Tucson and Rimrock, AZ

 We left Patagonia State park for a Pima County campground called Gilbert Ray CG. It is on the west side of Tucson, up in the foothills and very close to the Sonora Desert Museum and Saguaro West national park. It is right in the middle of saguaro habitat. Very fun. It is 2,000' lower in elevation than Patagonia, which is too cold to support saguaro. Things are starting to bloom there including ocotillo, prickly pear and cholla cactus and the saguaro themselves. We only saw one in actual flower but lots of buds. One of the docents at Desert Museum said they are blooming almost a month early. Saguaro rely on bats and white winged doves for pollination, and the doves are just starting to re-appear. It was pretty close to 90 degrees when we arrived!

Our campsite

 

Dad saguaro holding mom saguaro right behind the campsite

 

 

 

 

Desert sunset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning we headed for the Sonora Desert Museum early while it was still cool. This is a large outdoor museum set up in different habitats. There's a butterfly habitat, hummingbird enclosure, reptile and arachnid house and lots more. They have some unrelease-able larger animals such as a mountain lion, javelina, coyote and some Mexican Gray wolves which in the past were used in a captive breeding program to help the species recover. From their newsletter: "The Desert Museum no longer participates in the captive breeding program but provides a home for wolves who help us educate our visitors about wolves’ role in the ecosystem, and efforts to restore them to the landscape. Currently, we house 3 female wolves born at the Endangered Wildlife Center in Missouri. They are sisters from the same family pack- the eldest helped raise the other two and they are all closely bonded. Come visit Luna, Sol, and Estrella!"  All 3 were active when we were there. Beautiful animals.  There's also currently a display of Dinos in the Desert...and these animatronic dinos are scattered around the grounds, moving and roaring at you. Pretty funny and of course a big hit with the youngsters. We spent 3 hours there and by then it was 90 again and we headed home to cool off and chill for the afternoon.

 

Hedgehog Cactus flower

Saguaro flower and buds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Mexican Gray Wolf

                                                         

 

Gilbert Ray CG has 4 large loops with very nicely spaced sites. There is electric at each site and you can fill up your water when you enter. Bathrooms are pretty new but no shower is available. $28/night non resident. I would stay there again.

On Wednesday we departed for Kyle and Sharon's in Rimrock, a somewhat stressful drive through Phoenix and up I17 toward Sedona. We arrived here at 2pm and were happy to chill for the afternoon. Thursday we toured Montezuma's Well National Monument which is just 2 miles from their house. We have been here before but it is such an interesting spot. The well is a deep pothole fed by underground springs. There are cave dwellings all around the upper parts of the bowl, and later pueblo dwellings along the rim. Take a few minutes and watch this super cool video about the Well.

 

150 year old graffiti at Montezuma Well. Preserved by the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There has not been a lot of staff at the national parks that we have been to, not surprisingly. At Tumacacori, the ranger there told us that at the Empire Ranch/La Cienegas National Conservation area, there is now 1 ranger to cover the 100,000 acres of the park. There used to be 10. One. Ranger. We had planned to continue our trip on to many other national parks but instead will be heading east after we see the Grand Canyon. I honestly feel like we shouldn't be going to national parks, that it seems a burden to me to add to their work load. We don't need to be doing that. 

This morning we hiked the MacDonald trail up 3/4 of a mile to some cliff dwellings. Super cool! We did great for our ages (lol) and the elevation. Thanks to Sharon for showing us this wonderful spot.

On the way up

Getting Closer

 

The view from up there

Looking in

Looking out

 

Ancient wall

Sierra Vista and Patagonia, Arizona

 We spent a great five days with Beth and Aaron. We arrived on Thursday. Friday was an off day, laundry and catch up. Saturday Aaron drove all of us to Golden Canyon east of Phoenix to the Arizona Renaissance Fair. Fun and interesting people watching! 

Sunday we went to Bisbee to pick up a few things there. Bisbee is starting to change again. There was a fire there last winter and between insurance increases and fire mitigation plans, buildings are being sold and businesses are closing. 

Monday we went birding at San Pedro House on the San Pedro river. Saw a bunch of good birds including great views at a cooperative black hawk.

I did not take one photo the whole time we were there!

On Wednesday, we moved a whole 57 miles to Patagonia Lake State Park, 6 miles north of Nogales and the border. We were here on our first trip out two years ago.  This is a dammed up lake of Sonoita Creek, which is a year-round spring fed creek. So there is tons of bird and wildlife along the creek course. We were here in Feb last time. There are a lot more birds around this time. The park runs bird walks every Friday on their nature trails and we had a good one.

The lake and cottonwood trees

 

Big cottonwood along the creek

 

 

 

 

 

 

The town of Patagonia is about 5,000 souls. Patagonia is the starting point of the 800 mile Arizona Trail so there are lots of hikers bikers and trekkers around. A couple of galleries, some restaurants and a hotel. Not much to it, but kind of a cool, hippy place. There is a LOT of conserved land around, Nature Conservancy, Audubon and State lands. You can hike the 6 miles from Patagonia town to the state park if you have a mind to.

One of the really cool things that is there is the Paton Center for Hummingbirds.  This is a great place for birds of all kinds but especially hummers. The day we were there was cool - high 50's and there were probably 35-40 hummingbirds trying to stay warm by sucking down nectar. It was just incredible to see and hear them. 

One day we went up the ridge looking for petroglyphs. Didn't find them, but came down the trail to the creek and into a whole pack of Coatimundi, an odd animal that's a cross between a lemur and a raccoon. There were about 20 of them overhead in the cottonwoods and they went down the trees and up onto the ridge. This youngster got left behind and we watched as he caught up to them. We have been trying to see these incredible animals since our last trip and finally did. Yay!

Saturday we went to Tumacácori Historic Park and Tubac Presidio State Park. Tumacácori has a mission history, first settled by the Pima people and Catholocized by Jesuits and then Franciscans. Tubac Presidio was a fort off and on for a couple hundred years. Interesting for sure.The Prisidio is Arizona's first state park. It is currently surrounded by the town of Tubac and an area full of galleries, jewelry stores and chichi restaurants. Not anything I expected to find there. Tumacácori seems like Tubac's poor relation.

Tumacácori facade, bell tower on the right

 

Interior Sacristy

Carved Door detail

Entry. Amazing doors

 

Roof vigas and shade structure made of ocotillo! Ouch. 

Some of the birds we have seen. All bird photos by Steve.

Inca Dove

Green Tail Towhee

Violet Crowned Hummer

Lazuli Bunting

Black Chinned Hummer

Broad billed hummer, the most numerous

Anna's hummer (I think...)

Cassin's Kingbird

Vermillion Flycatcher

 

 

 

 

 

If you have made it this far...Patagona is a good state park, popular on the weekends with families. It really packs up in the summer I am told. $35/night water and electric. Heated bathrooms, hot showers. 

Tomorrow we head to just northwest of Tuscon to a Pima County Park that is just up the road from the Sonora Desert Museum. We will be there until the 11th and then head to Rimrock and Sharon and Kyle's for a week. 

Texas is REALLY Big!

 Hello Friends and Family!

We arrived in Sierra Vista, AZ yesterday, to Beth and Aarron's house where we will be for a few days. But let's catch up first. When last I wrote, we were in Louisiana and heading for San Antonio. That was two days of driving, although not super long days. Seems like we are just doing a lot of driving and not that much else right now.

Arrived at Palmetto State Park near Gonzales TX on March 21. This park is about an hour from San Antonio. We arrived on a Friday, and the place was full up. We were in the tent loop as the RV loop was full for the weekend. This means no electric. We have a 100w solar panel which works quite well for the most part. Our campsite was very shaded, which was great for keeping the temperature down but not so great for the solar panel. But we know how to do it. The hardest thing is that no 110v outlets work on solar. So keeping things charged is sort of a juggling game. No microwave, instantpot etc. Anything that runs on electric power is not available off grid. We cook on the stove top (propane) fridge works on propane too. We also cooked on the propane griddle. So just a different way of doing things. Palmetto is right on the San Marcos river and they have several miles of trails for hiking or biking which we did every day we were there. Mesquite is just starting to bloom. We did have a heck of a thunderstorm one night, too.

Bike trail

Dwarf Palmetto

Our campsite

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those keeping track, our TX state park stay was $90 for 5 nights with no hook ups. TX adds a bunch of fees for non-residents so those add up. Bathrooms were not great. No shower in the tent loop bathroom, and only 2 stalls for all those campers. Men's was worse. Wifi was adequate.

We took one day "off", and then on Sunday went into San Antonio for the touristy things. We toured The Alamo, walked a bit on the river walk and then went to one of the four historic missions that are in the city. Alamo was interesting. Apparently Phil Collins (yes the singer) was a huge collector of Alamo artifacts and there is a whole wing of displayed items of the Phil Collins collection. They have actual weapons from the battle and even some letters written by Davey Crockett. Interesting stuff.

Interior. Crowded

Alamo Plaza

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was around 90 degrees in the city so it was nice to go down a level and walk along the River Walk. Really cool architecture of that whole area, with art and sculpture around, nice gardens and the boats going up and down it. We didn't walk too much of it as we wanted to get to the Mission.

Riverwalk

Riverwalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are four San Antonio Missions at the National Historical Park that are a world heritage site, free admission! We only went to the first one, Mission San Jose where the welcome center is located. This is well outside of the city center, and a world away. The mission is located in a working class neighborhood, so good to get a feel of the actual city rather than the tourist part. The river walk actually goes all the way to the Missions, about 15 miles and if we had time we would have biked the whole thing. But honestly...how many missions do you need to see? One was enough for us and we were hot and tired. Had a great meal at a Mexican restaurant and heading back to camp.We have been eating our way across TX trying many different Mexican restaurants. The one we ate in Gonzales was also excellent. 

Mission San Hose

Still an active parish

Partial ruins

We left Palmetto a day early, to get to Beth's a day early. It took us two more full days of driving to get across TX. The San Antonio area is still considered east TX and still has full size trees. As you go west, it dries out pretty quickly. Trees turn into shrubs and shrubs turn into desert. We try to stay off the interstates as much as possible. 

There's a couple roads south of I10 that we have traveled before, State 90 in Tx, and 9 through NM and into AZ. Pretty much right along the border which is an experience in itself. But it is what is best described as a desolate landscape.

It took three full days of driving to get to Beth's, all days around 300 miles. We spent the first night at Amistad national recreation area, which is around Amistad lake, a dammed reservoir. The camping areas are dry camping, no services and vault toilets. Kiosk check in. For a senior camper, $3 a night! We stopped for a break at Seminole State park and took a 3 mile hike. This is a canyon tributary of the Rio Grand, but dry up this far. Is has some very cool petroglyphs and a red panther pictograph that we had hiked to on a previous trip. 

San Pedro CG, Amistad NRA

Dry Rio gorge, Seminole SP

Mesquite blooming. What to call that color green?

The second night was in Van Horn, TX where 90 joins I10 again to go around El Paso. Full hook ups, decent showers, laundry available, wifi. $40 for 1 night.

From Van Horn to Sierra Vista was 400 miles, but we left Van Horn early and gained 2 hours so we arrived at 2:30pm. We crossed into Mountain time, and because AZ doesn't do DST, we gained another when we crossed into AZ. So the long day that didn't feel so long.  

            Our route from San Antonio

We did a bunch of errands and running around today, and tomorrow will go to the Arizona Renaissance Fair with Beth and Aaaron. Yesterday was my birthday so we will celebrate that on Saturday.

I guess that's it for now!  

 

 

 

Heading West

After a relaxing three weeks at Eastbank Campground on Lake Seminole, we have started our voyage west.

Our first stop was Tickfaw State Park near Springfield, Louisiana. Bayou country. There’s a nice nature center and several boardwalks through the bayou. Not a lot to see though. Water is high and no gators out. Some birds but not tons. Two nights there so really only one full day.

This morning we left Louisiana and are currently outside Beaumont TX, at a Cracker Barrel. Tomorrow we get to Palmetto State Park in Gonzales, TX for five nights to explore San Antonio. 

Some photos from Lake Seminole:

Beautiful sunsets from the campground. 

And moon sets too

First life bird in a while, a Limpkin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My campground project, ribs made from an invasive privet and cordage made from palmetto leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most photographed tree on the lake!

 

 

                 

 

 

 

                     Bayou country. I love the color of the new                             cypress needles.

 

 

 

 

 

Some thistle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                        Suspension bridge over the Tickfaw river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of lizard friends. I think this is an anole? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                Carolina Wren made a nest in the campsite grill! 

                                        Crossed the Mississippi today at Baton Rouge.

 

 

On the Road Again...

Hello Family, Friends, and Fellow travelers,

Steve and I are on the road once again after two years of mostly local traveling. We are currently at Eastbank Campground on Lake Seminole, on the Georgia/Florida border about an hour north of Tallahassee. We will be here until March 18th and then will be heading west for a few weeks.

I will be starting up the blog again once we get on the road, as there is not much to talk about while we are stationery. We will be traveling across Texas through San Antonio, and then on to Sierra Vista AZ to see Beth and Aaron. After that we will see how it is going to decide if we shall continue on or head home. TBD.

If you are till interested in our travels, you don't have to do anything. If you want to be removed from the list, please let me know and I will remove you.

I have changed the name of the blog from TravelswithBubbles to TravelwithNoBoundaries. That's what our new camper is called,  a NoBo or No Boundaries, made by the Forest River Co.

 

For those interested, EastBank is a Corp of Engineers campground. The COE runs campgrounds around dams and locks that they manage. The COE campgrounds we have stayed at are very nice with decent sized spaces and water and electric hookups. It is $28/night and with the Golden Age Pass we get half off. $14/night for water and electric is a great deal! This is our second time at the CG and we are enjoying the sun and warm temperatures.