We six - We're just one big happy family most of the time. New Mexico, Arizona, California

This blog is difficult at times. We have been off the grid for days now and I have no word processing program on my computer so nothing has been written down since the last post going to New Mexico.
  We spent 7 days in Deming/Rockhound State Park. It was wonderful. We got to see my brother Jeff, his wife Trina and nephew Josh.
 I settled into a routine with Pata. Every morning I woke up at 5:00 or so. I would drink a cup of coffee then before sunrise Pata and I would walk the trails up the mountain or out over the valley overlook and then up the mountain arriving back at camp usually just as the sun was breaking over the mountain. Not good photographing light but great for walking. The mornings are cool and refreshing and we would put in 3-5 miles of walking.

In the morning shadows looking across the valley to where the sun was shining.

We spent 3 nights up at the top of the campground with great sunset views and  views of the city lights after the sun went down.

Sunset from Rockhound State Park

The lights twinkling in the valley below.

  We explored the area a little. Just up the road across the valley in the Florida Mountains is Spring Canyon Park. It's a day use only park that has hiking trails that lead up into the mountains surrounding the park. Some Persian Ibex were gifted to the park back in the 1970's when we were still friends with Iran and the herd has since grown to more than 200 head. I was hoping to see them but luck was not with me. It was still a great hike in some beautiful scenery. I didn't see too much wildlife but on the way back down I did see a Western Tanager go past me. I saw him a little further down the trail but he never landed where I could photograph him. 

Looking back down the mountainside to where the truck was parked.

Some shots from the top.

Back at camp we would spend time with the animals and watch outside or sit outside looking at the scenery and watching the birds and various critters that came by.

Black chinned sparrow takin in the shadows of the morning.

Cactus wren

Carpenter bee

 

Tarantula hawk wasp

House finch

Parry's agave

 

Tree cholla

Thrasher on her nest

June 4th Rio Vista California.

We are finally settled in for a few days where we have electricity water and internet so maybe I can catch up on some of this. I need to get a word program. Problem is my computer is also FULL. I have more than 700 gigabytes of photos alone. I have 11 gigs of free space, not even enough for 1 or 2 days worth of shooting photos let alone being able to process them. I will have to get an external hard drive here in the Sacramento area. I have photo's going back to Arizona that need to be processed as I shoot in RAW format.

 Anyway back to New Mexico for a brief moment. We visited with Jeff, Katrina and Josh as we could. Josh had to go to Carlsbad to pick drop of and pick up some equipment on Wednesday. Denise Jeff and I went to a park called City of Rocks. Katrina stayed in Deming and minded the shop.

City of Rocks gets its name from the incredible volcanic rock formations found there. The park encompasses a one square mile area in the scenic Chihuahuan desert region of southwestern New Mexico at an elevation of 5,200 feet. The “city” is a geologic formation made up of large, sculptured rock columns, or pinnacles, rising as high as 40 feet and separated by paths or lanes resembling city streets. These rocks were formed about 34.9 million years ago when a very large volcano erupted. Then, erosion over millions of years slowly formed the sculptured columns seen today, creating a stunning, otherworldly landscape.

 The rocks are dotted with campsites and would be a neat place to camp. We just took a day trip there as it is only about 40 miles from Deming.

We all took a short hike up the trail. Jeff's back is messed up and Denise can't do long hikes anymore either but it was relatively flat here and we were able to walk around and see some of the sights.

Say's Phoebe they had a nest on top of a Coke Machine at the Visitor's center.

 

 

 

 

Rock squirrel, they were all over the area.

 Agave Bloom

Black throated sparrow

 Gambel's quail, Male

 Gambel's quail Female

 Sonoran Raven

 One of the odd rocks there

 Apache plume

 A rare photo of Jeff with his eyes open.

 Cactus wren

I have more photo's showing the rocks and surrounding area but cannot process to JPEG until I get some hard drive space. I will add them to this space when they are ready.

Friday of Memorial day weekend we packed up and hit the road for Arizona. Thankfully the truck is now running smoothly and before we left Deming we put new tires on the trailer. We then stopped by Katrina's Rock Shop and bid a fond farewell to Jeff and Katrina.

 All the animals have settled into traveling mode and for the most part they get along well. The cats usually come up to the front of the truck and sit on the compartment between the seats. Mister Zigs likes to go on the floor at Denise's feet also. Kazumba is content in her cage and will sing along as we listen to music or toss in (in)appropriate comments here and there. She is probably the best traveler, she's certainly the most seasoned of the bunch as she has taken trips with us before. Miss Pata's just happy to be where we are although she does bark at the cats once in awhile when she feels they have invaded her territory. She has effectively taken over about 3/4 of the back seat. She will let the cats back there but only for a short time.

 We had hoped to stop in Tucson and visit with Mike and Debbie Ostrom but they were going to Silver City, NM for the blues festival. We passed each other somewhere on the road I'm sure. I hope to see them some other time.

 We made good time getting down to Organ Pipe National Park and pulled in there late afternoon. We didn't know what to expect for campground availability on Memorial Day weekend and were pleasantly surprised to find that the campground was nearly deserted. After the trailer was set up Denise went back to the visitors center to pay and I poked around the campground for a bit. She didn't return right away and after some time I got anxious. Three hours or so passed and she still hadn't returned so I started hiking to the visitors center a half a mile or so back up the road. About halfway there here she came and I hopped in the truck and rode back to camp with her. She asked at the visitors center if there was a gas station nearby and they said sure it's just five mile down the road in Lukeville. So there she headed to get gasoline for the generator only to find herself in a line of traffic two miles out of town. Lukeville is the port of entry for Mexico and that's where all the Memorial weekend travelers were going. Denise got stuck in line just to get to the gas station. 

 I was relieved and all was well. We fired up the generator, cooked dinner and watched the sun go down before we went to bed. This will have to be all for this blog, I will continue later........