SUNSIGHTS ARIZONA TO LAS CRUCES NEW MEXICO AND WE SPEND THE NIGHT PARKED CLOSE TO A GIANT ROADRUNNER

A GIANT ROADRUNNER WATCHES OVER LAS CRUCES NEW MEXICO

It was moving day so we busied ourselves with preparing the rig for travel.  Tanks dumped, jacks up, slides in, Jeep hooked up, etc. etc.  We had everything ready to roll shortly after 8 a.m.  We said our farewells and expressed our thanks to Janna and Mike for having us drop in for a couple days.  Hope to see how their renovations are coming along in the Fall.

JANNA CATCHES A PICTURE OF US LEAVING

We had the big wheels rolling about 8:20 as we headed out their long driveway and made our way over to highway 191.  A left turn and less than half an hour later we merged with I-10 heading East.  Due to it being Sunday morning traffic was light and under cool slightly cloudy southwestern skies I clicked on our cruise control, sat back, relaxed , and thoroughly enjoyed the eastbound I-10 journey to Deming New Mexico with lots of great Arizona and New Mexico memories along the way.  It was just a short 6 weeks ago we were enjoying ourselves in the Portal New Mexico area.  And yet it almost seems way longer than that

MERGING ONTO I-10 AND IT IS THIS INTERSTATE THAT WILL TAKE US TO FLORIDA

Our Deming stop was short as we rolled into the town’s west end for a coffee and bite at McDonalds.  Up to that point we didn’t have a destination for the day but Kelly remembered something she had read about the big roadside Roadrunner on the south side of I-10 at Las Cruces.  And that is what we set our sights on.

COFFEE BREAK IN DEMING NEW MEXICO

A REST AREA ON  I-10 AT THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF LAS CRUCES GIVES US A GREAT VIEW OF THE CITY AND THOSE ARE THE ORGAN MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND AND THAT’S I-10 BOTTOM RIGHT

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF THESE SOLIDLY BUILT LITTLE CASSITAS SCATTERED ABOUT

THIS IS AN ABOVE AVERAGE ‘REST AREA’

YEP THE SIGN SAYS RV PARKING ALRIGHT AND IT’S 24 HOUR PARKING TOO

FOUND US A NICE SPOT FOR THE NIGHT

Think it was sometime around 11:30 when we tracked the big bird down at a Rest Stop overlooking the city of Las Cruces New Mexico.  Over the years we have passed by this big Roadrunner a number of times but had never taken the time to stop in to see it up close. 

AND BY GOLLY WE’RE PARKED PRETTY CLOSE TO THE BIG BIRD ITSELF

I THOUGHT AT FIRST IT WAS MADE OF METAL….THAT IS UNTIL I GOT CLOSER

THE BIG BIRD ATTACTS A LOT OF TRAVELERS

IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU WILL SEE THIS FELLOW IS MADE UP OF SOME VERY FAMILIAR STUFF

BE SURE TO CHECK THIS LINK ABOUT THE ROADRUNNER

We could see right away this was a way above average Rest Stop with 24 hour parking for RV’s as well as trucks.  Found us a spot close to the big bird and through out the anchor.  We were here for the night and our late morning stop must be a record for us in calling it an early day while traveling.  In the morning we’ll head out with the express purpose of putting El Paso Texas in our rear view mirror.  Where we’ll end up Monday night is an unknown.

AND YES THOSE ARE ALL OLD WHITE RUNNING SHOE SNEEKERS MAKING UP THE UNDERSIDE OF THE BIRD

DID YOU SEE THE HORSE AND THE TRAIN??

DID YOU NOTICE THE CRUTCHES??

LOOK CLOSELY…..THE ROADRUNNER’S EYEBALL IS AN OLD VOLKSWAGON HEADLIGHT

GOLF CLUBS

IT’S QUITE THE TOES THIS BIRD HAS ON IT

The Colorado based Rockin ' And Reelin' folks are camped out and exploring one of our very favorite mountains ranges in Arizona.  The Kofa Mountains are located south east of Quartzsite and north east of Yuma.  We’ve boon-docked there in various locations 3 or 4 times over the years and have ourselves a lot of great memories from that area.  Great Jeeping roads back through Queen Canyon and its great tracking down all the natural water tanks in the rocks.  We generally camped out down King Road as a rule.  If you check our ‘Archives’ in the right hand column click on  January 31rst of 2014 then either go ahead or back using the ‘Newer Posts’ or Older Posts’ feature at the bottom of this post.  The Rockin And Reelin folks just did Queen Canyon this past Monday.

 

THE ROADRUNNER CAN EASILY BE SEEN FROM I-10 HEADING WEST OUT OF LAS CRUCES BUT THE REST AREA IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE FROM THE EAST BOUND LANES

WHITE TRUCK IS HEADING EAST ON I-10 TOWARDS LAS CRUCES

Sure has been nice this month and a half starting each day off with soft relaxing music instead of the usual mind numbing grinding reality of cable TV news and yet I know upon arriving home again in late March we will be right back into our old habit of subjecting ourselves to the daily angst of that which so depresses and angers me.  I am drawn to the flame like a hapless moth and there is no one to blame but my susceptible self.  There is a great calmness not knowing what’s going on in the world and  especially American politics but that darn ever present curiosity of mine seems to win out most every time and ends up dragging me down that  thorny rock strewn path of daily television news!!   Revel in your current morning routine Al, revel in your current morning routine…….

LAS CRUCES NEW MEXICO BY NIGHT

GLOW IN THE SKY IS FROM EL PASO TEXAS

ROADRUNNER BY NIGHT

THIS REST AREA HAS NICE CASITAS

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A guy took his blonde girlfriend to her first football game.They had great seats right behind their team's bench.After the game, he asked her how she liked the experience.  "Oh, I really liked it," she replied, "especially the tight pants and all the big muscles, but I just couldn't understand why they were killing each other over 25 cents."
Dumbfounded, her date asked, "What do you mean?"  "Well, they flipped a coin, one team got it and then for the rest of the game, all they kept screaming was: 'Get the quarterback! Get thequarterback!' I'm like...Helloooooo? It's only 25 cents!!!!

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Q: How do you get a kleenex to dance?
A: Put a boogie in it!

Q: Did you hear about the man who lost his whole left side?
A: He's all-right now!

Q: What do frogs eat with their hamburgers?
A: French Flies

Q: Why do gorillas have big nostrils?
A: Because they have big fingers.

Q: What's a cat's favorite breakfast?
A: Mice Krispies

Q: If there is H2O on the inside of a fire hydrant, what is on the outside?
A: K9P.

Q: What does it mean when the flag is at half mast at the post office?
A: They're hiring.

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Knock Knock
Who's there?
Oscar!
Oscar who?
Oscar a silly question, get a silly answer!

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FIRE IN THE DRAGOON MOUNTAINS TODAY

DRAGOON MOUNTAIN FIRE

With major house renovations going on here at Janna and Mike’s there is always lots of junk to be loaded up and taken to the dump and this morning was a dump morning.  Now cleaning up and loading stuff is something I know about so I was able to make myself useful and help Mike load up and take to the dump a pick-up truck load of stuff.  And it was that which brought me out of my low energy state.  Low energy levels are not always physical and as often as not it’s a mental tiredness that can bring energies down.

THERE WAS A REASON FOR US TO LEAVE OUR HATS IN THE CAB……AND DID YA SEE LITTLE CUTSY PATOOTSY EMMI??

IF THE WIND FLIPS OFF A HAT DOWN INTO THAT BIN IT CAN BE A PROBLEM RETREIVING IT AND AN EVEN BIGGER PROBLEM RETREIVING THE FELLA WHO WENT DOWN IN THERE TO GET IT

AND MIKE SPEAKS FROM EXPERIENCE AFTER A ROLL OF BARBED WIRE HE WAS TOSSING IN SNAGGED HIS PANTS AND KNOCKED HIM DOWN INTO THE BIN AWHILE BACK

‘HEY WHERE’S MY DAD??’ 

 

‘OH-NO HE DIDN’T FALL INTO THE DUMPSTER AGAIN DID HE!?!?.’‘  OH WAIT…….I HEAR HIM COMING NOW’  ‘YAY’

<<< HERE’S JANNA STANDING ON THE ROOF THIS MORNING HERALDING IN ANOTHER NEW DAY

Had a bunch of photo files to organize so I plugged away at that today while Kelly spent time updating our antique Garmin GPS thingy.  That is especially important for any major cities we may encounter in our travels.  Other than that we rarely use our GPS thingy. Take’s all  the fun and excitement out of getting lost.

SUNRISE SHADOWS CREEPING INTO THE DRAGOON MOUNTAIN’S CANYONS

 

HERE’S EMMI SITTING ON OUR MAT WAITING FOR PHEEBS TO COME OUT AND PLAY

<<< KELLY TALKING TO HER MOM IN SPENCERPORT NEW YORK THIS AFTERNOON

Might have been around noon when Janna came out and directed our attention in the direction of the Dragoon Mountains.  A cream colored smoke plume rose from just north of the Cochise Stronghold peak on the west side.  Strong gusting winds from the Southwest were carrying clouds of smoke to the Northeast.  Had it been a west wind we would have been enveloped in smoke.  Over the course of a few hours the fire intensified obscuring much of the Dragoon mountains to the north.  Due to the wind direction we were in no danger but I did get an occasional slight whiff of smoke from time to time.  Pre-evacuations orders were issued for folks in the path of the fire to the north.  I imagine visibility along I-10 was affected as well.  Heavy wind gusts this afternoon rocked our Motorhome. 

A FEW PHOTOS OF A FIRE IN THE DRAGOON MOUNTAINS TAKEN OVER A SPAN OF 5 HOURS

THIS FIRE ENDED UP BURNING ABOUT 2,000 ACRES

INTERSTATE 10 IS OVER TO THE EXTREME RIGHT ON THE HORIZON

SMOKE WAS INTENSE FOR AWHILE

BY 4 THIS AFTERNOON IT LOOKED LIKE FIREFIGHTERS WERE GAINING CONTROL OF THE BLAZE

With the exception of Emmi and Pheebs we all piled into Janna and Mike’s red pick-up truck and headed for the Sunsites Legion about 5:30 tonight for a steak supper.  We were too late.  Tickets were sold out so we drove a couple blocks to TJ’s Bar and Grill where we were last time and had ourselves supper over there.  My Santa Fe burger was great.  From there it was back to Janna and Mikes where we sat around awhile for a Saturday night chat.  Sure do like these folks:))

THREE AMIGOS HEADING OUT OF TJ’S BAR AND GRILL

IT’S A FORD BUT WE DIDN’T KNOW THE YEAR

THAT’S OUR JEEP AND WE DID KNOW THE YEAR:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( There was a religious woman who had to do a lot of traveling for her business. Flying made her very nervous, so she always took her Bible along with her.
One time, she was sitting next to a man. When he saw her pull out her Bible, he gave a little chuckle and smirk and went back to what he was doing.  After awhile, he turned to her and asked, "You don't really believe all that stuff in there do you?"  The woman replied, "Of course I do. It is the Bible."  He said, "Well, what about that guy that was swallowed by that whale?"
She replied, "Oh, Jonah. Yes, I believe that, it is in the Bible."  He asked, "Well, how do you suppose he survived all that time inside the whale?"  The woman said, "Well, I don't really know. I guess when I get to heaven, I will ask him."  "What if he isn't in heaven?" the man asked sarcastically.  "Then you can ask him," replied the woman.

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Accept misfortune as a blessing. Do not wish for perfect health or a life without problems. What would you talk about?

- Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.

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DEALING WITH A TEMPORARY BOUT OF LOW ENERGY

TONIGHT’S SUNSET OVER THE COCHISE STRONGHOLD IN ARIZONA’S DRAGOON MOUNTAINS

Still not feeling too wordy but can tell you we are at our good friends and fellow RV Bloggers Janna and Mikes (Restoration Cowboy Style) for a couple days.  Janna, Kelly, Emmi, Pheebs, and I all had us a nice walk this morning.  Kelly and Janna went to a market nearby and late this afternoon we all four gathered for a stack of Janna’s yummy oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies.

THE TOWN OF SUNSITES WITH THE DOS CABEZAS MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND

SUNSET SKIES OVER THE DRAGOON MOUNTAINS ABOUT 10 MINUTES APART …… ABOVE AND BELOW

KELLY AND I DID HIKE UP INTO THE STRONGHOLD ONE TIME BACK IN FEBRURARY OF 2009 AND HERE’S THE LINK TO THAT DAY’S STRENOUS HIKE

I BELIEVE THOSE TO BE THE WINCHESTER MOUNTAINS TO THE NORTH………..ALSO AT SUNSET TONIGHT

Spent most of  my day trying to gather some energy together.  With a bit of luck maybe my mind can spur my long winded Blabberfingers back into action again soon.

THE FINAL RESTING PLACE OF LEGENDARY INDIAN CHIEF COCHISE IS UP THERE SOMEWHERE

GROANER’S CORNER:((  When the waitress in a New York City restaurant brought him the soup du jour, the Englishman was a bit dismayed. Good heavens, he said, what is this? Why, ^{it's bean soup," she replied.  "I don't care what it has been," he sputtered. "What is it now?"}

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