The Big City

Got some shopping to do. Off to the Gilbert Apple store. My drive only has 2.8 GB free space and I am getting all kinds of rude message.

Genius Rachel is checking my drive. She is just back from training in Cupertino. She is really sharp. Conclusion, my best move is to transfer my photo library, 54 GB, to an external drive.  

New 500 GB G drive. Look at this little guy. The 5 KB drive for my Apple IIe was the size a cigar box. I now have 54 GB of free disk space so my programs will run more smoothly. 

New basket from World Market. The bottom dropped out of my old magazine holder.

Then off to another Triple D eatery.

Joe’s Farm Grill. 

Very nice dining al fresco

I had the Fontina Burger w/ onion rings. Natural beef patty, roasted red pepper, grilled mushrooms, 

field greens, farm-made pecan pesto and fontina. Guy nailed this one.

Looking for the Warm

It froze the last two nights camped above Stafford. Headed for lower elevations.

You know you are getting lower, warmer, when the iconic desert symbol makes an appearance. 

The Saguaro cactus is found in southern Arizona and northern Mexico below 4000 ft.

Globe, AZ is and old old mining town. Mining started with a silver strike, but soon turned to copper mining which continues today. A huge mine and the tailing tower over the town. 

Tucked in for the night at Oak Flat Campground. (33.30933, -111.04853)  It is much warmer here. I am getting back to T- shirt and shorts weather.  

Drifting West

Saturday was my last day on the build. We did a nice weeks work, framing, sheathing, putting up the roof trusses. It was nice working and visiting with friends. 

Room with a view outside Stafford, AZ  (32.67974, -109.77908) Just the kind of spot Tango and I like.

Tango, ever vigilant. 

Headed to Phoenix. I need to visit the Apple store. My hard drive is full and I want to get an external drive to export my photos to. 

Sheathing

As night follows day, sheathing follows framing. The sheathing has to be nailed every 6 inches. Can you say a gazilion nails.

Thursdays are diner out nights. We did mexican this week. New Mexico is famous for their chiles and they put them in everything. This is my second try for mexican food. I find that even ordering my dish mild, it is too spicy for my taste. I am just a California wimp.

Framing

We started framing today. The slab was a blank slate at 8 am

10 am

2 pm

Nice surprise when we got back to camp. Pamala and Robert from the Port Townsend build are here. Great to see them again. 

The Build is On

Sandra and Tommy from the Port Townsend build are here. Also Sonja from the Balloon Fiesta is helping out.

 

HfH has three locations going. One is a slab waiting for framing, another the roof is being shingled, and we are tiling the floor at this location. I am mixing thin set.    

The daily happy hour. Good hors d'oeuvre with great people

Tango is relaxing into the RV life style

City of the Rocks Campground

The rocks forming the City of Rocks were produced by a very large volcanic eruption 35 million years ago. A thick layer of Tuff was laid down in an eruption a 1000 times greater than Mt. St. Helens in 1980. Then vertical cooling cracks formed in the Tuff and over millions of years these cracks eroded and widened into the formation you see today. (32.587745, -107.974304 )

Camping sites are scattered through out the rocks.

A couple of updates:
Courtesy of my friend Colleen, the cat in now called Tango. She is becoming very comfortable traveling in the RV.
The New Mexican Apple Pie was great. The chiles gave it a nice bite. A la mode would have been perfection.

I am in Las Cruces now at Habitat for Humanity. (32.317274, -106.769763 ) I will be here for the next week working on the build.

Datil Well Campground

  The wide open spaces

Datil Well campground is a real find. Nice sites, fresh water and you can dump you grey on the ground. And they have wifi. How nice is that.  

Datil Well is on the historic "hoof highway" that joined Springerville, AZ to the railroad at Magdalena, NM, a distance of 130 miles. Wells were drilled every ten miles to water the cattle and sheep driven over this trail. In the peak year, 1919, 21,677 cattle  and 150,000 passed through here.

 Down the road is the Daily Pie Cafe in Pie Town, NM. The New Mexican Apple Pie was featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate. The pie is named New Mexican because it is made with pine nuts and green chiles for a little extra zip. I am looking forward to dessert tonight.

The camp host at Datil told me that they like the pies at Pie-O-Neer better. But they were not open today, so I could not make a comparison. 

  

I read that Catwalk trail was a great two mile hike. The catwalk goes up a beautiful canyon where there was once a pipe line that delivered water to power a silver stamp mill at the base of the canyon. 

  Remains of the old stamp mill

About a quarter mile up the canyon the trail ended.  Beyond this point the deck and side rails have been removed. 

This was done because New Mexico's largest forest fire had burned the watershed upstream. The Forest Service thought there might be a 100 year flood and the metal structure would be swept downstream, damning the channel and causing an even larger flood. I hope they reinstall the catwalk so I can hike it next time I am through here.

   

Cool Days and Cold Nights

You know it's time to head south when you deliberately park with your windshield facing the sun for maximum solar gain. 

Headed for Las Cruces, NM 

Jacks Creek Campground

 I hit another Triple D spot, Harry's Roadhouse,  on the way to the campground.

                                                                                                   

  

 I had the Turkey Meatloaf sandwich house baked ciabatta. It was very good

On the way back to Santa Fe this morning I stopped and had the Basque Style Shepherd's Hash - Lamb Sausage, onion, red and green peppers, potatoes with two eggs on top. Also very tastey.

Well worth the stop if you pass this way.

Jacks Creek CG (35.84234, -105.6538) is at 8,800 feet. Cool days and cold nights. It got down to freezing. But it is beautiful and there were only a couple of other campers. I love Forest Service campgrounds in the off season. $5 night w/ my senior pass.

The aspens have lost all their fall color. Winter is coming

While here  I completed a project, hide the litter box. There is a storage space under my closet where I could put a litter box.

The litter box fits and I still have half the storage left.

  Door installed that give me access for cleaning the litter box.











Last step, a hole for the cat. I was a little concerned about her going in there, but no problem.

   She adapting very well to RV life. This is her safe spot under the couch where I store bedding. She is camera shy. Every time I point a camera at her, she runs and hides.

I am back in Santa Fe and planning on catching up on movies. Also visit Backroad Pizza again. Very good stuff.