Rode Inn Motel Reserve

My fly-by-my pants planning in Kayenta has proved to be my undoing. Heading south but also head up has left me in a snow zone with most of the local attractions closed. They say that failing to plan is planning to fail – well planning at high speed with no real info to hand is handing yourself a…ok so that doesn't work – bit like my plans for the last few days!

I had thought about heading to some of the ...

... is the daughter of the waitress who was there 26 years ago.

Today we went for a long ride to the Tyrone Mine, where Bill worked on building the processing plant. Then we drove up into the Gila National Forest, over the continental divide, then back over it again. It was a beautiful drive, although a bit too cold up there for us.

It was cold here last night, our water hose froze.

... I mean. In the middle of the night I was woken to this little bugger inside my tent vestibule. I wasn’t sure what to do so just made a, slight, cautious ahem sound. He was out of there in no time but a wee bit close for my liking. Later on I was awoken again and thought oh ****; here he is again. I turned around all hazy and the figure was much bigger than a skunk. It was a fox pawing, and nuzzling my food bag through the mesh. Ahem! He almost pulled the fly ...

... steeper than when on the bike.

So it was a long day. 75 miles from 1230 – 1830. I was 15 miles from Sliver City and knew I’d make it there early before Matt and Nancy left. I pitched my tent near a great big tree just off a side road, and then smelt something wrong! Once I got a wind feed nostril full of this smell I realized there was a dead animal under the tree. I could stand it, but I’d already set up. I got into the tent and to my surprise the smell ...

... beautiful, sometimes stunningly so, mountain ride. Alpine itself consists of a couple of shops and small businesses, and about nothing else, not even a place to eat that I saw. It's set in a glorious alpine meadow though, so who's complaining?

A note on photos of this area: given the severity of the terrain, and the need for close attention to driving, there were fewer opportunities than I'd have liked to stop to take pictures. Hopefully the one shot and a video will give you some idea.

From Bosque Del Apache we drove to Silver City, an old copper mining town with a college campus. Also a place I would consider living at some point. We drove into the Gila Wilderness and hiked along the Catwalk trail. The trail was built to accommodate mining and has a metal path suspended from the canyon walls.

which traveler never consider going farther than earth? this place makes you closer to reach this dream, this is one of the biggest telescopes system on earth and it offers you a free museum and visit of the complex.

Many movies used it as a decor, my time to enter the decor and. hehe

... Fort Worden which I visited earlier was one of the three) to protect the Puget Sound in the 1890's. The fort was later used as a training facility for World War I and II. I had a bunch of fun exploring the fort ...

Ryan and I went on a backpacking trip to the Blue Range Wilderness to get out of the city and to fish for native az fish. I forgot my hiking shoes, only realizing it after we arrived. We spent the first night by the car and the second night in an abandoned corral. We didn't catch any fish, but we did catch crawdads and ate them. 9102009386025042976762. PHOTO_ID_L=deer.jpg]

... enough to make me a little sick, even though I was driving! I finally got to the ranger station, picked up some postcards and then drove to the Cliff Dwellings. According to the brochure, people have lived in those caves since 100 AD. And this is one of the few places in the country where they still let you walk inside the caves. There were about 8 different caves, one separate one specifically used for a kitchen (you ...