Cartour Spring 2017 number 41

Monday April 24th

S and the maelstrom

      Heavy rain this morning in Twin Falls so after the complimentary breakfast we drove up river on the Snake's south shore to Shoeshone Falls. Who would have thought looking down from the Elevation 487 bar for the last two years that there was such a maelstrom just up around the bend. Maelstrom! I could hardly make myself go out on the viewing platform for the photos.
Anyway we got out of there quickly enough to motor through sun and rain to the Oregon Trail museum in Baker, Oregon for the historic info and the bike ride along the Trail to what appeared to be a training area for those little four wheeled personal transporters. There was a guy in forest service attire lecturing a squad of people on the things preparing to rip up and down the hills of the facility; I would have waited to see them do their lesson but S took off back up the long grade to the car and sandwiches and FOMO off I went as well. Ran into the heaviest rain and wind of the last six weeks on the last mile into Pentleton to the Oxford Suites; you get a couch, free soup and salad and alcohol and then free breakfast plus there was an indoor pool and hot tub and cookies.

Many were lost

they wished the oregon trail looked like this

rain to the east

Cartour Spring 2017 number 40

Sunday April 23rd

driving the original right of way for the transcontinental above the wetlands of the great salt lake

      Raining in Twin Falls, ID. Ensconced in the Blue Lake Inn for the time being having scooted out of Salt Lake after oats and yoghurt at Chris'. Steve set us on a course to visit City of the Rocks, the site of the driving of the golden spike in the finale of the building of the transcontinental rails and the missile factory of Morton Thiokol; we hiked among the rocks and rock climbers and I got a new hat. Dirt road out of the rocks to several small towns selling rocks and then inevitably the interstate to Twin Falls and a light supper at the Kim Crawford wine discovery restaurant called something like Elevation 487. Very mediocre butternut squash ravioli and no Kim Crawford. Great view down into the Snake River Canyon however. Also hot hot tub at Blue Lake.

Cartour Spring 2017 number 39

Saturday April 22nd

Just thought I'd throw this one in again

      Already told one big part of Saturday at the center of Mormon. Also had some handsome homemade spaghetti sauce with noodles and watched a movie about reincarnation in which a dog becomes an Englishman which was very interesting and fun especially for Peter O'Toole and Sam Neill, the principal actors. Took Subaru to carwash and vacuum - very jaunty after.
Things are winding down and we look homeward with a short list of worthy detours for the morrow's drive north and west from Steve.

Cartour Spring 2017 number 38

Friday April 21st

S and the Mormon girls at Brigham's

     Straight out of Nightvale to Salt Lake City (SLC).  Visited Chris, Rob and Steve in SLC and had a great time on Lincoln Court off Lincoln Lane above and east of S 2300 E which was just 23 long blocks from the Temple which S and I rode to on the bicycles on a high Spring day up against the snowy Wasatch. Right into Brigham Young's place and onto a guided tour and Mormon pep talk from two young women missionaries from Ghana and China. But technically that was our activity for Saturday morning. Got in Friday evening after a good bit of interstate blasting (80 mph!). Had a fine steak grilled by Rob followed by stories. Got rid of the wood we have been managing since last year; what was it about this year that we had not one fire until tonight 38 days in?

A minor temple in a wee little town (that had a giant donut shop that didn't sell coffee let alone give it away) between Cedar City and Salt Lake

Cartour Spring 2017 number 37

Thursday April 20th

Colorado just below Lee's Ferry

Zion from up shuttle parking

Our camp in Cedar City

      Got out of Lee’s Ferry and hit Zion. Mordor in orange and white. Also people. We took the shuttle up canyon and hiked the Emerald Pools. It was cool.

We shot down through La Verkin and Tocquerville to Cedar City.  Shades of Welcome to Night Vale here this time; we came here last year and finished the magic cake video for Lucy. Tonight guy ahead of me at the grocery store checkout bought my deodorant, hand lotion, razorblades and M&Ms, but S said he probably thought I was homeless (maybe it was the pant leg in the sock on the right side because of the biking there) but she, at the same store earlier, was led to the freezer section where the helpful staff kid insisted was where they had their cookies and they didn’t sell wine. And then there is this place we are staying; how do they keep it dusted? And there were other things and also some last year as I recall. And we made the finale of that weird movie here. Anyway it is nice, but I wouldn’t want to live here.

Cartour Spring 2017 number 36

Wednesday April 19th  

Site 49 at Lee's Ferry camp

Spencer

Bike up forest road 307 for a few miles. No table breakfast. Over to Lee’s Ferry camp by just afternoon and into attractive camp overlooking the Colorado 16 miles below the Glenn Canyon dam.  Beautiful cold ass river the Colorado 16 miles below the dam. Footache on entry - you don’t stay in; you can’t. Set up in number 49, got a visit from Jenny down the way - been coming to this camp for 40 years. River hike upstream. Laughed and wondered about the up trail that split off a little ways up the river; where could it possiblly go as there was a 1000 foot canyon wall that way. Called “Spencer”.  Two fairly hardy hikers of the river walk said it went to the top. S and I thought we’d give it a try the next day and found it harrowing and stopped less than 1/2 way. No more laughing at “Spencer”. No sir.

Cartour Spring 2017 number 35

Tuesday April 18th

Distributed camp in the National Forest outside G Canyon Nat'l Park

our spot's only amenity 

Our only neighbors - Lily and Tom

Omelette and fried toast, a trail bike and dip in the creek a mile or so upstream. Headed to Flagstaff and the south and later north rim of the Grand Canyon because why not? 180 and 64 out of Flagstaff. South Rim a metropolis - 10 minutes walk to canyon edge and make sure you remember your parking lot identification symbol, ours was Swallowtail 3, or you could go hypohydro and become even more disoriented than you already are. So we left but only after finding that the road to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado until May 15 was closed - we would have to wait a month to get a ticket at the gate. Every one knows the north rim is the coolest cause its higher, faces the other way and is hardly ever open. Plus the ‘copters.

So we took road 180 to edge of the park at Desert View and then dove into the distributive open camping concept from the National Forest Service which go off a paved road 1/4 mile and do what you can with only what you have -no water, no giant concrete picnic table, no ramada, no neighbors - except after a while we heard the arrival of another very faint motor in the distance and a faraway yap of a dog. I jumped on the bike to see what was up and found a good size rv and small white truck towed behind was setting up an eighth of a mile down the double track. The rig was operated by Tom and to some extent my his Mexican rescue pup, Lily. He invited us over so we came down and chatted a while in the straight-forward intimacy of complete strangers stuck in a elevator. Tom and Lily were new to the road life. It was good to have one neighbor on the lonely juniper steppes.

Cartour Spring 2017 number 34

Monday April 17th

At the Mariposa after setting up the tent - our waiter lived in his Wolfsberg VW van.

West Clear Creek Camp

      Travel day; heading north from Tucson on 77 to globe and 188 to Payson and 260 to Camp Verde. But, before leaving the big city we took a neighborhood bike ride focused partly on houses and fences. Arrived around 3pm at the pretty sweet Coconino National Forest camp on a creek - West Clear Creek in name. Rested and shot up to check out  Sedona and a viewfull snack of al la carte scallops, yucca fries and several beef empanadas plus a nice clean red wine.  Great waiter at the Mariposa which although a hoity toity joint to say the least had a staff who seemed really dialed into attention and friendliness. Impulsed in for the view but got more and no gut bomb sticking with appetizers and wine.

Back to camp (25 miles each way) a world away from the lux ambiance of Sedona.

Cartour Spring 2017 number 33

Sunday April 16th

I guess this is what S's birthday looked like to me this morning at 6:30

      Not a travel day in the sense of going to a new location in the car and not coming back to this location that afternoon. That would have been fine but not as interesting as the day we had. Noon day assault on a boulder stream canyon, Tanque Verde by name. Hot at first, but the pools took care of that which left the boulders who were slick in a kind of stealthy way, and not arranged correctly. Followed that with a rest period and then a restaurant, one of the few open, called Wildflower situated in a tony mall on a slight rise in the 1/2 million sprawl of Tucson that was quite a bit more hat than cattle. But filling and generally nutritious for sure. S looks nice in her new birthday suit. I have a lot of biliousness and my knees are unhappy and desert hayfever;  I wish I was dead. No, just joking - just wish I was in a high, cool, slightly moist mountain sanatorium. Herbie House has a good ceiling fan above the foot of the murphy bed, that, if  you think about it, sounds and feels like the steady breeze through the pines.

Note - can the principle of the aeolian harp be coupled with the modern ceiling fan? analog production, digital modulation? Whoooooo whooooo

Forgot. We biked like 20 miles on the absolutely stunning mid-city river/wash path/park. On both sides of the wide dry wash. Academy Award park/path. Also level and paved and shaded by feathery leaved trees.

Cartour Spring 2017 number 32

Saturday April 15th

Birds' nests for breakfast and out to the Desert Museum for a look at the little fox, bobcat, porcupine, two wolves, two coyotes, a family of big horn sheep, several fish, any number of birds but the jaguar was long gone one of the volunteers said.
Swim at the Quincie Douglas pool wherein the water slide does not open until summer, being 95 degrees doesn't count.
S. to the art museum. I biked the neighborhood found a leftie bookstore with cold brewed ice coffee 'cept the person in charge said minimum credit card purchase 5 bucks so had to go down find and fiddle with cash machine past the "blue building" in the "parking lot" which, naturally, presented difficulties for the sun addled tourist biker - caution street car tracks.

Street dinner after dark at Magpies and after Corona's in the courtyard here at the Herbie House.

Cartour Spring 2017 number 31

Saturday April 14th

Airbnb Tucson

      Drove from Arcadia camp to airbnb in Tucson arriving at about noon - warm. Nice little duplex off an alley near the streetcar line and downtown. All moved in within the hour. Unfortunately S decided that things were a little slow so she thought we should maybe commit suicide by hitting the 3 o'clock streets of Tucson in order to touch on every possible tourist activity before they all closed for the day.
We wound up on the Sunlink streetcar for its entire route and then returned to the Herbie House for treatment. S said she felt queasy claimed it was from the mayonnaise in the tuna salad she made for our lunch. I say, "Hah. Sunstroke!" Herbie House is way cute and hip like the thousands of college students wandering the streets in all directions.

Our street/alley in Tucson - we are up on the right past the dumpsters.

Herbie House and our reaction to it

Cartour Spring 2017 number 30

Thursday April 13th

Datil Wells camp

Datil Wells trail

      Packed and out of Datil Wells after coffee but no breakfast.  I had a real tasty huevos rancheros and S had a slice of apple pie that no one seemed to know the origin of. Several hours later hit a big sprawly twin city called Safford/Thatcher checked out the local perfectly over-done lake recreation park just out of town but it was 97 degrees with sketchy shade so we made for the mountains rising just west of the city and quickly got down to mid 70’s and simultaneously rolled into Arcadia camp which required we write a check to USDA Forestry Services for $5.00. Same deal for the evening activity: S took off for a walk and I a little later for a bike ride up and both were good. I found the ruin of an old homestead on a rough side road where a row of daffodils were in bloom by a foundation wall.

view of Safford/Thatcher during bike ride out of Arcadia camp in the evening of arrival there

old settlement site off road up from Arcadia camp

seemingly unofficial camp site within ruin above

Cartour Spring 2017 number 29

Wednesday April 12th

Three Rivers camp

Morning at camp before the rain

Atmospherics at Three Rivers this am

S up early and lucky too as she packed a lot and I cooked omelette and we struck camp before pouring rain, thunder and that sharp hot lightning as mentioned.  Back to Carrizozo and off west on 60 and 380 to Socorro library which is right up there with all those public libraries of yore, long may they run.  S made a birthday plan for herself and I which is an airbnb in Tucson on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and which we are now in the process of executing.

Now arrived at Datil Wells camp after a satisfying visit to Sorroco, a refuelling at Magdalena, and a short tour of The Very Large Array (think Jodie Foster in the movie Contact)

Gasoline in Magdalena ( I mention this only because “Magdalena” is so much in the style of village/town naming around here)

Arrived last afternoon/evening at Datil Wells camp after biking in search of a online reccommended wood fired pizza place in Socorro for lunch but were led astray through all manner of structures, train crossings into the fields before the Gila (I think). Camp was so quiet, cool and restful that we forgot to pay until the hostess arrived on the inevitable military grade golf cart and very professionally helped me with the paperwork which as always demands way too many numbers which I assume must not be fudged. High desert trail beckoned first S to walk and, shortly thereafter, me to bike. Biking had its joys and sorrows and as night fell and my cute little map located at the trailhead in a sweet podium/standing desk proved to be unreliable as to the short cut I wanted there was an edge to the ride that started when I took a fork and was returned to my own track in a part of the way I had already gone.

Anyway I believe in fitness and if death is a part of that…

the grand library of Socorro

End of the bike ride in search of pizza. I was hoping that the building in the trees in the background was the pizza joint - it was not. But the misdirection let us visit the exotic pet shop on the way to the real pizza place which was interesting - the pet shop.

Cartour Spring 2017 number 28

Tuesday April 11th

Bottomless Lakes SP - we were off to the left

      Morning at Bottomless Lakes SP after a windy time in the night. We then bike the pothole lakes and up and along the bluff above them. Roswell looks like a vast sprawling Eden to the west past the wandering treeline of the Pecos. A lite breakfast of fried toast and peanut butter and an orange (each). At noon we were at Roswell and in the door at Big D’s Downtown Dive for some heavier fare (no chicken fried steak just a sort of southwest pig in a blanket and S some hot tortilla soup and a house salad. oh, and skinny sweet potato fries with chipotle ketchup, for the record)

Rolled out of Roswell and hit the backroads toward the Capitan Mountains, down into the town of that name. Nothing suited partly due to closures after a recent hard burn. Backtracked and around west to Carrizozo and south and east a bit to this canyon where we expect a wind and electrical storm at dawn for which we have anchored down hard; I hope there will be no hard burn from the lightning, sharp and hot, also. We could have settled for the rather bleak and new site 10 miles back down the road but S found it wanting regardless of the 20,000 notes in stone left by dead Apaches and perhaps others in the hills surrounding that camp and she was right; this one offering more protection from the coming holocaust and with better views. Cool though and I am going to try the two sleeping bag option (from Ramona’s stuff). Remember Highway 246 from Roswell to Capitan!

Cartour Spring 2017 number 27

Monday April 10th

Pecos truck scene - I-20 south side frontage road top floor Hampton Inn, Pecos, Texas Monday April 10th 2017, 7:25 am - just to be clear

first cart - great

Hanging in the Hampton here in Pecos; S just confirmed my most hopeful hope: there is a complimentary breakfast here!
Whoa too much breakfast!
Next thing you know you landed on another planet. Never thought about Carlsbad Caverns much but have them now in my head forever. Didn't take the elevator down which may or may not be important but goodness what a descent into another world. Lunch on the pavement back on the surface and on to Bottomless Lakes State Park for the night.

start down

photo fails to convey the size

menacing figure

back to reality

not bottomless but cold and maybe 90 feet deep - sign explains this series of lake as cenotes whose rooves have collapsed

Cartour Spring 2017 number 26

Sunday April 9th

Left this nice Cottonwood Camp this morning after a couple of days and nights

Our spot at Cottonwood

All steel shelter at the Dinosaur exhibit that I liked

Bed and Breakfast in Marathon - probably should have checked in

a nice public spring pool at Balmorhea Springs State Park not far from Fort Stockton NM - there were pup fish and catfish in there

Dennys at Pecos where I had my second straight day of chicken fried steak and I think that may do it for the next little while.

       Travel day. We have turned north and west. Out of the Big Bend to Marathon where we found a lovely shirt and bag for S’s birthday. Spilled our new bag of ground coffee all about the cockpit of the Subaru but had a couple of Sunshine smoothees to help us through that trauma. On to the Fort Stockton Walmart for a change of scene. Followed that with a visit to Balmorhea Spring for a dip. Ensconced in the Hampton Inn in fair Pecos, swooning in a post chicken-fried steak glow and enjoying the view from our third floor room onto i-20 as it goes north to Odessa and Midlands; this is hard country (except for the Balmorhea springs where even the Apaches grew peaches once upon a time).

Cartour Spring 2017 number 25

Saturday April 8th

Wild pigs in camp

more wild pigs in camp

Morning walk to Mule Ears

Spring on the way to Ears - good for wetting clothing

the closer the less dramatic the ears

S as far as we went

      Out pre-breakfast (S had a hardboiled egg) onto the Mule Ears approach trail - 5 miles. Soaked some clothing in a spring, on the way out and on the way back. Carried on in the car to the Chisos Basin - a shangri-la setting with ho hum utilitarian buildings. Nice restaurant with a somewhat overly formal national park style atmosphere; had the chicken fried steak and loved it. 
At a gas station in the park a little later in the 100º heat the attendant ran out as we were pulling out to stop us from ripping out the hose and leaving the credit card - sun stroked probably. Followed that adventure with a visit to a hot spring next to the Rio Grande. 10 people in the river, none that I saw in the hot spring. Been spending quite a bit of time in the river. Back to camp and back in the river. 
Camp had got a little louder since yesterday. Also a herd, a herd of 20, of javelinas in the grass under the cottonwoods with us.