Safford 2

 Nice sunny warm day.  We started with a Pharmacy run to order some refills.  Then some groceries.  Safford looks about normal.  Back to cam for lunch and some leisurely sitting around in the sun in shorts and T-shirts.  71º

Eventually we went for a walk on an old ranch road a few miles away.  It was a relatively short walk but Skye was off leash finally.  She was pretty happy about that!  It went through some interesting terrain with multicolored rocks, hills and washes.  We spooked up another big jackrabbit!  Way too fast for have it his picture taken.

We found some cattle on the way to hike

Skye thought it was hot

Kind of a rough stream crossing

Nearly full moon

2 more days

Safford, AZ

 This was finally a warm sunny day; a great day to come to Safford Arizona.  One of our favorite places.  A nice easy drive of 130 miles, half being I-10 and the other half US 70 through flat plains in NM and rolling hills in AZ.

This place is never crowded but we were anxious to get our favorite spot.  There is nobody else here!  There are always others across the road to the west, but it’s empty.  OK!  We arrived in time to have lunch here too.  We got all set up then sat out in the sun in T-shirt and shorts for a couple hours.  Then went for a walk.  

No real plans yet.  We’ll be here for a week or more so there is plenty of time for whatever.  There is snow on Mt. Graham, about the same as last year.  The road is new pavement, that’s a big surprise.  It needed it.  Pavement was probably cheaper than filling all the potholes!  But the area has changed a lot.  It must be the drought, there are far fewer plants here.  A lot more open ground.  Many dried up creosote bushes.  When we first camped here several years ago it was hard to maneuver into this spot around the brush.  Now just roll in, make a circle and park.

It is a beautiful night!  The nearly full moon in conjunction with Jupiter and so bright that I can see the snow on Mt. Graham!

The Continental Divide in NM

Doesn’t look like those Colorado photos you’re used to

You see things on the interstate that make you wonder, what is that?

A NM train

Entering AZ

Soaptree Yucca lining the highway 

Our first look at Mt. Graham

Nice new pavement on Haekel Road

Camp Haekel

Deming, NM

A lovely sunny cool day to drive across time, well, a time zone anyway.   Now in Mountain Time, where we’ll be until we head back east in March.  Of course, Skye is bugged because supper is late again.  We try to make that change gradual.  But…

211 miles is a nice day, but this included El Paso.  Now El Paso is not bad as big cities go.  I have often chosen to take I-10 through the middle of town and only occasionally regretted that.  Today we stopped at the rest area just east of the city.  I checked googled map and saw a mile long red zone (slow/stopped traffic) in mod town so we took the Rt 375 loop around the north of the city.  Nice route with much less traffic.  It just has one monster of a hill.  Up 1100’ in 7 miles, then down again.  Actually the truck handles it just fine.  Climbs well and the engine brake makes the downhill easier too.  

The Adobe Deli is a fine Harvest Host site.  We had lunch here about 3 years ago when we were at a campground on the north side of Deming for a week.  Some friends there got a group together to come here for lunch.  So when I saw it’s a HH that’s all it took.  I was looking for a site around here, it’s a good distance from Van Horn and an easy drive to Safford tomorrow.  My BBQ brisket and Carlene’s bison burger were very good.

We took a walk with Skye after arriving and setting up.  There are lots of roads nearby.  It looks like someone once upon a time laid out a whole neighborhood network of roads and sold six lots.

This guy is not having a good day

But it could be so much worse 

Nice use of color in the El Paso highways

Hard to see, but we’re going over the pass just behind that highway sign

Road Runner statue in Las Cruces

This statue outside the restaurant is wearing a soft cervical collar like we used when I started EMS!

Now that’s an Old fire truck

This trolly type bus has the founding date in 1978

Inside the bus

The front door handle