Sunday Oct 23, 2022 - Patagonia Lake State Park to Bisbee AZ (Home)

 

Another great night's sleep. I would have thought the campground noise would keep us up with all the kids riding their bikes around, but it quieted down pretty fast. I think they wore the little buggers out.

We headed out around 8:00 and the dump station was backed up (with vehicles) so we skipped it (easy enough at home). We drove to the town of Patagonia and had breakfast at the Wagon Wheel. Good old eggs, toast, coffee, homefries, the all American breakfast (or lunch actually, ok, dinner too). 

We stopped at the Gathering Grounds coffee shop so Deb could get her tea and a guy from Oro Valley was unloading his bicycle to go for a ride. He told us a great story about tent camping near here when a bear tried to get an aging banana he forgot was inside his tent.

He called 911 and they said there was nobody around that could help him. He heard it sniffing and then the bear got on top of the tent, with him inside. He punched it a couple of times through the tent and then used his car remote to lock and unlock the doors, which made the lights go off and on. A neighbor saw what was going on and started his car and scared the bear off. Now he sleeps in his 4x4. No more tents. Might have been pure BS, but a good story nonetheless.

Leisurely trip back home via Sonoita and Tombstone.

This was another great 3 night “systems test”. We came back with a few more things we need to get and a few ideas to simplify. My $5.99 shower curtain privacy screens did the trick in Patagonia, but we need to get something a little more substantial. If my dad could see them he would swell with pride!!

Back in Bisbee we cleaned everything out, re-organized and cleaned the van, load of laundry, etc.

Saturday Oct 22, 2022 - Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to Patagonia State Park

 

Great night's sleep and welcoming sunrise. Coffee and tea then a 2.6 mile hike on the Desert View Trail which took us up to a ridge where you got, well, desert views. You could see the entire park as well as the next valley over, Mexico and the border wall cutting through the mountains and desert floor. They do a good job of marking all the plants and the history of how the native Americans used them. 

We started breakfast (yogurt, cereal, cold stuff) and an older man who we’d met the night before came to check out the van. He and his wife live in New Mexico and they have a place in Mexico, so they drive their old Toyota T100 back and forth each year. They also have a pull behind camper that they store in the US before going to Mexico. They look very experienced at this annual migration. They have e-bikes they use on the dirt roads wherever they stay. Modern times.

Then we closed up shop and headed north toward Ajo. Gas down here is $1 more per gallon so we got just enough in Why, AZ to get us to Tucson. Deb saw on YouTube that the seatbelt issue can be fixed with a larger magnet so we headed to Harbor Freight. I bought a couple of them but no luck. So back to the credit card trick and sitting just right in the passenger seat.

We stopped at McD’s to publish the blog, and then headed south on RT 19 (highway) to Nogales, where the cutoff to Patagonia sent us north again on Rt 82. We pulled into the park at 4:00 and hunted for our campsite. We’d reserved the last available spot in the park and it was ok, but this park is very crowded, which I take as a good sign. We hiked around the entire park to check out rigs and equipment. Fun to see lots of young families with kids riding their bikes and scooters around. I remember those great times at that age. Lots of folks with fishing poles. We picked up a bottle of wine at the store since we ran out of everything alcoholic the last couple of days, and sipped wine while watching all the kids playing as the sun disappeared.

There is cell service here (a little) so we could catch up on stuff (a bit). Then dinner inside and hot drinks after. I am typing this listening to the kids running around outside in the dark. I remember those years for sure!!

Friday Oct 21, 2022 - Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - Day 2

 

Slept like babies last night. The bed is so comfy we love the end of the day. Very few people camping here so virtually no neighbors. We are close to the bathrooms so one last trip last night to brush teeth, etc. The bathroom is very clean, everything in great shape, with lights that go off on people detection and a timer to turn them off after you leave. The National Park Service, as always, does a great job spending our tax dollars on simple stuff that works.

A 4.6 mile hike this morning after eating a couple of hard boiled eggs. We hiked to Victoria Mine which was active from 1890 to 1899 and then off and on until the 1930’s. Gold, silver, lead and some copper, not sure how much of each, but being so remote, it was expensive to ship stuff via pack mule (no railroad) so I am guessing silver and whatever gold came with it since they are worth so much per pound or ounce.  The mine site looked like they dug a bunch of shafts, some remnants of a boiler were scattered around, the usual collection of tin cans here and there, the stone remnants of the store, a makeshift road out (wide enough for wagons so I am assuming the road is original, more research required..).

That walk with my new toes stretched things for me, but everything still works and I am pleasantly exhausted tonight. 

Back at the van, we made a proper cold breakfast (yogurt, bananas, cold cereal, etc) and then packed up and drove to Ajo. We first stopped at the ranger station to upload the blog which took a bit since the wifi was crappy. We met a retired couple who were watching the 15 minute movie and intently making notes on some kind of forms. They told us after that the park service has a "not so junior ranger” program for not so junior people, and they planned all their vacations around visiting national parks and scavenger hunting, using the form that the park service mailed them (they called and requested them).

They both had vests with park service patches (like the boy scout and girl scout ones you and I got way back when, hers was in the car), so they were having a ball. 

On the way to Ajo we drove up Alamo Canyon (3 miles and back on a dirt road). Remote camp sites at the end of the road with no services (but we don’t need no stinking services). So a good note for another trip.

We are thinking because it is so warm here (high of 91 yesterday, low of 65 last night and high of 89 today, low of 65 tonight) that we should come back here in January when our Bisbee weather is at its lowest temperature.

Ajo is currently a city of around 3,000 people and it had a copper mine, much like Bisbee, until the 1980’s when it closed. Ajo was another Phelps Dodge town (the company that owned Bisbee) and when the Bisbee mine closed in 1975, a lot of the miners went to Ajo to work another 10 years.

Ajo was a completely scratch built town so all the streets are designed in a pattern like a bird spreading its wings. The plaza downtown is beautiful, nicely painted and kept up nicely. They are struggling a bit if you wander around the back streets (empty houses, second homes, etc.) but they have a coffee shop, tourist info office, a couple of art places and tchotchke shops, all very well kept. So struggling tourism but home town proud. We will come back.

After Ajo, we drove back to the park with a lot of other traffic. We decided to go all the way to Lukeville, the town on the Mexican border, which consists of a gas station/ convenience store/restaurant kind of place right next to the border crossing. We asked the guy running the cash register where all the cars were going, and he said Rocky Point. All of those cars with Arizona plates were heading to Rocky Point on the Sea of Cortes, 60-70 miles from the border for the weekend. The closest place to enjoy a beach.

After Lukeville we headed back to the park and took another 5 mile road back into some remote sites inside the park. Then back to our site to watch the sun go down and watch some refreshments go down as well.

Then hot (solar) showers and cook something for dinner.

Lots of snoring going on in Sally Ann tonight!!

Thursday Oct 20, 2022 - Bisbee AZ (Home) to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

 

Our first outing together in the van. We tag teamed it with two cars coming back from CO, but this is the first time we are together, the old team back. We have done truck camping and car trips around the country and in Canada (eating shrimp under a tarp in the rain in 1988 with my newly pregnant wife in the Canadian Maritimes, memories!!) and it is great to split the driving.  It’s also great to have the one who’s not driving either navigating or looking up the history of the town we are about to drive through. It’s fun finding all of the goofy roadside attractions like “World’s Biggest Ball of String” or James Kirk’s childhood home from some time in the future. It’s much more fun with two.

We loaded up the same stuff we normally take which is pretty minimal and our plan was to hit a couple of stores on the way to get a few things we forgot we needed last trip (step stool to get into the van with my cranky old knees, a few groceries, silverware tray, stuff like that. We hopped in and headed toward the Divide and discovered that the passenger seatbelt warning system blinks lights and dings the warning bell no matter what. Do we want to drive 4 hours with that @#$^* ding ding ding going on? I assumed, incorrectly, that it had to do with the swivel seats that Dave & Matt installed and tried calling them for ideas, but their phone system was messed up and they could get phone messages but could not get voice calls in or out. But they quickly e-mailed and texted, and the bottom line was they did not have anyone available to troubleshoot until tomorrow. Then I thought maybe Tim at our local Bisbee Bug may have some insight, but there were already 3 people waiting for him to open with real problems. So I called my old buddy Skip who has been a mechanic all his life and he  gave me a few things to try. After fiddling with it we determined that ir was a faulty seatbelt buckle switch which is a RAM Promaster problem. I called the RAM dealer in Tucson thinking I could “stop by” and see if they could fix it, but nobody available until next week. Crap. So I summoned my inner farmer and determined that I could make it not beep if I stuck my pocketknife blade down in the seatbelt buckle slot and push it sideways and hold my tongue just the right way. So I drove and Deb held the pocket knife in there (and held her tongue just the right way), and we headed up RT 80. She upped the game when she determined that if she cut her CVS mini-store plastic card in half and stuck it in the slot, it required less babysitting (and no tongue holding).

We stopped in Benson for coffee and then stopped at Harbor Freight and Walmart in Tucson for the other things we needed. Then Deb found an amazing bakery and we got a couple of donuts for the road trip (actually never made it out of the parking lot).

So on to Rt 86 all the way down to Why, AZ where it merges with RT 85 and then into the park. Nice young ranger there who was filling in today (and couldn’t ring up our National Park refrigerator magnet) and he verified where our site was. I think he was ready to go back out and do field/wildlife stuff and not the inside stuff. Nice kid.

So at 3:30pm we found our site and at that time we only counted a couple more campers. By dusk, another 8-10 had rolled in.

This park is very remote and right on the Mexican border so there is a history of drug smugglers. In 2002 a young park ranger was shot in a skirmish with drug smugglers and they named the visitor center after him. In 2007 they made multiple improvements in security and have not had major issues since then. 

We walked around the park as the sun went down and then back to the rig to make dinner and play cards. Deb is determined to learn to play Gin Rummy.

Monday Oct 17, 2022 - Lyman Lake State Park AZ to Bisbee AZ (Home)

 

When they returned from the moon I am sure the astronauts had a list of things to take next time (4 pair of underwear instead of 3, more dental floss, air freshener, etc) and that's what it feels like returning home today. But actually, between all of my motorcycle trips and all of Deb’s backpacking trips, and our previous truck camping trips, we don't have too huge of a list. Mostly stuff to make this van thing more efficient, like a step stool, ground mat so we don’t track dirt in, window coverings so we don’t shock the neighbors, etc.

We love the simplicity of this design. It fits the sort of minimalist way we have traveled and camped (motorcycle and backpack). It is wonderful to have heat, to just jump in the back when it rains, to have lights, to have a fridge, and while I was skeptical, the induction stove is pretty nice. Oh yeah, and the electric tea kettle. Next phase is outdoor setup, stay tuned.

So today’s trip was kind of long, especially driving two cars (we both had to drive the entire distance). We had been down most all of the roads except one, a big surprise road, and that is RT 78 that took us west from RT 180 (in New Mexico) to the three way where we picked up RT 191. Wow, was that a nice road. Big open golden rolling hills with the road cut over and around the ridge tops.

We alternated van drivers with Deb listening to podcasts and me taking advantage of Sirius XM, which comes as a trial on the van. I hate monthly expenses but this one might be worth it. When the radio is doing the endless spinning routine, XM has every kind of station you can imagine (all Elvis??, Doctor radio??, Red White and Booze radio??).

Camp food was surprisingly easy thanks to our very experienced friends (you know who you are). There is a plethora of pre-cooked options as well as pre-cooking your own stuff. That way you are basically warming dinners up. I think when we graduate to outdoor cooking we can do more normal (smellier) cooking, but the pre-cook stuff is great for both not making a big stink and minimizing power consumption. We were able to cook dinner and get a few hot drinks per day while only using 20% of the power. This also includes running the fridge all day and running the heater every night. The Wabasco heater runs on the van's gas tank and they claim it uses 1 gallon every 22 hours of use. Sounds like an experiment. 

Speaking of experiments, the mpg figure the dash spits out is about 1 mpg optimistic. I did a check when I fueled up today (miles and gallons) and I got 20.1 mpg and Dodge got about 21 mpg. Not as good as the hybrid RAV4 but it's a bigger vehicle.

Sunday Oct 16, 2022 - Mancos State Park CO to Lyman Lake State Park AZ

A drizzly day, pretty much all day so good day to test the van in wet weather. One last chance to experience the stinky pit toilet. All hygiene was done in the van which has water and light and sink so no biggie. We are appreciating that we really are self contained so we could survive a zombie apocalypse as long as they were only armed with soft things as weapons, you know, so they couldn’t break the windows or crowbar the doors open. Maybe they could let the air out of the tires, hmmm. I really have not been focused on that, really.

No cooking for breakfast (yogurt and hard boiled eggs) even though we had plenty of power left (68% after all night with the furnace running). We split the driving back and forth all day. First stop was Durango, where we enjoyed coffee and chai at  the Durango Coffee Company, which was pretty busy. We found easy parking for the van and car and did a little walk around town.

Then we told Google maps to get us to Gallup, NM on I-40 where gas was 30 cents cheaper (thanks Gas Buddy app), which it was. We filled up in Gallup then down the interstate into Arizona, then south on RT 191 to Lyman Lake State Park. They seem to be getting a lot of rain in this area, and there were saturated fields all over and signs of water running into the RT 191 (mud from side roads). By the way, New Mexico has a lot more potholes than Arizona. We noticed both ways.

The Lyman Lake park ranger was running the store and said the lake was only at 12% capacity. Partly because they have been pulling water from Lyman to fill smaller reservoirs below it, but mostly because there has been less precipitation (summer rain and winter snow pack) for the last 6 years. They got a lot today but need a lot more.

We found our site easily and cooked dinner then walked (in the rain) to the showers. The park seems to be only ⅓ to ½ full.

So sitting here typing this with the lights and heater all running, hot drinks steaming nearby and 88% battery still left. Back to Bisbee tomorrow, we think.

Nerdy engineers report:

I caught the refrigerator on today and it draws 3.3 amps, not sure of the duty cycle.

It appears the range with a full tank of gas is 500 miles or so.

I got 21.9 mpg today the last 100 miles or so and Deb said she got 22.something on her driving leg this morning.

We still need to figure out how to make the little red light on the dashboard stop blinking all night (black tape?)

Saturday Oct 15, 2022 - Sylvan Lake State Park CO to Mancos State Park CO

 

Deb’s first day to drive the van!! We had morning coffee and tea, then hit the road. Breakfast would come later at Micky D’s so we could get some wifi and look online at window coverings. We had no window coverings last night but at our age, who cares?! But given that SOME people might be offended, I guess we should get some or Officer Friendly might come knocking some night. Another version of Alice’s Restaurant maybe?

I drove us out of the park on the long rough dirt road which was a good jiggle test to see what shucks and jives in the various storage places. There is one little rattle somewhere I’ll have to find when the two of us are in the van at the same time. We had a long way to go today so I jumped right on I-70 and headed to Grand Junction. Somewhere on the interstate there was a McD’s so we uploaded the blog, and checked out window coverings, but decided to stay exhibitionists for a while longer (too many choices!!).

Deb drove the next 3 hours (I-70 to RT50 south). She has guided a bunch of hiking tours for Country Walkers and VBT and had to drive van loads of people around, so she is used to the longer wheelbase. I had issues with the 159” wheelbase compared to the 109” wheelbase of the RAV4 so I may need a little practice.

Another bluebird sky day with aspens turning or turned and even more snow on the mountains than a couple of days ago. Very light traffic once we got off the interstate. I think all of those towns on I-70 have been discovered and it seems busier every time we drive through there.

We stopped in Montrose to switch drivers and had a cracker & cheese lunch in the grocery store parking lot. Then Deb bought me my afternoon coffee in the RAV4 while I waited in the parking lot and figured out what 40 or 50 of the buttons in the cab did. I got the cruise control to display mph instead of km/h and I figured out how to reset the odometers. I got the clock to display on the dash. Managed to cross link the dilithium phaser coordinator so it stays in only one time-space. And I figured out how to run the radio from the steering wheel and gave up on those last buttons (I think they make the radio in the car behind you change stations, I hope).

The rest of the afternoon was twisties. Coloradans like to go 55 and 60 on roads that normally should be taken at 45 or 50, but I did my best to let the crowd go by when they piled up behind me. And I finally figured out the gas mileage (now that the dilithium coordinator was synced) and the last leg over the twisties gave me 21.4 mpg, which is not bad since this rig is 9 ft high. We drove into Mancos State Park at 5:15 so had another hour of sunlight. Then we cooked rice, beans and steak tips on the induction stove (just under 3% of battery) and made a salad (0% of battery).

Nerdy engineers report:

The 2022 Promaster has a new transmission which they advertise as being responsible for 10% more fuel efficiency. They advertise 22 mpg and I got 21.4 so I’ll assume it is true.

We rented a 2021 with the previous transmission, and the cruise control (which I use all the time) was very clunky. The new transmission makes the cruise control much smoother, almost as good as the RAV4, which has a really nice cruise control.

I went through and turned stuff off and on to determine how much current each thing used from our 200 amp-hour lithium batteries.

0.0 amp = nothing but USB charging plugs on (4 plugs, nothing plugged in).

0.8 amp = Kitchen lights

1.1 amp = inverter with no load (quiescent current)

2.5 amp = Cabin lights full on (they are dimmable so I assume 0-2.5 amp)

6.2 amp = Entry lights (not dimmable. Seems really high??)

6.2 amp = Water pump while it is pumping water

68.2 amp = tea kettle

I’ll have to catch the refrigerator and induction stove next time..

Friday Oct 14, 2022 - Montrose CO to Sylvan Lake State Park

 

OK, big excitement today!! We picked up the new Dave & Matt van. We started looking at vans a couple of years ago, and our Vermont friends Mike and Ann bought one from this outfit in Colorado and have been very happy with their van. We rented one last December and used it a couple of days in blizzard conditions in Colorado and loved it too.

So why a van? I have crisscrossed the United States and Canada on motorcycle trips and have been most everywhere, but Deb has not. My motorcycle trips entail riding all day (it’s all about the moving, not the destinations, and the coffee of course), finding a motel (cheap is good), getting a shower, then finding a good taco salad and a cold beer every night. I see a lot of country, but never really settle anywhere for more than a night. The van lets us go long distances when we need to, stop for several days when we feel like it, and not unpack and pack bags every night.

We got on Rt 50 in Montrose, then 92 in Delta and then turned north on RT 133 over McClure Pass into Carbondale and Glenwood Springs, then interstate 70 to Gypsuum, where the van was ready to be picked up. More nice aspens and snow dusted peaks. We also hit stages that were kind of dry and dusty followed by more aspens and mountains. Colorado is very diverse. Stopped in Glendale Springs for lunch at Sweet Coloradough, which makes monster donuts and sandwiches. And yes we did get a couple of donuts, provided free by the entertaining cashier.

Ted (the sales guy), Chelsea, and Betsy greeted us and the van was in the garage ready to go, all shiny and new. Betsy spent a half hour on paperwork and then Drew went through every moving part of the van for the better part of an hour and a half answering all of my “engineer” questions. We had reserved a camp site at Sylan Lake State Park which is only 45 minutes from Dave & Matts. We got into the campsite with both vehicles by 4:30 or so, chatted up the nice folks next door, did a quick walk around the lake and then set to work with the waning sun moving and organizing all of our gear in the RAV4 into the van. We enjoyed a couple of celebratory drinks until the cloudless sky started to cool things off and then back into our cozy van.

It will take a while to get all of the systems going but I sit here tonight tapping this out looking forward to all the trips we three (Deb, me & Sally Ann) will take.

Nerdy engineers report:

The Wabasco heater worked great. We could not figure out what it was doing at first but it settled into turning on at 65 degrees, one degree below where we set it, and raising the temp to 68 before turning off. We have no window coverings (whoo-hoo) so that probably drains the heat out quicker. Not sure what the temp is this morning (nice not to know), Deb says it feels like 30’s after the bathroom run.

We have 200 amp-hour of batteries. Boiling a kettle of water (electric) uses 2-3% of the battery. The induction stove heating our soup last night took 2-3%. We have two 165 watt solar panels. According to Drew at dmvans, the fridge can be left on forever if the vehicle is parked outside. Stay tuned for more nerdy facts.

Thursday Oct 13, 2022 - Gallup NM to Montrose CO

OK, big news. You may be familiar with my less than perfect spelling, punctuation, proper placement of apostrophes, etc. Well, I've signed on an editor who will check everything before posting. So no more Grand Titons instead of Tetons, etc.

We had frost on the windshield this morning and guess what, no scraper. We smugly gave them away two years ago when we left Vermont for Arizona. So I got my Copper Queen Library card out and went to work. Next thing I knew a man came over and told me about these things called scrapers. We had a good laugh as he and I scraped off our windshield. Nice people are everywhere..

Most of this morning we drove the RVA4 north through northern New Mexico and through the Navajo Reservation. Very open, sandy country but lots of really interesting rock formations and buttes. Skinny rocks that just shot out of the ground way back there somewhere. I have to get that geology person on board...

The first 50 miles or so of southern Colorado were in the Ute Mountain Reservations, again a kind of tough but interesting landscape.

We decided to make a quick visit to Mesa Verde National Park. My Senior pass got us in for free ($30 bucks, ka-ching, I love getting old!).   It was a bit confusing sorting out what was open and closed, so we started with the visitor center. The two rangers at the info desk were somewhat swamped with people, and really swamped by the time we got through with them, but they were great, jovial, and everyone was patient. I thought I had been here 50-60 years ago with my mother and grandmother and a friend named Butch, but nothing fit when I saw the dwellings. Must have been some other dwelling site. Deb did remember being here when she was very young, hiking with her father on a ranger-led trip to a cliff dwelling. It was a perfect blue sky day so we drove the loop, stopped for a nice picnic at a shady table, did a short hike to the highest point to get the vista, another short hike to see the Spruce House cliff dwelling, and then back out of the park to head north. We will come back when we do not have this tight schedule. Look up David NightEagle, the park ranger guy. Looks like Willie Nelson and seems to want to do standup comedy. And he plays the flute! Really fun guy.

The next UPS (unexpected pleasant surprise) was that we realized we could make a quick stop in Telluride,  where we last visited way back in 1986. Much busier now than all of those years ago, but still one of the most beautiful settings. The aspens were all golden, the sun was illuminating the aspens, and the mountains had their first dusting of snow. We took endless pictures but they can't do it justice of course.

Even with the UPS stops we pulled into Montrose around 5:30, ate a couple of big salads at the Stone House for dinner and found our hotel.

Tomorrow we need to pick the van up at 1 pm. It will be nice to revisit here when we have a more relaxed schedule.

Wednesday Oct 12, 2022 - Bisbee AZ to Gallup NM

We decided to take 3 days to get to Gypsum CO to pick up our new camper van. Very excited to be on the road again and very very excited to pick up the new van. We decided to name her after Deb's mom, Sally Ann. She passed away at the much too young age of 60 long ago, and so we will try to do the trips she never got to take.

We decided that the first day we would put in a long day and then have time to play up in Colorado. We need to be in Gypsum by 1 pm on Friday so Gallup sounded about right. We drove the usual way to Tucson and then turned north on RT 77, through Oracle and on to Globe, then across the San Carlos and Fort Apache reservations. The drive out of Globe through the Salt River Canyon was spectacular. RT 77 took us all the way to Holbrook AZ, then we got on the interstate (RT 40) and on to Gallup NM. A good country station, podcasts and my playlist made the day go fast. We lost an hour so did not get in until 7:00. A little late for local places but we found a tasty Applebee's for dinner.