Sunrading America: Sacramento and Beyond!

Yes, you read correctly, we stayed the night in Sacramento! To be perfectly accurate, we stayed in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico, in a little, out of the way camp ground called Bluff Springs.

Let me back up and give you an overview, as I have yet to perfect the art of daily posting. (I’ll get there, eventually.)

Thursday, we left Lake Lavon and headed for the new Mexican border… I think I forgot an important capitalization in there somewhere… it was a long, long day of driving, hopefully our last such for quite a while, and we finally finished the 48hr long audio book, which we were listening to.

That night we stayed in the Roswell, NM Walmart parking lot. This came about because Google seems to not know when a road to a state park is just that, and when it is a gated dirt track across some farmer's land. We did not take that road, and decided not to risk further such "miscommunications" in the dark.

I learned that the dogs will come to me, even across a goat-head-thorn filled, vacant lot. (I only learned of the thorns, after: Sorry puppies!) Also, I cooked dinner. :-D

Friday, Morgan and I discussed how we want to travel, and decided that we want our driving time to be between 10am and 4pm, leaving plenty of time for both morning and evening activities. We left on that day’s travels just before noon. As we had some birthday cards to send, Morgan was keeping a weather eye out for a post office, and, as we passed through Ruidoso, NM, she saw one, and asked if we could stop. As we hadn’t seen it, from the highway, until abreast with it, it was passed before I could react.

Shortly up the road, before I had found a good place to turn around, I saw a gigantic building with the words: “Tools, Furniture, and Consignment.” This, coupled with our postal needs, convinced me to turn around.

Lesson of the Day: The sunrader takes more that the width of three lanes to do a U-turn.

Result: New Mexican drivers are kind enough to stop and give the poor fool trying to U-turn on the highway room to do a three-point turn.

We came back to the consignment emporium, and pulled up before the enormous, vertical log and concrete construction. Each trunk that made up part of the wall was, easily, 4-5ft across. We spent an hour and a half of our driving time walking through the surprisingly interesting, and well stocked, show room. And, after seeing a sign naming it the #1 consignment store in Ruidoso, I was left wondering, how many can there possibly be, here?

A quick trip through the post office later, and we were off, once more. Here, fair reader, is where we come to Bluff Springs, high up in the Sacramento Mountains. How high? Roughly 8,500ft. The sunrader did not like the climb.

We arrived outside of our ideal driving time, but only by about 1.5 hrs, so it was understandable. The last 1.5 miles of road was dirt, which was expected, and the sunrader did very well. There were only two other groups in the entire place, to which we breathed a sigh of relief, for, as everyone who has used a back woods camp ground knows: if there is only one other group, they are probably serial killers. ;)

We had plenty of time, that evening, to take the dogs on a romp through the snow and mud, and up to the top of a nearby waterfall. They loved it. Unbeknownst to me, Morgan has been teaching Cal to fetch sticks, and she demonstrated this skill. I must say I was impressed when Cal would retrieve the same stick thrown, even when it landed among a pile of others… this merits further testing…

After a wonderful dinner, a great night’s sleep, and a filling breakfast, we took the dogs on a 4 mile hike through the forest. The pups loved the snow, eating it and ignoring the water we tried to periodically offer them.

We returned to a deserted camp ground, and began cleaning and packing up. In the short time we were still there, more than fifteen cars arrived, carrying families, puppies, and ATVs. This, apparently, is a popular place, on Saturdays.

We drove out, thankfully not having to pass anyone on the single lane, dirt road, and chugged up, out of our little valley. From there, we headed off, towards The City of Rocks, a cool little NM state park.

On that trek, I slept a little, and Morgan had her fist experience driving the somewhat remodeled RV. I have two things to say, which should cover it: No laws were broken, and I was able to sleep through the whole thing.

That night, which was last night, we stayed at The City of Rocks, which reminded me, somewhat, of Utah. They have great rates, campsites, and showers, though I have never used a push-button shower. (i.e. you push the button, water comes out for 15 seconds, then stops, unless you have pushed the button again. There is no temperature control, but that was not an issue.)

This morning, we woke up to Umpqua, Kick Start, oatmeal, and it was amazing! After a brief period of waking up, we took our pups on a 5 mile hike to the top of a nearby tabletop mountain. It was hot, but fun!

When we returned, I took a quick shower (use it while you have it, right?), and then we ate lunch, and laid down for a short, 3 hour nap. Apparently, we are pretty tired. ;)

Now, we are here, writing about what is actively happening, and I wonder how long I can continue, before it becomes oddly self-referential.

Tomorrow, we are off to Arizona, as we have some family to see, south of Tuscan, and a deadline. ;)

I almost forgot! At one point, over the last couple days, Morgan and I were talking about nature, and wild life, specifically how species’ populations will grow and decline over time, and this phrase came up. Can you guess who said it? “Humans were not sufficiently hunted, so we took over.”

Take a guess! You have a 1-4 shot. ;) I’ll give you a hint: the “we” disqualifies 2 of our number. :P

We hope this finds you all happily progressing on your own adventures, and we pray God blesses you with fun detours along the way.

Photos! (If you want to see them bigger, zoom in, with you browser!) :-D

Family Picture: