Recent work on Thing Two's pickup truck led me to wonder if the idle was set too high on the engine. The truck didn't come with a tachometer however. My mind then thought to get a tachometer that wasn't tied to a specific vehicle so I can use it to determine RPMs on any gasoline/ … | Continue reading
One of the reasons, heck, the main reason I came home earlier than planned was to bring the Honda CR-V home so that Thing Two had transportation. Thing Two had been driving home work in the 1990 Toyota Pickup, lost traction on snow and hit a tree. The good news was that Thing Two … | Continue reading
Long day on the road, Google maps said 8 hours from my campsite near Elephant Butte, NM but it's closer to eleven+ hours the way I drive. I drive at 55-58 mph max speed you see, trying to not go below 7 MPG. On a good day, it's 8+, and that's whether towing the Honda CR-V or Trai … | Continue reading
I have started heading back to Colorado and home since yesterday. Tuesday, March 26 I left the BLM areas south of Ajo, AZ and spent the morning driving east, retracing my way back towards Tucson and eventually the Indian Bread Recreation Area BLM camp ground. It was a mostly over … | Continue reading
I spent part of the morning in Ajo, AZ doing laundry and getting some groceries and supplies. When I returned and after the lunch hour, I rode to nearby Locomotive Rock to explore it further. I would end up walking to as close to the top as one can get without climbing gear and r … | Continue reading
Friday, March 22 I didn't do much of anything, just relaxing again, rediscovering radio stations over the Internet for musical intervals. I did trim off the end of the rubber tube (which had split) that connects the crankcase to the airbox on Yagi, my TW200. I'm hoping that's whe … | Continue reading
I'd spent the last couple of days mostly relaxing in the gazebo tent, listening to audio books and doing minor chores. Wednesday's sunset was pretty good: Thursday, I did ride out for about an hour or so on Yagi, my TW200, to get some closer views of the peak which dominates this … | Continue reading
I left the vicinity of the Dragoon Mountains/Cochise Stronghold yesterday and by Noon I was finishing setting up at a campsite in the Buenos Aires NWR: National Wildlife Refuge. Saw this at Arivaca Junction as I got off the I-19 Interstate onto Arivaca Road: Much bigger than the … | Continue reading
Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Here's last night's sunset: I went out after breakfast, once temperatures climbed towards the 50s, and rode Yagi, my TW200 to Forest Road (FR) 345 and from it to FR 697. This road, was apparently cut to provide access to mines up in the mountains, by Ch … | Continue reading
I am presently camping on the west side of the Dragoon mountains. This mountain range is also known as the Cochise Stronghold. It served as a stronghold for the Apache Indians as a waged war with the United States Army back in the days of Western expansion. As you can see in the … | Continue reading
Yesterday, March 13, I left the Indian Bread BLM Rec Area and headed to Willcox, AZ to dump tanks and take on water and propane. The KOA there, which I've used before, has gotten more expensive. $15 to dump and $15 for water! I then fueled up at the Love's and got propane there. … | Continue reading
Yesterday, March 12, I drove the CR-V to visit the nearby town of Willcox, AZ and the Chiricahua Regional Museum. Pretty well curated museum, with some interesting new info for me. On a previous camping trip, I'd checked out the Chiricahua National Monument: LINK. As usual, here' … | Continue reading
Yesterday, March 11, I rode Yagi, my Yamaha TW200 over to nearby Apache Pass. The pass is one of the main routes through the Dos Cabezas (Two Heads) mountain range/wilderness. The pass is also closely connected to nearby Fort Bowie National Historic Site. I'd visited the fort bef … | Continue reading
There was a gathering of dirt bikes and OHVs starting Friday night, their noise and crappy behavior bothered me. Behavior such as riding fast and noisy between established campsites. 10 MPH speed limit on the main access road? Forget about it! Ah, such is the environment where sa … | Continue reading
At Martha's reminder, I realized that I was still traveling/camping in the mode we'd adopted while trying to get visits in while in Texas. Staying just two days then moving on, something I dubbed the Texas Two Step. Now I'm slowing things down, spending more time camping at each … | Continue reading
Left the Las Cruces, NM area this morning and by the afternoon I was pulling into the BLM managed Hot Well Dunes Recreation Area. I like this area a lot, it's got dunes, trails and two "hot tubs" filled with hot springs water for soaking one's troubles away. I found more campers … | Continue reading
Spent the morning slowly making my way up to the top of Picacho Mountain. Though I did stop a few times to catch my breath, it was not a very hard hike up to the 4956 foot height of the tallest point on the mountain. The orange line marks what I call Rocky Foyer, it is the furthe … | Continue reading
Monday, March 4 This morning, I drove into Las Cruces, NM to run a couple of errands. Once finished with those, I drove to the eastern edge of town and found a spot near a colorfully decorated water tank for a picture of the Organ Mountains. I've stayed quite close to the base of … | Continue reading
I left Texas behind yesterday. One weird thing that I didn't realize before, I crossed into the Mountain Time Zone about an hour or so before I crossed the border into New Mexico! Weird. I returned to a camping spot near BLM land to the west of Las Cruces, NM. Here's a link to th … | Continue reading
For quite a while now, there'd been something preventing the flow of Air Conditioning through the dashboard vents. AC would only flow from the defrost vents at the base of the windshield! We put up with it since things were eventually cool enough during driving periods but now th … | Continue reading
Martha flew home today out of the Midland airport. She'll be rejoining me in April I think. We visited a historical landmark before going to the airport, the home of George H. W. Bush and his family when they lived in Midland, TX. This was actually the second of three homes they … | Continue reading
Yesterday, February 25 was a day spent on repairing a broken spare tire carrier on the VRRV. Shortly after arrival at Long Branch, TX, I discovered that the metal bracket supporting the spare tire on the VRRV had cracked! We were very fortunate in that it held together enough for … | Continue reading
We left Long Branch, TX this morning and headed west, bypassing the Dallas/Ft Worth Metro areas to the south and setting up camp at a Corps of Engineers campground on Lake Whitney, TX. Before we got to the campground however, we made a stop in Hillsboro, TX to check out the Roads … | Continue reading
Yesterday, February 22, we drove from the Toledo Bend Reservoir to Long Branch, TX to visit a college friend of mine. She's got a bit of land and there was room next to the big storage barndominium/shed for Uma, including 15 Amp power hookup! Today, February 23, we went to the ne … | Continue reading
Martha and I drove the hour or so from our campsite to Natchez, LA by the Cane River where the Oakland Plantation is located. The plantation is part of the Cane River Creole National Historical Park. Established in 1821, its history is of course involved with the enslavement of p … | Continue reading
We left the Galveston Bay State Park around 8:25 AM and would be crossing into Louisiana at 12:44 PM.Today's sunrise:Seeking to avoid the overcrowded traffic conditions of Interstate 45, we took CCjon's advice and boarded the Bolivar-Galveston Ferry to get onto the Bolivar Penins … | Continue reading
We left the Galveston Bay State Park around 8:25 AM and would be crossing into Louisiana at 12:44 PM. Today's sunrise: Seeking to avoid the overcrowded traffic conditions of Interstate 45, we took CCjon's advice and boarded the Bolivar-Galveston Ferry to get onto the Bolivar Peni … | Continue reading
We've been dry camping at the Galveston Bay State Park since yesterday. The sites have decent space between them, not like the full hookup sites nearby which seem to be stacked next to each other. The beach area is OK, and it was windy while we were there so not exactly enjoyable … | Continue reading
Yesterday, we drove the VRRV to the outskirts of Houston, TX and set up camp at a HipCamp location near Cypress, TX. HipCamp is kind of like the airBnB for campers. Small privately owned locations, with just a one to a few sites. Anyways, we got in to the one that's a small famil … | Continue reading
Martha and I checked out the Upper McKinney Falls in the morning: I liked the way the tree roots developed... photo by Martha We then headed into South Austin to check out a store called Uncommon Objects, which, in keeping with the Austin city motto of "Keep it Weird", offered a … | Continue reading
Sunday was spent finalizing the repairs on the VRRV's awning, now I can use the slot in the roller to add on a shade curtain as needed: Here's a photo of the four of us at The Alamo on Monday: Tuesday was a mild tourist day, a visit to the Dzuit Meat Market in Castroville, TX the … | Continue reading
Martha and I spent most of the morning touring the museum and former Yuma Territorial Prison. Unlike some of the other prisons we've toured, this one had been restored to pretty good shape; though not as complete as when it was an operational prison.Archival photo of the prison, … | Continue reading