Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: June 2, 1935
Yesterday was a travel day again. It was over a route that I have driven a number of times before with just a slight detour. That was in Safford, AZ where I stopped for breakfast at Jerry’s and then went a couple blocks to Safeway. The drive was 202 miles on this route: US191, I-10/US191 (21 miles), US191, US70, US70/US191, US191, AZ78, NM78, US180 & NM12.
The breakfast was nothing of note and the grocery gathering took a long time because it was a new to me store and I had a long list. Tried to buy enough to last me for a month. That plus what I will be ordering online for delivery here.
Here is Cruzeville, NM with a population of 270 which is near Reserve, NM with a population of 388. That means I’ll be doing my grocery gathering in Springerville, AZ which is a 71 mile drive one way. I will not be going every week as has been my wont.
Why Cruzeville you might ask? I am looking for some place cool for the summer and it should be about 10° cooler here than in Pearce and 15° cooler than Benson. The 10 day forecast is for the highs to be in the lower to mid 80s with the lows in the mid to upper 40s.
The other reason for being here this summer is I expect it to be very “hot summer” in densely populated areas. I want to be as far away from any civil unrest that may boil up as I can. I also want to be away from densely populated area IF the United States foreign policy goes completely off the rails and there is a full scale war with Russia and China. Not likely but at the same time there is no telling what the powers that be might do; if they can not rule it they may just burn it down.
I drove to Reserve this morning to take a mail box form to the Post Office. Planned on having breakfast a Ella’s before the Post Office opened at 8:30. Unfortunately Ella’s was closed so I had an hour wait before I could drop off the form. Then had about a 30 minute wait until Ella’s did open. That is the only restaurant in town so you do what you have to do. I also did a walk through of one of the two places in town that sell some grocery items; maybe a step up from a convenience store.
During our morning walk and my drive into town I saw 6 elk and 4 deer. I expect that will become a common sight as I discover more walking routes that get me away from the road to Reserve.
Your home for the summer seems to be easily enjoyed, good for you! I would especially appreciate seeing more wildlife than urban areas have living within them.
-Mary
Thanks for the comment Mary.
So far the new camp has been all that I hoped for. Saw over a dozen elk this morning, some of them I may have seen twice but got a good count on the dozen.
I guess the mountain lion hunting season is over now? That is big, in the Reserve area.
Did you notice that the whole town of Reserve lacks a single “public” trash can? One of the locals explained their landfill expenses to me.
Reserve used to have three restaurants a couple years ago.
Yes &No kaBLOOnie, the lion hunting season in NM is from November through January. So one season is over and the next one hasn’t started yet.
I was talking to the Park owner yesterday and she asked me if I wanted to stay through October. She was asking because the Park is full and she turns people away without reservations starting then. Elk and lion seasons overlap here. The Unit where I walk is for bow or muzzle loader and only bow while I’ll be here.
The Park dumpster has a combination lock on it which may also indicate the cost of landfill.
I hope you enjoy you “cool” summer stay. Sounds like a great camp to me.
It has been ‘cool’ so far. The highest it has been was 85.9 and the lowest was 36.8 (that happened this morning). A great camp so far; the grocery gathering is my only concern. Can I limit my trips to Springerville, AZ to only once a month? Time will tell.
Can you carpool to Springerville with one of the other campers, to go grocery shopping?
That is a possibility but unlikely. I don’t want to leave Erik alone for the time a shopping trip will take and finding some one to carpool with plus someone to look in on Erik while I’m gone will be difficult. Right now the Park is about 1/3 full with RVs and mobile homes but only about half of those have anyone living in them. Most of those are permanent residents that are working in the area; the neighbor in front of me is a deputy sheriff.