Hanging Out at the Prewitt Reservoir

Tuesday, August 5

I woke to mild breezes that eventually led to calm wind conditions; allowing me to erect the shade screens and awning once again.

This morning's sunrise:

I almost stepped on one of the locals as I was shooting the above picture: 

Salamander 

I really hope the winds are not like yesterday, they were coming from the southeast, broadside to the VRRV, and strong enough to induce periods of sandblasting effects!

Perfect day in terms of weather, though a bit warm towards mid-afternoon.

The sunset was OK:

I noticed there's quite a difference in the temperature reported by the nearby weather station and my own thermometer located underneath the RV.  

For example, Merino's weather station reported 108° Fahrenheit but my thermometer reported 97°.  I was wondering at that point whether that weather station in Merino was under direct sunlight or something.

Moonrise:

Thursday, August 7

A warmer day today, after lunch the heat had me misting myself with water every few minutes.  A dip in the almost blood warm water didn't make much of a difference from misting's cooling effects.

I saw a whole bunch of locals during a morning ride:

Several families of day users parked down the road so they could frolic in the water.

As I came out of the water, this rental class c decided to park near my rig.

I walked up to the driver, but instead ending up advising the passenger who'd gotten out to look around.  I "advised" him this wasn't a two camper spot.

He spoke some inanities and I told him there were several spots further down the road.  I'd mapped them during a morning ride 

They left, I decided to "improve" my position by placing some obstacles to discourage people from parking near me.  The rental RV had been the second vehicle today.  First one, a sedan, having stopped, taken pics and then left.

Yep, anti- social, thats me.

You can see the intruding RV coming back on the road.  I guess the several sites back there didn't suit them.  I think they left the area after we exchanged stares as they drove by.

At 3PM, Merino's weather station reported 106° F, it was 99° reported by the RV thermometer.  Warm.

There was no breeze at a certain point:

Just as well I'm going home tomorrow....the weekenders are coming in.

Thursday Sunset:

A Ride to Views of the Medicine Bow Mountain Range

After a nice sunrise and a leisurely start to the day, I rode Yagi, my TW200, down Deadman Road to its junction with FR300 at around 10:30 a.m.

I rode along FR300 for about 15 miles or so just to check things out and to map any campsite candidates I might run across.

The road itself starts off pretty good but then theres stretches of rocky terrain that make you pay attention.

I came up on the junction with FR517 and shortly after that while riding on FR517 I saw this view of the Medicine Bow Mountain Range.

A mile or to further on did not render that much in terms of views so I turned around where FR517 and FR173 junction.

On the way back, I stopped at about 6 likely candidate spots for future camping and recorded them on my Google maps profile. 

This little fellow watched me, while sitting on top a rock that was a part of a fire pit at one of the sites:

Things had clouded over by the time I finished a late lunch, so I just relaxed at the campsite the rest of the day.

Home for a Bit

Returned from New Mexico after ten fun-filled hours of uneventful driving on the I-25 Super Slab.

After the morning chill had gone, it was pleasingly warm in New Mexico the couple of times I stopped to rest or gas up the VRRV.

This changed soon after I crossed into Colorado, with heavy cloud cover blocking the sun and adding to the overall gloominess and chill on the scenery.  This cloud cover wouldn't break till I got north of Colorado Springs.

It was getting dark as I pulled into my home cul-de-sac, got the trailer with Scarlett still onboard into the garage with no issues and parked the VRRV for the night.

My last view of the campsite as the sun started lighting up the eastern sky:

Boondocking near San Antonio, New Mexico

Yesterday, Ileft the overcrowded cesspool that is the Metro Denver area yesterday and drove a bit over 8 hours to a BLM area near San Antonio, NM.

I'd hoped to reach the vicinity of Truth or Consequences but ran out of daylight an hour north of it.  So I took a chance at a new area as listed on iOverlander.

Turned out to be a good choice.  About three miles from the I-25 Interstate, just south of Socorro, NM, I found a nice spot next to a rundown corral.

This morning, while I waited for things to warm up into the 50s (woke to 37 degrees outside), I rode about the dirt roads near me:

First though, today's sunrise:

One of the roads led to some interesting rock formations:

Found a shrine in the rocks at the narrow passageway below:

I didn't ride much past the above cut through the rocks, I was getting cold even though I was riding slowly.

Later in the morning, it was still a bit chilly but I bundled up more and rode Yagi over through the nearby "town" of San Antonio and eight miles further, to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

The town's claim to fame

A decommissioned church in town

The NWR is basically open lands with some stretches of woods, the main attractions being several lakes populated with diverse birds.  I checked out the North Loop Tour route and the highlight was:

I rode back to the campsite and spent the rest of the day resting and enjoying the warmth inside the gazebo.  Mild winds kept things a bit cool, even though temperatures neared 60 degrees and plenty of sunlight on hand.

The idea had been that this trip would last a month or two before returning to Colorado.  However, due to logistical matters involving the VA, I am returning to Colorado this weekend.  A bit of a bummer but its for the best.  There might be other camping trips closer to home but highly weather dependent of course.

Uraling in the OHV area near Overton, NV

A warm day and very sunny.  Luckily, no winds strong enough to notice for a change.  

I rode Scarlett into town for supplies for some minor repairs on Scarlett and the ramp on the trailer.

While waiting for the hardware store to open, I rode about a nice OHV area to get some views of a small mesa's cliffsides. It would have been more fun with Yagi of course, but it was fine with Scarlett.

Trying to get a better angle on the above rock formations/mesa erosion walls, I rode Scarlett up a small ridgeline on which the town's water tank is located.

As I crested the summit, I had to stop quickly in order to not scare off these fellows who were wandering loose up on top:

The views weren't any better up there however, so I went back down and just wandered for a bit:

Eventually, the heat and the time dictated a departure from this OHV area.  I found my way back to town and got the items I needed from the hardware store.

Rode back to camp by lunch and relaxed the afternoon away.

Uraling around Snowbird Mesa

Another very windy day here on Snowbird Mesa where I'm boondocking while waiting for Yagi to be repaired.

I woke in time to catch the sunrise

It spit rain, off and on, throughout the morning amidst strong gusty winds that rocked the VRRV.  So it wasn't till close to 3PM (after a nice nap after lunch) when I got on Scarlett and rode out for views.

This time, I concentrated on finding viewpoints that would allow me to take pictures of Uma, the VRRV, at the campsite.

Uma from two ridges over...

Virgin Peak I believe

Where's Uma?

Can you spot Uma?

View from closest site to my campsite

Here's three panorama shots by my Pixel 4a's camera:

T'Dubing to Safford for Grinders and Scarlett is operational again

 I was awake in time to catch a nice sunrise today:

A little after 10AM this morning, once temperatures were north of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, Chris Z and I geared up and rode our TW200s the 32+ miles to Safford, AZ.

First stop was gas, then the Ace hardware store where I got epoxy glue for the windshield, four 25mm long steel pins with OD of 10mm.  These were the shortest ones available at the store and I would have to grind them down to 16mm length.  I also picked up two 16mm and two 20mm grade 8.8 M8x1.25 hex head bolts and lock washers.

Also picked up two 3" hose clamps to use on the windshield's lower support arms.

Enter the first Grinder, Chris found a grinder wheel for electric drills that would be able to grind down the steel pins.  I had been thinking I'd have to buy a small grinder/cutting tool for about $40 but the $6 option found by Chris accomplished the mission:

Then, a stop at the Napa Auto Parts Store to get some electronics cleaner, an oil filter for Chris' TW and misc items he needed.

We went to the nearby Walmart for groceries, and after paying for them, we got the second grinders.  These were subs at the Subway shop within the Walmart.  I told Chris that I'd grown accustomed to the storage capacity of a sidecar rig, but the TWs did just fine.

A brief stop at the KFC for a bucket of chicken and we got back on the road headed back to Hot Well Dunes.  The only thing that went wrong with the packing was the bumpiness of the Haekle Road to Hot Well Dunes caused one of the sodas on Chris' TW's front rack to explode and leak.

After negotiating the many potholes almost successfully, we got back and after a brief rest I started on the third grinder of the day.  

Here's the pin we got from town.  Too long of course since the pins that are used on the Ural are 16mm long.

Chris suggested a way to secure the drill that would spin the grinder wheel and here's my field expedient grinder bench (front cargo rack on the VRRV):

Took me about an hour of slowly grinding away material till I got it close to spec.  They're closer to 17 than the stock 16mm length but close enought.

The middle one is untouched.

Chris lent a hand and soon we had the drive shaft angle bracket secured to the final drive.  I made sure to align the forks to keep them in phase.  I had no issue with one of the 20mm bolts but the other one refused to go in smoothly.

The stock bolts are 16mm in length per Ural but to me it seemed that not a lot of threads went into the final drive.  Because of the second 20mm bolt's issues, I ended up using one of the 16mm bolts.  Both bolts went in with Blue Loctite, with the 20mm bolt also using a lock washer.  I skipped the washer on the 16mm bolt to allow 1-2 threads more of grip.   The plan is to find another 20mm bolt or perhaps chase the threads on the final drive side sometime in the future.

A short test ride revealed no issues except for slight difficulty putting it ito 2WD but then I got things to click into place.  Everything stayed together and the we all went to the "cement ponds" for a soak in the hot spring water.  Chris rode in the sidecar while his wife Lori rode his TW200 there and back.  No issues with the repairs, I'm happy to report.

Someday, when I have to replace the driven spline hub on the final drive, I'll also replace the hardware involving the mounting bolt and pins.  The pin holes are a bit "worn" due to the two incidents involving the bolts coming out.  First one while attempting to Ural up Black Mesa, AZ (link to that posting) and the day before today's riding out to Dripping Spring.  Oh well.

Lori and Chris fed me dinner and we called it an early night.  A good day overall, I hope the repairs of the windshield mount prove just as easy tomorrow.