Our South American adventure Oct/Nov 2018 - part 1

Basilica Cathedral

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We are riding to the house, the terminal ride of our five week adventure to South America.  Nicida and I look at each other smiling, for two reasons; it was a very successful trip, all our hours of researching, planning and more research paid off.  We are also smiling because we are glad to be home.  We have been on the road for over a month.  We enjoyed our time in South America; we saw and did all that we had planned to see and do.  Somewhere during our trip, I don’t know when, it became an adventure.  We didn’t plan for the excessive Lima traffic resulting in multiple buses and a taxi to get to our destination; the multiple; not one, not two, but three flat tires driving across Patagonia; protests in Santiago; the vastness of Patagonia – a two lane ribbon of road which we drove over 2,000 miles seeing other vehicles only occasionally, and many other stories.  We remember, are able to talk about, smile and laugh about all these experiences – making it an adventure.

Houston - WI - SD - CO trip, Sept. 2018, part 3

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This is part three of our trip.  Go to The Thursday September 27 posting for the first part of the trip.

Leaving Mount Rushmore we drive to our campsite at the Sylvan Lake campground in Custer State Park.  The campground is on the Needles Highway.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Needles Highway it is a mostly two lane road winding over, around, and literally through some of the rock formations making up part of Custer State Park.

Houston - WI - SD - CO trip Sept, 2018, part 2

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This is the second part of our trip.  You can go to the start by going to the Thursday Sept 27, 2018 posting.

We enjoy the next several days at my mom’s house visiting, cooking, going out to eat and touring the area.  The fall colors are just coming in so the occasional red, yellow or orange covered tree is a treat.  Each night as we walk through and around town we spot several deer; some of them bounding off at their first sight of us, others watching from a safe distance.

Houston - WI - SD - CO trip Sept 2018, part 1

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Our three week trip is here.  This has been on our calendar for the past few months.  Even with that in mind it still snuck up on us.  The initial route; go to northern WI to visit family, dashing west to SD to see the Badlands, Mount Rushmore and Wind Cave NP then home.  About three weeks prior to the trip Nicida asked me if we could visit WI by way of Houston to visit her family and her 102 year old relative leaving for CA in the near future.  I could not say no.

This trip will be split into three postings.

Great Sand Dunes National Park - mid August 2018

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View of Great Sand Dunes NP

This is our first extended trip where both Nicida and I are officially retired.  Being retired means we are leaving on a Monday, when most people are back to their routines.

I have made several improvements in the camper since the Great Basin trip.  I added an inverter so I am able to work on images and writing for this blog while on the road while memories are fresher.  I have added several small storage pockets for miscellaneous stuff. Employing YouTube I found an idea for a shower frame modifying it for the camper and adding a curtain.

Great Basin National Park, July 2018 - part 2

You can read the first part of this trip on the August 5, 2018 posting

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Day 4 - No rain this morning.  There are human made noises this morning; lots of people packing to leave their campsites before the noon checkout time.  I am hiking the glacier trail today.  I did the first 2/3 of the trail yesterday when I hiked to the Bristlecone pines.  The glacier is just another mile and a 500’  elevation climb.  My camera is the only piece of camera gear coming with me today.  I saw what the trail looked like and I know there will be no room for a tripod on the rocky trail.  I was on the trail by 800.  I saw three other people coming down the trail as I was going up.  Nobody had gone all the way to the glacier; I will be the first today.  Progressing through the scree I have to pay attention to the close-up underfoot trail as well as the distant trail.  One can easily step on a fist sized rock the wrong way, but one can also lose track of the trail especially when the only real difference between being on trail and off is the size of the rocks.  

Great Basin National Park, July 2018 - part 1

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Bristlecone pines - Great Basin National Park

As of July 10, I was out of work... do not worry, I am out of work by choice - retired.  It has been a long time coming, 34 years.  I kept thinking about it and events over the past few years have led me to this decision.  I plan on keeping up this blog but it will change yet again.  Last year it morphed from a day hike, photography, fishing blog to a multi-day camping, hiking, photography, fishing blog with the addition of my truck camper.  The camper allowed me to go farther staying a few days at the location of choice.  Now my horizons will expand even further by going for longer periods of time.  My/our goal is to visit all of the National Parks within the United States.  There may be a few other places thrown in from time to time.

Abiquiu Reservoir - Ghost Ranch, mid May 2018

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Now that it is getting warmer we are looking to camp in northern NM.  Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort and Spa are on our agenda for an afternoon of relaxation so our campground search starts there.

I have not been in this area for many years, I remember the Chama River below the highway and Ghost Ranch in the general area but that is it.  My internet search reveals the Abiquiu reservoir and campground as a possibility.

Bisti Badlands, early May 2018

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Dinosaur eggs, Bisti Bandlands

Before we left for this weekend I planned a route using my Garmin taking back roads from Chaco to Bisti.  Looking at the roads with Google earth I felt pretty confident we would make it to our destination with no problems.  The washboard road was in prime condition causing us to fishtail if we did anything over 15 mph.  Five miles into the trip we spotted the turn off to one of the county roads, the shortcut – except - there was a locked gate across the road next to what looked like a house that hadn’t been used in a while…  So much for the shortcut.

Chaco Canyon, early May 2018

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We were enchanted with our visit to Chaco Canyon last year, Nicida and I decided to make another trip catching at least some of the sites we did not see.  Most of the campsites are reservable, I highly suggest you make reservations.  Each afternoon/evening we saw several campers arrive at the Gallo campground to a ‘Campground full’ sign greeting them.  Kind of tough considering it’s a 15+ mile drive on gravel roads enroute to the Chaco site.

Gila Cliff Dwellings, March 2018

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Kids – pay attention.  Enjoy camping time with your family.  Go with them whenever you can.  When you get older and want to camp YOU get to do the work.  My sister and I were fortunate; as we were growing up our family went camping almost every other weekend during the summer.  All we did was come along for the fun.  Mom and dad were planning, cooking, packing, and driving; then putting it all away so we could do it again a couple weeks later.  Living in WI means going pretty much from mid May through September; maybe October.   After that it gets too cold.