theboondork's RV blog

I'm starting my winter travels off with reservations. Not the doubting kind, not the kind Indians live on, the kind you make at state parks.

11/7/2020

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, she clicked all the pics...she knew what to do.

Indian ruins

When I think of going to New Mexico or Arizona from Colorado, my brain automatically says I-40 or I-25 as if that's the only roads that you you can use to get to those states, and looking at the map is when I had my epiphany. I was looking at the biggest town near the Bosque Del Apache which is Socorro New Mexico , about 10 miles away and lo and behold there was a very nice road, Highway 60 to be exact, that goes straight across New Mexico from Socorro into Arizona and then it turns south and goes into Phoenix.

Now I've been on Highway 60 mucho years ago but I haven't thought about it lately until last night when I was thinking of how could I go to Bosque Del Apache and then get to Arizona without a long drive back to I-40 or down I-25 to I-10. And Highway 60 solved that problem.

I can spend a few days taking pictures of the birds and then cut straight across New Mexico into Arizona. It looks like it will work out great. In fact it looked like such a good idea that I decided to take advantage of where Highway 60 goes and make reservations.... There's that loathsome word again, at the lost Dutchman state Park just east of Phoenix at the foot of the Superstition Mountains.

As usual I've been there before but it's been many years ago. And every time I tried to go again the Park has been full. It's a very popular State Park. But this time I managed to get a three day reservation. The full hookup sites were all taken so I'm basically in a boondocking spot with a picnic table, but even that is more than I needed so I was happy to get a spot to boondock.

As much as I hate to start out my winter travels with two reservations, one for the state Park in Denver, and one for a state Park in Arizona I'm trying to convince myself this is not the way my future will be, this is special. Reservations at Colorado state parks are mandatory no if's, and's, or but's. And I've tried to stay at the Lost Dutchman state Park several times and their always full in the winter so this might be my only chance. But I certainly don't want to make a habit of this, already I'm feeling like I now have a schedule to follow and I don't like that feeling one bit.

theboondork

Old train cars in Alamosa

My granddaughter marching to a different drummer

13 Comments

Judith

11/7/2020 08:00:27 pm

So, where are you staying while at Bosque del Apache? The reservations are for the beginning (Denver) and the end (Phoenix), right? Well, whatever, I do understand your reluctance about being locked into a timetable.
Oh. That pink goose is definitely a pink goose. NOT the bloom of a Christmas cactus. I suspect you photoshopped the cactus bloom at the end of the post so that it would look like it could have been the pink goose.

Tom

11/7/2020 09:15:32 pm

I haven't located any boondocking really close to the Bosque Del Apache yet, but there's a commercial campground nearby and several in Socorro 10 or 11 miles away. I may be more inclined to stay at a commercial RV Park while at the Bosque because I feel safer leaving the Arctic Fox at a commercial RV Park than an unfamiliar boondocking spot while I go chasing birds for most of the day.

To me being on a schedule because of reservations just takes all the fun out of travel, but that must be just me because everybody else doesn't seem to have problems doing it. I left plenty of time from my Denver reservation on the 11th and my lost Dutchman State Park near Phoenix reservation on the 22nd. That should give me plenty of time to come and go as I please as I slowly work my way down to Phoenix.

I wish I had the Photoshop skills you're attributing to me but I am more skilled at destroying pictures in Photoshop than improving them. The only flowers that are left for me to take pictures of are houseplants, everything outside being dead as a door nail, and the Christmas cactus's are blooming right now.

Tom

11/8/2020 07:30:59 pm

I'm glad you don't photoshop. People seem to over saturate their color something fierce and I hate it. A lot.

11/8/2020 08:43:45 pm

Photoshop will do so many things sometimes it's hard to know when to stop. But I think a lot of the problems comes from folks setting their cameras to take JPEG's and letting the camera do some of the adjustments on the picture it took. JPEG's throw away a large part of the digital information that your sensor recorded and the information that gets thrown away by the camera is sometimes information that's important to the picture but the camera doesn't have the computing power to know that.

It's the same situation when you tell your camera to make adjustments to the picture such as sharpening, and color saturation. The camera simply doesn't have the processing power to make correct decisions so your pictures can come out looking pretty funky.

If you can do it it's always best to take pictures in your camera's RAW format which keeps all of the digital information on the sensor, and then make the picture adjustments on your computer which is a lot smarter than most cameras, and the decisions of what to do to the picture is guided by you in your photo editing software. Yes it can be time-consuming but hey, I'm retired... What else have I got to do.

Tom

OFM

11/7/2020 08:40:51 pm

Just about 5 miles west of Datil is a very nice boondocking campground named Datil Well Campground. I think it is $3 a night. They had wifi at the entry shack when I stayed there a few years ago. Also there is free camping in the area of the VLA on hwy 60. Hwy 60 had lots of neat things along it when I was exploring out there a few years ago. Lots of free camping from Socorro to the Arizona border but not much Internet when I was out there. I never went into Az when out that way. Watch the elevations on hwy 60 past Datil.

11/7/2020 09:25:54 pm

Thanks for the heads up on places to stay. I've left plenty of time from when I leave the state Park in Denver on the 11th to when I have to be at the lost Dutchman state Park on the 22nd. And I plan to be spending a lot of it exploring that area between Socorro and the lost Dutchman.

I've been through there before but it was a long time ago when I had a hallmark slide in pop-up camper on the back of the truck so I'm looking forward to seeing what's going on there now. I know there's a lot of boondocking in that area but its not exactly warm in that part of New Mexico or Arizona in the winter, so I hope I'm I'm getting there when it's more like late Fall and not early winter.

Tom

Larry Worsham

11/8/2020 06:13:34 am

We have traveled HWY 60 several times and it is one of our preferred routes across NM. I second the VLA and Datil Wells CG. I've attached one of my wifes blog post about the area from 2015. I don't know what is available in the area due to COVID. Safe Travels. https://runningk-r.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-salinas-pueblo-missions-national.html

11/8/2020 06:16:07 am

Here is another blog post from 2012 https://runningk-r.blogspot.com/2012/07/mother-nature-has-strange-sense-of.html

11/8/2020 07:19:51 am

Thank you so much Larry for those two blog posts, that helps me out a lot. I just glanced at them when I got up this morning, when I get some time I'll dig deeper into your wife's blog, I'm always interested in what other folks have seen and done living the RV life.

Yeah the Bat flu has complicated everything and when it comes to camping and boondocking some of the places I used to know about are no longer available. So this winter I'm going to try to look for more new places to stay in case some of my old places have failed me.

But when it comes to dealing with the Wu flu things change so quickly I'm not sure if finding new places to camp this winter will even help me next winter. Have you seen the stories about the Finland minks and the Bat flu? Makes you wonder if we'll ever be safe again.

Thanks again ...Tom

11/8/2020 07:32:16 am

Enjoy the blog....we traveled extensively in the west for several years. We didn't full time but usually spent 2-3 months on the road. Travel was curtailed when some illness in the family caused us to stay close to home in Texas. The wife put a lot of work into the documentary of our travels. We were planning on getting back on the road this summer but the bat flu is creating a reluctance to get out there. We have a 4 day camping trip planned for next week to Goliad St. Park to get back in the groove. If you have any questions about places in the blog...ask! Stay safe........

John

11/8/2020 08:30:56 am

Over 5000 farmed minks have recently died of Covid here in Wisconsin

11/8/2020 10:54:17 am

Thank you Larry, I appreciate that. I'm sure your blog has a lot of information that will be useful to me.

You reluctance to get back on the road is understandable. Nobody knows what's going on right now with closures and lockdowns, and there would have to be a certain amount of concern if an RVer could even get back home under some conditions. But for me I can't deal with the harsh winters here in Denver I'm afraid all my pipes would freeze and break, so I've got to get someplace warmer and take my chances on finding places to stay.

Tom

11/8/2020 11:05:12 am

Holy cow John that's terrible! And I just heard about the minks in Finland yesterday. When the Bat flu first started we heard stories about an animal here and there getting it. I remember one story was a tiger in a zoo got it. So what happens now? Do other critters get it? Do we have to start putting down our pets? Do chickens and cows get it, and our food supply has to be destroyed?

This whole bat flu thing seems to get worse and worse and at some point I'm going to start worrying again.

Tom

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I'm starting my winter travels off with reservations. Not the doubting kind, not the kind Indians live on, the kind you make at state parks.

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