2/8 - I was in Texas for 3 weeks. Like, Florida, that hadn't been my plan, but then again, I don't really have a plan other than getting to visit friends and family, heading to the four corners states, and heading back to NY for Monika and Laurel's wedding at the end of June. Recently, I was looking at FB and saw a post from a friend I met along the way and she's in Mexico and it looks like she's having a wonderful time! I considered heading down there and forgetting all my plans, but I decided not this year. Maybe this was the year to do it as this seems like a super cold winter! Right now (2/11), I am in Roswell, NM and it is SNOWING! RIght now, I do wish I had gone down there, but then I would have missed out on Carlsbad Caverns and meeting some good folks and everything coming up!
I had my first BLM stay in NM at Sunset Reef campground. This one actually had a pit toilet (with toilet paper!), picnic tables with covers, and plenty of garbage cans. It was nice and clean! I'm not going to expect such things in the future. There was another area nearby called Chosa, but I guess that one didn't have a toilet. It's always nice to be somewhere where I can dump my pee jug. So far, I haven't emptied it outside of a toilet or dump station - well maybe once.
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| Sunset |
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| Sunset |
2/9 - Went to Carlsbad Caverns. When Steve and I were in NM so many years ago, we wanted to come here, but it was just too far for the time we had, so 30 years later I made it. It really is absolutely amazing. It is about 75 stories down (I walked down, but wished I had walked up instead) and the big room is larger than 6 football fields. It is crazy to know there is stuff like this under the earth that we walk on. I wonder how much more these is that hasn't been discovered. Can you imagine discovering something like this? I also cannot imagine how much it cost to put the infrastructure for us to tour it. Elevator and all those paths and the lighting. Also emergency phones. It is pretty incredible. I kept saying I was going to stop taking pictures, but I couldn't seem to help it. Of course, these are just some random ones I selected from the 100+ that I took.
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| Entrance and where the bats leave from in season. |
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| This photo is horizontal. It is the stalactites that are at an angle. These are on an enormous "iceberg" that fell many years ago. |
Sunset back at the campground.
2/10 - We drove over an hour to go to Sitting Bull Falls, which I read was amazing. An oasis in the desert. I didn't have any other plans, so we went. It really was amazing. It was also super windy and I moved my van twice to avoid having my van blow over in the wind! I'm so glad I went as it really was a special place and not many other people there, so we could enjoy it totally alone. These falls are from a spring.
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| This would be fun to cool off in the summer. |
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| From a hike to the top of the falls |
The door to my "garage" isn't staying closed on these bumpy roads so it gets pretty noisy. It seems that the door has warped, so I'm not sure what to do about that. For now, I made a door stop out of napkins that seems to be working. It's frustrating, but also to be expected to have little troubles.
I considered driving to White Sands area from Sitting Bull Falls, but it would have taken me through SNOW, so I decided to go to Roswell and stay at the Red Barn RV park to wait out the upcoming snow and frigid temps. Apparently they rarely get snow here, but this seems to be the year for these cold anomalies, at least while I'm passing through. I woke this morning to ice on my windows and snow. I wasn't expecting so much! Tonight is supposed to go down to 21 - was 23, but keeps dropping... I have my hot water heater on, which seems to keep the water compartment warm. I got an indoor/outdoor thermometer so that I can monitor the temp in there. It is placed fairly close to the hot water heater, but last night it was about 53, so hopefully tonight it will stay above freezing. Last time it was 20, I don't think I had the hot water heater going (I didn't used to until I realized that it really doesn't pull much power) and I opened the door to the garage and also to the water compartment. This time, since it is cold out already, I don't want to open the back area to rearrange everything so that I can open it. 🤞🤞🤞 Also, last time, the space heater couldn't keep up, so I may set it tonight so that it's running full on when I go to bed so that it doesn't have a chance to cool down. I can't remember if it was windy last time - I think it was, but it is supposed to be calm tonight.
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| Cute little RV park. It's right on the road, but it's quiet enough. The owner is great and the barn is awesome for hanging out. |
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| Lovely view when I opened the shade |
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| pecan trees |
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| inside the barn where Zoe and I hung out for several hours today. |
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| Look who's watching us through the window. Zoe looks a bit concerned. |
Last night I cooked up a Marie Calendars chicken pot pie in my oven. Lee, the owner, had a bunch of individuals for free and I figured I'd try it (I don't normally eat things like that). It was actually quite good, but over 600 calories. I didn't eat most of the crust, so I doubt it was too bad. This morning I cooked up my favorite breakfast of over easy egg on toast with avocado and melted gouda. Yum, but a lot of work and cleaning. I decided that today would be a good day to do that because I wasn't going anywhere. And tonight I'm making my chickpea instant pot curry again. I don't have any fresh ginger, so dried will have to do. Wow, this is more cooking in one stretch than I've done ever!
I plan to leave tomorrow and head towards White Sands via Ruidoso. Thankfully it is supposed to warm up fairly quickly and be sunny, so the drive should be OK. A part of me would like to stay here another day to do nothing or maybe do something here. It seems crazy that I'm not going to do anything during my stay here... Checkout is 11 and I'm feeling like that will be a rush as I'll want to shower and maybe add some water. It is likely to be muddy and/or icy, so I might not be interested in walking Zoe.
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| I just had to add these. Zoe is so cute when seeing me in the mirror. "Wait - how can you be in both places at the same time???" |
2/12 - Departed Roswell around noon and drove to Ruidoso. We walked around town, which was a bit of a snowy, splashy mess. The town is a cute ski village with a view of the mountain. We stopped in and had lunch at The Village Buttery and the woman took pity on me and Zoe. She said we couldn't eat in there, so I ordered takeout, but then she felt bad because it was so cold out and allowed us to sit in the corner. Zoe did pretty well hiding away with only a few whines. I pretty much had her cornered so that she couldn't go anywhere. She is such a good dog, but she does have a problem with impulse control. She is 100% focused on cleaning the floor whenever we're in a restaurant and it's quite annoying. I suppose I should do some dog training... 😀
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| Copilot finally on the job |
After leaving Ruidoso, we headed towards Alamogordo/White Sands area. The mountains are so beautiful! Using iOverlander/Campendium, I found a spot only 3 miles from White Sands. Reviews were great and it's on a "lake". I put lake in "" because it's an evaporation pool for waste water from the AFB. Sounds gross and I wouldn't allow Zoe anywhere near it, but it doesn't smell and though the first night it had a bit of scum on the top. Despite the waste water bit, it's a beautiful spot to camp.
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| Parking spot for the night or 2. And it's free! |
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| Morning view |
2/13 - Headed to White Sands. It is so bizarre to find all this lovely white sand piled up to play in. Zoe and I did a 2 mile hike, which was a bit long for Zoe. Though it was cool, the sun was strong and there was no wind. She did OK, but dragged for the last bit. Of course I had plenty of water for her!
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The white stuff in front of the mountains is actually White Sands National Monument. It just looks like a whole bunch of white sand dumped on the landscape. It's really weird.
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White Sands used to be a lake until about 10,000 years ago. The lushness of the area attracted giant mammoths and some of the first humans on the continent. The scientists are unearthing footprints of humans on the lake's mudflats that date back 23,000 years. Imagine finding these - how cool!
Also, there is water about 1.5 feet down below the sand, which is what keeps it from blowing away.
Just before leaving, I decided to try another hike. There was a van parked near mine and I noticed the VT plate, so I was psyched when I saw it's owner come back to her van while I was there. Tifin and I chatted for quite a while and I told her about where I was staying (I had decided I'd go back since it was getting late) and she decided to join us. She is over 10 years younger than me and has lived a super interesting life, having lived in Brazil, Switzerland, Tunisia, and more and now is living full time in her van. She works in a program to make learning math fun, rather than the chore it is for many kids. She's quite impressive.
I booked an outdoor hot spring for that evening. I figured, with it being Valentine's day that there wouldn't be openings, but we were able to get a spot. It was lovely with the cool evening and the stars. Ahhh.
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| I had some time to kill while Tifin was working before our soak, so Zoe and I dropped in at the local brewery for a relaxing brew. |
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| Zoe asking if she can go back inside. |
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| Cute town, view from the brewery patio |
I wasn't expecting much from this town, but I found it to be really cute and colorful. I could see spending a bit more time there.
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| Tifin and Zoe |
2/15 - Tifin agreed to help me out to try to figure out where the rattle is in my dash (?) on the passenger side of the van. She is the third person I've had ride in the van and in none of the times did the rattle appear. It is so frustrating in that it is inconsistent and thus I can't reproduce it. I wonder if it could be in the seat, but it really sounds like it's in the dash. And without a passenger, I sometimes don't hear it. And then other times, it is so loud and so annoying. She did help find a squeak that I thought might have been my faucet, but it's in the little pantry, so I'll have to work on that. The top drawer has been wonky from day one and I think it's that. The door to my garage (from the inside) seems to be warped now and won't stay closed, so that makes a bunch of noise too... I'm trying to decide how to deal with that one...
After Tifin and I parted, she was heading north towards Santa Fe, I headed West towards Silver City and City of Rocks State Park. I had to take Route 152, which I knew was a pass through the mountains, but wow, this took a lot of concentration with the tight turns and big dropoffs! I was exhausted by the time I got to the other side.
I didn't have time to go to Silver City, so I went right to City of Rocks SP, where I had made a reservation the night before. I guess I picked a good site as it was level and in the rocks. Who knew that a bunch of rocks could be this cool??? Zoe and I had a lot of fun hiking around the city, which almost feels like walking around a European city with the narrow roads and alleys.
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| That's the city of rocks |
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| Campsite |
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| Another view from the site |
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| Another view of the campsite. Very cool |
Photos walking through the city of rocks
Sunset from perched atop from rocks
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| Sunrise from my window. 😀 |
2/16 - Zoe and I hiked Table Mountain trail. We went around 9 so it was still quite cool and Zoe did really well. I think her feet have toughened up as she didn't seem too tenderfooted. The trail is almost 4 miles total. With probably only another 1/4 mile to go, I decided to turn around as the last bit was fairly steep and I was worried I'd push her too far. It's a long way back if she's struggling! I do think that she would have been OK to do it, but I just try to do what's best for my pup.
After that, we went to Silver City and walked around. It is a big art town with many galleries.
We wandered through a couple of them, but mostly walked around town and then headed to the Buckhorn Saloon and Opera House in Pinos Altos about 10 min north of Silver City. I thought this might have been the place that Steve and I went to 30 or so years ago, but I'm not sure. I ended up having dinner at the bar and enjoying the warmth of the real fire in the fireplace. It is a cool old building and they rebuilt the Opera House to look like it had in it's day. The Saloon originally opened in the 1860s.
I hadn't planned on where I was going to stay that night and a woman who worked at the Saloon asked her boyfriend for recommendations. I tried going down the road he suggested, but it looked muddy and steep. Since the recent snow, there were still many places not dried out, and I wasn't about to get stuck if I could help it. So, I headed up the windy road of 15 looking for some National Forest spots, but they were closed and for good reason! So, I turned around and went to an RV park for the night in Pinos Altos. It was certainly nothing fancy, but it was quiet and I plugged in and used my electric heater and had a great shower in the morning. It was clean and had plenty of water pressure (without blasting me out like in Roswell) and was hot too. Ahh, the joy of a good shower!
When I was at City of Rocks SP, they said that if you were going to go to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, you shouldn't take Rte 15, which is the direct route because it is narrow, curvy, and it had snowed a bit ago. Since I was already in Pinos Altos, which is in 15, I wanted to go that way (much shorter), but was anxious due to what they had said. This really caused me way too much stress. In the end, I did go that way and yes, it was curvy and narrow with drop offs at points, but it wasn't too bad and I only saw a couple of cars.
So, after a looong 37 mile drive (took almost 2 hours!), we arrived at the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. It was really cool walking around their homes from over 700 years ago. There are a lot of unknowns, like why they left, as they were only there for a few generations. The caves were obviously created by water wearing away the softer stone, but then the Mogollan people built their homes inside the caves. There is a small stream (at least small when I was there) and the nearby Gila river that brought these people because with water there are plants and animals for the humans to survive on. You can see how they stored the corn that they would grind up. It is pretty amazing to find and be able to explore such a gem.
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| All the cave ceilings were covered with black soot |
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| wood struts for the roof |
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| I'm sure this was where they ground things in those worn holes |
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| corn (from over 700 years ago) in the storage bin |
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| What a great spot! |
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| Amazing sunset with the mountains |
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| The flickering lights of Lordsburg. They were so pretty! |
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| Morning views |
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| OUCH!!! These are some killer prickers! |
So, I was in New Mexico for only 11 days, which is not enough for this lovely state, but my plan is to visit northern NM when things warm up a bit. So, onto Arizona today!
Great story, interesting places!
ReplyDeleteThanks, John!
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