nights, so we found another Passport America site in Fort Stockton, and headed there. 

I think that if the water was 5 feet deep, I would not be close enough to read this flood gage!!!

 

The wind wasn’t as strong in Fort Stockton, but boy was it cold.  So instead of a maintenance day on the bikes, Wayne did a couple of things, and I stayed inside in the warm coach working on the computer.  We have a date with the RV repair place to get the satellite dish replaced at 8 am in San Antonio on Thursday.  We’ll spend all day Wednesday traveling, but will spend Thursday afternoon and Friday morning checking out the local bike shops.  Then it is down to the Corpus Christi area to check that out!

January 21-23, 2014, Silver City, NM and the Gila Cliff Dwellings

Tuesday had us moving to a new location.  We moved 163 miles, ending in Silver City NM. 

Still traveling through dessert

This road will take us to Silver City, and over the Continental Divide

I had emailed ahead of time to the Silver City RV Park to verify they could accommodate us; after all we have grown longer this year.  Between the new coach (what’s an additional 4’) and the new trailer (what’s an additional 4’) we are now about 65’ long.  Although they said they could, it was touch and go when we got here.  Wayne does an amazing job maneuvering us around, thank goodness.  We eventually got into their only big rig spot.  Getting out on Friday could be interesting to say the least.

Wednesday was our first real ride on the DRZ’s.  We went north to see the Gila Cliff Dwellings.

115 mile route

The sign said there was a trail out here somewhere, we just found mud and snow 

Over looking the Wilderness Area

 The bikes are working well

 

This national monument was established by executive proclamation on November 16, 1907. In the summer of 1878, Henry B Ailman found himself, along with a bunch of friends, on a jury list. To avoid serving, they organized a prospecting trip to the Gila River where the dwellings were discovered.  The dwellings were a perfect place for human living. The caves provided adequate shelter, while the wooded area concealed the homes. Impressively, the wood found in these shelters has proven to be original. Dendrochronology (tree ring dating) determined that the wood used in the dwellings was cut down sometime between 1276 to 1287. The nearby area also provided for growing and finding food. Archeologists have identified 46 rooms in the five caves, and believed they were occupied by 10 to 15 families. It is not known why the dwellings were abandoned.

After a quick stop at the visitors center, we are off to the real deal 

 Must be this way

 Burr, snow on the creek 

Due to ice and snow on the return half of the trail, we had to go out and back the same way

The trail is an easy one mile round trip

It follows Cliff Dweller Creek 

That's where we are going 

That's original wood 

The view from inside 

Imagine being in here during a downpour rainstorm 

One of the family rooms 

It's quite a big area

After returning to our planned loop, we continued around until we got to the Santa Rita Copper Mine.  This huge open pit mine was started as the Chino Copper Company in 1909 by mining engineer John M. Sully and Spencer Penrose, and is currently owned and operated by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold subsidiaries. The present-day open-pit mining operation was begun in 1910. It is the third oldest open pit copper mine in the world, and is still in operation. The pit is almost 1,500 feet deep and 1.5 miles across.

We could see it way in the distance

Had to stop and look 

It is huge!! 

 

We had planned on leaving on Thursday morning, but we are expecting a mail packet from Becca and it won’t arrive until Friday, so we stayed an extra day. We spent the day walking around Silver City.  We had to find the Post Office and visit the KTM dealer (Copper County ATV) to see if there are m/c trails in the area.  There are!  Something to do next time we are in the area!!!

One street over from Highway 90 is the old town. 

 Wonderful old buildings, with lots of local artists 

We also got in touch with Winegard, the maker of our automatic sat dish.  We were unable to stow our dish when we left Bisbee, due to broken cables inside. 

The cables caught on this metal box while turning around 

Two out of three broke clear through, the third is rubbed down to the metal 

When the cables got caught, they also pulled apart and disconnected the plastic plug

 

Wayne couldn’t fix it so we called Winegard.  The dish is still on warrantee and Leslie in tech support was wonderful to work with.  She is having a new turret sent to a RV dealer in San Antonio, who will install it for us.  We hope to have it before Super Bowl!!! Go Hawks!!!

Friday we head to our next destination:  Big Bend National Park in Texas.