Apricity West

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TURN VOLUME UP TO HEAR THE BIRDS SING

March 26, 2021, Friday

I forgot to mention that we crossed the Continental Divide enroute to Dream Catcher. Also, we are now in the Central Time Zone. Arizona does not practice Daylight Savings time, so we were 3 hours behind EST, but now are only 2 hours behind. 

 

I am sure you have been seeing the devastating tornadoes that hit Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia! We are keeping a close watch on the weather to determine which route to take back east. We have reservations on the shore of Galveston for 4 nights which I am looking forward to, but time (and weather) will tell. We have been rocking and rolling with the high winds and have noticed a stream of units coming in off the road for that reason. It’s the fullest this park has been during our stays. 

 

In the meantime, we will make the best of our circumstance. Went across the border again to Palomas for a dentist appt Rich had. He was in the chair for an hour and was charged $30!!!!!!! Back to the Pink Store at 11am - as soon as you walk in the door, you are asked if you want a margarita to stroll through the maze of colorful items for sale. Of course!

 

We picked up a wall ornament and a bottle of tequila after an early lunch and another margarita.

 

March 27, 2021, Saturday

Most of those units that pulled in last night are leaving today - it is that time of year when the buds are bursting at the ends of branches and campers are heading home to the warm weather of spring and summer. 

 

Today we had company, Rich and Fran Tilgner, who lived here at Dream Catcher in their camper when Rich managed the park. They started out full timing in a 17 ft fully self-contained Casita - they put a solar panel on the roof so they didn’t need to share power and they always won the Mileage Wars! They towed with a 4 cylinder Toyota pickup. When questioned about their choice they responded: “Yes, it's small, Yes, we full time in it, No, we aren't crazy! And it's paid for!"

 In 2015, they moved to an apartment facility here in Deming which they really like as there are 2 bedrooms and lots of closets to store her yarns and completed projects. Fran is a seasoned crafter of crocheted small animals which she sells at craft fairs or donates for fundraising locally. They do not have children but have “adopted” many grandchildren of their friends. She keeps them supplied with all sorts of mini stuffed animals.

Rich is retired from driving big rigs all over the country with Fran as his travel companion. She says he saved her from working at the telephone company and they went on to sell Christmas trees, manage an SKP park, and their favorite job - working at a dude ranch in Colorado year round for five years. They had many colorful stories to share about that as they were easterners overseeing the ranch. Ironically, Fran was born in Ticonderoga, NY, just miles from Rich’s hometown. She grew up in New Hampshire, but considers herself a Southwesterner. They are avid movie buffs with a library of over 700 CD’s, many purchased as “used" from Amazon. His guilty pleasure is western movies, Wyatt Earp, in particular. She is addicted to her Kindle! Fun people...

They came bearing homemade Cheese and Chile Beer Bread - we devoured half of the loaf with our dinner of pulled pork and coleslaw before I remembered to take a picture. 

They bought 2 sets of cards from Rich - his first official sale!! 

 

March 28, 2021, Sunday

Woke up today with a pretty severe toothache. I spent a lot of time and money on saving this molar with a root canal, crown, et al. It finally said, enough. The worst part is the worry that it might become abscessed! I took 1000 mg of Acetaminophen every 6 hours for the pain and got through the day, chewing on my right side all the way.   

 

Off to Las Cruces anyway… it is a sprawling city with pockets of industrial buildings, commercial shopping centers and residential homes. After a fair amount of time in Staples choosing cost effective supplies for his new note cards (RichArt.Colomb@gmail.com), we stopped at Old Mesilla to visit the Art Gallery again and have lunch at the Double Eagle. It was closed the last time we were here in January and it is his favorite eatery here. Delicious!

 

Later on we spent time with our party animal friends in the park and they also purchased Rich’s art!

March 29, 2021, Monday

Called my dentist, Dr. Krol, and she prescribed an antibiotic which puts my mind to rest. Will have a lot of work ($$) to be done in May since this is going to require an implant to maintain my big open-mouthed smile!!

 

Went to a cook out at Keith and Zilla’s today and what a cook out it was! All of the fixings of a good old fashioned picnic - macaroni salad, potato salad, 5 bean salad, burgers and dogs. Her secret formula comes from growing up with 13 brothers and sisters with a mother who always made sure there was enough food for another serving.  Her father was a lumberjack and ALL of the kids helped him in the woods or helped mother in the kitchen when needed. Keith and Zilla have been married for 40 years - she 81 years young and he 74… “it works out fine” for them. They are living happy and healthy in their RV which is parked along side of their travel trailer, occasionally camping, fishing, mining for minerals, and walking every day. 

She is the ultimate crafter and has made these book covers for her grandkids.

 

And she bakes!

March 30, 2021, Tuesday

Off to the Gila (He-la) Cliff Dwellings today! A 2 1/2 hour ride up a series of mountains with breathtaking views of Spirit Canyon. 

At first there are rolling hills occasionally dotted with bushes, old charred trees, dilapidated shacks, school bus signs, several families of javelina, deer…. We came upon the beautiful view of Lake Roberts but there was no place to pull over for a picture. The 2 lane road is in great condition with center lines freshly painted though there are no guard rails on the winding roller coaster ride. As we climb, the landscape is now all conifer trees. We passed 2 lone bicyclists and couldn’t believe they could/would attempt this ride. Why?

Now at our destination, there is a one mile loop to climb to see the cliff dwellings 180 feet up. It was a challenge, but we are so glad we did it. Our legs felt like rubber at the end and for a day or two. 

GILA CLIFF DWELLINGS NATIONAL MONUMENT

About 40 rooms built inside five natural caves here yielded evidence that people traded both materials and ideas. The Puebloans who once lived here grew corn, beans, and squash, foraged the fertile Gila River valley and surrounding forests for native plants, and hunted the area’s game. Departing from traditional regional dwelling forms (first pit houses and then surface pueblos), they built their pueblo inside the caves of Cliff Dweller Canyon with rock, mortar, and timber felled between 1276 and 1287.  

 

OFFICIAL SCENIC HISTORIC MARKET
Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument was established in 1907 by Theodore Roosevelt to protect the prehistoric material culture of the Mogollon (Mo-go-yon) people and others who inhabited this area. The first scientific description of a pueblo ruin on the upper Gila River was written in 1874 by Henry Wetherbee Henshaw of the Wheeler Geographical Surveys of the Territories of the United States West of the 100th Meridian.

 

CARVING THE CANYONS
Nature formed these steep slopes over thousands of years. It began with a volcanic eruption. Over time, the spring-fed stream and gravity carved a deep, narrow canyon. Gradually, new spaces formed inside the volcanic rock and sandstone. The Mogollon people made these alcoves their home during the late 1200s, nourished by the area's rich biodiversity.

- Explosions blasted calderas, or craters, that later filled in with sedimentary rock.

- Faulting produced cracks that allowed water to cut canyons.

- Alcoves formed and protected the cliff dwellings for centuries.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
For a variety of reasons, Mogollon families walked away from the cave dwellings in the early 1300s. Though the culture is gone, the story carries on through descendents who are still here. Modern Pueblo peoples trace their ancestry to the Mogollon through shared traditions, pottery designs, and beliefs.

Ancestors are still alive. They did not go anywhere. Or disappear. We're still here...

 

We took an alternate route down to Silver City. If we thought the road up was a twisting turning whirl, this route had more hairpin turns, switch backs and tighter too. There was nothing but trees, forever and ever - no wildlife, no buildings, a few picnic rest spots. 

 

A little detour to the City of Rocks RV State Park.

A side note - Terri and Jim proofread this blog on Thursday nights and then call me with corrections or suggestions. It turns out that the trip I just described is the same bike multi-day route they took years ago - two different years! Their bike group started in Silver City, rode the rolling hills, camped at City of Rocks, passed Lake Roberts, viewed Spirit Canyon... The only thing they didn’t do was hike to the cliff dwellings! Wimps! Ha! 

March 31, 2021, Wednesday

We have seen a fair number of solo ladies camping. The one next to us (Marilyn, attractive, fit, mid 60’s) was also at North Ranch when we were there. The back of her rig opens up like a curved roof to shelter her tiny kitchen. She was slow cooking dried garbanzo beans (source of protein) when we chatted recently. I asked her if she gets lonely and she said sometimes. When she lays her head down at night, she asks herself if she had a conversation today. I said, “Well, you can check that off of your list today”. She clearly has a routine as she faithfully walks around the park with 2 ski poles (to protect her hips and knees) for 2 miles every day. Today I asked if I could join her and we talked up a storm. She was an elementary school math teacher, married twice for 8 years each and has 2 sons and 3 grands by one son. She’s from California and has been on the road full time for 3 years. I asked, “Why?" She had a beautiful home with 3 bathrooms that she could have lived in the rest of her life, but she wouldn’t see anything or go anywhere - and she always wanted to be on the go. So she sold the home, bought her tiny tear drop and truck and got on the road. I asked if her sons were OK with this lifestyle and she said yes, they had traveled with her all their lives - she has been to all 48 states and loves Maine and Texas in particular. But she will register her truck and new casita (which she is picking up next week) in South Dakota. She will be an Escapee with her mail routed to an address in Livingston. They will send it to her upon request wherever she is. She grew up in a home (with two older brothers) that was well managed by her mother, but dictated by her father. He lived in the basement when he was home 4 days and was gone 10 days. His style was militant and her mother never knew the power she could have had. It was what it was. So she did not know about relationships. Recently a male high school friend reached out to her and asked her to call him. He (now a behavioral psychologist) had tried to talk her out of her first marriage before it happened. He knew it was wrong, as did she, but she didn’t know how to get out of it. Someone told her she should call this old friend and connect with him; she just smiled. That kind of relationship does not resonate with her. When I told her about my blog, she said to tell my women followers that they CAN DO anything they choose to do! Her traveling companion is Jesus so she does not feel alone. 

  

April 1, 2022, Thursday

Happy birthday to Rich’s daughter, Nora Colomb!

The World Premier of the movie we were in, “I’m Not Him”, is out on Amazon Prime (Imdb). Watch to the end, as we are in the final scene. Please leave a rating and comments to help promote it...

 

https://bit.ly/ImNotHim

Headed to Adobe Deli again tonight with the two great couples in the park that we have been hanging with. The hard part about being on the move is saying goodbye to those you meet along the way!

We got the ribs... best I’ve ever had. 

I learned that the original building was a school house which was sold to someone sight unseen. He needed a place to put all of his animals. 

My art of the week...

Mandala rock art

P.S. - we decided to head for Galveston after all. Left New Mexico this morning headed east on Interstate 10 for Fort Stockton...