We have been traveling and visiting New Mexico’s state parks now for over a month. We started out at Navajo Dam near Farmington. Elevation there was only at 6100 above sea level.
Now to some that isn’t really much-while to others anything over 4000 feet is too high. Last year while working at James M. Robb/CO River State Park near Grand Junction, we had a older lady that came from the mid west area that got elevation sickness and we were barely over the 4000 feet. She ended up having to cut her family visit and go back down to sea level. I really felt sorry for her and her family-for that meant going almost back home. I remember saying to Brian that I sure hope that never happens to us while we start our adventure.
Now 12+ years ago when we started to live in an RV and I went to my doctor for my “last” check-up with him; I remember him telling me due to the fact that I do have bad lungs (Severe Chronic Asthma)-I would have to take altitude climbing very serious and gave me strict instructions to go by; and they were: anything over 4000 feet, I must only go about 500 feet a day, come back down at night, got back up during daytime for about 2-3 days. At any point if I felt heaviness in my chest-descend immediately and don’t go back up! He didn’t think I could ever really go high in elevation and stay any length of time.
Have I taken his advise? Well, no not actually. And I haven’t done bad-until now….Since starting our travels, each year my asthma has improved greatly. Recently I had donated my nebulizer machine to a clinic and no longer carry any kind of inhaler. But I almost wish now that I at least have an inhaler.
I had no trouble ascending from 4000 feet to 6000 feet. Even at 7000 feet, I still wasn’t showing much sign of distress in my lungs or chest. Oh I occasionally would have a little shortness of breath after extreme hiking and would have to take short breaks to catch my breath, but Brian too was having the same effect-so nothing too worry about. Just take it easy and go slow.
Now that we have ascended to over 7500 feet, breathing started to get a little more stressful. We have been here for over a week and only hiked a couple of days with rest in between. Shortness of breath was coming more frequent-but for the both of us. I notice since being here, that I’m a little more short temper and agitated and didn’t’ know why. Surely by now we should be well adjusted to the elevation. wrong!
Generally, yes, a week adjustment is sufficient for some to acclimate their bodies to elevation. BUT it actually takes 3 months for a body to develop more red blood cells to get your oxygen level back to normal. During this time your body retains more water fluids that actually can go to your heart, lung and brain.
That still wasn’t the total case for me when we made a quick dash to the urgent care in Tierra Amarilla in NM. I started out having difficulty a few nights ago waking up with what I thought was a racing heart. I ignored it until it happened again the other night. But upon getting up yesterday I still had chest pain (felt as though Brian was sitting on my chest and wouldn’t get off), and very short of breath. As I moved around, I felt better. Going into Chama to run errands, felt fine. But after coming back and doing some work, the shortness of breath came back along with the chest pain and the racing heart. I knew it wasn’t a heart attack, but also knew something just wasn’t right.
Upon entering the clinic I was taken back immediately. an EKG was taken and my theory was right-I wasn’t having a heart attack. But it wasn’t my lungs either-for they had no wheezing and sounded clear. Which also meant there wasn’t fluid building either. So what was causing me to be in distress?
The last several days we have been socked in with rain and humidity which was enough to cause an onset of severe inflammation on all of my cartilage in my chest and rib bones. The inflammation was putting added stress on my heart-making it feel as though it was racing.
The doctor was hilarious! As she is pressing on my chest bone, asking me if that hurt-Brian makes the comment back that oh no we got a quack! She turns around and actually smacked him!
But in all seriousness, I had to have an anti-inflammatory shot to reduce the swelling so that I can get back to enjoying life! I actually had a wonderful team and got excellent care in such a small tiny community.
But at first the doctor talked about us having to descend back down. I was devastated, for we already had paid for the Cumbre & Toltec Train ride and I wasn’t ready to leave the area yet! I now don’t have to leave!
But here is a few tips for those that are planning on traveling to higher country and they are not acclimated to the elevation:
- Don’t go from 0 to 100 ! What I mean by that, is let’s say you are at sea level and you plan on camping at 10,000 feet above sea level. Do it in increments. Start at 4000 feet for a night, then climb a few thousand and stay for another night or two. Providing you are not having any difficulties or your body isn’t in stress.
- Once in high elevation: don’t over exert yourself-even if you feel fine. Wait a day or two. Even setting up camp can be stressful to your heart and lungs and you don’t know it.
- Don’t drink alcohol the first night or two-again give your body time to adjust. alcohol goes to the blood stream faster in higher elevation.
- Take water pills and an anti-inflammatory pill (ibuprofen) to help reduce extra fluid build up in your body. But please consult your physician first; specially if you have any medical conditions.
Here are some signs that your body maybe in stress from high elevation:
- Headaches. This is normal to most that ascend. But if gets extreme-then it’s probably a warning sign that you may need to descend.
- Loss of Appetite: This could be the beginning and warning sign that something isn’t right, don’t ignore it!
- Agitation or Grumpiness: Remember, less oxygen the higher you go, which means less oxygen for the brain-can make one more grumpier than normal.
- Shortness of Breath: this is very common when ascending and can be expected. However, if gets extreme even when sitting down-then it’s time to think about descending! Seek professional help!
- NAUSEA: If you get to the point that you feel sick, you need to seek professional help and descend immediately!
- Dizziness Or Light Headed: Once again-you need to descend ASAP! This means fluid is starting to build and you need to go back down and seek medical attention.
Once fluid has started to build around your lungs, heart or in the brain,this becomes a serious medical condition and needs proper medical attention. Thinking that descending is going to help, it will, but you will need professional help as well. Folks die every year because they ignore the warning signs. And don’t think age matters-it don’t….
Unfortunately because my lungs are damaged due to past asthma attacks, I will not be able to spend any time over 9000 feet and above. I can go for the day and be okay, but not overnight. So elevation I must always know how high I’m at.
Remember: this is just an advise, and before any elevation climbing, check first with your own physician before going on such an adventure and don’t ignore your own body’s warning signs. Only you know what your body can or cannot handle.
Navajo Dam State Park is straight west from Farmington, NM. Just outside of the town of Aztec on Hwy 550 you will turn right onto Hwy 173. Hwy 173 gets used a lot by the oil & electric company with their large trucks and the road is good but will jar things around in your rig a little. When you come to the town of Navajo Dam, turn left onto Hwy 511. Once you cross over the dam, and go around the curb about another 1/2 mile or so, you will veer to your right into the park.
Once upon a time this lake was quite huge, but due to recent years of drought, the lake is below normal pool level, but still big enough for bass boats, houseboats and jet boats to have a little room to play. But on a busy weekend-one will have to be more cautious than maybe during the week.
The campground itself is very rustic looking and for some large rigs a bit intimidating. We ended at Pine-main. There is a combination of both elect/water, full hook-up and primitive sites in this loop. Pine has 5 separate loops from A-E.
In “A” loop is where you will find the full hook-up sites-but only just a few. the rest are electric with the exception of one site that is primitive. All the other loops in Pine have either elect/water or are primitive.
Just past the dump station, if you turn right you are in “E” loop. Turn right at the bathroom again, go around the loop and on the right side you will come across a gravel type road. Going in is three sites, one has access from the paved road while the other two are from the gravel road. The road is narrow and very uneven. the lower site is just about impossible for any size rig to get in.
Not rig friendly, but perfect for a tent or two.
however the very last site, rigs can get in-but don’t expect to be on even ground. This is where we parked and had a great view of the lake.
We had a great view from all four direction and loved this spot! This was a primitive site.
Although there has been large rigs in Pine-main, it’s really not designed for large rigs. The road is narrow with breakage on the edge of the roadway, making it impossible not to hit branches or to drop off. We even seen one 5th wheel scrapping the tree and doing damage to his antenna not to mention the scratches he put in his rig. Here is a view of some rigs in spots and notice how they just about stick out in the roadway:
These rigs are nearly in the roadway!
I’m not saying large rigs shouldn’t camp here, for once here, the view and rustic of the area is just gorgeous! But word of caution: If you are a triple axle or unsure with your large rig, I might suggest going to Cottonwood for camping.
I also might suggest if you are a large rig coming in; once entering the campground, the dump station is on the right and down the hill. If you stay on the main road, to your left is “A” Loop, go just past the host and playground (on left) you come to a three intersection: one is “B” loop with a one way sign-stay out of there if your big! not much room to move around. But instead veer a little to your left (you will find a green fencing on your right where there is a gas well-follow it). You are now in “C” loop and there are one or two sites that a big rig might fit in. But keep going around the bend and you soon go into “D” loop. There are sites on your left with great view of the lake and marina. These sites are a little more accommodating for the bigger rigs. But word of caution: only one site is not reservable….
Once again you will come across yet another gravel roadway, and although we checked it out-there was no way we could even possibly think of getting our small motorhome down there! We did see a truck and small camper down there, but we also saw evidence of his spun out when he came back out and I’m sure he had to put the truck into 4-wheel drive. But nice sites for tents!
This is not RV Friendly! They use too large of rocks for their roadway.
Pine is not the only campground in this area. You also have: Pinon, Cedar, and Juniper campground. These three were closed and only open just before Memorial Day and close shortly after Labor Day holiday. They are all primitive with vault toilet; with the exception of Cedar having flush toilet and shower building.
When you first turn left to head towards these three campground, you start out on black top, but once you cross over the cattle guard it becomes gravel. It’s mostly hard pack, but getting closer to Juniper campground, you climb up hill and it seems the gravel is a little more loose in this area.
Gravel roadway to Juniper-Here it starts to get a little loose compare to the rest of the hard gravel.
Pinon Campground allows no RV’s and believe me, after walking it, if you don’t have a 4-wheel drive or high clearance vehicle-we would not suggest even considering this area! the road is very un-even, rough with large rocks and many ruts. Sites are okay with some nice private sites and views of the lake. I wonder if anyone has gotten into trouble with their vehicle in this area and had to be hauled out?
This is the roadway to Pinon
Cedar and Juniper is a little bit more RV friendly with some sites that have great view and/or privacy for those that wish it. However, once again, the road is narrow with bush hanging out in the roadway, deep ruts with large rocks. If I owned a big diesel pusher-I would NOT want to bring my rig in here at all. I would not want to come into these areas if there were any intention of rain-you just might find yourself-stuck....
Navajo Dam also has two other campgrounds besides here. Cottonwood is below the dam and just off of 173 just before you get to the town of Navajo Dam. It’s a gravel road, but a good road getting into the campground. the sites appeared to be more level and wider and as I stated earlier, more RV friendly. They do not have showers but have flush toilet and a dump station.
You are on the San Juan River with great fishing and wildlife viewing. We were here during the day and saw a young buck coming out of the water and constantly heard wild turkeys.
The only downfall that we could really see to camping here was the knats and mosquitos! We hate both, so opted of not coming here to camp.
there is also one other park called Sims Mesa-we did not adventure to that side and cannot say what that is like.
As for the cleanliness of the Parks wasn’t all that bad. Not a lot of trash, but fire rings we notice could use a cleaning and could see evidence of past campers that have thrown it down the hill-us included. Our fire ring was full, so making sure no hot spot-Brian scooped up most of it and flung it down the hillside.
There is a campground host and he seems to be very friendly and was helpful to us. Not really sure of his job description, but we did notice that he might clean one site, but totally skip another site. One site has had trash in the fire ring now for the whole time we have been here and no one has bother to clean it up.
The park rules states no glass bottles outside of your vehicle while inside the park, but again evidence showed that people don’t pay attention to rules.
I can’t speak for during peak season, but off season there is no rangers around other than in the visitor center. If coming in you pay your fees through an honor box system that is located at the entrance of the park, and again at Pine, Pinon, Cedar & Juniper. Both Cottonwood and Sims Mesa the honor box is at their entrance as well. The only time we saw evidence of a park ranger was on the weekends. We were told by the host that two do live on the premises.
Bathrooms were clean-but not spectacular. I think they fear cleaning the showers the most, the whole time we stayed here they might have gotten a hose down down once or twice-but that’s it. Brian and I said that when we use to contracted for the C.O.E. and would get a “white glove” inspection-this would not pass the inspection! But good enough to use-until the weekend groups came in. We have been in cleaner and dirtier-so I guess we take this as being in the middle for cleanliness.
When we took a drive down to Cottonwood we both were completely appalled to what we saw. Our American Flag completely tattered, faded and worn out! Upon emailing pictures and a letter to the main office in Santa Fe-the Flag was replaced immediately. It should have never been allowed to be let go for that long and there fore made us a little disappointed in New Mexico State Park and hope we never come across this again….
Would we ever come back here? Oh yeah! Even though the park is a little out of date, and we understand cut-backs. The peace and tranquil here in the high-desert mountain was awesome! I’m sure however during peak season this place is booming. That is why we choose to come in early spring before the crazy starts.
We have spent two winters now on BLM Land near Quartzsite, AZ. There are four LTVA (Long Term Visitor Area) where you pay $180.00 to stay. The season pass is good from 15th of Sept thru 15th of April (7 months). This fee gets you free dump and water fill and dumpsters to throw your trash and you don’t have to move your rig anytime during those months. Whether you stay the full 7 months or just 3 months, the fee stays the same. You can purchase a two week pass for only $40.00, and some folks opt this way if staying less than the 3 months.
While staying on LTVA you have more rules to follow by, for example-generators can’t be run during the hours of 10pm -6am, you can’t just park anywhere, and at least 15 feet from your nearest neighbor-if you choose to be that close.
If one does not want to pay that $180.00 there are several BLM Land that are free in the surrounding areas of Quartzsite, Parker and Yuma.
Although we paid the $180.00 for the season pass and our time was not up yet, we wanted to check out some of the free area. Now the rules are different; in the aspect that there are no rules, other than no gathering of firewood (which applies to all of the BLM Land in AZ).
In other words, folks can park as close as they want to you, can run generators all night long if they wish to, run ATV’s around you all day and night, party, play music or what ever they might choose to do. Only thing a park ranger will tell you is if you don’t like your neighbor-move.
One thing that amazed us and was a bit surprise, is the fact that the grounds were not cluttered of trash and debris. We did come across many old and new fire rings, and although gathering of firewood is prohibited, we saw few down and dead wood laying around; It has been scavenged.
Even though it’s Free to camp, you can only stay for 14 days in 30 day period and then you must move at least 25 miles. You get no water, sewer dump or trash. As I stated we didn’t see any trash just lying around, but many obvious siting's of both grey and black water that was dumped.
BLM requires you to registered with the host. Only one problem that I see with their sign; It does not tell you where the host is located. For example, we stayed at Plamosa Rd, we came off of HWY 95. Just to the right of the entrance there is a bulletin board and a sign with a camper and a flag pole and a sign that does say host. Now, the problem lies if you are coming off of HWY 72 onto Plamosa RD, and once entering the 14 day camping area, again it tells you to register with the host, but from this direction how would you located the host?
since we were there during the very late month of March, campers were far and few between. Our nearest neighbor at one point was at least a mile away. but I’m sure during the peak of the winter months this place was booming with campers all over.
They do have markers in varies areas as to where they do not want you to camp. We did come across a few markers that need to be replace because at a glance from a vehicle, you cannot read what it says. They are for day-use purpose only, no overnight camping.
the BLM has also spent lots of money putting up berms so that you just can’t drive off the roadway and make your own roads. They have markers where they want you to enter the areas at.
All I can say is that while here we did find it to be peaceful and a different view.
The land and rocks were different that from the LTVA area (a bit harder for walking). We also noticed that it appears even though some of us pay the $180.00 in the LTVA area, the money is being spent in the Free area and the paid areas are being just a bit neglected as far as road surface and other maintenance is concerned.
With that said, I would not want to be here in the free area during peak time as I’m sure it’s a mad house around here with rigs coming and going and ATV’s running up and down and around you.
Being this is Leap Year, and having one extra day really meant nothing to us, other than it’s another election year and I just hate all the political garbage in between TV shows. One politician knocking down another politician really doesn’t do me any justice and therefore, we choose to watch very little TV.
So with that said and no more talk about politics, I will let you know how are week went. This past week the glass to the percolator glass finally broke in half. It had a minor little knick out of it, but that isn’t where it finally cracked. Brian was cleaning it out and getting ready for another morning, when it broke in half. So the question became what do we do? Our only problem is that we special order this percolator from Coleman and we would have to special order another glass for it.
Upon going to Coleman’s web page, I soon discover that they are slowly discontinuing parts to this particular model. However they did still make the glass replacement and it wasn’t really expensive. But we would have to have it shipped to a business here in Quartzsite and this year she sky rocket her prices for deliveries-providing it would come UPS or FedEx. If shipped by mail, well then it would have to be shipped all the way back to our NM address and then again shipped general delivery to us here. To many obstacles…
We could fire up the generator every morning and get out our electric coffee maker until we get back into Quartzsite and/or Parker to find a glass for it. Starting that noisy generator every morning, wasn’t my cup of tea, specially when the generator is directly under the bed and I like to stay nice and warm until the coffee is just about done.
Or Brian could devise a temporary fix until then. And that is exactly what he did. He made a temporary fix until we got back into town to find a glass for it. Here is what it looked like:
He simply took foil and put it over the hole until we could get it fixed.
Brian checked several junk dealers, the hardware store and no one had this large of a glass for our size of percolator. So back to square one-to order or not to order. If we ordered, how soon would the 3rd one break and how many to order? Along with the regular shipping and handling, we have to pay this lady extra as well.
Looking at the percolators at Wal-Mart, they didn’t have glass just the top, so Brian thought why do we need a glass, why couldn’t he fix it so that we wouldn’t ever have to worry about it again? He contemplated on how to go about fixing it and came up with the idea of a water plug or two washers with a bolt & nut to hold it.
We went to Ace Hardware in Parker, taking the lid with us, Brian explained to a worker what he was trying to do. Took us down the aisle of nuts and bolts. While Brian was trying to figure out what size would work, this same worker came back with a this stainless steal cap with prongs. Upon placing in it in the “hole” it was a perfect fit and cheap ($1.40)! Here is what it looks like now:
Now the question is: will it work? Yep, best coffee ever! We even think it perks faster than when we had the glass and I notice less grounds in my cup of joe. We just simply listen to when it starts to perk and slow down the flame until we know it’s right for us.
Now that’s fix and we once again can enjoy our coffee, the rest of the week went fairly well for us. It’s starting to warm up more around here. However the springtime winds seem to be upon us. The other day we had wind, and an unexpected trace of rain through the night. Sure wish we could get more rain to help settle all this dust. The trace we seem to get only makes our car and motorhome show dust mud spots. I don’t think I have ever seen our home look so dirty as it does now.
Our little dog Leah loves to be outdoors-when it’s not blowing and she occasionally gets a visitor from the neighbor. It’s a male beagle dog named B.D. and he likes to come over and steal a quick kiss from her and then wonders back home. The one evening while out walking, we could hear her barking in her kennel upon coming back. I noticed a four legged critter on our patio; not knowing if it was a coyote or what, Brian goes running home just to discover that B.D. had come a calling!
B.D. is a rescue dog and has learned the art of survival out here in the desert.
Well soon the countdown to leaving and a new adventure will soon begin. until next week….
Since traveling on the road for over 11 years now, we never have made a move this late in the season. We always have been somewhere and settled way before even Thanksgiving. But this year being a little different since working at amazon.com, we didn’t hit the road until literally days before Christmas!
Leaving Coffeyville, we had decided to make one of the AZ Casino’s our place to stop to enjoy Christmas at one of their delicious buffets and who knows-pluck a few dollars into the slot machine.
Upon getting ready, we knew that a bad snow storm was hitting in the direction we wanted to go, so we got held up in Sayre OK until the storm passed and the Instate cleared.
The more we thought about it, the more exciting it sounded to be parked in snow! We would bundle up and yes, even Leah and go play out in the snow on Christmas Day! What a better way to enjoy the day and then go pig out on the Christmas Buffet!
Well, here’s where it starts to get interesting….
Upon leaving Amarillo TX and heading towards NM border we knew that we would start to see the snow accumulation. Heading towards Tucumcari we only saw a dusting along the roadway and thought to ourselves that this was nothing. We were thinking that a dusting to these folks was a blizzard…but as we got closer to a town called Edgewood NM, the snow started to get deeper. There were areas along the I-40 corridor that hadn’t even been cleaned off along the shoulders yet. All the rest areas Westbound were still closed and not plowed out yet. They were just opening Eastbound rest areas as we plucked along.
Needing a break and wanting to stretch my legs, Brian found a Wal-Mart right off of I-40 in the town of Edgewood. The exit was slushy but cleared enough to master the motorhome and tow, until we got into Wal-Mart’s parking lot. They apparently don’t know the word “snow-plow”! It wasn’t plowed at all, and being Christmas Eve, it was chaotic! There was no place safe to park the motorhome without the fear of getting stuck since there appeared to be 10-12 inches of the white stuff. I manage to go in one entrance and out the next exit to learn that I could not make the left turn I needed to head in right direction. So ended up going down the road, in the wrong direction of our destination and not knowing what was ahead.
I found a shopping center where I barely could get the motorhome in one drive and back out the other just to turn around! upon the entrance I scrapped the back-end. Brian goes to investigate and finally those skid wheels we purchased did their job well!Now turned around back in the right direction, We decided I didn’t need that rest after all so onward we go to the Casino!
We were tossed between Dancing Eagle and Sky City Casino. Both had RV Parking, however Sky City sounded to have a wonderful Christmas Buffet-so Sky City here we come…
Monitoring the weather closely in that particular area, we knew that both Casinos got hit hard with the snow storm. So Brian called to find out if even the RV Parks would be open and even plowed out. Sky City told us that it was being done as they spoke-or so we were told.
Upon our arrival to Sky City Casino in late afternoon on Christmas Eve, we were again greeted with lots of slush and snow! It made it difficult to even get fuel, but manage. We paid for our site and was told that the campground was plowed out and ready. The RV Park is across the road from the Casino/Hotel/Travel Center. As we crossed over the road, to our dismay, we couldn’t even try to get into the RV roadway let alone find our spot that was buried yet under all the snow!
We left the motorhome sitting in the roadway, unhooked the car and went back over to the travel center where we paid and complained. They got the guy over to plow it out while we sat waiting…thinking boy, we gotta be crazy or what? It took well over an hour and half just to get us a path in and into our site.
Now we are stuck here until they finish up on Christmas Day so that we can pull back out bright and early Monday morning to much warmer weather-AZ!
Upon getting up this morning-it was only down to –7below outside! I think this is the coldest weather thus far since traveling. So did we stay warm inside? You betcha!!! With the help of the electric heater and the motorhome furnace running until we got up, then Brian turned on our Cozy World brick heater. We never hooked to the water direct and what we have in the tank didn’t freeze either.
We opened up the window blinds and discovered all the windows had ice on them!
Since the sun has come out all the windows are cleared up. We are just waiting for the afternoon sun to hit the slide side so that we can bring it in and not wait till tomorrow. As the day moves forward we are to warm up to a mighty 36 degrees.
Another Christmas Day to remember and to put in our memory book
