Simple Living and Simple Travel

The first time back to Silver City in January, I went to my favorite place to eat, Vicki’s Eatery, and they had closed. Guano. I tried another place on Bullard next to the food coop and left half my lunch on the plate (and no, I did not upchuck it). Later I noticed in an issue of Desert Exposure that Vicki’s moved to the corner of Texas and Market. It was snowing the day I first went to their new spot and I was pretty wet having walked over from the library. The waitress recommended some hot cider and it really hit the spot. As I was waiting for it I took out a bandana and dried off my hair. Got a few looks with that move. Sat at the table in front of the electric fireplace and was in heaven as I ate lunch. I really thought I was making progress with my mountain bike riding. A while back I went for a ride with Tim, one of the hosts at City of Rocks. An EXTREMELY humbling experience. And he’s my age! Maybe I will get one of those 2-cycle Spooky Tooth bicycles the next time I am in Bi...

I camped near the trailhead to Jacks and Burro Peaks. Four miles to the peaks, nice and easy, and not all that much elevation gain. Open range so I was coming across some cows from time to time. When I got near the top, there was this white stuff. Since I head down to southern New Mexico to keep away from snow, it must be some type of sand. In this photo we are just about a half hour from our camping spot on our dusk walk along the Continental Divide trail. Those are my bike tracks from earlier in the day. The ride was pretty good. I rode on a section of the CD trail east of the section I did with Tim. Fell twice and had a bit of a problem at two stream crossings. Got down the inclines to the streams and crossed them fine but couldn’t get up the steep sandy banks on the other side. I don’t know, I have such fun biking 15 miles or so at City of Rocks most days on the different loops and switchbacks and feel I’m making progress then I go out on single tracks like I use to ri...

Back to a spot we like. There’s plenty for me to do here and Meadow and Onyx seem to enjoy the rocks and long grass—and probably the kangaroo rats. The jackrabbits we come across on our dusk walks kind of always startle these two fierce hunters, though. I met a guy in his 70’s who had his RV in the park for a few days. John was out walking the trails with a CANE! I was impressed. He was walking about two miles a day, not on the road, but on the trails. Way to go. This is the third scratching post I had to make for these two since we moved into the casita. Couple of little shredders. Three 100’ spools of rope! Came back to the camper after a ride one day and found a note on my door. Dennis (remember the ‘LET’ERRUST’ entry from last winter?) came into the park, was walking around, and saw my rig. He left the bus up in Oregon and turned his Chevy van into a camper and is cruising around down here for the winter before heading back up to Bend. Biked...

I turned off rt80 onto a sand road in the Peloncillo Mtns. for some disperse camping. There were some spectacular granite and limestone formations. Found a nice spot up against some rocks and stayed for a few days. Saw a couple filling the back of their pickup with sticks one day, another day a couple just cruised through, and a couple javelina shooters came in later for awhile. Other than that, no one. On one of our dusk walks, I came across a couple of blankets and a day pack. The thing I do not enjoy about disperse camping down here is how often I come across sign of UDAs. It’s not an area where I sit around a fire at night and relax. I’ve never had a run-in with any but it’s hard for me to feel safe. Meadow and Onyx loved being allowed back outside. I don’t let them out when in Bisbee. The photos are of the road going in, some clouds on a morning run, the UDA rock, a working windmill with pump that I came across while out mountain biking, and my camping spot. Ther...

I REALLY did not want to drive the interstate from Deming to Lordsburg so after pulling out of City of Rocks, I headed north on rt180, turned west onto Airport Road, and took Whitewater Road over to rt90. There were some washboard sections initially that shook things up, but once past Whitewater, the road was pretty well graded. One photo is looking back towards City of Rocks and Table Mountain. The other is looking west towards the Big Burro Mtns. Once on rt90 and into the Big Burro Mtns., I made note of where the forest roads branched off since I’ll be back to camp in this area next month. It sure felt good being back in Bisbee. I stayed at Lynn’s again and this time she even provided wi-fi access (we never could find out where it was coming from). I spent hours catching up on web work. What a treat. Lynn took this shot of the casita at dusk. And, of course, we hit some favorite restaurants—Roka Café, Bisbee Breakfast Club, and Turquoise Valley Golf Course Cafe. Life is toug...

I was setting up at Brantley Lake when I heard someone call my name. It was Jerry from Colorado, who I met last winter at City of Rocks who full-times in a 22’ Lazy Daze with two felines. He brought over another fulltimer, Gary, who travels in a Class C pulling a small pickup. We talked about our trips down and then I finished setting up. We visited more over the days. A bicycle tourist was camping down in the primitive area. Charles biked down from Albuquerque and is on a 4-month road trip, going down into Texas and then over to southern Arizona before back to Albuquerque. Pretty good shape for being in his 60s. One day we biked over to the old dam. Coming back I remembered why I no longer have a road bike. I HATE headwinds. Chris fabricated this teardrop trailer, his second one. He and his girlfriend are from Florida and are heading to Yosemite. No heater—ceramic or catalytic. I’d freeze. I saw Charley’s van down in City of Rocks last winter but didn’t meet him. ...