It Finally Got Cold

I'm never sure what order the pictures are going to appear on the blog page. I wanted to show the snow we see in the mountains from our camp. If you click on the picture with the RV's in it you will see the snow in the mountains in the background about 40 miles away. We drove a little ways out into the desert to get a closer look at the snow. Its very pretty "from a distance". We went from 60 degrees on Christmas Day to barely 40 degrees on the 27th.

I also included a picture of the boat launch we use at the state park. It is huge with 10 lanes -- so 10 boats can be launching at the same time. The marina -- floating behind the boat ramp -- has gas for sale and has dockage for over 100 boats of all sizes. There are some huge houseboats there (that we've never seen move) as well as 30 and 40 foot pleasure cruising boats that cost over $200,000. This lake isn't that big anymore since its about 60 feet lower than it has been in the past. I would hate to see this place in the summer with all these huge boats trying to cruise around. It must be as bad as Lake Minnetonka -- and we've also heard that they camp 3 or 4 RV's deep around the shoreline.

We had a very nice Christmas dinner at our RV park. Turkey and ham provided by the park and everyone else contributing the rest of the fixings. It was all delicious. Everyone here appreciates having a get together to make up for being so far from home over the holidays.

More Exploring

We tried to follow a gravel road that went back behind the Caballo Lake Dam. You can see it in the background of the picture with water (Caballo Lake). We finally had to give up -- the road just got too narrow, windy and was going up, up, up. We were trying to get back behind the mountains in these pictures- the Caballo mountains - to do some prospecting for gold. If you click on the pictures of the mountains to make them bigger you can see the gravel roads going up them. You really need a jeep to explore this area. One of the workampers at our park checked into buying a used jeep -- they wanted $4000 and it was almost 20 years old. I have to say -- you see a lot of really old vehicles on the road down here -- in perfect condition. What a difference it makes when you don't have to drive on salted roads.

Jim finally found something of value with his metal detector -- two pennies -- and an old shell casing that no one can identify -- it might be an antique. We will be trying to find out. I found a beautiful piece of petrified wood so at least we are having some luck out in the desert. You should see our nice white truck -- covered in red dust. Poor thing!

Its almost Christmas and they do decorate some around here. I want to get a picture of the tumbleweed snowmen and post it -- very cute. Did you know tumbleweeds are very thorny -- you can't just grab one or you will pay for days while you try to get the thorns out. Thats true with about every plant out here. Thorns!

Jim had to help a guy (Dave) retrieve his boat where he beached it. Dave is the guy with the inflatable that took us to Caballo Lake once. He wanted to go hunting about 10 miles up the lake on the other side of it so he drove as far as he could -- launched the boat - and then the wind kicked up and he was facing 3 foot waves in his little 8 foot inflatable -- so he beached it and walked all the way back to his car -- several miles and drove back to camp to get his big truck and Jim. He had tried calling back to camp for help but -- just got through and then no service -- well this had everyone in camp thinking he was drowning so they sent the park rangers out searching for him. As soon as the rangers found his boat and saw that it was safely beached they knew he was ok. Dave retrieved his boat with Jim's help and needless to say he didn't get any hunting or fishing in that day.

Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

We went to this Wildlife Refuge to see all of the migrating ducks, geese, cranes, hawks and eagles. This refuge is nationally recognized as a major wintering place for these birds and also a major stopover for those birds that continue farther south. This refuge is along the Rio Grande and is huge. The little bit of road that they let visitors drive around to tour the refuge is 15 miles long. There are lots of observation decks -- we got to see a pair of SandHill Cranes up close from one of these decks. We also saw huge flocks of pintail ducks -- they are as pretty as wood ducks. I tried to get a picture of them but those pictures didn't turn out. I posted two pictures of Sand Hill Cranes and two pictures of a huge field of snow geese. There were some serious photographers there taking pictures. They had cameras attached to scopes that were so huge you could have taken a close up of a volcano on Mars with them. The refuge is only an hour's drive north from where we are staying but about a 10 degree temperature difference (colder).

Jim wants to make sure everyone knows we were fishing on December 12th. It was in the low 60's. I caught one small white bass -- so fishing is still pretty slow. Its just nice to be able to still be on the water trying to catch something. While wintery weather is hitting in Minnesota we have been getting hit with really high winds. Saturday night the wind was gusting between 50 and 60 miles an hour. The trailer was shaking all night. I'm not used to wind like that without a storm to go with it. The snow seems to just stay to the north and west of us in the mountains. We enjoy seeing it -- from a distance!

Detecting and Rockhounding

December 1st we were out fishing -- in t-shirts--- I caught one small striped bass. Mostly we catch more rays than fish. Fishing has been so slow that we decided to start exploring the public lands with a metal detector. There is a guy in camp who knows a lot about metal detecting and has owned all kinds. We learned from him what a good one to buy would be for finding "treasure". He has lots of pointers on where to try around here so we have been going out onto lots of gravel roads "detecting".

Of course this is also the guy that has a $10,000 detector -- I should say ground penetrating radar. He and another guy found a great target 14 feet deep and started digging. They thought they were going to be rich and after two days of digging -- they dug up an old volkswagen.

We've also been rockhounding while using the metal detector. We are learning what some of the pretty rocks are: carnelian, jasper, chalcedony, lots of crystaline rock and pieces of petrified wood. We met one couple out rockhounding who have been doing it for three years while down here for the winter. They cut and polish the rocks they find and set them in sterling silver rings. They say they do pretty well selling them. They have also found arrowheads in this same area. We just look and don't really keep anything we find. We can't afford to add the weight of rocks to our load. It will have to be a rock worth a lot of money for us to keep it -- like a meteorite -- which the metal detector will help find -- usually they have a very high iron content, are pretty scratched up looking and are also magnetic.

We hope to have better luck with rockhounding than we have with fishing.

Rain! Clouds! Thanksgiving on the road

We haven't had any rain or for that matter seen many clouds in the sky for way over a month -- as long as we have been here. The sky has been bright blue every day and the sun quite intense so even if the temperature is only in the sixties it feels like the high seventies. We could plan fishing, hiking, etc. without worrying if it was going to rain which has been great. It was starting to get a little dusty -- not bad - but just enough to notice.



The weather forecast started predicting a 30% chance of rain for the Thanksgiving holiday. Well it did start raining in the middle of the night -- on Thanksgiving. It was nice to hear rain on the roof -- waking up-- and just enjoying the sound. We left Minnesota driving through a heck of a rainstorm and thought we hadn't really missed rain. I guess we kind of did miss it because afterward when it was done the air smelled so fresh and the sky was also a lot clearer. We could see mountains in the distance we hadn't been able to see in awhile and the sunset on the lingering clouds was beautiful.


Thanksgiving at the park was very good. The owner of the RV catered a buffet and provided turkey, ham, potatoes and vegetable and everyone brought a dish to share. The park has a small clubhouse that was set up as a dining room. It was a very nice treat.



Most people in the park at the moment are moving on to Arizona to spend the rest of the winter but we hear that after Christmas the people that come, stay here until April.

Military Manuevers

While we were fishing we were entertained by a military jet on manuevers. The picture on the left shows the "Osprey" a plane that flies like a helicopter or a jet -- very cool. It landed on top of this butte on the east side of the lake. It took off and buzzed us and then came back an hovered over the butte some more --kicking up lots of dust. It also came down and hovered over the water across the lake from us. It looked like it was giving itself a bath after the dusting because of all the water spray that was kicked up. There are lots of military bases around this area so we get to see jets come through fairly low every once in awhile. I guess the Rio Grande valley is an easy landmark to follow.

The picture on top is the view from a box canyon that we were fishing in while on the lake. Both sides of the lake - - but mostly the east side -- are full of canyons. Its amazing how far in to them you can go and fish --- usually right up to the walls. We've seen fishermen bounce their jig off a canyon wall and let it plop into the water. We've been trying every kind of fishing technique we know or hear that locals use but still haven't caught much -- usually one fish a day if we are lucky. We have been feeding the lake some expensive lures in the process. I'm going to buy nightcrawlers next to try. Whats really funny is the nightcrawlers they sell down here are imported from Canada.

Elephant Butte State Park

We spent some time checking out the state park that surrounds Elephant Butte Lake. If you look at this picture to the left you can see the "elephant" the head and and trunk that goes down to the water are on the left of the butte. The marina is open year round. If you click on the picture above -- it will get larger and in the middle of the picture is a "houseboat" actually it looks more like a fishhouse on top of a raft.

We see lots of wildlife in the park. The picture at the top has a roadrunner in the center of it. Again if you click on the picture you will see it. We have seen hares with giant, tall ears and mule deers which also have huge ears. We've seen flocks of quail with the funny little "wattle" on the top of their head. I'm trying to get pictures but they are fast. We've seen lots of coyotes but none chasing roadrunners. When the roadrunners cross the road in front of us they really do zoom. I can see why Wiley Coyote couldn't catch him.

There are still flowers on a few of the plants in the desert. We are still enjoying being in shorts. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the seventies and we will be trying to catch some fish!

Exploring - Mountains and Ghost towns

When its too windy to fish (not too cold) we've been doing some day trips to the mountains nearby. We've driven into the Gila National

Forest up in the mountains and driven in the foothills toward the Black Range mountains.

There's gold in them there hills. We've been checking out the BLM maps and they show where gold has been found. You can pan for gold on public lands -- can't wait to try it -- what the heck!

The top left picture is a ghost town -- population 1 ( a BLM employee) not sure that really counts but the town had one phone and was occupied until the 50's. They mined manganese here. We have driven through many towns that used to have large populations but when the mines played out they went bust. You see old adobe walls and houses made of mud and straw that are really pretty. Not sure how they survive the rainy season. Lots of signs that when it rains -- its a big problem. All the creeks overflow and run across the roads and deposit huge amounts of gravel on the roadways. They have to plow the gravel off the road. There is a good side to this -- in the right areas these are good places to pan for gold.

Caballo Lake Expedition

Dave, one of the workampers here at Lakeside RV park where we are staying took us to Caballo lake Friday, October 31st. He had caught two walleye earlier in the week. He offered to take us there and let us fish out of his inflatable boat. This lake looks like the color of chocolate milk or one of those mudslide drinks. You can't see your lure except when its on top of the water.

This lake is 20 some miles from where we are camped inside of Caballo Lake State Park and is also part of the Rio Grande river system. The Caballo mountains line one side of the lake -- you can't see it but there is a mine close to the top of one of the mountains.

This lake has a large walleye population. We originally thought about staying at an RV park by this lake. Glad we decided on Elephant Butte Lake instead because this lake is only about 17 feet deep in its deepest part right now. Unfortunately, the only bite we had all day was one I had on the line and lost. I got ribbed for the rest of the trip for jinxing our fishing.

The top left picture shows a huge flock of sand-hill cranes standing along the shoreline. Huge flocks flew overhead all day. They are huge birds and the most we've ever seen in Minnesota was a group of four or five. These birds are wintering down here with the rest of us "snowbirds".

Pictures

It was hard to take a picture of our rig all hooked together --- too long to fit in a close up picture.

Of course I had to have my picture taken with the nice crappie I caught. They get much bigger down here but this one was one of the nicest I've ever caught.

I promised a picture of the boat next to the cactus garden -- I wasn't kidding. Our campsite overlooks these really pretty cacti. The whole campground is covered in pea gravel. Its great because it keeps the dust down. Actually we haven't really seen any dust kicked up yet. We have quail that come through the campground. They seem to like to hang out amongst the cactus. They look delicious but the season doesn't open until mid November.

We've seen pronghorns (like deer) on our way out of the Gila National Forest. We went there to sight see and went through some old ghost towns. Can't wait to do some more but we have to do day trips and the roads are very windy and it always takes longer than you think.

Beautiful Place

Here is Elephant Butte Lake -- this picture was taken from the dam. The lake is huge and has lots of water now although its still down 60 feet from its highest point. The water is very stained so you can't see more than a foot or two down. So far we have caught a few white bass -- mine was big enough to keep and eat. We didn't keep it because we weren't sure where you could even clean a fish. There are no fish cleaning facilities. There are only two kinds of live bait -- minnows and worms --at least right now. A dozen minnows cost over $5.00 -- we found out you can net minnows and blue gills to use for bait. We might have to start catching our own live bait. The boat launches are inside Elephant Butte State Park. $40 gets you an annual pass so you can use the launches. The boat launch we are using is massive. It has 10 concrete lanes and is next to a huge marina. It is also on a fairly steep hill that is over a 1/4 mile long. Since we use it during the week we pretty much have it to ourselves. Weekends from what we have seen so far are pretty busy.

We finally got our 5th wheel on Friday the 26th of September. It was delivered up to Mille Lacs where we had our travel trailer sitting -- we were swapping the old out for the new one. It came right at dark so we got to set it up for the very first time -- not knowing what we were doing- in the dark. Thankfully the guy that delivered it made sure we got everything set up correctly before he left. Of course we found a few things that needed fixing and decided we needed a few more accessories installed so we brought it back to the dealer on Monday. It was in the 30's that morning as we were trying to load it -- stiff water hose, very stiff electrical cord, etc and our first attempt hitching up the 5th wheel to the truck. We had been shown once at the dealer, needless to say it took us a while to hitch up. We did it and cruised to the dealer with the new truck getting a fabulous 8 miles to the gallon.

We got the 5th wheel back on Wednesday and hitched up again and pulled it to Wild River State Park so we could be closer to the house. We finished up moving into the 5th wheel on Friday the 10th and turned over the keys to the house on Saturday. It was pretty wild getting everything out of the house and what we needed packed up in the 5th wheel in those 10 days. Along with wrapping up cancelling services, changing addresses, etc. We also battled the Asian beetles which were thick at Wild River State Park and many of them rode all the way to New Mexico with us.

We finally hit the road on Monday the 13th. We brought the boat to the park and in the large bus parking lot in the picnic area we hitched it to the back of the 5th wheel -- after getting it parked so we could just back up to it - hoping that the hitch would be the correct height -- hadn't had a chance to really check it out. We lucked out and the boat trailer only needed a slight lift up on to the hitch. The backup camera on the 5th wheel pointed perfectly at the hitch and you could also easily see the boat. Thank goodness for video technology. Of course we did all of this in the pouring rain.

We were in rain until we were at the South Dakota border. What a way to start triple towing, on busy freeways with it raining and of course the wind picked up. We got a fabulous 5 miles to the gallon. We stayed in Sioux Falls 2 nights so we had time to get our new South Dakota drivers licenses. You get your actual new card while you wait. We are now officially South Dakota residents.

We decided to take our chances on US highways instead of interstate freeways. This was a risk because we weren't sure we would find big truck stops to get fuel. We took US 83 down from the west part of South Dakota through western Nebraska and Kansas. We stayed one night in each state and had great steak dinners. All we saw was range land with cattle grazing, or corn as far as the eye could see in all directions. The wind wasn't too bad -- only gusting to 25 miles an hour so we got 6 miles to the gallon.

Our luck ran out when we hit Oklahoma and decided to cut across the Oklahoma panhandle on US 54. It was a terrible road and had no fuel stops we could fit into and we tried hard -getting caught having to go through a mobile home park because we couldn't get turned around -- boy did we get strange looks - our train going through their park. We got into Texas and had to park in a large parking lot and unhitch to get fuel.

We finally got into New Mexico and stayed in a little KOA -- it was 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Asian beetles were bad here too so we added more to our collection.

Final stretch -- Saturday morning we are now on I-40 thinking its going to be easy sailing -- freeway, truck stops, rest areas -- everything a US highway doesn't necessarily have but there was road construction. The worst road construction on a major road I've ever seen. They had everyone going all the way over to the shoulder of the road beyond the grooved part-- you know the grooves that tell you, you are running off the road -- and there was at least a 3" drop from the tar to the dirt -- if the boat trailer tire would have hit the drop, it would have flipped the trailer. Jim had ten miles of white knuckle driving through that nightmare.

We headed south on I-25 at Albuquerque (which I can spell now). I saw my first roadrunner pop out of the brush and onto a dirt frontage road along the freeway. It was warm, not much wind except for areas that were posted as having gusty winds and the scenery along the way was beautiful. Lots of pretty colored "hills" maybe they were mountains ,not sure what counts as a mountain, and we got glimpses of the Rio Grande all the way down to Truth or Consequences.

The park we are in is beautiful. Desert gardens all over -- we have the boat parked next to one -- I'll try to take pictures. Going fishing -- that will be my next post.