Spring and Summer Trips, and Life in Between: NYC and the Southwest

Four Months Since My Last Blog Post

It didn't seem like an eventful spring and summer while it was happening, because there was this long chunk of time when it was always hot and I was always in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, trying to stay cool in my Class A motorhome.  But looking back since I last blogged in April, there have been some great trips and a lot accomplished. 

TRIP #1:  New York City!

 As seen from the (free!) Staten Island Ferry

I went to New York City in April.  This was kind of on a whim.  I am always monitoring air fares to favorite destinations, so when a $225 round-trip ticket came up, I grabbed it.  When I first made my reservations, I intended to spend the entire two weeks in a modestly priced hotel.  But then friends thought up a plan for me to take care of their cat while they traveled, so that saved me six nights' lodging.  Wonderful!  

 I spent a lot of time sketching in museums...

 ...gardens...

 ...and parks.

This was my best ever trip to New York.  I have always gone with family or friends.  This time I was completely free to make a schedule that suited me, and I learned a lot.  For one thing, while it's wonderful that there are some nights you can get into museums free, my evening energy level didn't allow me to really enjoy the museums late into the evening when they were really crowded.  I did better ponying up the $18 or $25 admission and enjoying museums at a leisurely pace during the day.  Also, I really enjoyed just being...in parks, over coffee, that kind of thing. Not always on my way somewhere.  I sketched a lot.   

Being in the studio audience was a blast!

I got to see lots of great entertainment--plays, musicals, ballet and more--mostly due to my friend Marcy's great knowledge of how to get reasonably priced tickets.  We had fun!  One of the most exciting times was when we were in the audience for Stephen Colbert.  We also played Scrabble on the roof of her building, ate good food, and just enjoyed spending time together.  

 Rooftop view of the Empire State Building, as lit on the evening of the New York Primary

After I got back from NYC, it was a busy time at Sun Gallery in May.  I was open for two weekends in a row, first for the town's annual Fiesta and then for Second Saturday Art Hop weekend, and I had my best month so far financially at the gallery.  We had a very fun chicken art show during May, with lots of participation by friends old and new, near and far.

Trip Number 2:  White Sands, Alamogordo, Roswell, etc.

In early May, my son Sly and his dog Jimi came to visit me, driving from Seattle to Truth or Consequences.  It was a great time.  We spent some of Sly's visit in TorC and some on the road in Solveig, my little Toyota Dolphin motorhome.  We left my cat Sonja at home with Steve, and we dropped the dinette table down to make a bed for Sly and Jimi.  We traveled to parts of New Mexico I hadn't seen before, heading east out of Las Cruces, where we spent a night at the awesome Aguirre Springs BLM campground.  The next day, we visited White Sands National Monument and the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, both wonderful places to stop.  

Sly and Jimi on the boardwalk nature trail at White Sands

We hit White Sands early, because by about noon, it was quite hot, even in early May.  By contrast, we spent the night a few miles up the road at a Forest Service campground just outside Cloudcroft, where it was very cold (and around 10,000 feet elevation).  

We drove to Roswell, where we saw all of the hokey-but-maybe-believable alien stuff and bought a few souvenirs.  Somewhere along this trip, we also stopped at Three Rivers Petroglyph National Recreation Site, and that was pretty cool.  Sly's visit went by really quickly.  He discovered the usefulness of freecampsites.net in his travels, paying nothing for his overnights all the way down from Seattle and back up again. 

 Evidently my Dolphin qualifies

Trip #3:  Deming, the Gila, Mogollon Rim, Safford

Dropping Steve at the train depot...um, train hut in Deming, New Mexico

Late in May, Steve was headed to Texas to visit his sister and family.  I loaded up Solveig (cat, canvases, paints, food, etc.) and drove Steve to Deming, New Mexico, to catch the train.  Then I headed north up past Silver City to Highway 180, along the western side of the Gila National Forest, camping at a few free campsites along the way.  I headed up towards the Mogollon Rim in northern Arizona, traveling west on Highway 260.  I'd discovered on a trip last fall that Payson, Arizona, has a lot of great charity thrift stores, some kind of upscale ones and some more affordable.  So it's a nice destination for me to do some buying for my gallery.  

 A roaring fire at my free campsite off FR300

About 7 miles west of Heber, Arizona, on Highway 260, there's a road heading south marked Black Canyon Lake.  It is Forest Road 300, and there are lots of other roads that shoot off from it into various directions throughout the Forest (Sitgreaves, I think).  Which translates to almost limitless boondocking opportunities. When I arrived, it was the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, yet I found an established campsite with fire ring, far from any neighbors. My site was almost on the very edge of the Mogollon Rim, and I could see for many miles.  Beautiful.  Also, there was plentiful free firewood, because there'd been some logging in the area.

One of several nice private soaking rooms at Essence of Tranquility

From FR300, I headed west to Payson and did my shopping, overnighting at Walmart.  Afterwards I realized it might have been more pleasant to stay at the local casino just out of town, but I'll save that option for another time.  I headed south to spend a few nights at Essence of Tranquility spa in Safford, Arizona.  You can camp there with a tent or a very small RV.  I managed to mangle a tree and my roof by not paying attention to how tight things are in their little camp area.  But once in place, it was all magic.  I stayed three nights for a grand total of $45 plus tax, and I soaked in private tubs whenever I wanted to.  I also used the communal kitchen area and the wifi.  It was a wonderful respite, one I hope to share with Steve sometime.  Midweek is best, and so are the shoulder seasons.  

 "Petroglyph Tarot Card The World XXI" painted while I was at the spa

I had an adventure on the way to Safford that involved needing oil out in the middle of an Indian reservation, a problem solved by buying a guy named Rocky a case of beer.  However, I have no pictures, so I guess it didn't really happen.

 Overnighting at a New Mexico rest stop, where it is okay to stay for up to 24 hours and they have covered picnic tables

After my spa stay, I headed back down to pick up Steve in Deming.  I overnighted at an I-10 rest stop near the Continental Divide, and that was a pretty good place to relax.  Traffic noise, of course, but I have earplugs.  Some of the New Mexico rest stops have nice little ramadas with picnic tables.  I got comfortable and painted while I was there.  The next day, Steve's train was very late, so we ended up getting a motel room for the night where I could relax until it was time to go get him around midnight.

Then it was back to TorC, where I had the gallery open for the June Second Saturday Art Hop weekend.  It was a bust!  For the first time, I didn't make the rent (or any of the other expenses).  I didn't panic, though.  I turned on the eBay machine.  It was the perfect way to spend the hottest part of the summer.  We had high 90s to low 100s for many weeks.  It seemed like an eternity.  

"Too Hot for the Sun" was inspired by this summer's weather

For several months, I would spend some of the morning, before it got very hot, down at the gallery picking out and photographing inventory that looked good for selling online.  And then I'd spend the afternoon at home in the Beluga (my Class A), with the A/C blasting, listing stuff for sale.  It worked really well, and it's helping me pay off some of my past travels before I make the next big trip.

Steve is rockin' that alien shirt at the Mineral Museum in Socorro

During this summer, we've made some attempts to alleviate the boredom (not much happens in TorC in the summer!) by taking a few trips closer to home.  We went to Las Cruces to shop and stay overnight for my birthday in June, and to Socorro to have lunch and visit the Mineral Museum at New Mexico Tech for Steve's birthday in July.  

 Up early in the morning to bake a pear-chocolate clafoutis for a French country summer dinner party

We have also been enjoying dinner parties with an international flair with friends throughout the summer.  We bought amenities to enjoy the summer--an additional A/C unit, patio furniture, a nice grill. When it would finally get cool in the evening, I worked on dish gardens which sold like hot cakes at my gallery.

One of my little gardens, featuring found items and prayer flags I made

 These mosaic teardrop trailer bird houses have been very popular this spring and summer, too

I also did some painting and became a member of the Sierra County Arts Council.  We're working on some exciting events for the fall and winter.  And, of course, I was open at the gallery for the July and August Art Hop weekends, which fortunately went better than June.

 Trip #4: Pie Town, and the Mogollon Rim again

Sonja's enthusiasm for travel--you can see it in her eyes

When the hot spell was finally starting to break, Steve, the cat, and I got outta town.  We headed north on I-25 and west on Highway 60 past the Very Large Array, spending the night at the free campground in Pie Town, New Mexico.  There are no services there, but it's fine boondocking.  

 Free dry camping at the town park in Pie Town--there is also BLM land immediately behind the park if you need longer-term parking

Then we continued west to Arizona, picking up Highway 260 and heading for Payson so I could shop again.  We stopped for three days, though, at Christopher Creek Campground in the Tonto National Forest, about 20 miles east of Payson.  It's a  nice little campground, with two loops of campsites, one on either side of the creek.  It got rather full of loud campers on the weekend, so we headed into Payson to shop.  

 Christopher Creek was low during our visit, but sometimes you can wade, swim and fish

What I thought was a bugling elk turned out to be only this attitudinal cow

We had intended to spend the night at the casino, but it was the annual Payson Rodeo two weekends ago when we were there.  So it was crowded and loud, and we headed back east on Highway 260, stopping overnight at my new favorite boondocking place, Forest Road 300 near Heber.  Even though we didn't get such a unique campsite this time, Steve loved this place as much as I did.  I think there will be a lot more boondocking in our future.  

 Steve enjoying a quiet evening boondocking in the National Forest, while I peek in windows and take people's pictures

 Horses that were grazing just outside the rig while I did my morning meditation

On the way home, we stopped one more night at a rest stop along Highway 60, just a few miles east of the Arizona-New Mexico border.  I didn't need ear plugs at this one, since it's a much quieter highway. We'd landed at this rest stop because a much-loved Forest Service campground in Lakeside, Arizona, has unfortunately been permanently closed since we last stayed there.  No explanation, but we're guessing that property just became too valuable for campground use, once the town grew up around it.   

Highway 60 rest stop about 8 miles east of AZ-NM border

 Art completed at that rest stop

We got back home last week, and I got a lot of things done around home and the gallery so I could get back out camping again one more time before I open the gallery in September.  I'm currently enjoying a solo trip (well, I had to bring the cat) out at Elephant Butte State Park, dry camping on an overlook above the Rio Grande.

Perched above the Rio Grande, north of the lake

Just after sunrise this morning

What's Next?

I'd thought of spending the summer other ways--heading north to the Midwest, possibly changing out RV's to have more power for long trips--and I'm glad that I stayed closer to home.  Steve and I will be making that trip to the Midwest together next year, getting an earlier start than we might have if we'd gone this year, so hopefully having less hot weather to deal with.  Also, we've got a trip to Thailand coming up this fall.  If I'd traveled all summer, I wouldn't have been able to say "yes" when the right air fare to Bangkok finally showed up, after looking for a long time.

I have furniture for the new apartment stacked up in back of my gallery.  It is helpful to be able to go shopping in my own store!

The biggest thing coming up in the near future is a move into senior housing in Truth or Consequences.  Steve has indicated a desire to have less work to do than is involved with living in RVs.  In our new apartment, we'll be able to call Maintenance when something goes wrong.  We're on a waiting list, and don't know when we'll move, but hope it will be before our trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand, in October.

I also have some themed art shows coming up at Sun Gallery, but I'll keep that for the next blog post.  Ciao for now!               

Make that Cow for Now...