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Published: March 19th 2010
When we first announced our trip plans, people would ask about our departure date as well as when we were coming home. Steve would say, “We’ll be home around the end of March, early April.” And I would say, “Oh, I don’t know, maybe mid-March, it depends on how homesick I am, and how much togetherness we can take!” Well, we’ve passed the Ides of March (beware!), and we’re still on the road. We took a little vow the other day to be especially nice to each other because we weren’t (the togetherness part)!
We hear from home that indeed spring is in the air, and it is safe to come back! So here we come, just not too fast. It feels funny to be following road signs with the word “east” on them! March has roared in like a lion (tumble weeds & dust storms, yikes!). Joshua Tree National Pk was windy and cold, but amazing nonetheless with its big yucca trees that the Mormons named, thinking the branches raised to the heavens looked like Joshua. The creamy-colored bolder fields were awesome as were the masses of cholla (pronounced choy-ya) cactus.
I learned that it takes a good
soaking rain in September, another in October, and another in November for the desert to have an extraordinary bloom year. Unfortunately, the El Nino rains didn’t come until December this year so the plants did not set buds. Oh well, I haven’t been disappointed in the glorious plants we’ve seen. And, I’m headed to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Research Ctr in Austin (Steve wants to see some live music!).
Back in January when we were camping at Big Bend a ranger drove up to our site to say hello. He had heard that we were from NC, and he had grown up in Yancey County. “Get out,” I exclaimed, “we have a family home in Burnsville!” We chatted a while and then he said, “If you like this place, you will really love Chiricahua National Monument, which was his last post. Steve immediately circled it on the map (near NM & AZ state line), and although it was too cold & snowy to go there in January, we were determined to stop on the way back.
Driving through a sea of golden grass toward the Chiricahua Mtns was lovely, but didn’t prepare us for what we would
see. When we pulled into the small campground we saw an elusive coatimundi (looks like a long-tailed monkey!) cruising through. This special place is the result of 4 ecosystems coming together, so the plants are a jumble of contrasts. The wonderful rock towers are the result of volcanic materials and erosion over time. The snow-covered peaks in the background of the pictures is (was!) the volcano.
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liz
non-member comment
hi...those "wow" views are spectacular and Steve's lunch is pretty impressive as are Katie's driving skills. Spring is definitely here....almost 80 today...lots of bugs, wasps zooming around in the sunlight. I put screens back in my windows and will enjoy fresh air until the pollen load is too much. I spent a good bit of the day wrestling with my "flotec" pressure tank...had a guy here fixing my garden fence and he offered to help...thank goodness, because we finally made some headway. Tank pressure now back to normal, after emptying it, fixing the valve, adjusting the pressure and filling it again. I still couldn't do by myself...would have to loose about 50 pounds to squeeze into the space (he was a REALLY skinny guy). I'm loading up my truck with STUFF to sell at the FENCE garage sale tomorrow, so I'll sign off for now. Enjoy traveling back this way. (One time when John and I were snarling in tight quarters, he climbed up and sat on a step ladder just to put maximum possible distance between us.)