Trading in One Park for Another in a Different State

Friday morning, we didn’t rush, we only had a 4-hour drive today so had decided to do our showers and pack up in the morning. This was a mistake.  Mostly because the rain showers and thunderstorms overnight and in the morning meant Bill had to put the Weber Q, satellite dish and lawn chairs away in the rain. It doesn’t take long as a rule, but when you are getting soaking wet at the same time, it does slow you down.

I packed up and closed things inside the Suite and we had warm oatmeal for breakfast instead of bacon and eggs, our usual. That seemed to help take the chill off the damp morning. We pulled out of this beautiful park at 10:25 am and it was a cool 53F. 

Clemson checking out someone's face of stones

Great stone lined paths to follow

Park entrance

Because it is such a lovely park, we had driven around on Thursday and chose an area where we would like to stay another year. I’ve taken many pictures of our trek around; down to the marina and close enough to test the water temp at the lake. Not too bad!

Here are some of our pictures:

Driving into Truth or Consequences

Down by the lake

Overnight site - $10/night

Original sign into town

Beautiful variety of cacti

The drive to Huachuca City, AZ was another smooth one, the rain stopped almost immediately after leaving Elephant Butte, NM and even though there were dark clouds hovering over the mountains, they moved off to our north and back to where we came from. It looks like Albuquerque got dumped on again. We were driving into beautiful blue skies with white fluffy clouds highlighting the views.

Wind turbines against the mountains

My first tumbleweed! Yay!

                                                       

If you look closely, someone has named this
"Fraggle Rock" after the tv show

Desert winery, thirsty?

This type of cactus (?) is everywhere. This is one of the largest
and I can't imagine how long it has been growing. Eventually,
they get so top heavy that they topple over

We stopped at a rest area to stretch our legs while on I10 shortly before crossing the Continental Divide, 51 miles from Arizona. The rest areas are well kept and some are quite unique with their adobe shelters and this one was no different, with one exception. I decided to check out the hard-packed asphalt up close and personal while heading to the ladies’ room.

This is where Pat meets asphalt, lol, and the nice man
in the background walking the  area

My goodness did I go down. I’m not clumsy as a rule, at least not without being in a booze-induced state, but there was a slight rise in the pavement that was not visible to the mind’s eye and I found it. Sprawling in a very unlady-like fashion, I went down. Luckily, my hands came out to save my face and I landed on my left side. Bill heard me go down and came to my aid as did a nice fellow who was parked behind us. Boy did the palms of my hands sting for about 15 min. after! Yes, I know how to stop traffic, as a passerby stopped as well to see if I was alright. Yes, just a bruised pride. Bill informed me that this was the first and last ‘incident’ we were going to have all winter. I agreed!

WE DID IT!! We made it  to ARIZONA!!
After 3 plus years of talkiing about coming.

Rest area in Arizona, 19 miles from our destination

We arrived at our destination, Quail 

Ridge, Huachaca City, AZ  at 4:30 pm in beautiful sunshine and a warm 75F, got set up in a site not far from the entrance and across from the camp host, Leroy, who introduced himself to Bill, making us feel welcome. This is one of our AOR parks at $9/night plus hydro so we plan on using our solar panels as much as possible.

The park doesn’t seem to have much going on as far as amenities but we will settle in and enjoy the relaxing time here for two weeks. There are many things to see in this area and we are sure to take some of them in while we are here.

Morning reflections on the park and the view

A seasonal site with nice decor on their car shelter

Another cactus in some form of flower

Looking out to the entrance, we are up there in the middle.

Our Site #35 not far from the entrance/office/clubhouse

After dinner, leftover dressing and hamburger goulash, we cleaned up and just settled for the evening. I will get my morning fix of sun until noon hour and we will be shaded from the 80F temps in the afternoon. It is a nice spot. We didn’t get our satellite dish set up last night as it was very dark early so we popped in a Jag dvd and watched a few episodes. We love our dvd season collections.

Nice clubhouse kitchen

Sitting area and book library

By 10:30 we were all three in bed and I slept soundly until Bill got up with Clemson for his first deposit and then dropped off until 7:40! It was a great sleep. First, doing my usual morning stretches, I confirmed that other than a couple of tender areas on my elbow and left arm, thumb and left thigh, I suffered no major repercussions from yesterday’s ballet flop, I tiptoed out and got in a short walk around the park vicinity, oohing and aahing over the views from here. Gorgeous!

Morning sunrise

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the pictures.