Gila Wilderness, my new favourite spot!

Well, it was hard to leave, we had a wonderful few days in Gila Wilderness , New Mexico, we had no cell (still don't) and no high speed.. We camped at a Hot Springs that Jerry tried to get to 6 years ago, but it was flooded then, it is perfect now.  We could have stayed there a week (or forever), but, then we would have had to miss seeing everything else.  It's a two hour drive through some roads (pretty much like the Mexican roads through the mountains but the Mex roads are banked in the corners better ) which require all of your attention as there were MANY curves, no shoulders, we've been on worst road, so, not a problem, it was nicely paved ..  it was worth it. Our final destination was in the Gila Wilderness  was just outside of the Gila Cliff Dwellings on Hwy12, there are 35 people who live there full time, (and probably 40 dogs).  Its a very friendly place, for humans and dogs.  Duke wasn't on leash the entire time there, he played non-stop.  (We're in Silver City now, which is why we have Internet connection, we're at a hotel, Duke's passed out on the bed! I'm typing the blog, Jerry's gone shopping as our electrical inverter on the Van broke, she won't let us charge anything while we're driving, it had an E8 error code,( new inverter installed 750w up from 400w) the inverter is 6 years old, and we've heard others say that theirs last 1 year, so, she's had a good ride, as Jerry's out to replace & install it.. then we'll had back into the wilderness again tomorrow, were we won't have highspeed again for another few days, we would have gone straight if we didn't have the inverter issue.. there isn't any cell coverage here in Silver City either..)

Back to the story, so, we finally got to our destination on Friday, there is one store/gas-station in the area, Don Campbells, Don bought the place, I mean the entire ridge/mountain/hot-springs, in the 40s.  Now his son and daughter own the area.  We met the son Allen last night, as he owned the Hot-springs ( Jim is the manager I met him 6 yrs ago and when he saw me he asked what took me so long to get back )we were camped at (and everything else).. He stopped in with his three dogs and made his way around to say "hey" to everyone.  He's trying hard to keep it a sanctuary and not let it get built up, he's doing an excellent job.   There are a total of 35 residences on the ridge, no police, no mayor, no dog leash laws! It's wonderful.  Gas costs 3.50/gallon at Don Campbells, you don't mind when you're there! :)

The Hot Springs & Camp "ground" were amazing, it cost us $5/person/night! (I've staying in $460/night hotels and certainly nothing comes close to the experience of this $5/person/night Hot Springs.) Here were probably a dozen other people camped there, however, somehow, we ended up with the best spot right on the water. Most of the people where in tents, one other Westy came in our last night there. ( the whole town is heated from this one hot spring it comes out of the ground at 155 deg F )

 The other Westy was owned by a 28 year old female who travels alone, her name is Phoenix, actually, she doesn't travel alone, she travels with her dog! She's been travelling on her own since she was 16, she's been all over North and South America.  She plays an amazing Irish Harp, she played last night while we were in the HotSprings.. imagine Harp music, her lovely voice, under the stars with the rushing river behind you while you're in the Hot Springs.. doesn't get any better then that!  The photo with the woman with a hat & dog and I is Phoenix & I saying good bye at the Clff Dwellings.

Duke & I got in a 6km run/walk (way too many inclines to run the whole time!).. then we all headed over to the Cliff Dwellings.  There, Duke wasn't allowed up, so, Jerry & I went alone.  They are very civilized, they have crates to leave your dogs in while you take the hike, we didn't want to leave Duke in a crate,  so, we left him in the Van, in the shade with a breeze and food and water.. Anyhow, Jerry & I went in for the 3 mile hike, zig zagging up a hill to the Cliff Dwellings.. Like Jerry says, anything worth seeing is either a big climb up or down.. this was worth seeing, and was up!

Well, this has been the best few days of the trip yet, however, Jerry tells me that we're heading for even more amazing places.. Tomorrow we're going to hot-springs which are in the desert in Arizona!

That's it for now.. we have some wonderful videos we've taken too, I'll see if we have time to upload a couple tonight, as i would like to get some voice over power points done for YLM tonight, their new system is launching next week.. i was thinking (as you have lots of time to think up here) it would be nice to have some of the new system with some voice overs for the 140 YLM communities..  and i promised J some materials for his Peterborough Talent Search 2010 contestants, on how to promote themselves. I've been writing both while we travel.. so, I'd like to send out both!
Bye for now!
Sof