Day 137, Thursday, March 5, 2020 - Pancho Villa State Park, Columbus, NM, Day 2

A relaxing day. High, thin clouds & a high of 68°F, combined with a breeze made it vary from OK to uncomfortable sitting outside, so I kept moving back & forth. While outside I heard Sandhill Cranes, but they were either out of sight somewhere to the east, or flying in a "V" formation way overhead. They were gone by noon, so I suspect they were feeding, particularly since I didn't see any ponds.

Around 3:00 I got a text message from Walgreen's letting me klnow that my prescription refill was in. I looked up propane suppliers, found one in Deming, and put the address in the Garmin. When I got there it was an archery store. So, back to the center of town & Walgreens. No wait, but the co pay for non generic drops has gone up from $50.00 to $60.00. I really can't complain - the retail $ for the 90 day supply is $764.00.

By the time I got back to Pancho Villa, it was dinner time, which was the rest of yesterday's homemade pizza.

Day 136, Wednesday, March 4, 2020 - Pancho Villa State Park, Columbus, NM

Site 28

I did have to take a photo of the morning blue sky at Sunny Flats. Of course it decided to do this as I was leaving. It was down to 33°F at 6:30AM. My neighbor came over & put a new site sticker for two days and added a bunch of chairs for a friend that is arriving later today. That annoyed the neighbor on the other side since he was planning to move into my site when I left. Glad I'm gone, although I'd love to have seen the results. Photo at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Since all the reservable sites were booked until April, I called Pancho Villa State Park from the Chiricahua Museum to see if they had any openings (Yes, it is spelled Pancho, not Poncho as my spell checker insists). Unfortunately, all I got was an answering machine. They called back less than 15 minutes later, but by then I was out of cell coverage & it went to voice mail. I decided to skip going directly to Pancho Villa on NM 9, which was a good shortcut, and stop at the Deming Walmart for some water since I was down to less than a gallon, and the makings for a homemade pizza.

In Deming, I checked the voice mail & discovered that they had 2 first come sites open as well as many dry sites. Since I've never been to Pancho Villa, I headed south on NM 11 after Walmart rather than north to my usual City of Rocks stop.

The 2 sites were still open, so I'm currently in site 28 for 4 nights. Water & electric for $14.00 per night. A nice site with a covered picnic table. After setting up I walked around the campground, and met a couple that have retired from teaching geology traveling in a restored GMC motorhome towing a restored Volkswagen bug.

After setting up and my walk, I headed to the showers. Like City of Rocks, the softest water I've ever showered in. You spend far more time rinsing than washing. A permanent showerhead with a weak flow, shower curtain, a small but dry drying area (including the floor) that had a bench & a pair of hooks. A push button with a 10 second run with fairly hot water. Except for the super soft water, I'd rate the shower at a B.

Back at the trailer I sat in the sun until dinner, which was a homemade pizza using Pillsbury pizza dough. First time for the Pillsbury dough - easier to use than the typical store refrigerated dough, and almost as good.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 135, Tuesday, March 3, 2020 - Sunny Flats Forest Service Campground, Portal, AZ, Day 3

Chiricahua Museum

A bit of rain overnight, and cool. At noon it was 47°F, and pouring rain. Any colder & it would be snow! I decided it would be a good day to explore the Chiricahua Museum & the adjoining Apache Museum. Seven dollar entry fee for seniors, $10.00 for others. They have a large gift shop where I bought a "T" shirt.

I put together a separate page of photos of the museum. By the way, a great place to see live (but behind glass) rattlesnakes that live in the southwest.
I did text Don & Anne since there is an AT&T (as well as Verizon) signal at the museum. They are doing well, and on their way back from Don's 6 month NYC cancer checkup & a great scan for Don.

I doubt much else will go on today - a great one for sitting inside and reading. I do have to remember to take my grill out of the bear box & store it in the truck before leaving tomorrow, and I have to decide if I want to dig out the spare 20 pound propane tank out of the back of the truck (it is very buried) since one of the trailer tanks is empty. I should be able to go at least a week on the remaining tank, so I probably won't, particularly in the rain, but I do remember running out of both tanks in the Desert View campground at the Grand Canyon in 2" of snow with the nearest fill up 30 miles away...

I spoke (well, typed) a bit too soon; at 1:00 it is sleeting and down to 44°F. During a break in the rain/sleet around 3:00, I decided it would be better to move the grill into the truck rather than in the morning. Since I had most of the stuff out of the way, I also traded propane tanks so I have 2 full tanks on the trailer. It is now down to 43°F. Any guesses what the morning will bring? Oh yea, it is raining again,

Dinner will be a couple of Barber Chicken Cordon Bleu dinners. Not a nice day to grill outside.

Overnight low was 34°F, but the rain stopped during the early evening, and lots of sun by morning. I'm back to a cell connection, so I'll post this & the museum page, and do today's journal later.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 134, Monday, March 2, 2020 - Sunny Flats Forest Service Campground, Portal, AZ, Day 2

My Site Looking Southwest

A quiet night - not a sound but the wind from outside, and, with no internet service for the phone, none of my favorite on line radio stations. I did listen to a bit of XM Radio but the weekend schedule available on their NPR channel is very repetitive, so that didn't last long. During the night it actually warmed up a bit, then around 6:30AM, it was back down to 50°F.

After breakfast I took a walk around the campground, took a couple of photos, then did some reading in the trailer. While yesterday's heavy clouds have been replaced with a lightly scattered overcast, at 55°F and a fair amount of wind, sitting outside, even in the sun was uncomfortable. Lots of change over in the campground. The folks in the van from Alaska left and were soon replaced by a 5th wheel. A camper van from Michigan moved in next door in site 12. There are still a few empty sites, but most of them are shallow.

I'm now reading book 8 of the Manny series by Rich Curtin. I still don't quite know what to make of the collection. I love reading about the area where the stories take place, but wish the writing was better. Too much repetition - much of each book is repeating information from the previous volumes. While it is difficult for an author to choose how much should be carried over in a series, I believe that they should be read in order, which lets the author cut down on introducing the same material in each book. In any case, I'm starting the 8th book Coyote's Regret, and have enjoyed the series. I just discovered that Anne Hillerman launched The Tale Teller: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel, the 23rd book in the series created by her father Tony, so I am looking forward to reading it.

I have discovered that both Lightroom & Dreamweaver do not like having a WiFi connection that is not connected to the internet. Both were very slow, taking minutes to respond to keystrokes until I shut off the computer's WiFi. Something new in later releases of the software - I didn't have the problem in the past, but with an internet connection available through my cell modems almost everywhere on the trip, this is one of the first times since I was here in the fall that I haven't had an internet connection.

I'm going to post this & yesterday's page before dinner by driving a couple of miles north to find a cell signal. It is interesting - Verizon stated they would be shutting down their 3G service as of last January. A little ways outside the campground I pick up a Verizon LTE signal, but no data service. Further down the road the LTE signal disappears, 3G appears, and there is data.

Dinner will be a grilled chicken leg quarter & a salad.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 133, Sunday, March 1, 2020 - Sunny Flats Forest Service Campground, Portal, AZ

Site 13

As predicted, I'm out of cell service, and won't be updating until I drive 5 miles to a Verizon cell signal or Wednesday when I head east. Not a bad drive on AZ 80. When I arrived at Sunny Flats, there were 3 sites available. I chose #13, one I've been in before. Deep enough that I don't need to unhook the truck, and fairly level, although I did use a pair of Anderson levelers to level side to side. A bit of a slope front & back to the site, in fact rather exciting when setting up.

I used my "One Step" between wheel step on chocks, which have worked well everywhere else, but when I lifted the tongue off the ball, the chock slid on the asphalt surface, the trailer twisted to one side and slid off the pair of Lego blocks I had under the tongue jack. When I went to lift the tongue jack enough to put the ball back under the tongue, it wouldn't go high enough for the ball to clear the tongue. I backed the truck so the edge of the stinger was under the front of the tongue. Careful jacking let me slide 3 loge blocks under the foot, and all was fixed. It would have been interesting if I couldn't catch the lip of the tongue with the stinger - finding another way to lift 500 pounds of tongue weight doesn't sound like fun.

Other than that, set up was simple. Site 13 is a dry site for $10.00 per night with the Senior Pass. A beautiful location and the site is one of the few that both fits the 21 & has a clear view of the sky for the solar panels. I'm glad I came in with a full charge - heavy clouds, windy, and cool at 58°F at 10:00.

I took a walk around the campground & took a few photos, including some of the sites too shallow for an Escape 21. The folks in Site 12, another of my favorites, just left, but I will stay here in #13. Site #12 has a covered picnic table, nice in the heat of the summer or bad weather, but not necessary now.

There is a host this time (None in the Fall stop) that I chatted with for a bit. The trailer next door to him has an open frame construction generator I can hear from my site...

A van from Alaska just pulled in. Small world; they were parked behind me at Whitewater Wash.

It never did warm up much during the day - a high of 60°F for the day. Still lots of wind, a few more RVs into the campground, but as of 2:13PM, site 12 is still empty. I like to take night photos here since it is so far from any bright lights, but with the heavy cloud cover I doubt there will be much chance for good photos tonight.

Dinner was a microwaved Healthy Choice General Tso's Spicy Chicken dinner.

Until Tomorrow -