Week 25: the one with the spectacular skies!

From New Mexico to Arizona.

Nov 25, 2024

Hey, friends! Hi, fam! Welcome back! It’s been 25 weeks since we sold our house in Austin, Texas to travel full time, and I feel like we’re just getting started. With the onset of colder weather we decided to make our way to the desert and warmer climates — read on for what we’ve been up to!

Valley of Fires Recreation Area, Carrizozo, New Mexico

Sunset at Valley of Fires — looking like fire!

On Sunday we reluctantly left Valley of Fires Recreation Area — check out last week’s post for more. We were sad to leave this awesome place, but we had to get down the road.

Gila National Forest

We decided to take the scenic route through Gila National Forest, in the Black Range and the views did not disappoint!

Just look at these views:

We can’t wait to come back again when the weather is warmer — there was still snow in places and ice on the road and it was COLD. Brrrrr!

City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico

We got to stay 4 nights at City of Rocks State Park — we’ve seen the sign for the park so many times driving along I-10 to Arizona and always wanted to stop.

I’m so glad we finally got to stay here. It did not disappoint!

Here’s a little blurb about the park from the website:

The park encompasses a one square mile area in the scenic Chihuahuan desert region of southwestern New Mexico at an elevation of 5,200 feet. The “city” is a geologic formation made up of large, sculptured rock columns, or pinnacles, rising as high as 40 feet and separated by paths or lanes resembling city streets. These rocks were formed about 34.9 million years ago when a very large volcano erupted. Then, erosion over millions of years slowly formed the sculptured columns seen today, creating a stunning, otherworldly landscape.

One of the best parts was being able to see sunset right from our campsite! Can you tell I have a thing for sunsets? :)

There were some truly spectacular skies, but this one was unreal:

Sun Dog

On Thursday we were lucky enough to see a sun dog! It was like a mini rainbow in a cloud.

I did some research on sun dogs, and here’s what Wikipedia has to say — (head over there for more cool sun dog photos):

Sun dogs are commonly caused by the refraction and scattering of light from horizontally oriented^[2] plate-shaped hexagonal ice crystals either suspended in high and cold cirrus or cirrostratus clouds, or drifting in freezing moist air at low levels as diamond dust.^[3] The crystals act as prisms, bending the light rays passing through them with a minimum deflection of 22°. As the crystals gently float downwards with their large hexagonal faces almost horizontal, sunlight is refracted horizontally, and sun dogs are seen to the left and right of the Sun. Larger plates wobble more, and thus produce taller sun dogs.^[4]

So cool!

Hiking Table Mountain

On Saturday, our last full day at City of Rocks, it was 70 degrees and sunny — and we just HAD to go for a hike. We hiked right from camp up Table Mountain and were treated to some amazing views!

See that peak on the right? We were up there!

My favorite part of the hike was getting to see cottonwoods glowing yellow along the Mimbres River from the top — it was totally unexpected.

All too soon it was time to head back down the mountain and hike back to camp.

I discovered a new-to-me plant: winterfat! It was glowing in the light.

Hiking through the yucca forest on the way back to camp.

This was our first 5.5 mile hike after a bad bout of covid and we were both tired at the end and happy to see the van! But it was a good kinda tired if you know what I mean. :)

Tucson, Arizona!

From City of Rocks State Park it was a 4 hour drive to Tucson, Arizona, where we’re currently staying at Gilbert Ray Campground in Tucson Mountain Park, right next to Saguaro National Park.

The view from our campsite — look at all those saguaros!

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been almost 3 years since we were last here. We came in December 2021 to celebrate my 50th birthday (a year late due to the pandemic).

And here’s a story for ya about the van: we ordered our Transit van from Ford in April of 2021, and it was finally ready to be picked up at the dealership in December — of course we found out that it was ready after we made our plans to come to Tucson and had already made reservations.

The van when we picked it up from the Ford dealership in Kansas City, MO…

So we made the long drive back to Austin December 18-19, then had a day at home to wash clothes and repack, then we jumped on a plane to Kansas City, Missouri, picked up the van on December 21st and drove back to Austin, spending the night in Pawhuska, Oklahoma on the way. What a time! Whew!

As I sit here typing this just a few spots down from where we were camped last time, I’m reflecting on what a journey it’s been to get to this point. I got kinda teary, and my heart filled with joy. We had no idea how long it would take to get the van built out, multiple repairs, and sell the house. But we did it, and that’s what counts!

(Two hummingbirds just swooped overhead! It was like they were saluting me!)

We’ll be here at Gilbert Ray tonight, and then we’re off to find a dispersed camping spot in Ironwood Forest National Monument near Tucson to stay for 2 weeks.