Do you see anything ominous about the sky in the above photos? We were camped at the Fritch Fortress campground in the Lake Meredith Nat'l Recreation Area. It was a free night in a lovely setting. About four the next morning we were awakened by the loudest most fierce storm of our trip. The weather service radar showed us to be in the path of hazardous hail. It was too dark to see but it was crazy loud. The storm ended by 5:30 and we went on with our day and travels. Fast forward five days... while we were at Organ Pipe Nat'l Monument in Arizona, Dan went up to inspect our roof and here is what he found.
A hole in our bathroom vent about 1.25"! Good old duct tape is the temporary fix that will get us home.
It is always something!
Meanwhile, back to the chronology of our travels. Lake Meredith is on the Canadian River in the Texas Panhandle area. Nearby is the Alibates Flint Quarries Nat'l Monument. Flint has been quarried and gathered here for over 13,000 years. The flint was used and traded all over the west. The quarries can only be visited by guided tour. We arrived too late on Wednesday for that days tour but a volunteer flint knapper was there talking and demonstrating his art. It was an interesting and informative time. After he finished the volunteer gave me the product of his afternoon's labors.
The next day, after the early morning hail storm, we were able to go on a tour to the quarry area.
The flint is found on hilltops within a few square miles area of the monument. It is not found anywhere else on this continent. The most similar stone to this is only found in Italy.
This is some of the exposed dolomite.
Our tour guide/ranger shared information about various interesting plants along the trail. The lemon sumac was tasty.
This plant is Loco Weed... I have heard of it before, it is the real deal. If other food is not available horses will eat it, it will make them crazy and they don't recover. Bad stuff, but a pretty little flower.
Besides our visit to the Alibates Quarries, our other purpose in traveling to the panhandle and Amarillo was a music performance sponsored by my favorite PBS station, High Plains Public Radio, (HPPR). They periodically have what they call living room concerts featuring local Texas talent. We enjoyed an evening of music by Terri Hendrix accompanied by Lloyd Maines. We came to Amarillo back in October of 2013 and attended one of these little performances and it was fun to revisit them. We parked at a Walmart that night, our final night in Texas, after a 7 week visit. It was time to head west.
Our first night in New Mexico was at a quiet Bosque Redondo Lake near the Pecos River and Fort Sumner.
In Fort Sumner is the grave of Billy the Kid. His gravestone is shackled in place behind locked gates because it has been stolen several times over the years.
Our 2nd of two nights in New Mexico was at Datil Well BLM campground in the mountains of central NM west of the Rio Grande. We traveled US Hwy 60 all of the way across New Mexico and part way across Arizona. We stopped for pie in Pie Town, I had New Mexico apple, it has hatch chilis and pine nuts in traditional apple pie.
The route took us through Show Low, AZ and down through/across the Salt River canyon.
And talk about contrasts here is our next camp spot...
We had the entire Pinal County Fairgrounds all to ourselves. Twenty dollars bought us electricity and hot showers. Life is good, especially when you keep your expectations simple.
Long ago when this blog began back in the fall of 2011, we visited Organ Pipe Nat'l Monument. The desert plants here are fantastic. We decided to visit again in hopes of seeing some blooms. The saguaro were crowned beautifully. The Organ Pipes don't usually bloom until May. Additionally, the flowers are pollenated by bats so the blossoms are only open at night and close by mid morning.
I purchased a new hiking hat to try to do better at protecting my face from the sun. This pic was taken before 8 am so the sun angle was still pretty low.
Saguaro in bloom, this was a short one only about 10' tall.
Cholla heavy with fruit.
Blooming teddy bear cholla.
An early blooming organ pipe cactus.
The weather was too hot to stay more than one night. We only took a short 1.5 mile hike and finished that by 8:30
Even in the heat we had a nice big shade over our table so I could set up my machine for some stitching. The nearby Indian reservation had a fun radio station. We listened to everything from Hawaiian, to reggae, to western oldies and old rock and roll.
We enjoyed a beautiful Arizona desert sunset.
Last night was spent along the Colorado River on the California side 20 miles south of Blythe. It was hot and if we turned lights on the bugs came right through the screens! UGH! Today we drove on to Julian, California in the mountains above San Diego. It is cool and pleasant here at 4500' elevation, we will stay here over the weekend then go up the coast to see Dan's mom and he will go to his 50yr class reunion.
Happy trails.
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