Desert Rock Forms of all Kinds

It's been a couple of days full of incredible desert rock formations, starting with Shiprock in New Mexico and ending with the red rock canyons of Sedona Arizona. Not to mention Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. It has been amazing and beautiful and in between times both boring and frightening. The boring part was along the huge Navajo Nation, which stretched for hundreds of miles across the top of New Mexico and Arizona. It's very flat so you can see the road for at least 30 miles ahead of you disappearing into the distance, and something about that makes the drive seem very long. Every so often there are stunning rock forms and occasionally some pretty horses, interspersed with depressing shanties. The frightening part was the canyon that descended from Flagstaff into Sedona. We could look down from one switchback to see cars on another one about a hundred feet below! The Grand Canyon was, well--big. It was an experience to see it and we're glad we went but by the time we got there the sky had clouded over so it was kind of misty and the colours were very muted. We spent the night at a campsite near the south rim and woke up to snow. So we scooted down to Flagstaff and then into this gorgeous red rock canyon area near Sedona. These formations are the most beautiful we've seen yet. But I have to say that after all that geological viewing it's nice to see some green leafy trees here in Sedona. I'm posting this from the Big O Tire store where we're getting a slow leak fixed. Here are some of the rock forms we've seen.

Abiquiu, the Apache Nation, and American Big Box Stores

We left Santa Fe and drove north along a scenic road west of Taos through Georgia O'keefe country. Around Abiquiu, at the Ghost Ranch where she lived out the later part of her life, the landscape is instantly recognizable from her many paintings of the area. The red rock cliffs and the river here are stunningly beautiful. Shortly after that the cliffs and rock faces give way to a high plateau that gradually climbs to 8,000 feet. We stopped at Chama where there were large areas of snow still on the ground and then headed south through the Apache reservation. This is an area of scattered rock formations, horse ranches, and old pick-up trucks that feels as if it's from another century. Then after more than 200 miles of being on back roads we arrived in Farmington, New Mexico, a prosperous city that seems to be in the centre of nowhere.

Farmington was a bit of a surprise. When we looked it up we saw just one RV listing called "Mom and Pops RV park." It was just off highway 64 in an old industrial area and didn't look that appealing. So we checked in our road atlas to see if there was by any chance a Walmart where we could camp. Sure enough there was a listing, which turned out to be five miles away. We drove the five miles through freeways loaded with chain restaurants and big box stores of every kind--all of them shiny and new. So here we are doing Walmart camping again, along with a few other rigs of varying sizes. We found that the Walmart Superstores are the perfect place to stock up for camping. They have everything we need, from dog food to stick-on hooks, to underwear--and in New Mexico they even sell a passably good California Chardonnay for $2.97.

Now we're stocked up and ready to reach the Grand Canyon tomorrow. The weather forecast doesn't look too bad (in the 50s during the day and down to freezing at night) so I think we can handle it.

Santa Fe and an amazing bus ride

After a night on the road staying at the Elephant Butte State Campground (where Geordie and Maggie had a couple of great swims in the lake) we arrived yesterday in Santa Fe. We're back up in the mountains at 7,200 feet and Spring is only just beginning here. Although it's sunny, the wind is still very cool and the trees are not even in leaf yet and there is still a lot of snow on the surrounding mountains. We saw some Forsythia and a few daffodils but it seems that Spring here doesn't really begin until mid-April. I think that Victoria gardens are weeks if not months ahead. Nonetheless it's really lovely here.

There's a central plaza area downtown surrounded by very old adobe buildings and churches. This is the tourist centre of town but it seems that a lot of the city's cultural events take place here as well. We went to the New Mexico Museum of Art in an old adobe building (pictured above) and saw some cutting edge art installations as well as an interesting show featuring the history of art in this area from the Pueblo peoples to the present time. The building was filled with well dressed art patrons from Santa Fe who were gathering for some kind of fund raising event. The outfits worn by these women were gorgeous.

Santa Fe has an amazing bus system, which we used today to get into the central plaza and back to our RV park on Cerillos a ways out of town. The bus shelters here are really special, with individual art and inscriptions relating to the location. For Harry and me being over 60, we paid only $1.00 each for an all-day pass. The bus ride back from town was a treat, with a big bellied driver who played Celine Dion music at top volume and sang along. He was super friendly and knew everyone that got on the bus. The bus has a ramp that can be put down so that wheelchairs can get on the bus and he helped a young woman in a big motorized chair on with the greatest of kindness and joking. She was a character who knew everyone on the ride as well. Parents and kids got on and waved and grinned and yakked, and conversations were swirling around the whole time. After the driver helped the woman in the wheelchair off the bus at Walmart, people were all commenting about how well she does getting out and around in her chair.

The bus driver guessed that we were from the Trailer Ranch and people started asking us where we were from. It was kind of like being at a moving coffee party. The funny thing is that it didn't even end when we got off the bus. After we got back to Mohita we took the dogs out for a walk and we saw the same bus coming back up the road. The driver recognized us and waved, and later we met the woman in the wheelchair who war going home from Walmart and had a little chat. What a friendly town this seems to be!

We're heading out tomorrow though to drive north towards the Grand Canyon. It's about five hundred miles and we're taking some secondary roads so it will be a couple of days before we get there, barring snowstorms which may still be a possibility. If this happens though, we'll head back south and take a warmer route to the coast.

Silver City and the Gila Cliff Dwellings

We've spent a couple of lovely days in this area. The first day here we met up with our friends Ches and Allison, who we met in Alamos, Mexico. They have been on the road since June and are camping in a small van, looking now to buy property somewhere in this area. It was fun to have dinner together and catch up on what we had each been doing.

On Tuesday we drove north to the amazing Gila Cliff Dwellings. This is the remains of a community built inside natural cliffs about 750 years ago. There are many unknowns about the Mogollon group that lived here. The intriguing question is why they abandoned the place after only a generation. There are many theories, but the most surprising one came from a man we met while touring the site. He goes by the name of “Wizard David” and it seems he makes his living by doing “guided shamanic journeys.” He was there dressed in his amulets with a wealthy woman from Colorado and talked to us about his theory of this place.

Wizard David says this site doesn't match any of the other ruins in the area. He claims that it was settled by extra-terrestrials with wings when their spaceship crashed nearby. He says the T-shaped doors are proof that they flew up into the caves and he points to some unusually cylindrical holes as proof that they had advanced technology. His theory is that they were rescued after 20 years and went by spaceship back to where they came from.

We found his theories a bit far-fetched and felt the place was amazing enough on its own without the need for thoughts of flying ET's. It really is wonderful to see the buildings inside the caves high up in the cliffs and to know that people lived lives there hundreds of years ago. The surrounding country is a stunningly beautiful wilderness area up by the continental divide and and criss-crossed by trails and the Gila River with hot springs here and there.

We camped one night along the Gila River and the dogs had the greatest time swimming in the wide slow-flowing stream. It was perfect for Geordie because there was nobody there so he could go off leash and the river was shallow enough that he could wade far out into the river and get sticks to bring back. He loved it so much that he kept escaping from the motor home and running back to the river. I think that this was the high point of the trip so far for him.

Today we're back at Silver City, getting a couple little details checked on Mohita before we head towards Northern Arizona. Our next destination is the Flagstaff area where we want to visit both Sedona and the Grand Canyon.

Reflections on Mexico

After our big push across the desert we are relaxing in the Silver City RV Park and reflecting on our Mexico adventures. We travelled about 6,000 kilometers, saw some beautiful places, had some amazing experiences and met some wonderful people. We managed to make it to Zacatecas and to Patzcuaro as well as to San Juan del Rio to visit the Reyes family. But after more than six weeks in a different culture, we were ready to leave and return to a more familiar one. We didn't actually realize until we got to Silver City how much stress we had been under trying to function with our limited language skills and travel around with the dogs and an unreliable vehicle.

We have learned more about Mexico and its people on this trip. Mexico is a beautiful and incredibly varied country but its greatest treasure is its people. We knew that the Mexican people are warm and helpful, but this was demonstrated over and over again. Even when we were confused or worried we were always treated with respect and kindness. Our fractured Spanish was always met with gracious smiles and helpfulness. In all our dealings with people we found them to be unfailingly polite and honest.

We learned that it's pretty important to have a working knowledge of Spanish in order to explore the culture of Mexico beyond the tourist scene. We saw every day just how warm and courteous the people are to each other. Mexican culture places high value on these interactions and it is difficult to manage these with only limited vocabularay. Sure we had a few words like “ola, buenas dias” “con permisso” “por favor” “muchas gracias” “como esta” and “una pregunta” to start with. And we could smile at people, wave at kids, and coo at babies. Whenever we tried to interact person to person we were never disappointed with the results. But we'd like to do some studying to improve our Spanish so we can communicate more easily next time and learn more about the people and the country.

We had a great time in Mexico and now we're happy to be back in an English-speaking country. It's a relief to be able to relax and interact with people in a more natural way. But we're not finished with Mexico. We are planning to come down next year in our van (not Mohita) and perhaps rent an apartment somewhere for a couple of months, so we can also invite family and friends down to share our fun.

Meanwhile, we're enjoying being in the southwest of the USA and we'll keep you posted on our journeys here as we wend our way back to BC.

Paquime and North to the Border

We spent another long day driving across the desert to Casas Grandes and yesterday morning we visited the ruins at Paquime. These crumbing adobe walls are what remain of a major trading settlement in this area that flourished between AD 900 and 1340. The people that lived here had ties with groups in Arizona and New Mexico. We got to the ruins early enough to have the place to ourselves and it is a special feeling wandering around the site with a cool wind blowing and birds singing. The museum that is part of the complex is very well done and shows many of the artifacts found here, including beautiful polychrome pottery.

Before we left Casas Grande, we made a visit to one of the pottery shops that features the work of potters from the nearby town of Mata Ortiz. These pots are made in the Paquime style using a cream coloured clay and painted with red, brown and black geometric designs. They are very beautiful and very reasonable. We picked out a number of lovely ones and while we were paying for them, a young woman in her 20s with a little baby on her hip told us that she had made three of them. She was rightly proud of her work and it was really cool to be able to meet her and shake her hand and compliment her on her artistry.

Following our shopping trip we drove north to the border and crossed from Palomas into the town of Columbus, New Mexico, without any difficulty. We have given back the auto import sticker that was issued for Mohita as we have decided that we will not take her into Mexico again, as it's just too stressful worrying about the aging engine and other parts. We'll keep her for camping trips a little closer to home.

Two long days across the desert

We left Zacatecas early this morning to head north for the border. It's about 1250 plus km and we've made a dent in this figure already. Today Harry drove Mohita 591 km, which is quite a feat for this clunky old girl. Both Mohita and the dogs behaved very well today. Our plan is to drive for two long days and then spend our last day in Mexico at a place called Nuevo Casas Grandes, just a little south of Demming, New Mexico. This area is home to a group of amazing potters who create world renowned painted bowls. It is also the location of some very old ruins dating from AD 900. Our plan then is to cross into New Mexico and spend some time there and in Arizona before returning home. Oddly enough, it was hotter this afternoon than any time since we were in Villa Corona. Tonight we have splurged by taking a motel room so we can have a nice shower and rest up for our long drive tomorrow.