Jacks Up, Wheels Down, Sunny Drive Further South, Collages of the Day

Quail Ridge RV Resort, Huachuca City, Arizona

Last pictures of Elephant Butte L.S.P
Goodbye little bunny 

 Bill and I were both up by 6:30, in and out of the shower with our first drinks by 7 on Monday, Dec. 2^nd. We didn’t take the time to read blogs this morning. I didn’t go for my walk either. My choice, I wanted a shower instead. We shared my two cinnamon rolls from yesterday and packed the cooler with fruit and snack bars for the road. We’d planned to pull out between 8 – 8:30.

Au Revoir, sunrises
this one from out our dirty window

Everything inside was done and at 7:30 Bill went outside to take down the satellite dish. We had a neighbor pull in with a small Camp-Lite trailer. She was alone and seemed to be having trouble disconnecting. You know the rest of the story. Of course, Bill went over to assist which delayed our departure for about 10 minutes. We noticed Bob and Jo-Anne were hooking up soon after 7:30 and so I texted that we weren’t ready and why.

Jo-Anne and Bob wait for us to catch up

They went ahead before 8 to the dump station. I guess they were in a hurry to get out of here! Ha ha Unfortunately, they had to wait about 20 minutes and we joined them by 8:30 after dumping tanks at Desert Cove Loop. It is a gorgeous sunny day and a calm (as shown by the American flag) 37F day. I know we are going to warmer temperatures even though we will still be around the 4,400’ elevation mark.

Such a calm day - all day

Goodbye Pat's
You need to lower your gas prices!!!

Leaving Elephant Butte L.S.P. where today’s high will be 55F/12C and Huachuca City, AZ will be 64F/18C when we arrive. Yay! Yay! Double Yay! (which is 4 Yays). 

Some rugged scenery along the way

We caught I-25S without going through T or C although that would have been a bit shorter. Who cares about a few miles if you are avoiding traffic?  We drove the 40 minutes taking the exit to Deming and Hatch. I used the walkie to prepare Jo-Anne for entering Hatch, The Chile Capitol of the World. She had her camera ready.

Bill and I have driven through often but other than on our way through stopping for fuel or lunch 2 weeks ago, we haven’t done the tourist thing. We turned the corner and pulled over on Main St. (NM-26) Jo-Anne was as excited as I was to be able to go into a couple of their shops. I’ve never seen so many chilis in one place. This was a fun stop and Bill and I got a great idea for something we’re doing back home. I picked up a Christmas ornament for our tree and Bill found a hanging chime.

The owner of one shop said
We put chili's on everything but our Corn Flakes!
They had some pretty hot chili powder labelled "Warning, beware, Ghost chilis"
and I thought of our friend, George :)

I had to take a picture of this pretty ladies room in a Hatch
gift shop/restaurant

Somewhere along the way, we stopped for fuel, I guess it was at Deming. How nice to have 2 pumps out front marked specifically RV Pumps. We’ve never seen that before. We weren’t that low but knew we needed it before our destination. 

Some Arizona scenes
Snow covered mountains a way off in the distance, looking closer than they are
pretty overpass decorations

Getting close to Benson, we pulled off at the beautiful Rest Area (the one with the naturally stacked rocks). I told Jo-Anne not to sneeze as we left it as it might jiggle those rocks. They are amazing! We always wonder how they stay up there. 

That stop was at 1:30 and 10 minutes later we were back on the road with only 35 minutes to go. We all managed to survive through the lunch hour with our bars, fruit and nuts. Supper might be early though. 

It wasn’t far from there to get to the park and soon we were turning right onto Hwy. 82 and left into Quail Ridge RV & Mobile Home Resort. Bill and I went in to check in with the gals in the office and Jo-Anne came to check in Big Red as well.

As we got closer to our destination, I noticed the spec in the sky
You should be able to see the Border surveillance blimp in each photo
It has also been called a Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS)
There are 5 other states where the blimps are tethered
and in case you wondered, yes, one came down in high winds in 2011
in a Sierra Vista neighbourhood

The good news is that although we are in different rows, they are right behind (or in front of, depending how you look at it) us so very close for connecting while here. We do plan on a few excursions together in and around the area, we just need to figure out which days work best for which locations. We’ll chat in the morning about that. We were both all set up by 2:30 or 3 and we were lucky again to get enough of a satellite connection for many channels.

Bill tried to slow down as we turned in so I could get this picture
sorry for the blur

 Bob, unfortunately, with his dish on the roof, has not had luck since we crossed into the U.S. There seems to be an issue with his dish because, we can only assume, of a new upgrade in September after they’d purchased this system. I’m probably not describing it properly but bottom line is that they have borrowed our dvd binder and are watching a lot of movies right now. After things were set up, Bill and I had a bit of cheese, I had celery and a handful of pork rinds.

Our site on the west side of the park
where we've never parked before
We both like this spot 

We sat outside for a bit until around 4:30 Jo-Anne and Bob were taking Higgins for a walk around the park so we joined them. The air was cooling down from the lovely 66F we had in the full sun upon arrival. We can see the ‘blimp’ over Sierra Vista off in the distance, actually seemingly hovering over Big Red. There have been a few A-10 jets (I think that is what Bill called them) flying over too so this could be an entertaining ‘flight’ path too.

Our friends are behind us
The sites are long pull throughs

Our friends, Deb and DJ are still here in the park as permanent residents. We met the Grays’ in 2016 and then connected again in 2017 on our return. We will be looking them up one evening for a quick visit before moving on this Sunday. They are a younger couple, still in the work force so not home during the daytime hours. When we returned from our walk, I warmed up the chili I actually remembered to take out of the freezer this morning. We had some toast, in our new toaster, on the side and some creamed Jell-o for dessert. We’d forgotten to turn the hot water heater on so dishes had to wait for a bit.

The permanent sites are nicely decorated
and people get very creative with their available resources
This low fence is made from eaves trough aluminum and rocks
wrapped in wire for the posts

In the meantime, I wrote on my post and updated my record book for all of our purchases. I do it month by month and hadn’t written up anything beyond November. How slack of me! With that done, I turned The Voice on downstairs and Bill moved upstairs to the other tv. We don’t see each other much in the evenings during Hallmark movie time but it is only a short period of time and we are both content with that.

At Elephant Butte, I only saw sunrises
Here, I'll capture more sunsets, I think

We walked the perimeter of the park together before it got dark

Jo-Anne and I were amazed at this living
tree (?) with its roots above the ground

This has been a good driving day and we arrived safely mid-afternoon with an extra 10 degrees added to our daytime high. This is a nice membership park that is also open to the public. We are all staying for a very decent rate of $13/night. That includes an electricity surcharge. 

this picture is for George and Suzie
A new addition to Quail Ridge, where the chefs serve ribs on Wednesdays
and other options during the week
I'm sure you would have enjoyed their offerings
We'll check them out while here

Meanwhile, it is only Monday, so we had homemade chili tonight

We won’t be in the park too much with all of our goings on but it will be quite comfortable here. We are anticipating more friends arriving on Wednesday but that is their story.

Goodnight from Huachuca City, AZ

Thank you for stopping by

Sunshine for our Last Day, Walks, Laundry, Dinner with Friends and BigFoot

Elephant Butte Lake State Park, NM

On Sunday, Dec. 1^st we woke early but didn’t stay awake for long. We didn’t get out of bed until 6:30. It was a bitter cold morning, only 27F/-2C but again with no wind, I took a chance and went for my walk. The sun rose gloriously on our last day here. I won’t say my last morning walk because I’m hoping for one more tomorrow.

I couldn't decide which one I liked best

Needless to say, I enjoyed the walk but my fingers were very chilled. I had my walking stick so at one point, I slipped my hand through the loop of the strap and dragged it so my hand could be in my pocket. My hoods from two hoodies were up the whole time. Brr. It was just over a mile this morning but I’ll get out again after lunch to add to that. I have a good system going now and hate to break it.

There is something about the way the sun covers the desert
with it's orange blanket

We finished our first hot drink and then I went up and sorted laundry. My oh my! It has been 2 ½ weeks since we did it last. We’ve stretched the limit with wearing our jeans and tops longer than usual but that bag was so full it will take 3 loads. We drove into T or C and there were only 2 people at the 'Laundry on Third' at 8:15 when we arrived. Bill helped load the washers and then he drove to Walmart for more light clips. He is on a mission with Christmas the goal!

Well, hello there, chubby quail

I had taken my laptop along so I was able to sit and use their free fast wifi to read all the blogs I’d missed. Since I finished Blow Fly last night, I didn’t have a book on the go and getting into a new one with the distractions of a laundromat is never a good move for me. I had 5 of our books to drop off and they had a shelf for exchanges. Bill returned on time to transfer clothes to the dryers. Jamie, if you’re reading this, I must report that this laundromat is very clean. 😊 You know how picky I am!

Nice clean floors and machines

There are lots of machines although probably 2/7 washers were ‘out of order’ and 7/20 dryers were ‘out of order’. The dryer we used didn’t have a sign but we lost $ each time. The gal who cleans was on ‘duty’ in a separate locked room (hint hint, ha ha) and she helped us get our .50¢ back before Bill soon lost it again. No worries, we didn’t bother her again, we know what that is like. I’m glad we went when we did as by the time we were folding our clothes at 9:30, it was filled up. I'm pleased that  you look after your machines back home and rarely are they out of order for long.

Signage is important and it kind of
puts some onus on customers

Back home, it was time to eat something. I guess the activity made me hungry today. We had one last pkg of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls so I preheated the oven and by the time it had finished, the rolls were also done. Huh? They were good and since I could only eat two, I saved the other two for another morning. Bill read a few chapters of his book before washing the dishes. Did I tell you what he is reading? Postcard Killer by J.P. I know it’s a good one, I’ve marked it **** indicating better than good. He is enjoying it from how quickly he is getting through it.

Truth or Consequences have begun putting Christmas
decorations up now that Thanksgiving is over

With the clothes put away, all we really had to do today was pack up a few things. It won’t take me long inside nor him outside. I joined him with my next book. Swimsuit by James Patterson, I forgot I had it up under the bed. After a chapter or two, I realized that I didn’t want to sit still so went up and packed things away off the dresser for our move. Around 1:30 we walked up to Snob Hill and chatted with Bob and Jo-Anne a bit about their day yesterday, the trip tomorrow and our plans for supper.

After checking out the menu I showed them, we’re pleased they will be joining us. It will be a nice ‘last night’ meal here, together. We only stayed for about half an hour, enough to get snuggles with Higgins and a face wash and then walked down the hill home. Bill put the string of outdoor lights, the patio mat and the Weber Q away. It only got used once but that was just how it worked out with winds, coolness and rain. I don’t mind, we’ll use it enough over the winter.

I'm not sure how these 4 got in a collage together
but 2 are of the drive home from the mat and two are from my walk this afternoon

I felt that I needed a nibble so had a couple of cheese strings, some pepperoni and a satsuma orange. I still have a few left from New Orleans. That hit the spot. When Bill finished outside and came indoors, I knew he’d be watching his movies so after my snack, I found the Holiday music channel on the tv and read a couple more chapters with tunes in the background. At one point, our friend, Keith, from back home noticed I was online and waved on FB Messenger.

Last bench selfie this year

We chatted for a bit and hope that on a trip down here in January, our paths cross. We’re going to do everything we can to make that happen! He’s looking forward to some ‘dune’ running. For lack of a better word. 😊 After saying s’long to him, I went for my walk. I only needed a hoody and my vest. That sun was beautiful and quite warm at 3. I had two painted rocks in my pocket so found a place for each of those on the trail behind Desert Cove and worked my way up to the playground.

Walking down from Snob Hill to our site

No sign of Jack other than his footprints

Back home, I got washed and changed my top before sitting with my book again. Bob and Jo-Anne were picking us up at 5. I plugged Bill’s Christmas lights in over our chairs and will be able to see how they look from outside when we come home. 

This beautiful Prevost bus had us all craning our necks for a look

The BigFoot restaurant is small and quaint. Half the room is the well-stocked bar if you like beer, ale, stout, cider and wine. No fancy drinks but that’s okay. The rest of the space had 3 tables and 3 booths. The menu was loaded with lots of nice choices for entrees and appetizers. I ordered hot tea and Bill had a glass of wine.

He looks menacing in this light, doesn't he?

But inside, it is small and personal

It has been a while since I’ve had a stir fry so I ordered a chicken one with fried rice and an egg roll. It was delicious and I took my time and ate the whole thing. 

My chicken stirfry, fried rice and egg roll
No, I didn't use the chopsticks, I was hungry!

Everyone was pleased with their meal choice and a doggy bag wasn’t necessary. Bob and Bill ordered German chocolate cake for sharing but it didn’t appeal to me plus I’d had enough food anyway. We drove home, boy it gets dark quick! It was 6:30 when they dropped us off and our lights look very nice. We just need more!

And Bill's Captain Combo
crab cake, breaded calamari, hush puppies, salad, clam strips and waffle fries
looked delicious

Bill had the pvr set up to record Madame Secretary at 8:30 MT so I was able to watch whatever I wanted downstairs. He said there was a new Hallmark movie that he wanted to watch upstairs so, I sat to finish my post and relax for the remainder of the evening. This was a really nice day. Sunshine, laundry got done, a couple of great walks and dinner out with friends.  I hope you aren’t bored with all the Elephant Butte Lake pictures. Starting tomorrow, different scenery for all of us.

This little guy in a pen inside the door was a show stealer
and he hardly lifted his head for the photo
Such a cutie!
Good night from Elephant Butte!

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