< more recent | 22-28 February 2025 | older >
28 February 2025: A great first day out on the trails training together as Team Celebration! Jody and I had a good solid day of working as a team trying to figure out the best processes as we accomplished Rebelle skill tasks like enduro driving and navigating. We had a few struggles, but overall we did well as we determined how to approach the actual challenge, and after a few goes we had improved our performance significantly (though enduros will be something we will need to work on for sure). Then we left the Cargo Muchachos area and headed into the sand at Glamis where the Barlow Adventures Training Camp was set up. We got to play a little bit in the dunes in the afternoon before calling it a night and gathering together around the campfire…
27 February 2025: Up early and ready to get started with our first team training day in the classroom. The focus was on navigation today, and we reviewed the concepts as well as the practical aspects of working with paper maps and roadbooks. We covered plotting, enduro math, route planning and strategy as Nena Barlow, I4WDTA-certified Master Trainer and owner of Barlow Adventures, led us through a series of exercises and demonstrations to help us improve our navigational skills …
26 February 2025: Today was a day for re-organizing from “roadtrip” mindset to training mode as I prepared to join my Rebelle Rally teammate, Jody DeVere, for some intensive training and rally prep with the Barlow Adventures team for the next several days. We would be focusing on Rebelle skills and the dunes, and it would be a great opportunity for Jody and I to start working together as a team…
25 February 2025: Took some time out to visit with a friend in Tucson before going to a favorite location, Signal Hill, in the Saguaro National Park’s western district. Unfortunately there was some construction going on at the site, but it was still possible to hike up to the petroglyphs on the hill top and look out over the sea of majestic saguaros. From there we got back on the road across Arizona and made it to our destination in Yuma by day’s end …
24 February 2025: In the morning I looked up the location and found that the Mesilla Old Town Plaza is a National Historic Landmark, and I decided to go out and explore around the area a little bit before continuing the route into Arizona. Once back on the road the winds picked up a lot and I could feel the Jeep practically shaking with some of the heavier gusts. The dust was blowing, but we luckily avoided any “white out” dust storm conditions and I made it to Tucson by nightfall…
23 February 2025: A great day wandering across New Mexico, starting from Roswell where the only aliens I saw were the ones decorating my motel. I didn’t linger around town as I had a lot planned for the day and just grabbed a quick photo with the Roswell sign before heading to my first “destination” which was the Three Rivers Petroglyph site, a really amazing concentration of petroglyphs on a rock ridge in “the middle of nowhere” which really makes one ponder the question of “why here”. What was there here before that it became such an important place. The mystery of why and what the etchings mean remains unsolvable, which perhaps is why we are so drawn to them. In any case, I went for a hike among the rocks, slowly climbing and making my way between them, looking for one or two specific ones that I remembered from a previous trip. The weather was perfect, not too windy, not too hot, but a welcoming warm sun and blue skies above. I spent so much time with the petroglyphs I almost didn’t have enough time to visit White Sands National Park, which was a stop I really wanted to make. It was nearing sunset when I got there and I didn’t have time to hike to a good sunset watching location. The park would close soon and so I just decided to make a few photos where I could. It was much more crowded than the last time I was here, and it seemed like there were people everywhere. I needed more time to be able to hike in and find a place where I could experience the solitude (or at least the illusion of solitude) that I crave in spaces like this. Oh well, at least I had a brief moment here. Once the sun dipped below the horizon line I left the park and made my way towards Las Cruces. The last part of the drive was quite spectacular as the road came to a point where we could see all the lights of the city below us. By chance I had decided to stay the night in a part of town called Mesilla without knowing that it was a historically significant location, and I randomly went for dinner at La Posta de Mesilla, a very historic restaurant that had all kinds of different rooms and had the feeling that it was once the kind of “inn” you might find in a caravanserai, with all kinds of characters passing through. The fact that they kept parrots in one of the rooms added to this ambiance, and I was glad to have made the random discovery …
22 February 2025: The weather was finally nice, and we started out in the morning with a quick pilgrimage to the Cadillac Ranch art installation, which remains as popular as ever, though there have been subtle changes to the relationship of the public to the works of art and how the whole site is managed. The old cadillacs themselves seem to be “fortified” with all the layers of paint, that almost forms it’s own textured “skin” covering the steel skeletons of the vehicles. From Amarillo we headed to Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, where we spent some time exploring by vehicle and on foot. The refuge was quiet compared to the Witchita Mountains one. It was closer to midday and there were few animals out and about, however I did see some whitetail deer in the wooded areas. They leaped off as soon as I attempted to photograph them, but I got a few quick shots from a distance. The coolest “sighting” happened when I was on a short hike and looking up thought I saw a big nest in one of the trees — as “nest” is one of the items on our photoquest list for the Nomad Rally, I decided to grab a picture of it, but as I got closer and tried to frame it, I realized it was an animal! I had never seen an animal that looked like that before, but I had recently seen a post online that showed a porcupine and this resembled that image. I got out the big camera and made several photos of it. It was as curious about me as I was about it, and it watched me carefully from its perch in the tree until I finished and left the area. I was really happy with my “discovery” and later confirmed that it was indeed a porcupine. From there we continued on to another area of the refugee where there was supposed to be a prairie dog town, but the land was scarred with signs of a recent fire and there was no wildlife there at all. I felt bad for the little prairie dogs who had lost their homes, but I hoped that they had survived to start a new town somewhere else. We had spent more time at the refuge than planned, and the day was slipping away, so it was time to get back on the road and into New Mexico. We made it as far as Roswell, where we stopped for the night and I booked myself into the Roswell Inn, an alien-themed motel that seemed appropriate for the location…
THIS MONTH:
Roadtrip, heading southwest, for a few months of training, events and exploration in the desert. But first we need to get there, so it’s time to put together a fun route with some cool stops as we drive from New York to Arizona …
COMING UP SOON:
Joining the Barlow Adventures Rebelle Rally training for an intensive sand dune driving and navigation practice at the Imperial Sand Dunes in southern California. This is a seven-day driving and navigation program that focuses on moving safely and effectively through large dunefields with skills-building exercises intended to improve pace, line choice and vehicle control. There is a full classroom day of navigation instruction focused on mapping and understanding the basics of plotting and route planning on paper maps, as well as increasingly challenging in-the-field practice to develop precision map and compass navigation skills. It all culminates in a final day of “chasing checkpoints” out in the big dunes…
Trail Guiding for the California 4-Wheel Drive Association’s fifth annual Death Valley Experience fundraiser event. Each day will feature a choice of runs to some famous, some infamous and some secretive points of interest within Death Valley National Park. Some of the points of interest we may visit during Death Valley Experience 2025 include Zabriskie Point (famous), Barker Ranch (infamous) and the Racetrack (learn the secret of the moving rocks). Other points of interest include Dante’s View, 20 Mule Team Canyon, Artists’ Drive, Chloride Cliffs, Aguereberry Point, Skidoo, Titus Canyon, and Darwin Falls. All of the trail runs are suitable for novice drivers and SUVs with high clearance and 4-wheel drive…
USnomads.org is very proud to be presenting the fourth edition of the Nomad Overland Virtual Adventure Rally in 2025. This is a unique kind of rally experience — a ten week event that participants can do from anywhere within the continental U.S.A. Competitors design their own routes as part of the rally, then drive it in a points-based online competition that includes optional activity tasks, quests and weekly challenges. The 2025 rally will run from 2 June – 10 August and is open to any driver within the United States who has an off-road capable vehicle — stock or modified. Registration for 2025 is currently open. For more information see the Rally website …
This October JoMarie Fecci of USnomads.org will be joining with Jody DeVere of AskPatty.com to form TEAM CELEBRATION, competing in the 10th Anniversary edition of the Rebelle Rally, as Team 111. Team Celebration will be busy in the coming months, training for the great adventures ahead as they hone their driving and navigation skills and prepare for the mental challenges the Rally will bring …
LA POSTA DE MESILLA
Established on Mexico’s northern frontier in 1848, west of the Rio Grande and El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, Mesilla was a small town of vertical log and adobe plaster jacales built along the perimeter of a formal plaza as a means of community defense against area Apaches. With the 1849 discovery of gold in California, the town became a prime location on the southern route to California. By the time of the 1854 Gadsden Purchase when it became part of the U.S. Territory, Mesilla was a hub of culture, transportation and trade. With more than 2,500 residents by the close of the 1860s, Mesilla was the biggest city between San Antonio and San Diego. By the 1870s, it was the county seat and the Mesilla Valley’s leading center of trade. In addition to El Camino Real, the town’s trade connections were maintained through a variety of stage, freight and mail routes, including the Butterfield Overland Mail, San Antonio Mail and Wells Fargo Express. At various times, these operations were based in the town’s “transportation block” at the plaza’s south end. With its theaters, shops, saloons and local color, Mesilla drew visitors from throughout the Southwest and Mexico looking for a good time. Billy the Kid was a frequent Mesilla visitor who spent time as an inmate at the Territorial-style adobe jail and courthouse on the plaza’s southeast corner. More well-mannered visitors stayed across the street at the Corn Exchange Hotel, a rambling, single-story adobe compound with brick coping and parapets and an interior courtyard. Constructed as early as 1854, the building was an important stop on the Butterfield stage line before the hotel opened in 1874. Since 1939, the 10,000-square-foot building has been home to La Posta de Mesilla…
THREE RIVER PETROGLYPHS
The Three Rivers Petroglyphs are outstanding examples of prehistoric Jornada Mogollon rock art dating back to between about 200-1450 AD,. The basaltic ridge rising above the Three Rivers Valley contains over 21,000 petroglyphs, including masks, sunbursts, wildlife, handprints, and geometric designs. The number and concentration of petroglyphs make this one of the largest and most interesting rock art sites in the Southwest. A rugged 0.5-mile trail (Petroglyph Trail) begins at the visitor shelter and links many of the most interesting petroglyphs. Another short trail (Village Trail) begins on the east side of the picnic area and leads to a partially excavated prehistoric village. The Three Rivers Petroglyph Site is one of the few locations in the Southwest set aside solely because of its rock art. It is also one of the few sites giving visitors such direct access to petroglyphs. The number and concentration of petroglyphs here make it one of the largest and most interesting petroglyphs sites in the Southwest…
BUFFALO LAKE NWR
Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge was created as part of the Tierra Blanca Water Conservation Project, when the USDA purchased these lands to develop a water supply and to provide recreation for the region. The Umbarger Dam was built in 1938 creating Buffalo Lake with water diverted from Tierra Blanca Creek, which was supplied by runoff from rain and natural springs. Utilized by significant numbers of waterfowl and other migratory birds on the Central Flyway, the arid landscape became even more valuable with the creation of the lake. In 1958, the project was transferred to the Department of Interior and one year later became the Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge. In the 1970s, Tierra Blanca Creek and the natural springs that fed into it dried up due to over consumption for agriculture and urban uses. Today, Buffalo Lake is typically dry and only receives water during major storms that flood Tierra Blanca Creek. Though its namesake lake is dry, the 7,664-acre refuge encompasses a variety of habitats important to many species of wildlife, including short grass prairie, riparian, and woodland habitats. Visitors can enjoy wildlife-dependent recreation, including wildlife watching and photography, environmental interpretation and education, and hiking. There is also an auto tour road that permits visitors to enjoy the different habitats of the refuge and see wildlife along the way…
Nesconset | Paris | Belgrade | Oklahoma City | Lawton | Amarillo | Yuma | Phoenix | Sedona | Las Vegas | Death Valley
MORE NOTES FROM THE ROAD:
15-21 February – Roadtrip SW
1-14 February – New York
January – Paris
23-31 December – Holiday Roadtrip
16-22 December – Holiday Roadtrip
18-15 December – New York
8-30 November – New York
1-7 November – Roadtrip South
23-31 October – Roadtrip South
15-22 October – Roadtrip South
8-14 October – Roadtrip South
1-7 October – Roadtrip South
September – New York
August – New York
26-31 March – Eastbound
20-25 March – NM
15-19 March – DVE
9-14 March – AZ
1-8 March – NV & AZ
23-29 February – Glamis
Archive
ROADTRIP
An epic journey crisscrossing the USA from east to west and back again, exploring some of the beautiful wild spaces that make up our “public lands.” The roadtrip covered almost 15,000 miles, much of it off-grid and off-pavement, focusing on the deserts of the American southwest. Some locations were truly “iconic” while others were little known, and the segments of independent exploration where punctuated with some fun events across the region… [read]
SPECIAL REPORT
All about exploring ghost towns and abandoned places in the USA and beyond, with tips, and information on the many different types of sites to be found across the globe, including detailed guides for eight specific sites… [read]
LOCATION
This installment of a series that focuses on locations around the USA takes a look at some favorite places near our home base in NY. We share a few places we like to explore, where you can experience something of the raw natural beauty of coastal beaches, pine barrens and a little bit of obscure military history… [read]
