I couldn't blog yesterday because we didn't have any cell and the Seminole Canyon wifi was down. We were the only people using the campground. That was a little disconcerting because we were about 1 mile from the Rio Grande and the damn Mexicans haven't built the wall yet. The pics below were taken at the GMNP. I didnt take any pics yesterday. I think we'll be here until the 2nd or 3rd.
Just a quick post from the visitors center. Today is Saturday and the tent campground is full. I don't think I've ever seen that before. The RV campground is empty except for us. Its still early so we might have some company later. We will fiddle around the park for a few hours and maybe do a short hike after dinner. Tomorrow will be Seminole Canyon SP for 1 night. Should be in SA on the 30th.
We are in the center of the state near the small town of Carrizozo. The campground is located on the edge of a 127 sq. mile lava flow. It is 44 miles long, 5 miles wide and averages 45 feet deep. When we got here the weather was looking scary. We poked around a bit but then ducked in the MP to avoid getting wet. Turns out we just got sprinkled on. The weather has settled down so we'll eat an early dinner and do the trail. We'll move again tomorrow and probably stay a night in the Guadalupe Mountains NP parking lot/campground.
Our big adventure today was a visit and tour of Chimney Rock National Monument. It's an Anasazi Indian ruin. It is considered an outlier of The Chaco Canyon ruins. What that means is that it was sort of a suburb. The style of the architecture is the same and the artifacts discovered in and around the ruins were similar to Chaco. The ruins are built in an unusual and difficult place. There is a celestial event that only occurs every 18.6 years that is called "The Northern Major Lunar Standstill". (Seriously, it's a thing) If you were to be standing in the middle of the ruins kiva, you could observe that event between those two chimney rocks when it occurs. The sky was very important to those folks. After that, we had lunch at a local dive and then played 18 holes of disk golf. Tomorrow we move but we don't know where.
We decided to get some elevation and some cooler temperatures. The town is at 7100 feet and it is really nice. Mid seventies. The MP is parked outside of town with no cell service so we are sitting in the car in town. The San Juan river flows through town and about a dozen hot springs empty into it. There are 3 resorts that cater to hot spring enthusiasts. We were a little gun shy when we started the drive out of Moab this morning. We were expecting something to explode or shatter or break or fly off or something. Nothing happened. My duct tape is still holding the wheel well together. Please, no applause yet. We might stay here 2 nights just to enjoy the cool. This pic was taken by Jenny at sunrise this morning. She was pretty brave because she went outside in her pajamas to take it.
Had a superfantastic bike ride this morning. We went somewhere I've never been. The group consisted of 4 clients and we were all experienced, so the guide took us on some trails he wanted to ride and that he thought we could handle. We did a short diversion to look at some dinosaur tracks.I rented and rode the bike that I will be getting at the end of the season. I said yesterday that I had bought a bike. That was not technically true. What I did was put some money down toward the purchase of one of their rentals that will be shipped to me at the end of the season. We are headed south tomorrow. We are not going to hurry but Moab has always been our last planned stop. We are headed home with a short layover in San Antonio.
Are we having fun yet? Today has been dedicated to getting new MP tires. There are 2 tire stores in town, only 1 of them had 6 tires in the size we needed. That store was slammed with business. A good portion of our effort today was dedicated to wasting time while waiting for our turn. We drove around. I bought a new bike and booked a bike tour for tomorrow. Jenny bought me a birthday present. We visited the state run liquor store. There was chai tea and a smoothie. A 30 mile drive for lunch at a resort on the Colorado river and a wine tasting. It's 2:20 and we are back in the waiting "lounge" of the tire store. The tires are installed but they promised to look at the wheel well damage. They forgot and that is being looked at now. Epilogue: The fix I made with zip ties has now been reinforced with wire. The hole in the wall of the MP has been filled with copious amounts of foam and bubble wrap and sealed with yards of gorilla duct tape. Driving in the rain will be the the ultimate test of my Rube Goldberg fix. If it fails, water will spray off the tires and into the livingroom. We are here 1 more day.
