Sunday, April 25, 2021

2021-3 Traveling I-40/Route 66 through Northern Arizona

 

2021-3


I-40, Route 66 Northern Arizona


The Journey Continues


Campground: Om Place Rv Park, Springerville AZ. $20 full-hookups. In town. Shell Gas station next door, best price for fuel in town.

Campground: Kaibab National Forest, Flagstaff AZ. Free. Hwy 180 less than a mile out of town. Very busy dispersed campsites, but lots of space between rigs. Forest is thinned out as they have been logging to clear burned and dead trees.

Campground: Kaibab National Forest, Williams AZ, off of 4th street south. Free. Once you arrive in forest, many forest roads for dispersed camping. Close to town, easy access.


Kaibab National Forest, Williams AZ, 



Campground: Ashfork AZ, close to Seligman AZ (route 66). Free. A small dispersed BLM site. Good for a couple Rv’s.


Ashfork AZ, close to Seligman AZ (route 66)

Campground: Crozier Ranch, route 66. Free. Open gate/close gate. Sign in. I understand many large ranch lands in this area permit boondocking on their land. This one listed in I-Overlander app is fantastic. Nice camp areas, with cedar trees.


The Journey Continues

Leaving Truth or Consequences NM, I had planned on stopping in Albuquerque, but the weather was a mix of high winds and possible snow. Since my destination is to travel to the Sierra Mts in eastern California, I decided this side trip could end for now.

I chose hwy 60 heading west back into northern Arizona. A Beautiful route that would be perfect for any size Rv. Although it’s only a two lane road, it is well maintained and had little traffic the day I drove it. The Very Large Array (large dish antenna for listening for signs of intelligent life out there) as well as Pie Town are along this rural route.




great scenery along hwy 60, through NM

The Very Large Array can only be observed from a distance as tours are currently not available. Pie city, for me anyway was also a bust, as the only shop open for pies was very small, no face coverings on visitors or staff. The tables were very close together, no social distancing here. Needless to say, I didn’t get any pie. What I did get was an awesome drive along hwy 60 into Arizona. I even saw a few patches of snow on the higher elevations and some snowflakes for a few miles.


hwy 60

Pie Town, most of the buildings looked like this

Pies and lunch served.  Very small interior, no social distancing...
this is the other pie shop, it was closed on Sunday when I went through

Just over the NM/AZ boarder I arrived in the small town of Springerville. Home to Casa Maipais Archaeological site. Like many attractions, this one only has limited access requiring advance reservations due to Covid I’m sure. Definitely a site I would come back and explore.


Petrified Forest National Park






I’d toured this park a number of years back, but took more time to explore it’s many attractions. Amazing what a person misses when touring a place on a time constraint or just missed opportunities. It was almost like I was experiencing the park for the first time.

Starting at the southern end, just outside the park are two tourist shops/museums where you’re able to purchase Petrified wood and there’s even campsites available for free. No hookups available. Some of the things I enjoyed this time around;





Imagine, a Bird with teeth, ekk.

  • visitor center. A small but very informative display describing the Triassic Period, 225 million years ago that created the petrified forest. Once a tropical landscape with lush vegetation and early dinosaurs. Excellent display of those early dinosaur skeletons as well.

  • I missed a short hike from this area to the agate House. A structure made entirely of petrified wood. (def. Worth a return visit)

  • Agate Bridge. A large petrified log over a stream. As the water eroded the riverbed, the log remained over the stream creating a natural bridge. It has been re-enforced with concrete to preserve it for now.

  • Crystal Forest. A nice loop trail through a forest of petrified logs. And to think, these are only the ones that have been exposed over time. Thousands more are still buried beneath the silt and riverbed.

  • Newspaper Rock. There are a number of locations throughout the west similarly named, as they rocks contain a condensed wall of petroglyphs. The ones here are far below an observation deck. But a good zoom camera or the two telescopes provide excellent views of the rock art.

  • Puerco Pueblo. A 100 room Pueblo along with some astronomical calendar petroglyphs. Located in this dry forbidding desert scenery. Hard to imagine hundreds of Native Indians inhabiting this area some 13,000 years ago to 1380 AD when they departed the area. This was well worth stopping to explore and contemplate their life back then.

  • The marker designating the original route 66. Making the Petrified Forest the only National park that Route 66 traveled through.

  • And one of my favorite sites are the CCC buildings, The Painted Desert Inn in particular. It’s no longer used as an Inn, but rather for museum exhibits. Currently closed. But of course I took as many pictures of this stunning adobe building as I could. Would love to see this one used as an Inn again.



Agate Bridge

Puerco Pueblo, rock art


100 room pueblo

Route 66 marker, the only National Park to have rte 66 go through it.

So my recommendation for any Rv travelers, it you’ve already visited a national park, I strongly recommend revisiting it and exploring it in greater depth. As a full-time RV-er, we have the time to do that. And no doubt you’ll see so much more than you thought possible.


Desert Inn, built by the CCC's.




Next stop, Flagstaff AZ. What a great town. Stopped to get propane for Zippy and the young guy filling the tank said it is a very expensive area to live. What I saw most a modern town with many new buildings, homes stretching out into the surrounding forests. An elevation of 7,000 ft ensures cooler summers and snow skiing in the surrounding mountain range. I’d really like to explore this area more, but with concerns still regarding Covid, that will have to wait for another time.


Fred Flintstones Bedrock City




Instead of going to The Grand Canyon, I’m once again spending the summer travels looking for less crowded venues. The Flintstones Bedrock city/Rv park has been on my bucket list for quite some time. Originally built as an attraction and campground. I believe it had closed for a time but has new owners that are remaking it into a Raptor exhibit. The Rv park is open, costing between $45-$75 depending on the season and size of your rig. For $5 I was able to tour the original Flintstone Bedrock displays. For me it was a fun photo opportunity. Glad much of the original remains for now.
















Williams AZ.

Another stop along the way, great forest campsite. Checked out the downtown area. Most visitors wear face coverings, locals seem to ignore any mask requirements. Oh well, more money stays in my pocket, no need to do any tourist shopping/dining.

Seligman AZ, Route 66

Same story as Williams. Traveled through Seligman early in the morning. Nice to be able to walk around town, with no crowds, take some pictures and reflect on times past.

You might have noticed that there are quite a few campsites listed. Most are free. Many are short distances from each other. After doing some touring, a few chores, in-town shopping, fuel runs, I’m able to select from a ton of free campsites. Rather than going back to the previous spot, I choose the closest one available.

Next week I’ll spend the entire week in Laughlin NV at the Riverside Casino Rv park. A go-to for me anytime I’m in the area.

Bonus Info:  Meteor City Road.  

Exit off of I-40.  All because of this attraction on the old Route 66, Meteor City was here and an on/off ramp was built.  Nothing else is off of this exit ramp.  










Till the next report, I’m wishing you many adventures in nature to rejuvenate and refresh.


More photos:


Magdalena,  Very large Array, Pie Town: hwy 60


Petrified Forest National Park


Desert Inn, Petrified Forest NP


Fred Flintstones Bedrock City


Seligman AZ, Route66

Sunday, April 18, 2021

2021-2 Truth or Consequences New Mexico and Spaceport USA

 2021-2


Truth or Consequences New Mexico
formerly Hot Springs

Spaceport USA


Virgin Galactic, when will it finally fly passengers?


Campground: RJ Rv Park, T or C. $17 a night, $125 weekly using Passport America. Close to town, on south side. Basic full hookups. Laundromat and wifi. Good Tv signals and Verizon Cell.


RJ Rv park

Campground: Pie town City campground. Forested dirt road loop with ample campsites. Some with picnic table (in poor condition). Free, no hookups and only 1X Verizon cell service. (didn't stay)

Campground: OM Place Rv park. Springerville AZ. $20 full hookups. Basic gravel lots in town. Close to restaurants and gas station. Personally not going into any place in town, as the two places I checked out, no staff or customers wear face coverings. 4/2021.

I’ve traveled through this town numerous times and decided to stay at a Passport America campground. I usually just got a non preservable site at the Elephant Butte Lake State Park, but they aren’t quite set up for accepting folks without reservations…. All a part of the covid thing.

Spaceport USA



entrance guard station


The main reason for staying over is that I have a reservation to tour Spaceport USA. A bit expensive, but something I’ve wanted to do for a couple of years now. So at the end of my stay here in T or C, I drove out to the Spaceport and hooked up with the tour.

Our small group were able to ride in the van/bus and as it turned out, we all have had our Covid vaccination shots. Still continued to wear face coverings, which made it difficult to hear the tour guide occasionally. We were able to tour mission control, the huge runway and the main terminal where the space flights will be taking off and the space plane and it’s space booster reside. The only downer is that we were only allowed to see it through a frosted glass overlooking the hanger.

Not sure when the first commercial launches will occur they keep delaying that part of the whole thing. Supposedly two pilots will ride into space sometime this year.


main flight terminal

flight control building, great architecture
roof is covered in Home Depot ceramic tiles


tour guide, did his best but I only 
heard about half, due to mask


Control tower and conference room


A one of a kind fire fighting truck for the desert landscape


ready to fly into outer-space


flight terminal and Virgin Galactic hanger

Front entrance to main terminal
very Starwars type design


most all of the office spaces are vacant at this time.

a sparse visitor center experience

An interesting tour, though I would question the value of the $56 tour fee. For me it was worth it and especially to see the futuristic buildings everything is housed in. Kind of funny to see an office/mobile home next to those stunning buildings, especially since the main buildings are hardly utilized at this point. With empty offices, control rooms etc.


  • Cost to fly: $250,000

  • to an elevation of 50,000 ft up

  • length of time in space, 5 minutes

  • total flight time approx. 1 and ½ hours


Back in Truth or Consequence which was named after the Tv show years ago, changing it’s original name Hot Springs New Mexico. Kind of nice to have the time to meander around town and see how the locals are holding up. Definitely small town USA.

One of the things I’ve noticed, walking/riding my bike around town, is that I don’t enjoy browsing through stores with a face mask on. It feels stuffy, my glasses fog up and it just seems unnatural. Having avoided that sort of thing all this past year, only going into grocery stores and dollar stores to pick up essentials and leaving rather quickly. The face covering doesn’t bother me in those situations, wonder why.

So it’s much more enjoyable to ride the bike around town, taking pictures and exploring back roads off the main street.


many buildings in town, little used or empty





tumble weeds, blowing in the window
this one only temporarily halted
on it's journey 


nice looking apartments
some for rent.






Buffalo sculpture
made with old radio tubes
car lights




run off from the row of hot springs resorts





lots of art shops, thrift stores downtown


Elephant Butte Lake
lake is very low

Not sure I’ll make it to Albuquerque as they are expecting high winds and a dusting of snow over the next couple of days. May start heading back west again.



April Snow, New Mexico

hwy 60 heading west thru NM
great RV road

dozens of Very Big Arrays
visitor not welcome at this time


As much as I would have enjoyed visiting a couple of friends in the Albuquerque area, I decided on a more rural route. So after leaving T or C I headed north on I-25, which had very light traffic on a Sunday. Then from Socorro I headed west along a two lane road, hwy 60. What a perfect route for any Rv-er. Well maintained, light on traffic as well.

I stopped at the Very Large Array. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory just to take a few pictures, as the site is currently closed to visitors. Still, worth the stop, to contemplate the research man is doing into the pursuit of finding more life out there in the universe.

Well now, I hadn’t quite anticipated see patches of snow, but with some recent cold weather in the region, the forested trees all looked like they had been in a deep freezer and someone forgot to hit the defrost button. Along with small patches of snow surrounding a number of trees and a bit of low cloud cover or perhaps fog hugging the mountain sides.

Pie Town

I continued on to Pie Town. Where the only place opened is the Gathering Place. Checked it out. Very small restaurant, no space between tables. Both customers and staff had no face coverings. Oh well, I’ll have to get a piece of pie some other day. Heading out of town.


just outside of Pie Town







Driving west on hwy 60, crossing over the Continental Divide again, and ekk, it started to snow. Pastures covered in a light blanket of snow. Move on Doug, move on…


Arizona, Springerville


An hours drive further west and I’m back in Arizona. Checked out a couple restaurants no mask wearing. Needless to say, I’m not dining in town today. Couple doors down is a small Rv park, only $20 a night. The owner/manager didn’t bother putting on a face covering. Not a problem, as I never got out of my vehicle, had mask on, signed in and paid through drivers window. Life on the road, I’ve got to accept there are lots of Covid deniers out there.

Update on attempt to purchase Park Model in Florida

  • Update on attempt to purchase that Park Model in Shelter Cove. The 2nd appraisal company was not to the liking of Fairwinds Credit Union, so they have chosen a 3rd appraisal company. Probably another weeks delay.

More photos:


Truth or Consequences New Mexico

Spaceport USA

hwy 60, Pie Town New Mexico