2021 - 2022 Trip To The Southwest, Day 136

 Saturday, March 5, Smuggler's Roost RV Park, Animas, NM, Day 2

The Main Parking Strip

The warm nights are gone, although hopefully not forever. 34°F at 7:00AM. The wind mostly died down. While no longer shaking the trailer, it is still windy enough to hear it blowing across the vent.

After breakfast I went for a walk around the campground. It was up to 57°F by 11:00. It looks like the place was planned for a much larger crowd - over 300 sites, but only the row I'm in appears to be used, and many of the pedestals are of questionable connectability.

By late afternoon, the trailer warmed up enough to be comfortable, but the wind is back to shaking it. At least the dust & tumbleweeds are not flying by, maybe because they were already blown away yesterday. Looks like another day of not grilling outside!

I spent most of the afternoon sitting inside reading. I'm still listening to James Lee Burke's House of the Rising Sun & while he is one of my favorite authors, I just can't get into this one. I am reading a new author - Ghost Dancer by Robert Westbrook. I'm half way through the book & still not sure whether I like it or not. It might be one of those that requires you to read the entire thing before appreciating it.

Around 5:00 a truck camper moved in next to me.

Dinner was a sandwich and baked beans.

Until Tomorrow - 

2021 - 2022 Trip To The Southwest, Day 135

Friday, March 4, Smuggler's Roost RV Park, Animas, NM - 188.8 Miles, 4,765.8 Miles for the Trip

Site ?

Another warm night. An annoying neighbor left their porch light on all night just outside the bed window, washing out my view of the stars. 

After breakfast I packed up the trailer & left the park around 10:00. There were high wind predictions on a couple of the weather pages, but no warnings. I don't understand the warnings - while gusts of 45MPH were listed on the weather predictions, in Quartzsite I got warnings for winds that speed - none here in Tucson. Not too bad leaving Tucson, but the wing got worse as the drive to New Mexico went on. One section of I 10 in eastern AZ was bad enough with blowing sand to put lots of vehicles on the side of the road, and those of us that kept going were doing 20MPH. Not a "White out", but limited visibility, at least for doing the 75MPH limit. The low visibility section was only about a mile long before it cleared.

Smuggler's Roost is a new location for me. I usually try for Sunny Flats Forest Service campground in this area - it is about 20 miles away. So, I decided to try something different. I should have realized that it might be really different since they only charged $15.00 ($16.38 with fees & taxes) for a full hookup site. The RV Park is full hookup (50 amp only, so bring an adapter) strip of dirt with tight spots and no trees (or any shrubbery). No bathrooms, showers, picnic tables, etc. It & most of the RVs here look beat. It is level enough that I didn't need to unhook the truck or level the trailer. I did put down the stabilizers to ease (but not eliminate) the rocking in the wind. If the wind dies down I'll add a site photo. As to the town of Animas, it is a town of 237, and as far as I can see, one gas station & a pizza & wings place, and a closed grocery store - Bootheel's.

The RV park owner has a telescope set up for viewing - a bit too windy for tonight, but maybe over the weekend. Currently (at 3:00) the wind is even stronger than it was on the drive. While I didn't set up my weather station, I'd say the gusts are well over 50MPH. Until the gusts dropped for a bit, I couldn't open the truck door to get out & set up the trailer. At least it is coming from the direction that pushed the trailer door closed rather than blowing it off the hinges. I did jump out into the wind to copy down today's mileage & take a site photo around 5:00:

They have WiFi, but I haven't asked for it - AT&T is 37.2Mbps down & 6.5Mbps up; Verizon 2Mbps down & 1.5Mbps up. I had little problems Facetiming Anne Healy to wish her a happy birthday.

Dinner could have been the second Chicken Teriyaki Shish Kabob from the package I opened yesterday, but the relatively light winds kept blowing out the grill flame when set on low when I cooked it last night; today it would blow the grill off the table (if there was a table).

Dinner was a microwaved Saffron Road Chicken Biryani with Basmati Rice bowl.

Until Tomorrow -  

2021 - 2022 Trip To The Southwest, Day 134

 Thursday, March 3, Gilbert Ray Campground, Tucson, AZ, Day 4

Great Horned Owl

Another warm night. I was up a little early (for me) and headed to the Arizona Desert Museum around 8:45. $22.95 with a $2.00 senior discount. I wandered through a couple of exhibits, then headed to the 10:00AM Raptor program. A large crowd, but they have a number of "handlers" that get the birds to land near all the parts of the crowd. It is pretty impressive to see the birds fly 6" over the heads of the crowd. The had 3 species - a Great Horned Owl, a Crested Caracara, and a bunch of Harris's Hawks. Lots of photos, although I had the camera set on program, and it selected a shutter speed too slow for good in flight images. Photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

I can't name the hummingbirds, because my iBirds Photo Sleuth seems to think all of them are Costa's Hummingbirds, and I know some are not. I'll just call them hummingbirds.

I got back to the trailer around 2:00. Highly recommend a visit to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. Lots to see and many (over 500) docents spread around the 21 acres & 2 miles of walking paths.

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading or listening to an audio book. I took down the hummingbird feeder so I could clean it up before putting it away for tomorrow's travel. About 1/2 hour later, my hummingbird showed up and was annoyed! Flew around buzzing me for a minute or so before leaving.

Dinner was a grilled Chicken Teriyaki Shish Kabob.

Until Tomorrow - 

2021 - 2022 Trip To The Southwest, Day 133

 Wednesday, March 2, Gilbert Ray Campground, Tucson, AZ, Day 3 - 0 Miles, 4,577 Miles for the Trip

Dinner

A warm night, although the furnace did come on around 6:00AM. Now that I have an electric hookup, I put the Micro-Air Easy Touch thermostat back in, was able to update the software, and am running it even though I have an electric heater to see if it quits in the middle of the night as it was doing before I pulled it. So far, so good - 2 nights without quiting. It certainly won't get a workout today. At 2:30 it is 80°F outside & 84°F in the trailer. I'm tempted to fire up the AC, but since I'm heading to another campsite for dinner, I'll just sit outside & read.

I've been using AT&T since I have the MIMO antennas connected to the AT&T cell modem, and checked the speed - 56.6Mbps down & 19Mbps up. Since it is unlimited, I won't be using Verizon, but did check it for speed - 34.4Mbps down and 23.8Mbps up. By the way, with the modem alone (no outside MIMO antennas, AT&T provided 8.9Mbps down & 14.7Mbps up. Shows how useful a pair of high gain outside antennas can be!

At 4:00 I grabbed dinnerware, my backpack chair and headed to the A section & some friends with Escape 19's. We chatted for a bit, then had a wonderful grilled chicken dinner.

Until Tomorrow - 

2021 - 2022 Trip To The Southwest, Day 132

 Tuesday, March 1, Gilbert Ray Campground, Tucson, AZ, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 4,577 Miles for the Trip

Costa's Hummingbird

A warm 52°F for my morning walk. After that I ate a gift grapefruit for breakfast, read my usual forums & journals, then went for another short walk. I put the 70 - 200mm lens on the D850, and sat outside waiting for a hummingbird. A bunch of bees as well as a Verdin stopped by the feeder for a drink, and later a chipmunk ran around the area. Finally, a hummingbird showed up, although it never got in a good position for a photo.

A bit later the hummingbird came back and spent more time posing. According to iBird's Photo Sleuth, it is a Costa's Hummingbird.  All photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Not much else for the day. 

Dinner was a grilled chicken leg quarter, a baked potato & snap peas.

Until Tomorrow -