Gladlee of Guernsey
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Gladlee of Guernsey
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America Summer 2019
14th June - 16th July - American RV trip 14th June - Always RV, Arizona, US Arrived at Always RV to collect the motorhome and check everything out before departing on our journey. 15th/16th June - Windy Hill Campground, Roosevelt Lake. One of our regular kick-off points, we just love Roosevelt Lake. Always something interesting seems to happen. This time it was the male Cardinal feeding his two young chicks right there in our site. One difference this time was that the place was really busy. We have been there before with only one or two other campers. This time the place was full. Reason being was bush fires had closed a couple of the other campgrounds.
17th June - Canyon Point CG, Forest Lakes A new site for us. As can be seen we were really right in the woods. A couple of reasonable hikes though we never did find the actual Canyon. It seemed to be hiding from us.
18th June - OK RV Park, Holbrook A commercial site we have been to before but a really good "means to an end". It happens to be in a good location for visiting the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. Also good to get some laundry done.
19th/20th June - Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Cottonwood Campground We had been recommended this place by the partner of one of the Istanbul Hashers. Brilliant recommendation. What a stunning place. The Campground was nearly empty, the views magnificent. This place is however on Indian lands (Navaho) and they run the tours into the canyon. Except one location where there is a trail you are allowed to do unaccompanied. 600ft down to the bottom, a walk along to the "White House" ruins and then 600ft back up. Well worth it though.
21st/22nd June - Mancos State Park, Mancos, Colorado Back into Colorado and a State Park we have visited before. Great walk around the lake, wildlife, birds etc. Oh did I mention it got a bit cold in the mornings; -1 Deg C
23rd June - East Fork CG, Pagosa Springs A nice quiet forestry campground just before we head up over Wolf Creek Pass which is at 11,000 ft above sea level. Lots of snow up there but the roads were clear.
24th June - South Fork RV Park, South Fork Another private site but we have a need for Propane and they sell the stuff. Nice people running the place and not overly crowded. 25th/26th June - San Luis Lakes State Wildlife Area CG We were planning on camping at the Great Sand Dunes park but it was full so we headed here where we had been before. This time the place had changed from a State Park to a State Wildlife area. In order to camp there, for free, you had to have a Colorado Hunting License. There is however an alternative. If you are over 64 years old you also get to camp for free. Not only basic camping but power as well. At long last some advantage to being "slightly" older.
27th/28th June - Lathrop State Park Another previous location but a really nice easy place.
29th June - Summerlan RV Park, Raton, New Mexico Laundry time so a visit to a commercial RV park - once we found it. The GPS found us in a hotel car park but a very nice young lady in reception put us right. 30th June - Clayton Lakes State Park Again we have been here before but it was on our route and is nice and easy. Also wanted to see the Dinosaur prints again.
1st July - Ute Lake State Park Been here before as well. Some good hiking to be had though so we came back. Also in New Mexico all the State parks offer electric and water with the campsites and the cheapy price of $14 per night.
2nd/3rd/4th July - Oasis State Park 4th of July weekend and in reality this was the only place we could find with space. It claimed to have a 'pond' which it actually did with lots of fishermen and women. Did manage to find a good hiking route though. Inundated with what turned out to be very large (3" long) grasshoppers as the below photograph shows.
5th July - Town and Country RV Park, Roswell Again a commercial site this time because we couldn't manage to get in anywhere else. 6th/7th July - Rockhound State Park Lovely campground we have been to before. Again, on the route so no problem coming back to it.
8th/9th July - City of Rocks State Park Our favourite State Park in New Mexico this is just a fantastic and unique place. Also one of our favourite hikes - 2.5 miles up and 2.5 miles down just so we could have a picnic at the top of the "hill".
10th July - Queen Mine RV Park, Bisbee, Arizona Back to the city - well sort of. Bisbee is an old mining town that still has that cowboy feel to it. It is actually quite a small place and we have been here before which means we know where all the best bars are. i.e. The Quarry and the Brewery.
11th July - Patagonia State Park Way down by the Mexican border we have been here numerous times. It is a great place for bird watching so Julie is in seventh heaven. The place took a real beating a couple of years ago with flash flooding and hasn't really fully recovered but it is getting there. Very busy at this time of year though.
12th/13th July - Catalina State Park A totally new location for us just outside of Tucson but on the way back to Mesa (Phoenix) for us. Turned out really nice. Not too many people camping, wildlife, a good choice of hikes (we of course did the Bird Watching trail), though very hot.
14th July - Budget RV Park, Apache Junction Our last stop in order to get the last lot of laundry done and get Harvey cleaned and tidied for going back into storage. As the name implies it was definitely a cheapy place. 15th July - Always RV And here we are back into storage. Did I mention that it is 46 Deg C here. The air conditioning struggled to keep up as did the fridge. Only one night though. 16th July - Fly to London.
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