Big Water

We launched the boat and went looking for fish -finally. Its the end of May and finally the weather, wind and our schedule all cooperated enough that we were able to get out on the water for about an hour and a half. This is the biggest body of water we've ever been on and we were at the edge of Green Bay close to where it becomes just Lake Michigan. We had heard that the walleye were already out this far but we didn't see anything on our graph.

The water is still very cold and we don't believe the fish are out this far yet. It is strange to be on water where there are big "rollers" with smaller waves ( 1 or 2 feet high) on top of the rollers. The island is Horseshoe Island and we were fishing up and to the left of it. The picture of water with shore in the distance is the one I took from the boat looking back toward Horseshoe Island which would be between the two points of land that jut out. (you can't see the island- we are too far out). No fish caught -- I almost caught a small mouth bass right under the dock but he tasted my leech and spit it back out. Picky eater I guess.

Our neighbors have a couple of birdfeeders out that attract many kinds of birds. We can look out our windows and enjoy watching them. Jim took a picture of one of the Indigo Buntings that lives here. They are such a pretty color blue.

Door County Flowers

The trillium (in pink and white) are unbelievable here across the whole peninsula. Everywhere we've traveled they cover the floor of every wooded area. Even in the areas with a lot of cabins --if the cabin owners left it natural -- the trillium are blooming. I think the blooms last longer here then I've seen in Minnesota.

The other masses of wildflowers we've seen are these pretty blue flowers. I forgot to look up their name. We found the largest carpet of them in Peninsula state park.

We went up to Northport again to get a better look at the ferry you can take to Washington Island. If you look in the background of the picture of the ferry you can see the lighthouse on Plum Island. We had lunch at the Northport cafe and watched the ferry leave the dock. Food was good - most places serve perch or whitefish sandwiches. The perch is very good and prices at this cafe were reasonable -- especially for having a water view.

We managed to get the boat in the water at least enough to test the motor. After traveling 1500 and some odd miles on some pretty bumpy roads it started right up. The weather wasn't the best with high winds and cold so we are still waiting to actually get on the water to fish.

Lake Michigan lighthouses

We found two more of the lighthouses along the Door County peninsula. These two are down at Sturgeon Bay on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula. The shoreline picture is when Lake Michigan is calm.

It's been a very cold spring here -- so they tell us. The trees are finally starting to bud out and show their leaves. The cherry trees are budding out and should be in bloom any day. It should be a beautiful sight because there are large groves of them everywhere.

We drove to the top of the peninsula. The road ends at the ferry to Washington Island. We are planning to try taking the monster truck on the ferry and explore the island. We have also found some small county parks on the shore that have some beautiful views of the main body of the lake and the waters of Green Bay.

This coming week we might actually get out on the water and try some fishing. Its supposed to warm up. We've bought a bunch of charts and an electronic map chip for our fish electronics that has the western Great Lakes on it. Jim has been studying all the bouy markers and what they mean because there are a lot more kinds on Lake Michigan then we saw on the inland lakes we've navigated.

Door County Camping Retreat

These are pictures from our campground in Door County. This camp is close to Egg Harbor which is less than thirty miles from the very tip of the peninsula. We have never been to Door County before but we were interested in trying out the fishing in this part of Lake Michigan. Now we will have our chance to check it out. We are just waiting for it to warm up. Its been colder here than it was in January in Elephant Butte. Needless to say we haven't been out on the water yet --- brrrrrr.

The trillium ( the white flowers behind the picnic table) are blooming all over the campground. There are also daffodils and tulips blooming all over the place. They seem to love daffodils around here because almost every house and along many roadways they are blooming in thick clumps.

This campground was originally laid out in a circle and has been added on to over the years. You can see two more loops to the left of the circle and now there are more new sites not on the map. Each colored dot is a site. There are seasonal RVs here as well as sites for every kind of RV and tent. There are also a variety of rental cabins from very rustic to park model homes. People have been staying here on the weekends trying to camp but its been too cold to really enjoy it much. Jim checks the temp in Elephant Butte everyday-- its in the 90's -- and reminds me we could have stayed there and worked and been warm.

Door County Wisconsin

We made it to Door County. We really didn't have time to get settled before we had to start right in with our new jobs. Our first assignment is helping with the finish work on the main bathhouse that is being remodeled. Jim has been enjoying seeing his "office weenie" wife do real physical labor. I was using a power sander on the ceiling, a scraper on old peeling paint, etc.

We have Wednesdays and Thursdays off so we finally got out to see some of the surroundings. We found our first lighthouse in Peninsula State Park. It is Eagle Bluff Lighthouse. There are a total of 10 lighthouses around the shoreline of Door County. I hope we get to see them all. We also found a boat ramp we can use to launch our boat into the waters of Green Bay. It seems so small after using the huge 10 lane one in Elephant Butte. The waters of Green Bay are 15 miles wide and 90 miles long. Luckily the fishing is supposed to be good not too far out from where we will be launching.

We are at Door County Camping Retreat. The campground is very large with over 250 camping sites. It is pretty heavily wooded and each campsite is surprisingly large. Right now a few wildflowers are beginning to bloom. It should be beautiful here when everything buds out and is blooming. Our campsite is nice with trees, grass, a picnic table and a fire ring. Very different from our cactus and gravel campsite in New Mexico.

Goodbye to New Mexico

We had to say goodbye to the quail that were always hanging around the cactus by our rig. They were so cute and would walk by the neighbors cat without a care. They knew the cat was on a leash. We are also leaving the Western Grebe (ducks) behind -- they do that cool dance on the water. A pair of them will "walk" on top of the water together. They make a strange noise that sounds like a traffic cop's whistle.

The picture of the two of us was at Sparky's restaurant. I'm just posting this picture to show off our tans. We will probably be loosing those as we head north to the cool spring weather.

We said goodbye to all of the RV'ers we spent the winter with at Lakeside RV park in Elephant Butte. Most are going back next winter. We don't know yet where we will be going for the winter although we were offered jobs if we wanted to stay. Who knows -- if we haven't found a winter job maybe we will go back there and work. It's simple enough work, take reservations and rake up the gravel with a machine to "freshen up" each RV site after the camper leaves.

We will be in Minnesota this week. We've traveled through New Mexico, the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma and then Kansas, Nebraska and now South Dakota. We had to veer north sooner than we planned to avoid some cold, wet weather.

Hope to visit as many friends and relatives as possible during our stay in Minnesota.

250 to 400 Million Years Ago

We went with a group from camp to an old quarry east of Hatch, NM. The long, windy, sometimes quite rough gravel road that we followed to get to the quarry goes as far as Redhorse Mountain. We didn't go quite to the mountain. There is the most beautiful crystal, quartz and multicolored rock here that you can chisel and hammer out. I tried to take a picture of one little ravine with the rock in the bottom -- in the full sun it didn't turn out well enough to really see how pretty the rock is. Along the sides of the cliffs --- Jim is up on one -- you could find thousands of fragments of fossils. We found fossilized seashells and what looks like rock with little fossilized seeds and stems but it could be some tiny sea creatures. Our first fossil finds --It was great! Of course Jim was busy swinging his pickaxe to get them out. This whole part of New Mexico used to be underwater as part of a great inland sea. There are pockets of these kinds of treasures all over --on public land -- you just need to know where to go.

Most of the group concentrated on finding big beautiful rocks to take home. They filled up the backs of their vehicles with their treasures. We then decided to stop in Hatch for lunch. Hatch is known as the chili pepper capital. It's a small town along the Rio Grande south of TrC that is heavily farmed with the irrigation water from the river. All the crops are in and starting to grow -- onions, chili peppers, alfalfa, cotton and huge tracts of pecan trees. Acreage with irrigation/water rights goes for at least $8000 an acre and much more with mature pecan trees.

Lunch at Sparky's in Hatch was great. We had the green chili cheeseburgers - very good -- not hot -just good flvaor. Most order the barbeque pulled pork or ribs. Its always served without the barbeque sauce. You add that yourself at the table -- served like ketchup. Outside the restaurant is a bench with a fullsize replica of Colonel Sanders (at least thats who he looks like) -- we all took turns sitting with him having our picture taken. I have to have someone email me a picture of Jim and I on the bench.

This may be the last pictures from New Mexico. We will start heading north sometime this coming week depending on the weather.