10-17-16 - Heat Escape - Day 67

We drank our coffee this morning, watching the peacocks out the window, then headed to the hot springs.  I think the hot springs were better today than yesterday.

We traveled southerly 80 miles to Coachlight RV Park in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It is an ok campground behind a motel, We have a few air TV stations, good WIFI, and full hookups.  We have all that we need for a couple of days.

We went to the Barnett's Harley Davidson, bought some shirts, then went and got our Walmart fix.

It was time for Pizza and we had phone service and Pizza Hut delivery.  A great way to spend the night in the big city.  Thank goodness, we escaped from all the dang cats at Faywood Hot Springs!!

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/wxUzM77cALna5qSV9

10-16-16 - Heat Escape - Day 66

                                                             Breakfast

We got up this gorgeous morning, built a campfire, and cooked breakfast on our tripod grill.  Dang it was good!!  We debated on staying at Cosmic Campground or continuing on our journey.  Being we couldn’t get any data, cell phone, not even a radio station, and were kinda in Google withdrawal, we decided to go. 

Again we had a maybe destination, just wasn’t quite sure.  We traveled about a 100 miles in a southerly direction. We found our new home for the night at Faywood Hot Springs Resort.  The word Resort is a little bit of extravagant for this place, but the hot springs are fantastic.

We picked out a campsite that we knew would be Fernykat approved.  No need for Fernykat approval, there are so many feral cats here that I feel like we are the Pied Piper of the cat world.  Fernykat is not coming outside.  The feral cats are quite a nuisance.

We took a stroll around the campground. We saw peacocks and chickens on out hike.  We also found the clothes optional campsite area.  Needless to say, we are on the other side of the campground from there.

 The hot springs are 110 degrees of wonderful.  Kinda ironic on our heat escape we head to a hot spring.  We soaked in the Hot Spring for a little while, (not the clothes optional one, although it appeared to be the most popular).  This is well worth the stop along the way even with the cat encounter.

We fried some good ole bream while fighting off the cats.  We watched the sunset, (while being  followed by 5 cats),and went inside to watch TV.  We have TV, off and on data; we are almost back to civilization.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/RozQ5hHaidhsmq7WA

10-15-16 - Heat Escape - Day 65

Our day began a little later than usual.  We didn’t get up until 9 am.  We took a couple mile hike then decided we wanted to go to town to get a couple of steaks and a tripod grill to cook over the campfire. We unloaded Amber and away we went.

You never realized how much you depend on Google, until you’re Googleless.  We stopped at a gas station 50 miles after leaving and found out the nearest place to obtain our goods was another 35 miles away.  Oh well, it was a gorgeous day, beautiful scenery, with the temperature in the 80’s, no reason not to ride on.

We found the Walmart in Silver City, purchased our goods, checked our text and e mail messages, and headed back to the campground. 

It was another gorgeous night.  The moon was brighter and fuller than the night before.  We cooked our steaks and baked potatoes over the campfire and they were delicious.  The 170 mile road trip to Walmart was definitely worth it.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/6Jd9bgoAuf9cgXq4A

10-14-16 - Heat Escape - Day 64

                                                                           Morning

We left Red Rock Campground this morning headed in a southerly direction with a maybe destination to boondock for free in Gila National Forest.

Our first stop was Apache Creek Campground;   there were hunters, campers, four wheelers, horses, etc., piling in for tomorrow’s beginning of the elk hunt in Gila National Forest.  We decided to travel on to our next maybe destination,

We continued on a narrow, switchback road until finally arriving at Cosmic Campground. There are 6 very primitive sites here.  There is absolutely no phone or internet service. There was one other camper here when we arrived.   After traveling 195 miles, we found our destination.

The campground is in a valley surrounded by hills.  It has a few small trees and shrubbery.  Cosmic Campground is one of the few International Dark Sky Association areas.  The skies here are far away from big light sources and are a great place to star gaze. 

We watched the beautiful sunset, grilled some burgers, and enjoyed the quiet night sitting by the campfire. The sky was dark with a big, bright, full moon lighting it up which outshined the stars.  Even though the moon was more pronounced, the stars were still very beautiful.  The quiet sound of the night was broken when the coyotes started yelping.

                                                             Jack Rabbit

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/M1iahUk8xfbvmLMr9   

10-13-16 - Heat Escape - Day 63

                                                            Ready to ride

We went to the Petrified Forest National Park today.  It was not exactly what we expected.   Who would have thought petrified wood in a desert would be so pretty???  We were pleasantly surprised!

                                                  a little Mother road therapy first

We again waited for the temperatures to rise out of the 30’s this morning before taking off on Amber.  We took the back roads through the Indian reservations.  We passed very few vehicles on a nice two lane road on a gorgeous day.  It was a very enjoyable, peaceful ride.

We stopped for our picnic lunch at the south end of the park and headed north.   The petrified wood here is a lot prettier than the petrified wood in Mississippi.  The wood appeared to be cut with a chainsaw displaying the multiple, beautiful, colors of the wood.   The ranger told us it is the natural petrified process that breaks the wood in pieces.  Mother Nature again amazes me.  After the 28 mile drive of gorgeous scenery, we headed home.

                                                       some route 66 through the park

It took us almost 3 hours to get to the park today; it took us a little over an hour to get back home on I40.  Interstate travel is not our favorite, but we had a choice of coming home on the back roads after dark or getting home before dark.  A no brainer.

                                                                      I40 eastbound

We sat outside for a little while and watched the sun set behind the big red rock.   The temperatures dropped as fast as the sunset did so we are inside with the heater on. 

Tomorrow we plan to make a southerly relocation.


Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/EFsA3mF48yhnW89M6