Friday
We were up and on the road by 8am for our 375 mile ride to Las Cruces NM. After a 7 hour uneventful ride we arrived at Leasburg Dam State Park. This is a small park with about 30 sites which less than 10 are reservable, water and electric (mostly 30amp but a few 50amp) and is about 15 miles north of Las Cruces NM. 
Site 19 water & 30amp
After setting up we took a walk on the Mollogum trail, their longest trail. The trail starts out above the Rio Grande river then winds its way down to the river to the park's day use area. We enjoyed the shaded walk along the river to the dam for which the park gets its name. This dam on the Rio Grande is a diversion dam and not used for flood control. Along the river is a canal which is used to divert the water to nearby farms. We saw lots of pecan orchards along the river, seems to be the biggest crop in the area. Our walk then returned us back to the campground and home. Just what we needed after sitting so long in the truck today.
Rio Grande 1/2 mile below dam
Rio Grande, the dam is in the back ground
Behind the dam the silt has piled almost as high as the dam. The Rio Grande is a brown, muddy, silty river...one day we'll get our canoe on it.
The locks for the canal. I did a little reading and in El Paso there is another diversion dam there. Which explains why we saw lots of pecan trees when passing through there early.
Saturday
Not feeling to ambitious we took a ride into Las Cruces to check out their Farmers and Craft market. While there were lots of crafters there weren't too many farmers, we did stock up on a few jams, had a not so good bagel for breakfast and picked up some local pecans and pistachios. Went back home and never did much. We lost an hour yesterday and tomorrow we loose another one, our bodies will be so confused.
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| Sunset Leasburg Dam State Park |
Another travel day, another hour lost, 311 miles and we arrived at our friends Alex & Paul's home in Tuscon AZ. Our plan was to camp in their driveway, well that was not to be. After a few valiant attempts to back up their steep drive we regrouped and headed to Catalina State Park where we found a nice back in site, we're about 30 minutes away. Jello wiggling again.
Catalina State Park Site B72
After setting up and relaxing for a bit we headed over to Alex & Paul's house for a visit and dinner. Great friends, good food and a beautiful evening sitting outside talking... before we knew it 7pm was upon us and Dave and I were beat, for us it was 9pm...almost bedtime. Thanks guys for a wonderful dinner and great company.
Monday
This time change is wreaking havoc on my sleeping, awake around 4:30 (which just 3 mornings ago was 6:30) and up at 5:30. We headed out to hike one of the trails here at Catalina State Park. We chose the Canyon Loop Trail rated an easy 2.6 miles. The trail takes you out of the canyon wash and up above the canyon where you hike among many familiar cactus, we enjoyed hiking again among the cholla and saguaros.
After our hike we headed for a visit with Alex and Paul. We decided to do some window shopping at the Lazy Days dealer in Tuscon.
Think this might be a fun way to travel, one of these days maybe.
Alex and Paul then took for an auto tour of Tuscon. We found some great views from Sentinel Peak.
Tuesday
Dave and I headed to Sabino Canyon, we missed the tram up to the top so decided to hike up instead and ride back down.
After a great hike we headed back to Alex & Paul for a drive up Mt Lemmon
One last group photo. Thanks Alex and Paul for a wonderful time. We can't wait to see you soon.
Wednesday
About 9 we headed towards Cave Creek Regional Park. We wanted to get in early as we had dinner plans with friends in Phoenix. After getting set up, we checked in with our fellow hosts from 2 years ago. We met up with Curt and Glenda, Steve and Debbie to introduce them to Chino Bandido's, a great visit with friends we hadn't seen in awhile.
Our host site this winter.
This post is so overdue but do to a lack of data I am way behind. Lots has changed since we arrived but that's a blog post for another day.
Until next time...
I hate those multiple time changes too! Loved Leasburg CG and Catalina. We didn't get to do the tram trail or Mt. Lemmon. One day!
ReplyDeleteWow those are long travel days. I have a hard time with that and totally understand the time zone problem. Lovely pictures of your hikes and way to go for hiking up and traming down. Nice to have friends to meet up with. Hope you enjoy your host site.
ReplyDeleteWe ran into the same thing after leaving Ontario where we were in the eastern time zone and went to western South Dakota (mountain time zone). It took us over a week to finally sleep until 6:30, otherwise we were up around 4:00, so frustrating!
ReplyDeleteThose time changes are brutal. You guys sure managed to cover some ground in a short amount of time. Sorry things didn't work out at CCRP but nice to have you as neighbors! Their loss, our gain :-)
ReplyDeleteLooks like you guys are having a great time. It snowed here in Kansas City today..... Your weather looks preferable.
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