Taos, Los Alamos and . . . Winslow Arizona

Taos Pueblo

Taos, rhymes with ‘house’, is set on a glorious high desert plateau with a backdrop of pine forested mountains. It is steeped in history but the modern town dates from the 1630s. The town has an over abundance of high-class art galleries and when we visited there was a wool festival taking place that we ended up mooching through.

Taos Valley RV park is on the pricey end of the scale and we only scored an ‘overflow’ spot as we had no reservation. The two other RV parks looked like places to avoid at all cost. 

I did some overdue washing using the big US washing machines – all speed and no effectiveness - I pulled out items that managed to have patches of dry remaining on them. The clothes dryers are something else though – items too hot to hold and all done in 45 mins.

Taos Pueblo was a few miles north of Taos itself and is the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the US. The day was brilliant sunshine as usual and the ochre adobe structures with their turquoise woodwork, some resembling apartment blocks, stood out in stark relief against the sapphire sky. Little pizza oven things were dotted around and to satisfy my curiosity I ordered a blue corn fry-bread. It was sprinkled with cinnamon and icing sugar and looked a bit like an oily chapati – curiosity satisfied, I didn’t order any more.

St Francis of Assisi church, a landmark in Taos

Bandalier National Monument
Climbing up to see where the Pubeloan people lived, I didn't like this bit

Things in the cab don’t always go smoothly and my intentions didn’t co-incide with the driver’s understanding, therefore we ended up in Bandalier National monument. A serendipitous outcome as it had a lovely campground set among the junipers. 

Each campsite had all the usual equipment plus a large bear-bin, I don’t know about the bear but I certainly couldn’t open it. 

We trekked downhill 1.5 miles to the visitor centre getting a fabulous view of the ancient ruins on the way. A shuttle service delivered us back to our camp at the end of the day. 

Groves (left) and Oppenheimer,
the main drivers behind the creation of Los Alamos

Bandalier National monument (a national park) is on the doorstep of Los Alamos town. More swearing in the cab before we finally parked the oversize gaudy beast. We had to go through ‘checkpoint Charlie’ who made us turn around and detour around the LABORATORY.

Los Alamos was created specifically to engineer an atom bomb to end WWII. The location was out of range of enemy bombers and set on a high defensible plateau. A collaboration of US, UK and Canadian scientists with quite a few Jewish scientists fleeing Europe joined the Manhattan Project. Within two years the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima (‘Little Boy’) and Nagasaki (‘Fat Man’) had been created and deployed. 

Los Alamos was a ‘town that never was’, at the time officials denied its existence and access was a dirt road from Santa Fe. Eventually there was a rough road made of chip and seal to replace the dirt road. The ranger told us the chip and seal is not like roads the US has today - sorry to say that is still what NZ roads are made of.

Stuart looking at full size replica of "Little Boy" named after Eisenhower with
 'Fat Man' replica (Churchill) in the background)

We visited history and science museums and the house where the head scientist lived, it had a bath unlike most of the other accommodations which were allocated according to employee importance. 

Today the town looks decidedly bland but was decked out in brilliant autumn yellows glowing against a blue sky. We had to show passports to take the road out of town and on our way glanced across at the installation that gets $US2 billion a year to research and develop nuclear weapons. Food for thought indeed.

We are swinging back in the direction of Las Vegas taking in a few State parks with bits of Route 66 thrown in. We struck a bad patch of campgrounds either being full or unsuitable and with the day growing darker Wikicamps suggested the Walmart carpark which welcomes RVers parking overnight.

So - I didn't get to be "standin' on the corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see..." but I did get to stay overnight in the Winslow Walmart and we made use of their excellent restrooms the next morning. We were not the only ones though, there were 8 other campervans plus a couple of trucks thrown in.

Adios mes amigos, after we return the truck we have a weeks siesta in Noosa, somewhat more familiar ground, before returning home.

Ancestoral Puebloans and New Mexico

Pueblo houses under the lip of the mesa, Mesa Verde

South West America has been home to Native Americans for about 12,000 years, and we visited some places that had been home to their descendants. Mesa Verde is a ‘must-see’ if you are in the area with a great museum, visitor centre and lots of well-preserved cliff dwellings. These sites don’t date back 12,000 years – more like 1500 years ago.

We set off burning more fossil fuel at 8mpg to Mesa Verde National Park. We pre-booked tickets in Durango for a couple of ranger-led tours to see the remains of the buildings created by the Ancestral Puebloans.

On the way we called into the sorry monument erected at the “Four Corners” where Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado states meet. It was wind-swept, tatty, and unkempt. Nevertheless we paid the money and I had my photo taken with a limb in each state.

Mesa Verde is the huge ‘green table’ of a mountain where the Ancestral Puebloans (previously called Anasazi) lived. These people eventually migrated away from the area and are ancestors of the Hopi. The Navajo are relative late-comers to the area and now form the majority of the population of the “Four Corners”.

Mesa Verde is huge and with speed restrictions it took a long time to get from one part to another. We hiked with rangers below the lip of the mesa and walked through the remains of houses and meeting areas being careful not to touch anything. To get between levels we had to climb on reconstructions of old ladders and I was glad we didn’t have to use the hand and toe holds that remained in the cliff edges from the original inhabitants. The rangers each had a unique delivery of their story including strong conservation messages, humour was doled out in spades. We stayed a couple of nights in the park campground and missed seeing the black bear that our camper-neighbour spotted.

Monument Valley

Remember when Forrest Gump stopped running? It was in Monument Valley.  I joined the people playing chicken in the middle of the road to take the iconic photo before we drove toward those massive mesas to check in at the campsite overlooking the valley. Here we met the dragon to end all camp dragons.

“Question?” was her opening line without bothering to looking up. “Answer” said Stuart (who always accuses me of antagonising these people). After we said we wanted to stay at one of her windblown, hot, dusty, hugely overpriced sites she replied with “no this, no that, no the-other, no nothings you get for your money”. OK, we’ll take it.  

We also took an over-priced jeep tour in the canyon between the mesas as RVs are not allowed on the scenic route. The jeep was open-sided and our guide tried hard to ensure she kept on the tail of the vehicle ahead so we had maximum dust exposure, she pointed out bits of rock we might find interesting ‘can you see the rabbit? How about the shoe?’

That night the RV shook against the wind and dust swirled around, but all credit to Stuart, he battled out with his tripod and little torch taking astro-shots of the mesas with the milky way lighting the background.

Goosenecks State Park - a camp for a night

Stuart 'off-piste" in Canyon de Chelly

Petrol in the Navajo reservations is cheaper than other places so Stuart ensured we had our fill before we set off eastwards. I fiddled continually with the radio pulling in Christian, C&W, Mexican and everything in-between, the RV doesn’t run to any USB input on the ‘entertainment system’.

A bit of a haul to Canyon de Chelly National Monument where we hiked into the canyon to see some more Puebloan ruins. It was another blue sky day and the campsite among the cottonwoods was a lovely place to spend the night. A Texan neighbour came over to add his 2 cents worth when he saw all our maps spread out and recommended we head toward Abiquiu. We plotted a zig-zag journey and opened an excellent Californian chardonnay to off-set the low-key dinner.

Travelling 500km on the wide well paved back roads was quick and painless before we pulled into a campsite on the shores of Lake Abiquiu ready to explore Georgia O’keefe country (famous SW America artist).

We were greeted by our host Ken, who made us very welcome and we settled into a well-priced site complete with all the usual – own firepit, hooded bbq, huge picnic table and bench with its own shelter. The downside was Ken pointing out the site was ‘alcohol-free’. We had to play ‘secret-squirrel’ with the booze.

Georgia O’keefe is big in this part of the world and we visited some of the places that she painted, the colours and light in this area near Santa Fe are an artists dream. At night I could hear coyotes yipping and howling and I saw one cross our path the next day, but he didn't hang around. 

Taos is the furthest east we will be travelling and then we turn and head back towards Las Vegas, but that will take several days driving, so Taos here we come (remnants of an R. Dean Taylor song are playing in my head "I'm serving time in Taos New Mexico".......).

Adios amigos.

Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

Arches National Park

Arches National Park is one of the most popular in the US, after seeing the queues of cars waiting to enter the park we decided to get there early the following day. In the meantime we would continue the shoe search in Moab, have a dinner out and stay in a camp ground. Moab is tagged as being a cool destination, not bad compared with where we had visited so far, and after shoes were bagged we watched the homecoming parade; well actually the road was blocked so we had no choice.

The Moab campground beside the dusty highway, cost $NZ120 for night and we were shoe-horned in between some big rigs. It looked as if nothing had been spent on improvements in 45 years. The restaurant next door had an unpromising appearance but after we were shown to a table outside on the patio we found the food was excellent, a great choice of craft beer, and one of those bands whose songs all sound the same.

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands

Arches NP, followed by Canyonlands had some impressive arch and canyon formations. The geology is lost on me, but let’s just say ‘erosion’ covers a lot of explanation. We stayed in the area for a couple of nights at a Bureau of Land Management camp (BLM = DoC) set high on a saltbush plateau.

Mesas, table-like hills abound in this area as do buttes that are similar but narrower than mesas.

A Pueblo granary tucked under the rim of a mesa.
Had to climb the mesa to get the shot

A cortado is the US equivalent in this area of a flat white without the latte art. We said goodbye to Moab with a cortado apiece inside us and an ‘O’ ring for the waste pipe that had left a drippy trail behind us. (Just shower water). Colorado, a change from the dry dusty desert, lay ahead as we hit the road east. It is like travelling between different countries, the rockies in Colorado are high altitude with plentiful vegetation.

San Juan Highway

The San Juan Highway is strung out over 200 miles through a series of Wild West towns. Telluride, Ouray, Silverton, Durango. Telluride is a base for wealthy winter holiday-makers with shops to cater appropriately, and on the other end of the scale is Silverton, a former silver mining town which offers endless shops of cheesy tat from the only paved street.  All the broad side streets were dirt roads with ATVs driving through.

The highway between these towns climbs up to over 11,000 ft with autumn colours a riot of burning yellow splashed among the evergreens. The craggy mountains lining the highway glow richly red, tenacious pines cling to their sides.

Ouray, delightful little town

Wild West Silverton

The temperature at these high altitudes is much lower at night, we had been given a new red sleeping bag by a fellow camper, Walmart brand  – but it opens out to makes a cozy, if slippery, extra quilt on the bed. The propane powered fridge does not like the high altitude, especially as the tank is getting low. It keeps trying to light itself making disconcerting clicking noises.

I love the rocky mountain campsites, the downside is fellow campers starting up their generators, and filling our truck with smoke from their traditional campfires.  

Patriotism is alive and growing in the areas we are travelling in. Stars and stripes fly from camper wagons and one neighbour even had a flag on their picnic table.

Patriotic campers

The highlight of this last week was the moose that nonchalantly sauntered through our campsite, past the front of our truck while I was cooking dinner. It was huge with enormous dish shaped antlers. Our Oklahoman neighbours were as excited as us. Elk and deer are commonplace but moose are rarer in this area. There are warnings about bears but luckily none have crossed our path. 

We are off to improve our cultural intelligence, setting off towards National Parks that are dedicated to preserving the archeological heritage of the Pueblo people.

Yoo-tah, Utah - the desert lands

Twenty years have passed since we last visited Las Vegas, I must have changed and certainly aged as the glitz and glam had faded for me. After a fruitless shopping journey to outfit our feet we had some shut eye in a hotel bereft of my most important need - something to make a cuppa with. I had the teabags and even some sachets of a dreadful product called “creamer”, but no cuppa for Jane and no energy to traipse miles through the hotel to find one. 

I did however gamble my allowance of $US1 on a slot machine, pocketed $US16 and walked. Stuart lost his dollar, so $14.00 up.

  

Our helpful uber-lady dropped me off at Walmart while Stuart did the business with the RV rental company. I had hardly started to wade through a difficult grocery shop, discarding products that looked unsuitable for

normal consumption, when himself appeared at my side. Stuart was given his own list of goods to procure and set off with his own trolley.

The gaudy beast was waiting outside in the heat and glare. Cruise America had us given a labrador puppy to mind. Gaudy on the outside and grimly brown on the inside. A very serviceable colour is brown and the manufacturers had no intention of updating their design  over the past decades. It also has only 2 windows which together with the wilful brown curtains that refuse to remain open makes the interior  gloomy. It is built with no thought for weight-saving, in fact the mattress can barely be lifted. Never mind, they said “just shove a v8, 7 litre engine under the bonnet and that should move the beast along". Ten miles to the gallon if the going is good.

Hoodoos at Bryce Canyon NP

The trip to our pre booked camp in Zion National Park went very smoothly, so smoothly that I was able to unpack clothes and organise the groceries while Stuart drove. We arrived in the dark and I checked in with the kamp kommandant the next morning, phew - I only wanted to show her my reservation. She wasn’t having a bar of me, loudly telling her husband to ignore me as I was ‘just a walk up’. I had to persist before I was given an official tag for our site.

Zion has a wonderful shuttle service which eliminates private vehicles from the park, we joined more people than we would have liked  on a non too peaceful riverside walk. Still the grandeur can’t be denied.

We bought an annual pass for the National Parks and were disappointed at either being too early or too late to present our credentials at the entrance booths of the string of parks we visited.

The tunnel that exits Zion towards Bryce National Park is too narrow for RVs so we had to buy a permit for the rangers to close one lane so we could drive down the middle. As it turned out, it seemed as if they permanently operate a one way system. 

  

Bryce Canyon has rows of brick red hoodoos that glow with a light of their own. They form amphitheatres and the area was described by Ebenezer Bryce as “a helluva place to loose a cow”. You can walk the rim trail looking down on the hoodoos or descend into the canyon for a close-up view. 

More hoodoos

But yet more NPs were on the list.

We scored the nearly impossible goal of getting a camp site in Capitol Reef NP at Fruita, a former Mormon settlement. The camp was surrounded by orchards, and apples and pears were ripe for picking. A family of mule deer with their over-size ears grazed, their teeth aren’t designed for apples and I hoped they wouldn’t choke as they rolled the apples on their  tongues.

Mormon barn at Fruita, Capitol Reef NP

Mule deer in orchard

Stu picking apples

We both had persistent colds so decided to have some rest in a couple of state parks, with gentle hikes thrown in for good measure. Coral Sands State park is a magnet for ATV fans, and like the RVs that towed them, they were big – bigger than my car anyhow. 

The park has very fine coral pink sand that forms dunes and beautiful desert flowering plants were in bloom. The camp host, with his ATVs, full set of BBQs, huge RV, stars and

stripes flag etc on display showed us a nice canyon for walking in.

 

Kodachrome State park

Kodachrome State park, wish I could forget that Paul Simon song, was stunning with 5 star bathrooms. There was one anatomically accurate natural rock formation that had campers pointing and shaking their heads, but the park is aptly named with red and white rock, blue sky and yellow flowers. My favourite so far.

We are still in Utah but not done yet with deserts and rocks, we are travelling  on the lightly trafficked roads,wishing NZ roads could receive the same quality and quantity of road  surface. Blue skies, yellow roadside flowers and red rocky hills. Adios for now.

Indian Paintbrush plant