South Dakota to Arizona 2018

In early August we began our trip from the Black Hills of South Dakota(one of our favorite places) to our winter home in Yuma, AZ. This blog post will include the stops along the way, the sites and experiences. And there were some good ones. When we leave SD and head south, our first stop is usually and has been regularly at Terry Bison RV Ranch in Cheyenne, WY. This year it was a one night stop over before heading through Denver on I 25. We made it through Denver without incident and to our next stopover, Pueblo South KOA. We stayed over here the nights of 8/11 and 8/12

That is I25 South in the distance

Two days here and we were ready for the road again. We continued on I25 S until Walsenburg, where we got on US 160 heading west to Alamosa and then south to Antonito. Our destination this day was Chama, NM. And what a ride this was.

Looking back down from where we came....

We had to stop and get a pic. The view was breathtaking

This view is from the Chama side. Note the Cumbres & Toltec railroad tracks

This sign puts the road we've been traveling in perspective. Considering we are pulling our trailer.

And then one of the signs that we really appreciate.....

Another 10 miles or so of driving brought us down the mountain and into the village of Chama. From there it was just a short trip to our new home for a week, Sky Mountain RV Park.

The view back in to Chama from our RV Park. And yes, those are the mountains we just traversed coming in from Colorado.

Our spot.

We had access to a trout stream which is part of the park, but the drought in the area had things so dry and the water so low that fishing was almost out of the question. We even took a trip to Heron Lake SP only to find that because of the drought it had been reduced to little more than a stream. Pretty sad. Needless to say, open fires were out of the question.

One of the things we really enjoyed about this area were the Hummingbirds. We must have been on a migration route because I have never seen so many in one spot before. We had quite a time observing them right through our back window....

At one point, we had 9 of them on the feeder at once.

The one thing that this area is famous for is the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. In past trips to this area, we have done the train ride, but this time elected to do it differently. We'd wait for the train to leave Chama, and then meet up with it at selected spots along the route - eventually finding ourselves at Cumbres Pass. I'll let the pics do the describing here....

The train just leaving Chama

One of our stops along the way

rounding the bend on. Cumbres Pass right around the corner

Pulling in to the roadhouse at Cumbres Pass

Last couple of things that we will remember about this trip to Chama. One day we went in to the Gift Shop which was right next to the park, and we couldn't believe what we saw:

Silver Forest is a small company from Bellows Falls, Vt, and not 20 miles from where we lived.
Another thing: when we were last in Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta, one of the last things that we did while there was to visit the Unser Racing Museum. It was a real interesting trip and tour, but not as interesting as finding our that Al Unser spends a lot of time in Chama, NM. And for sure I confirmed this...

Unser Boulevard was not a mile up the road from our RV Park!

And one last thing....

Good Beer!

After leaving Chama we made a brief stop in another one of our favorite places - Bode's General Store in Abiquiu, NM. Abiquiu is famous as the home of Georgia O'Keefe. Then it was off to Santa Fe, another of our favorites. Home while here is Santa Fe Skies RV Park.

We've spent a  lot of time in this area, so this post will just highlight some of our stay here.

A must stop for us each trip......Backroad Pizza

From the yard at Santa Fe Skies RV Park. But it is a dry heat......

LaFonda

downtown

The Plaza. We like to just come, sit, and observe.

LaFonda, another view

We were in Santa Fe from 8/21 through 8/27 and when we left, we headed to another place that is kind of special to us: Gallup, NM. We had not stayed in the Gallup area since one of our very first New Mexico trips when we were both still working. We stayed at USA RV Park located on Historic Route 66 just west of the downtown area.

What I really come to Gallup for: to see the trains!

You know that you are in the heart of Navajo country when you see this sign at the front door of Walmart store:

While in Gallup, we did a couple of day trips. Among them were day trips to Zuni Pueblo, Window Rock, the capitol of Navajo Nation, Hubbell Trading Post, and finally Canyon de Chelly.

The famous Window Rock and the tribute to the Navajo Code Talkers

Spider Rock

The walkway at Spider Rock Overlook

Can't leave Gallup without a video of one of my favorite things about Gallup - the trains. There is like a train every 7-8 minutes going either eastbound or westbound. Yes, I did say every 7-8 MINUTES. It is incredible....

We were in Gallup from 8/28 through 9/3 and then it was off to Distant Drums RV Park in Camp Verde, AZ.  Camp Verde is very near to Sedona, an area that we have always wanted to visit. And especially this year as we had friends Jan & Antonio from Yuma staying at Rancho Sedona RV Park. We got settled in to Distant Drums. Was not hard. Nice park. Nice people. Nice dog park, nice dogs.

Our spot

Lexie, Jasper, and Gizmo

Lexie and her new friend Jasper

We were right close to Cliff Castle Casino, in fact so close that we could see it from the RV Park. We did take advantage of some of their dinner specials there. As well as one breakfast special. No gambling though.

I had mentioned earlier that we had friends staying in Sedona so one day we made a trip up there and had lunch with them...

Great day with great friends.

We did take a day trip to Payson, AZ, just to see what it was like. Have to admit, it was interesting. Quite an ascent to get there from Camp Verde. But definitely a beautiful area and one we can now say that we have seen.

The return to Camp Verde from Payson. Lots of downhill and beautiful views.

Tucson was our last stop before heading to Yuma for the winter. We took advantage of Cal Am Resorts Fall special which allowed us to split our stay- 12 days in Tucson at Far Horizons RV Park and the rest at our winter home - Fortuna de Oro in the Foothills of Yuma. Part of this stay was to check out the park and then to take advantage of it when we come to Tucson in March for the Escapees Escapade. When the Escapade is over, we will be able to come back to Far Horizons to finish out the month.

Our spot at Far Horizons. Kind of tight, but ok.

Our spot was almost right across from the dog walk, so it worked out good for us.

Right after we got there and got settled, we happened to see the results of some pretty poor backing up. By poor, I mean not having someone to watch and advise.

Pretty sad. Can you imagine how old that Saguaro was?

This was right up the street from us, and was quite impressive. Canadians. Impressive.

Lexie makes friends where ever she goes......

The pool area at the park was kind of in disarray- as these pics will show.....

Hopefully they have the work completed before all the snow birds show up......

All the while we were here at Far Horizons it was HOT. But not as hot as it was in Yuma, where we were heading next.

Definitely hot all over AZ
So, on 10/1 we headed to Yuma, where we would be through March. Looking forward to it. At least there I'll get to do some fishing AND play Pickleball. Can't wait.