TigerTanker: Winter 2021/2022 Southern Blitzkrieg

So the sun sets on my Kingman Arizona visit, it's been nice. I got lots of work done and today I got to do an "Extreme Dual Sport". Interstate, US Hwy, Gravel Road, Jeep Trail, Super gnar.... If you are into off road 4/4, the Hualapai area is probably for you. This 8500 foot mountain named after a Hawaiian desert...jk, think it's Native.... is surrounded by dense shrubbery and even cactuseseses... I was out for a few hours and had to take it a bit easy considering that my dog needs me alive, or even able to return for dinner time without hiking... My plan tomorrow is to "drive south". Guess that will take me down to Phoenix/Tucson area, not sure yet where or how long I'm staying...just making it up. After 3 nights in Hotel, ready for a week of roughin it in the trailer.

 

Wickieberg AZ

 

I found a riding spot by scouting YouTube. Reddington Road east of Tucson, and the trail to Chiva Falls. Camped there for 4 nights and had a nice time. Did have to drive with trailer over a fairly nasty gravel road for 7 miles but it was worth it. Did a couple of nice rides, the Chiva Falls ride my GPS pooped out and for not having 1/2 gallon of gas I would have been lost... Other than visiting Safeway 3 times my time in Tucson itself was minimal. The drive, 29 miles up and then 29 miles back on Mt Lemon hwy up to 10k feet was rather spectacular, a 100/100 road trip and I got to bring the dog...would have been fun on the bike but... Afterwards drove south to Sierra Vista an Army base town and have spent a couple days here doing laundry, washing vehicles, doing stockbroker work. I'm ready to move on, and my scouting has me excited...an interesting place with some history coming up next!

 

The Cactus above was about 45 feet tall, it was in a grove of them that was facing the rising sun of the East. These were all monsters, the biggest I've seen in Arizona and they were healthy. These giants are protected plants...only grow 1/2 an inch per year. I've heard that the first arms don't come for 75-100 years?

 

Already close, you might wanna check out the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in Silver City, NM. Google it and see if you find it interesting.

 

Good call, saw that while scouting and was planning on Silver City being my next hotel stop. But first... Johnny Ringo.

 

In my Benchmark Mapbook of Arizona (best maps) I spotted what was likely to be a good area to stay for a while, the Chiracahua Mountains. I could just tell by the squigly lines of dirt roads and mountains that this must be special. Well, it sure was. I used my laptop to recon the most amazing camping spot, a hunter site in a big Canyon, Rucker Canyon. I had untold square miles to myself and the dog along with some friendly cows. The road, in 4 days saw only 3 vehicles. The first night had an amazing sunset! And then the full moon came out for the campfire and laser show each night. Each day I spent exploring the entire area, one day on the Moto. The moto day gave me plenty of exercise as I must have opened and closed at least 2 dozen ranch gates! This mountainous area is very, very famous for the Wild West and indian wars. It's the home of the Apache and the Cochise Indians. This is where Wyatt Earp and all them had it out, near Tombstone Arizona. I could literally feel the nostalgia around me. Tons of deer and wild turkey in the area. The mountains here get up to nearly 9k feet with a base elevation of 4k feet. It was very pleasant at 70 degrees each day. This area is very prone to dangerous flash floods and Lt Rucker, the namesake of much here, was killed in one back in the late 1800s.

My dog Abbey and I have decided that when we're dead and gone, we'll roam Rucker Canyon together.

 

The above shots are around the area of the forest that are accessed by AZ80 and then Price Canyon Rd (gravel dead end) I tried to jump onto the Geronimo trail but by the tiny town of Apache, where they have a little school, the road was marked private. Down by the city of Douglas is another access point to that side, and the Geronimo trail but I'll have to save that for another visit. The biodiversity in the Chiricahua forest is pretty remarkable as it has everything from cactus to beautiful deciduous trees and pines. There is ample water, perhaps even too much at times as the flash floods dangerously and viciously tear through the area. They of course were pretty much bone dry during my time, but it's rather obvious just how violent that stuff can become as you see large trees and massive boulders strewn about.

 

On the second to last day staying in Rucker Canyon, Abbey and I decided to check out Chiricahua National Monument. Must be pretty good I guess.... Uh...yeah. Entered at the top pic through the town of Portal. Wow, you just have a jaw drop moment as you enter the "portal" of mountains to the forest. One amazing mountain feature after the next, and caves, and trees all mixed with incredible fall colors. The fall colors here still rather spectacular even this late in the year... perhaps peaked a couple weeks ago but still amazing colors. My dog is very good at taking photos, and here she's showing off her incredible ears! The blue bird was at the very top of the National Monument road, I'm assuming it's a blue variant of a camp robber bird that I'm used to at home. But these a bit bigger, but willing to fly right into your hand for some bread crumbs...which I didn't have but a scrap of paper tricked them for a little bit. The presence of law enforcement around Douglas was so much so that nearly half of all the cars were border or sherriff! And I got pulled over... for not pulling to the left to avoid a trooper on a right...he gave me a warning and a "cute dog!". This National Monument is a must see if you are nearby! The mountain roads to Rustler Park at 9k feet were in decent shape with one amazing view after the next. I wound up circling around the area a fair amount in several days and the gas and ice in the little town of Elfrida came in handy.

 

Abbey and I take a walk or two each day. She's 9, missing one eye to an infection nearly 2 yrs ago, and has fatty cysts... but she's still got spunk in her... when she dies I'm gonna need therapy. Since she was 3 I've agonized about losing her. She lost her eye and for a day or two she was in real pain, but after a day or two of losing her eye she went on with her happy life and while she cannot snatch peanuts out of the air like before, she's never let her loss take away from her life...something we humans could learn from. I snap the map pics to compliment my GPS tracking while off in the brush so I don't get lost...but I kinda did anyways but I'm a very experienced off road rider these days and I'm only lost if I run outta gas... With 120 miles of range and highways both east and west, figured I wasn't going to wind up like that steer skull. I opened and closed lots of gates this day, perhaps 25 or so...some illegally bolted up...makes me wanna carry barb wire cutters. In one case I think Injuns had locked one up, but nothing stops that bike of mine... That last night I made a nice big fire, with full moon and laser show. On the exit stopped by this very nice Gallery in Rodeo NM and bought a nice photo, a pottery bowl and some earrings for my sister who'd asked me in spring to find something in the SW. Finally I got her something.

 

An interesting piece of history above!!

I really had no clue where I was going as I left yesterday but gave up on the mountain areas of S NM due to fear of being cold. Decided instead to move right on over to East of El Paso Texas instead since I was thinking of meeting my oldest daughter near Houston, and or a friend of mine that has a house he's visiting in Austin. So I just drove and found myself eventually in Van Horn Texas. The first Hotel was booked, the second had bad computers and couldn't check me in, so it's the Motel 6 for only $60 per night. Not sure I'm getting such a good deal either...LOL.

Got a bunch of work done today for clients and then started thinking about what to do next, fell asleep last night a bit anxious about it but woke up with a clearer head. Was thinking of visiting Big Bend state and national park but after reading reviews, I'm not prepared to deal with tire/mechanical problems should something go wrong in that very extreme remote area of Texas. So instead I thought I'd beeline to Port Isabel and start my coastal crawl to Florida.... but turns out my daughter isn't going to Houston. So instead I'm headed to Austin mid-next week to visit "Crampy Longhorn" and his family. Before that, I'm going to check out Fort Davis Texas and the Rio Grande area down by Del Rio.

Loosely written plans...subject to change without notice....

 

Really enjoying your journey. It strikes a cord with me for the same reasons you stated about WA earlier. That and I've been dreaming about going nomad with a trailer when it is time to retire. Just unload everything and cruise...like what you're doing.

Keep it up! And get some amazing BBQ in Austin.

 

The cost of my trip is actually pretty cheap. I calculate that I'm only spending about $130 per day. Gas, groceries, lodging. I could probably cut it down to $90 if I tried. My current cost of living is actually the SAME as if I was staying at home!

Wouldn't be much more expensive with one more person either, but then I'd have someone to fight with... Right now I'm finding myself very agreeable.

 

Sounds like a good trip thus far. I have two questions

1 - what's with the laser show every night?
2 - Do you still have a house in WA with a significant other or did you sell everything?

 

Mic check. @TigerTanker still with us? I need my living vicariously fix!

 

Sorry for falling behind, but man, it's a wild ride. On day 47 of this trip, it's flying by like sand in the hourglass.

I recall the first mega trip I took, it lasted 23 days. I thought with that much time I could relax, do everything, see everything...nah, and the effort to try to do too much robbed some joy of it. The second trip I decided to be a bit more chill and not force it, and that worked better, that trip was my record until now, lasting 33 days.

So far, nothing really bad has happened. But first, the pics above. After leaving our little heaven in Rucker Canyon AZ, Abbey and I headed into New Mexico and pretty much just beelined to Texas along the Southern Border. In both AZ and NM, about 1/2 of the vehicles I encountered were LEO, border-related. I followed Trump's wall for a long time. Finally, I entered El Paso and boy was that drive through less than impressive, didn't realize at the time that the worst of it I was looking at was actually Mexico.

I'd heard from a friend that Big Bend National Park/State park had riding and was worth a visit. So, I headed South and visited the National Park for two days. Above are the pictures.

Sunset
What appears to be a Holy shrine of a rock for a Squirrel God...
Beaver Crack rock, can't figure out why they call that can you?
And my departing Sunset, shortly before two deer tried to suicide into my truck. Gave me the first wake up call on Deer, a problem I'd encounter for many many miles in Texas! From West Texas to Boerne/San Antonio I'd say you got Road Kill Capitol of the World.

I was going to spend one more night at the National Park but the Rangers came and busted me for creative parking, nude showering, being a rebel of incalcuble measure...so after some fast talking I announced that I was just about to leave anyways.... The Dinosaur part of the NP was pretty cool.

After leaving Big Bend, I headed for Del Rio and what looked like an Oasis area.

 

After Big Bend I drove East and crossed the Pecos River, an ancient place. Would have loved to seen the native cave drawings but.... Stopped at Amistad (friendship in Mexican) for the fact that it's the reservoir that backs up behind the dam that is jointly owned and operated by US/Mexico. Here, it was kind of a dark time for me. Seeing the pitiful site of this once probably glorious recreational area, I saw only the effects of a long time drought of the Rio. It was also Thanksgiving without family, other than my dear Abbey who not only got to eat at the table, but on it! She got a kick out of that...Probably stayed a day too long, I think we were there 3 nights. So here it was about 30 days into the trip and I was feeling perhaps a bit lost and down for whatever reason. That would soon change.

 

One of my riding buddies at home is from Texas, and he just happened to be visiting his folks and his home in Boerne Texas. So for miles and miles we drove past dead deer until we finally made it to Boerne. And while it had been a long slog of desert scrub, finally the landscape had changed and wow, it was not just beautiful but pleasant temps in the mid 70's. My friend's son is 11 and just loves me to death and loves to ride dirt bikes too. So, we built an addition to their dirt bike trails and rode for 5 days. My dog did something weird too, as we drove up the driveway and she jumped out, something about the atmosphere of a "home" got to her and she perked up and was a very happy dog. Being around friends and family like that is what I'd needed and after only having casual conversations with people for a month, now it was something more. My entire soul recharged, now I had a second wind and so did Abbey.

 

Thanks for sharing!! Good luck and Merry Christmas!