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Teresa's Daily diary of Teresa and Andrew's travels. This blog is targeted at a general audience who is interested in our day-to-day happenings. As the traveling slowed down, so did the blog entries.
March 2006 - Posts
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We drove to Joshua Tree National Park . Along the way we stopped at a TA (Travel America) for a shower and one load of laundry. Both the shower and the laundry cost more than we usually spend. Next time we'll find a no-name truck stop and a laundromat. Read More...
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We took our time at camp and shot some footage for a tour of the truck video we'll put together later (watch for it!!). We went back into Organ Pipe Cactus NM to fill water and do a scenic and interpretive drive and four mile hike. The scenic drive was Read More...
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Crazy Woman Campsite, Why, AZ. We have a beautiful campsite and shade, so we are staying here working on the computers in the truck. The weather is clear, sunny, not too hot. Read More...
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It rained this morning... RAIN! it's raining in the desert! It's just an off and on drizzle, but it's enough for the whole place to smell of the creosote bush. We decided to check out one of the missions nearby. We went to the San Xavier Mission just Read More...
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We went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum . We got there at 7:30 am for a bird walk with a docent (trained volunteer) and we stayed until about 5:30, when the security guard was locking the gate. Wow! This place is amazing! We've had several people Read More...
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We woke this morning to a bird serenade. We just lazed around the camp and kind of took a day off. We worked on the computers for a little while. We've got an additional battery and inverters so we can run the computers while we're on the road. Around Read More...
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We'd love to go to the Desert Museum, but we have to do our chores first. A cholla cactus attacked my bike while driving and Andrew had to rescue Rex, my bike mascot. Andrew has gained a new respect for the "jumping cholla" cactus. While we were cleaning Read More...
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We were kind of slow getting up this morning... until the gunfire began. We got our stuff together and got out. As we were leaving, we saw in the next campsite someone shooting at targets with an earth berm behind it. Not a danger to anyone, but unnerving, Read More...
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Early this morning we saw Border Patrol pass through the camping area. I guess we're still not too far from the border. We got started early to get to Kartchner Caverns. This is a newly discovered cave, first discovered in 1974, but kept a secret for Read More...
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Cooked a good breakfast of chorizo and eggs (Soy-rizo, actually) It was nice to have a good breakfast. When we're in a hurry to catch a tour or start a hike early, we just have some oatmeal or dry cereal. We left the National Forest and saw on the map Read More...
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Chiricahua National Monument , AZ. We caught the shuttle van to the top of the mountain and filled the last two seats open. We talked to the ranger for a few minutes and laid out a route for us to se the best formations along a one day hike. We marked Read More...
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We woke up this morning to find the truck covered in snow and the thermometer said it was 24 degrees. We started up the dirt road but the truck had other plans. The gas gauge began acting odd. It would bounce to no gas and then back up to almost full Read More...
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As we were breaking camp to go, it started snowing on us. We were early for the guided tour, so we took a short 3 mile hike into the Wilderness in snow flurries. We ran into 3 people (one was a teacher on Spring Break) who were backpacking into Bear Canyon Read More...
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We went to the Cafe and Bakery adjacent to the Lodge for breakfast. We've been cooking almost every meal, so eating out is a real treat. We went up to to Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument and found out there's a guided tour at noon that we just missed. Read More...
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We had a beautiful sunrise over White Sands this morning. We broke camp early and hiked back to the truck. We met some other folks in the parking lot also on Spring Break from Tucson, AZ. They recommended Karchner Caverns near Tucson. We've had several Read More...
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This morning several campers left the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site early. We talked to another camper, Jim Courts, who is a retired park superintendent for the Custer Battlefield Park (his last park) and has worked at or visited most of the national parks Read More...
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We slept in a bit this morning. We went to the Frijole Ranch again and did a 2.3 mile loop trail there to a couple of springs that gave life to the ranch and this area. We stayed there and had lunch at a picnic table, then headed out for White Sands National Read More...
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We got an early start this morning, we're hiking to the top of Guadalupe Peak , the highest point in Texas. We headed out before daybreak and got to the park shortly after. We were among the first ones on the trail, although we were hiking rather slowly. Read More...
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We went into Guadalupe Visitor Center and yesterday's wind at Guad. pass was 35-80mph. They were suggesting people not hike to the peak that day. The wind was still pretty strong today, but was expected to ease up tomorrow. So we decided on a canyon hike Read More...
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We're going to be in the area for a couple of days, so we checkout the area of BLM in the daylight for a good spot at Mile marker 10. We found an area of several small caves on BLM land that has a few campsites designated. It's well off the road and looks Read More...
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This morning, as we were making breakfast, the van that stayed with us pulled back in. He left about 4 am. He 's a volunteer with McDonald Observatory and was helping out with there special programs during Spring Break. They have a "Star Party" where Read More...
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We had to go through Border Patrol again to get from our camp into Alpine. This guy really looked into the back of the truck, others just asked us if we were US citizens and waved us on. Andrew gets nervous going through Border Patrol, but I figure, what Read More...
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Between the wind, the traffic and the train, I got very little sleep last night. The wind brought in a cold front, this morning the temp was 26 degrees, but thankfully, the wind died down. We made coffee and tea on the tailgate and headed into Marfa for Read More...
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We decided not to hike this morning, we're both still pretty sore and tired form our backpack. We just took our time getting breakfast and packed up. As we were heading out of the park, we stopped at the park office for a minute and passed a camper that Read More...
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Another beautiful sunrise. Since we hiked about 22 hard miles in two days, we're taking it easy today. We unpacked and stowed our backpacks and other gear in the "attic", our Thule carrier on the roof. We're making coffee and tea ]when we're greeted by Read More...
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Early morning start, heading for Emory Peak , 7,825 feet, the second highest peak in Texas (the highest in Guadalupe Peak , also on our list). It's about a four mile hike, but the last mile has a 900 ft elevation gain. 900 feet! In one mile! OUCH!! We Read More...
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We set our alarm to get up early. We want to get on the trail before it gets too hot. On our drive in we see some javelina (hav-a-lina), a type of wild pig, crossing the road. We're hiking in the Chisos Mountains , an ancient volcanic geologic basin formation Read More...
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This morning we got the bike tires pumped up and chains lubed and we're ready for a bike ride. Our ride is about 1/2 mile to Ernst Tinaja . This is a natural formation of rocks in hte bottom of a canyon runoff that holds water in times of rain. The word Read More...
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Our campsite is the last one before the trailhead. We're sleeping in, or at least, enjoying the sunrise from the back of the truck. We got ourselves together finally and headed up to the trailhead. Shortly after we arrived, a park service truck pulled Read More...
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A 40 degree morning and a gentle breeze. All night I heard animals splashing in the river. We sat an alarm to get up before sunrise, but by the time we got going, the sun was well into the sky. Our hike today is from the hot springs to Rio Grande Village Read More...
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We had a beautiful sunrise at the picnic area and stayed for breakfast. We were about an hour from the entrance to Big Bend. Big Bend National Park is in the Chihuan desert in the southern tip of Texas, at the "big bend" of the Rio Grande River. We stopped Read More...
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