February 14 – 19: We left Elephant Butte Lake SP a little before noon on Friday. The weather was sunny and warm(ish) so we were in no hurry to get back on the road. Meandering down Rte. 26 (also known as the Raptor Highway on the New Mexico birding trail) we managed to do a little car-birding, not my favorite kind of birding but nevertheless… Ron drove and I scanned the sky and roadsides to see what there was to see when suddenly I caught sight of a very large brown bird kiting about 6 feet above the desert floor. I got enough of a look to determine what it was not (not a red-tailed hawk or a harrier) and saw just enough of its under-wing markings to decide it was probably an immature golden eagle looking for lunch. Ron saw nothing. Did I mention how much I dislike car-birding? This is why.
The city of Deming is pretty much the last stop in southwest New Mexico before crossing into Arizona so we thought we’d stop there for lunch. Google maps pointed us to a place called Elise’s House of Pies and Restaurant – who could resist? What Google maps didn’t tell us is that it would be so darn hard to find. It was tucked into an alley behind 207 Silver Ave., on the odd numbered side of the street even though the address was 208 1/2. Took us several minutes and we’d almost given up when Ron saw the sign; the BBQ was good and Elise was a gem, even giving us a small heart shaped box of valentine chocolates on the way out.
We crossed into AZ and drove down to Portal expecting to camp at Sunny Flat, one of the two campgrounds in the Coronado Forest but it was chock full. Checked out the more primitive Stewart CG just down the road – also full. By now it was starting to get late and we were a little concerned; we never expected these two out of the way spots to fill up as last time through they were practically empty. It was just like Florida; even the camp host said this year was the busiest ever, with more and more campers turning to public parks instead of pricey RV resorts. She gave Ron some vague directions to a road where we might find a pull-off site for the night, warning him not to go up to “those rainbow people”. * Well, we apparently went too far because halfway up the road we encountered dozens – maybe hundreds – of cars, trucks, buses and campers lining the roadside giving us barely enough room to pass let alone turn around. I finally found a sort of wide enough spot and headed downhill to find a more secure site for the night. A couple of park rangers were on their way up to check on the gathering so I stopped them to ask where we might stay and they directed us to another road leading to a trail head with a level parking area. Sounded good and it was beginning to get dark so up we went, two miles on a relatively graded dirt road until we reached the top. We spent a quiet night, all alone at the Herb Martyr camping area (not an encouraging name but a beautiful spot) and headed back down in the morning. Thought we’d have a nice brunch in Bisbee but it, too, was packed with no where to park or even pause for an hour, so we continued on our way to the San Pedro Riparian Reserve for a brief bird walk and then to Sierra Vista for a laundry/shower stop at the Garden Suites.
We’ve been revisiting a lot of parks this trip. Patagonia Lake in the southeastern part of AZ was always one of our favorites so we chose to spend a night there to force ourselves to slow down a bit. The next morning we joined a guided bird walk before checking out, and had a picnic lunch at the Patagonia Audubon House, formerly the Patton hummingbird stop. In the same spirit we drove less than 100 miles that day and checked into Gilbert Ray CG at dusk, a beautiful place at the edge of the Sonoran Desert, just outside of the city of Tucson. We met a really nice couple from Rochester, Joe and Joanne, and made plans to meet them again in New Mexico on our way home.
Now this poor van has driven thousands of miles in every kind of terrain and weather conditions so it was time for a bath. It was pretty hard to tell what color it was under the dust, sand and grime but after a visit to Danny’s Big Rig Resort it came out sparkling granite, just as it was when we first brought it home.
We got to Doug’s just after 4 and settled in for a nice visit. Doug made a nice dinner of carne asada and corn on the cob – way better than most of the road food we have been existing on recently. On Wednesday we ran errands, Doug did his weekly shopping and we went out for a fabulous dinner at Vincent Market Bistro. Fabulous. Did I mention it was fabulous? On Thursday I did a few things in the van but mostly we relaxed, read and chatted. Oh, and I caught up on the blog.
*According to Wikipedia the Rainbow Family is a loose affiliation of counterculture groups in existence since about 1970. They put on yearly, primitive camping events like this one on public lands in the US and regional gatherings throughout the year in dozens of other countries. Gatherings last for about a week and emphasize a spiritual focus on peace, love and unity. Rainbow Gatherings are held with an open invitation to people of all walks of life and beliefs to share the experience. Dance, music, food and drugs are part of the traditions.
The Ultimate Road Trip 