We just completed the second half of our 26 day, 3,040 mile camping adventure with two weeks in New Mexico and Eastern Arizona. Leaving Tucson we went to Deming and 25 miles north is the most unusual campground I've ever seen, City of Rocks State Park is a bizarre rock formation found only six other places on the planet. The volcanic explosion that formed it some 60 million years ago was 1,000 time more powerful and Mt St. Helen's. We backed right up into the rocks and stayed two beautiful days having the park all to ourselves.

Heading north and east on 152 (east of Silver City) we crawled over a 9,000' ridge at about 25 MPH, 10 on the curves and headed north on I-25. The Kiva RV Park and Horse Motel is a must stop if you find yourself near Bernardo. The front door has a large green circle around the picture of a revolver and states in big letters "Say yes to guns! It further instructs the guests and employees to wear their sidearms in celebration of the second amendment and because we can. A large sign in the office sates "We don't call 911" with a pistol hanging beneath. Lots of critters and characters so naturally I got into the spirit of the place by strapping on my Dan Wesson 44 Mag along with the MP9c for pics out front. From the enclosed gardens, complete with Koy pond to the expansive stables and friendly staff this place was a hoot!

North through Albuquerque to Cochiti Lake, just 20 miles southwest of Santa Fe. The earthen dam, one of the largest in the nation, which holds back the Rio Grande is 5.5 miles long. In Colorado, 100 degree temps in April of 1995 caused the lake to rise 26' in 4 days. We picked fresh Champagne apples off the tree at the visitors center and there is a huge commercial apple orchard just up the road.

After a couple of days we headed west out I-40 to Blue Water Lake at 7,400 feet about 60 miles east of Gallup. Two days here found us bound back to Arizona and we took 191 south to the White mountains spending three days in Greer at 8,500'. Finally we went west into Show Low for our last two days at Fool hollow Lake, 6,600'. Perhaps the prettiest campsite yet. The drive home was just over 3 hours.

Over the 3,040 miles I averaged 10.79 MPG towing the 4,000 lb trailer up and down just about every mountain Arizona, New Mexico and southern Utah had to offer. I spoke with several folks who had similar and in one case identical rigs and this mileage seemed to be on the high end for which I give credit the K&N intake along with a light foot keeping to 55-60 MPH (1500-2000 RPM's), whenever possible. Campsite fees averaged $16.50 a night for the entire trip. We only stayed in RV parks twice, Monument Valley and Kiva. We had electrical hookups 8 days and never missed it when we didn't. You gotta love propane refrigeration, we never bought a single ice cube. Between the Blue ice packs and our freezer we never needed any. Had a campfire every night but three and never bought a stick of firewood as it is easy enough to pull over and load up. OK, here are few pics, enjoy...we sure did! (o;

Our campsite up in the rocks at City of Rocks north of Demming:



Another shot of City of Rocks (Google this place, you will be amazed and only $10 a night):



The Kiva RV Park and Horse Motel, I-25 near Bernardo NM:



Blue Water Creek, note the guy trout fishing:



Fool Hollow Lake, show Low AZ (6,600")



The view from our campsite at Fool hollow Lake:

Thanks for the pictures. Looks like a great place to spend a few days. Did you get to do any fishing?

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AL
Pax Per Potens

Just beautiful. Thanks.


Bullseye

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Five screws and 3-1/2 inches.

Very nice pics.

How'd the new camper work out?

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

Thanks again for the travelogue. I'm thinkin' that there's still a few places that aren't overrun. TAC1

Very nice! Sounds like a great way to spend some vacation time. Beautiful!

By the way, I didn't inderstand this: "In Colorado, 100 degree temps in April of 1995 caused the lake to rise 26' in 4 days." Why did the high temps cause the lake to rise 26 feet (or inches, if that's a typo)?

The Rio Grande originates at the base of Canby Mountain in Colorado. An unusually warm spring would lead to an unusually large/early snow melt. More snow melting means larger than normal amounts of water down the river.

Chubbs

Sorry I wasn't clear. The 100 degree temps melted the spring snow in the rockies and without the dam Albuquerque would have been a muddy memory. Here is a shot of the dam:



I didn't do any fishing as every state requires their own license. I left the golf clubs at home as well and frankly didn't miss either. Spent most of my time sitting around the campfire, often with a good book and a lot of short walks, can't hike much due to the nerve damage in my foot. I am a certifiable tree freak (should be a Druid), and most of the places we went satisfied my tree fetish. (o; We met so many wonderful interesting people and will be getting together with some of them again soon. The camp hosts were all very helpful and friendly as well. What a great country!

The camper and truck performed flawlessly. I never realized how many bells and whistles the trailer came with. A little chilly in the morning? Don't even get out of bed, just reach up and click on the thermostat and the propane furnace kicks in. When it gets nice and toasty it kicks off again. Hot showers every day on demand and with the nice kitchen I was able to cook everything I do at home and we ate like kings for next to nothing. I saw lots of folks with bigger rigs but no one living any better than we did. At 18' we are able to drive a lot of roads and get into campgrounds the big boys can't. We can go 5 days without electricity and the only thing we give up is AC, which at the altitudes we were at was never needed. The only problems we had were a tear in the sun awning due to our ignorance of how to put it away properly and a couple of burned out light bulbs. Can't wait to go again! (o;

Great trip, but I got to tell you, the sign about the dogs was hillarious.

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James L. "Jim" Rhiner

Can I assume you like the tee shirt as well? (o;

I know I do.

Thanks for the pics.Looks like a great time,There's so much to see in this great country.

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Dum vivo cano

Ah! Snowmelt! That makes sense.

I had a pal who every year would fly, from CO, actually, to New Zealand. There he would be met at the airport by the rent-a-camper folks, and for $80 a day he would get their best rig. He'd unpack his suitcases, the rent-a-camper folks would take them away, and off he'd go. He was a trout fisherman and a golfer. Said he had a great time.

Believe it or not, I didn't notice the shirt until you called my attention to it. Good job!

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James L. "Jim" Rhiner

Great pics and thanks for posting it all. I took a year off from work 20years ago with an 18' trailer to see the USA and this brought back alot of thoses time.
Can't beat that trailer size, it gets into everything except back pack camp sites.

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Pete.

All right, I'll ask...what are the sidearms and what are you driving?

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Term limits!

The truck is a 2006 F-150 Super Cab - 12' of wheelbase and 17" tires, with 5.4L V-8 with the new K&N air intake. The trailer is an 08 Fleetwood 18', 3600 lbs dry about 4k loaded. The everyday side arm is my MP9c in an S&W/DeSantis Thumbreak holster. The anti bear cannon is a Dan Wesson V-44, 6" 44 magnum with 305 grain Buffalo Bore slugs in an Uncle Mikes nylon holster.

I'm envious of your trip! The City of Rocks formations are dramatically eroded tuff --- volcanic "ash", ejected in an atomized state, settled back to the Earth's surface while still hot enough to "weld" the particles together. Common throughout the volcanically active southwest, and represented spectacularly in the Superstition, Castle Dome, and KOFA mountains. Fools Hollow State Park is at the top of my list of "civilized" campsites (a great place to spend Fourth of July weekend, for the weather, and the nearby Show Low fireworks show...), with water adjacent...