January 18, 2022 – February 10, 2022
After having spent Christmas and New Years down in Phoenix with Ramona’s parents and other family, we started to get ready for our departure to the southeast US. Our first big milestone in the next leg of our journey was our plan to go to Mardi Gras down in New Orleans, but two things happened that pretty much blew that out of the water. The first was Omicron – yet another variant of the Corona virus that has proven to be extremely contagious and spreading like crazy (though not as serious as some of the other variants). Knowing that the crowds can be intense, our desire to attend started to wane. Alas, that was not the biggest deal breaker… After having Grant remove an “age spot” that really didn’t look right, we learned that I had an invasive malignant melanoma on my arm, and that I’d need to have that fully removed, along with other possible tests, before leaving Phoenix. Thankfully Grant knows great doctors down in Phoenix, and would be able to sew me up after the removal.
My procedure went smoothly, but I was left with a 4” incision on my arm that will take over a month to fully heal. Thankfully, we also learned that it was completely removed, and a genetic test later confirmed that I would not be at high risk of future issues with this form of cancer!
We were able to make our plans to leave Arizona and head to New Mexico on January 24th. Mona reworked our plans for where we wanted to go, and we at last were able to make final preparations to be underway!
The first few days were a bit difficult in the van since my arm was in a bandage, but we did see some very interesting country as we made our way into New Mexico. We drove through Petrified Forest National Park, a very small but interesting park. Our second night consisted of staying on some BLM land that was quite remote (near Gallup, NM), and we woke up to snow the following morning. In the distance, we could see trucks lined up for miles on the interstate, due to the bad weather and accidents that had occurred. We hung out in the van for a while, and then continued our journey.
With difficult weather, we decided to stay a few nights at an RV park on the outskirts of Albuquerque NM. Our stay, while cold, was pleasant. We saw some interesting sites in Albuquerque – near town was an area to see some ancient petroglyphs. It was an easy hike, with ancient art done by Native Americans only about a short distance away from encroaching suburbs. We took in the sites, and also managed to run a few errands that day (making our way to the Fidelity office for some paperwork, etc.).
As is becoming a norm for us, we also found several great restaurants in Albuquerque, and while it may have been cold, we still managed to eat good! We visited a small pizza place in the downtown area, as well as a restaurant that specialized in authentic southwest cuisine (both of which were very good!)
As our days in Albuquerque came to a close, we made the drive north to Santa Fe and Los Alamos. With it being so cold, we decided to “cheat” a bit, and stayed at a La Quinta Inn in Santa Fe. We managed to visit a farmers market, and also saw some interesting artwork at various studios in the Santa Fe area. We also went to a very “artistic house” referred to as Meow Wolf, where there were all types of rooms to explore and look at some wild artistic work. It really is a unique experience, and a few of these places are starting to show up across the country. It was quite busy, especially with the younger crowd there on dates, etc. Santa Fe had a nice vibe to it, and we once again found plenty of great places to eat!
We were now nearing the end of January – it was hard to believe the first month of the year 2022 was already gone! We started to make our way to Los Alamos, and Ramona found a very nice campground for us to stay at not too far from the relatively small town. I should mention that Ramona has spent many hours planning and searching for the best places to stay, get water, and adventure. It has taken much more time than I think either of us realized to find good places to stay, and things to do that we both enjoy.
We spent a little time hiking near the campground at a location called Bandelier National Monument – the cave dwellings were quite amazing, and there was plenty to see as we hiked – we still weren’t going too crazy, as I was still nursing my arm slowly back to health.
We stopped at the Bradbury Science Museum on our way out of Los Alamos which focused on some of the scientific past that unfolded at Los Alamos. With our tour of the museum completed, we headed towards White Sands National Monument.
White Sands is probably best known as the first nuclear bomb detonation location, but in reality, you can only go to that spot once or twice a year. You can go to other parts of the monument where the white sand drifts for miles and miles – it’s quite a surreal place. We spent some time hiking through the dunes and then decided to head towards Carlsbad.
Once again, our best laid plans got somewhat derailed – this time by weather. We stayed at a small mountain campground where we set up in the snow, in near zero-degree (Fahrenheit!) weather. The night was cold, which meant water froze up, our furnace started to act up, and our battery charger was not working. Ramona spent a frazzled night, and we packed up early in search of warmer weather.
Once we made it to the small town of Carlsbad, we knew we still had several days of cold weather to endure. We found a very unique hotel that was once an old bank in the center of town with a great restaurant, and made a quick decision to spend the night there. We weren’t sorry! The room was warm, and even had an old walk-in safe that once upon a time undoubtedly saw all types of bustling activity. After a warm night, and a nice warm breakfast “in the bank”, we decided to forego the cavern and head to Big Bend Texas. We knew we’d find warmer weather, and had a number of things in mind to do while in the large national park of Big Bend.
For our first couple of nights in Big Bend, we stayed in the Rio Grande village campground. Perhaps the biggest challenge of this campground? No internet! As you travel, you realize that good connectivity can make a lot of things much easier to do, and… more enjoyable. I watch the markets (arguably too much), Ramona watches the news, and we both use it to check out maps, look at things to do in the area, etc. Bottom line – we use, and enjoy, the internet quite a bit as we travel! That aside, the campground was nice, and not near as cold as where we’d come from.
We finally managed to use our bikes a bit – for me it was my first real time on the new bike I’d bought after having my other bike stolen. It was fun to get out and ride some of the dirt roads in the park. We also spent a day making our way to Mexico via the international ferry! And yes, it’s a row boat that takes you across a very small Rio Grande river to a small town in Mexico that is pretty much built around tourism. We had lunch, checked out the sights, and made our way back over to the USA, all in under a couple of hours. It was nice to get back over to Mexico and enjoy lunch and the sites.
After a couple days on that side of the park, we made our way over to the Chisos Basin area in the park. This area was more mountainous, and again we stayed in a nice campground – this time with internet! There was a restaurant in Chisos Basin, but apart from the restaurant, gas station, and campground, you are quite remote from anything (both on the US and Mexican side of the park). We got some good hiking in, including a hike up Emory Peak. While arguably not a hard hike (2,500 feet of vertical, and about 10 miles round trip), it seemed pretty tough given that we have not been doing many hard physical things!
We also spent a night out at a very remote campsite (Paint Gap #1), where we literally had the high desert to ourselves. We really enjoyed our time in Big Bend, and like most of the places we’ve visited, we were sorry to go.
