The Road Goes On…

Category: New Mexico

Gila Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico to Silver City, New Mexico

What a treat the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument was!

The Mogollon people inhabited this area and the caves temporarily between 1270 to 1300. Some artifacts, such as old corn cobs and cave paintings remain. A nearby visitor centre houses some pottery, arrow heads, tools and jewelry. A video at the visitor centre gives a good introduction to the people who lived in this area.

Since our schedule isn’t fixed and our final route isn’t planned, we have the option to adapt to suggestions from local people. In today’s case we took the advice of a Park Ranger and visited the town of Pinos Altos. The town was built up in 1860 during a gold rush and Ranger’s tip was to go for steak dinner at the Buckhorn Saloon. The establishment has been used as a saloon since its inception in 1860. We arrived at 2PM but no steaks were available until dinner service started at 5PM.

We were so intrigued, we waited until 5PM sharp and then had a fabulous dinner.

It was amazing to see how this almost ghost town came to life in the evening through this restaurant attracting visitors from near and far.

We made it to Silver City, found a very nice city campground with a great pet walk and an even better laundry room where we washed all our dirty clothes.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 5, 2015
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico to Gila Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico

The morning started with another soak in the hot springs followed by a surf in the Rio Grande at the end of a waterski rope. What a thrill!

It was difficult to say good-bye to this wonderful, tranquil place but had to move on. Our destination was the Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument. Our drive took us through Hillsboro, an almost ghost town, and beautiful mountain scenery from desert to lush forests.

The weather changed from sunny to dramatically cloudy which made for an even more adventurous journey.

We arrived at the cliff dwellings at 4:30pm, too late to start a tour. We were able to stay at the Upper Scorpion campground, just a few steps from the start of the tour for free. We talked to our camping neighbours until it got dark and the bugs came out in full force.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 4, 2015
Las Cruses, New Mexico to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Walmart’s auto centre seemed such a logical place to get an oil change done on our generator. Our generator is getting lots of use this year as we run it when parked to produce the electricity needed to run the air conditioner that keeps Pepsi cool when we aren’t at a campsite. It took about an hour to get the answer that Walmart couldn’t do this. Luckily there was a Camping World in El Paso (about 50kms from us) and they said they’d squeeze us in in the afternoon. So, off we went and arrived at about 11AM. Everyone was very friendly at the store, Pepsi was welcomed with a treat and Ruth with a coffee. We explored the store and after having gone through all the aisles, we settled into the canteen area which has some tables, chairs and most importantly, free (slow) internet to write the last two days of blog entries.

The hours rolled by and finally we saw our van come back into the parking lot. Unfortunately, bad news. The service tech had changed the oil in the vehicle engine and not the generator. Off it went into the service bay again. By this time, 6 hours had elapsed and we were starving and bored.

Finally, the van came out again for the second time and we said goodbye to Jami, the wonderful receptionist who had made friends with Pepsi and was the source of many doggie treats.

Happy that everything was finally done, we climbed back into the van and decided to just “test” everything before we left. The generator started just fine, but the air-conditioner now showed an error message. Only another 15 minutes later, the system was reset and we were on our way. Another receptionist had recommended a fabulous Mexican restaurant nearby called The Rose Garden. We went there for lunch/dinner at 5:30pm and were not disappointed.

Our plan for the evening was to stay at a hot springs resort in Truth or Consequences (yes, the town is really called that). Back on I-25, there is a border services checkpoint where all vehicles must stop and our conversation with the officer went like this:

Border Agent: Canadians?
Us: Yup.
Border Agent: Where are you heading?
Us: Truth or Consequences
Border Agent: Have fun!

We made it to the Riverbend Hot Springs just in time to see the sunset make the mountain across the Rio Grande glow. As darkness fell, we sat in the hot springs and could forget about the hours at Camping World and enjoy a soothing evening.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 3, 2015
Carlsbad, New Mexico to Las Cruses, New Mexico

It was finally time to leave Carlsbad and move onto Roswell. Roswell is famous for an alleged UFO crash in 1947. Debris from the saucer and four dead aliens were reported to have been removed by the military. The military stated it was just a weather balloon that had crashed, but the International UFO Museum and Research Centre has documents from those involved that suggest it might not have been a weather balloon after all.

After touring the museum we drove west on US-70. The drive takes you along a very fertile oasis with fields, trees and cattle. The road becomes more mountainous and we climbed higher than 2000 meters above sea level. On the way down into the plains, the weather changed from sunshine to rain. Big clouds made the ride more interesting.

When the sun came out again we stopped at McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch for pistachio and pecan samples and had a huge ice-cream. We also got to see how pistachios grow on trees!

Our next stop was White Sands National Monument. The weather was a combination of sun and cloud which made for amazing skies and provided numerous picture taking opportunities.

We would have liked to have spent the night in the park but only primitive camping with a tent was permitted. Sadly we had to move on but still had a final impression in the rear-view mirror.

We made it to Walmart in Las Cruses for the night and found a really quiet spot next to the auto and garden centre.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 2, 2015
Carlsbad, New Mexico (Day 2)

Day 2 at our KOA campground began surprisingly lazily. We had a leisurely breakfast, took Pepsi for a non-rushed walk, admired all the bunnies on the campground and then took our time to write our last two blog entries.

After lunch we made our way to Sitting Bull Falls. The drive was interesting. The roads became smaller, steeper and more winding as we moved into the Lincoln National Forest area. We were not only welcomed by two cows lining the road, but also by very dark clouds and lightning.

The signs, “Don’t Enter When Flooded” became a lot more significant to us. When we were surrounded by three thunderstorms we considered turning back but pressed on instead through the beautiful mountain area.

We were well rewarded. Sitting Bull Falls is 130 feet high and has lovely pools for swimming that create an oasis in this desert-like surrounding.

After our swim in the cool water we had a long talk with Ranger Zane Corman about trails, caves and above all, mountain lions and snakes, a definite reality in this area. We learned that mountain lions cowardly attack from behind and that rattlesnakes do not necessarily rattle before they bite and that they are able to leap the length of their body.

Dinner was at Lucy’s Mexicali Restaurant, an extremely busy Mexican restaurant in Carlsbad. It was definitely worth the wait.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 1, 2015
Carlsbad, New Mexico

Today was learning day. First we went on an educational tour at the Living Desert Zoo and Garden and familiarized ourselves with the local plants and animals.

We had seen quite a bit of the vegetation already but knew most of the animals only by name, and for some of them, this was a good thing. We aren’t particularly eager to see mountain lions, bobcats, rattlesnakes up close and personal in the wild.

The cutest animals were definitely the prairie dogs – curious and affectionate.

Once back in our air-conditioned van, we joined Pepsi for rice salad lunch and lots of water before we began our second learning experience at the Carlsbad Caverns.

We very much enjoyed the drive up into the Guadalupe Mountains. The cavern is located at 3599 feet above sea level. Pepsi spent a relatively quiet time at the kennel provided at the information centre and we decided to hike the Natural Entrance into the cavern, walking down 800 feet over the course of a mile.

A walk that should have taken 1.5 hours, took us quite a bit longer because at every turn there was a new amazing view that just needed to be photographed.

Once down 800 feet, there is the Big Room which is a magical place with a feast for the eyes.

We spent quite a lot of time there taking pictures and left only because we were totally exhausted and had to pick up Pepsi before the kennel closed.

The evening program was still to follow. The caverns are home to between 24,000 and 1.5 million bats (depending on the year and season) and they go hunting each night. The National Park Service has a free evening bat watching program where a ranger gives a half-hour interactive presentation about myths and truths about bats and then the audience gets to watch, in silence, as the bats exit the cavern and fly over their heads. Cameras, alas, were not permitted.

Totally beat, we drove back to our campground and arrived at 10PM.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

July 31, 2015
Junction, Texas to Carlsbad, New Mexico

Today was supposed to be a driving day. Would we make it to New Mexico?

We woke up to the squawking of geese swimming down our river. It really was a beautiful campground and we were sad we didn’t have a chance to use the smoker that was provided at each site.

I-10 was not as boring as we had thought. It showed us the changing landscape from ranches to desert. Seeing this, Martin was adamant that it was time for Mexican food again. According to the exit sign at Ozona, there was a Mexican restaurant to be visited. We drove through Ozona, but weren’t able to find the advertised Mexican restaurant and were about to head back to I-10 when we spotted a bright blue canopy with a number of young women selling food to a long lineup of people. The sign said “Taquitos” and we immediately stopped and lined up and waited for original home cooked Mexican food, in support of a youth group trip to San Antonio.

After leaving Ozona, we entered an area of Texas that has a lot of oil and gas development. The other drivers drove fast and often aggressively and there was a lot of dust.

We made it safely to New Mexico and selected the Carlsbad KOA to camp at. There are bunnies everywhere and we have to keep Pepsi on a short leash. There is a dog run near our site and Pepsi learned to crawl through tunnels and was coaxed to try the seesaw. She is a motivated and fast learner.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

July 30, 2015
Grants, NM to Navajo, AZ

Hurray, we made it to Arizona! —-well, not until the evening and just past the State Border (ca. 20-30 miles in)

But first we visited the New Mexico Mining Museum in Grants. They even had a reconstructed Uranium Mine and a very knowledgable retired mining expert as guide.

Now we really booted it towards Arizona, or that’s what we thought. We stopped 10 minutes later for some pictures of breathtaking scenery which Martin captured in one of his panoramas.

The we reached the Continental Divide and no, we didn’t pour water on both sides to see that it runs to the Atlantic on the Eastern side and to the Pacific on the Western side.

But we started our shopping spree of Navajo arts and we couldn’t stop the shopping accidents for quite some time. Even during our lunch break at Earl’s Family Restaurant at Gallup, where local craftspeople offered their art right at the table. A lot of deciding was done and some pretty items purchased, but the delicious burritos were still enjoyed very much.

Gallup is an interesting town with theatre, city hall, etc. but most prominent are the many, many stores of native art and western accessories. And yes, we had to purchase some of these … a cowboy hat for Martin and boots for both of us.

After a quick stop at Walmart, our favourite “watering hole” we finally left the state and entered Arizona at a time when the Visiter Centre was closed already. Now we are sitting at a gas station/truck stop with the big boys but we don’t dare to wear our cowboy boots yet!

© OpenStreetMap contributors

June 10, 2013
Albuquerque, NM to Grants, NM

We were still unable, despite all our good intentions, to leave New Mexico! The motto of the State really seems to haunt us: Land of Enchantment, although some of the locals call it Land of Entrapment. But we are still enchanted and don’t feel the danger of being trapped yet, the RV was still moving west.

Driving through beautiful red rock formations, visiting a couple more abandoned gas stations and motels i.e. in Budville we made it to El Malpais National Monument where we crawled through a lava tube, not easy with two cameras and a scared dog that needed to be lifted down off some of the larger rocks by Martin.

After this sweat inducing endeavour we first climbed up the Bandera Volcano and looked into the immense crater and then had a chance to cool down at a nearby ice cave which has 20 feet thick ice all year round. Gusty wither winds and snow replenish the water which forms into ice and remains this way because of the rule, warm air rises, cold air falls. Summer heat never enters the cave. Ice cream time was to follow, which we really deserved since we were dusty, sweaty, tired and hungry.

The only flop of this great day, driving through forests in the 7.000 feet range in brilliant weather with great sights was the fact that we arrived at 5:15 pm at El Morro National Monument for 1/2 a mile hike to the petroglyphs depicting 700 years of human activity when the trail closed at 5 pm. We were so disappointed that we even refused to watch the movie. We retraced our steps back to Grants and stayed at a lovely KOA RV site with free breakfast and optional home cooked dinner delivered to the camp site at a reasonable price, what a treat!!! Turkey Dinner with all the fixings, HMMM!

© OpenStreetMap contributors

June 9, 2013
Elephant Butte, NM to Albuquerque, NM

After a good night sleep due to our hot springs relaxation day we had a long talk with a gentleman from Britain who helped us to delay our departure from New Mexico yet again. He suggested we visit Chloride, a former Ghost Town turned open air museum through the initiative of Dana and Don who fell in love with this old silver mining town when they first saw it on a vacation trip. They began buying up the buildings and began the renovations of each and every one without the financial help of the government or any other organization. The greatest find was the old general store which was locked up and closed for ca. 50 years with all the merchandise, equipment, furniture, safe and ledgers still in it. Going into this store is like entering a time capsule.

From there we visited the small town of Winston which was buzzing with cowboys and cowgirls because it was fiesta time with country and western music, pulled beef and beans, belt buckles, Stetsons, cowboy boots and the occasional horse.
Now it was time to finally return to Albuquerque. We returned to Robert’s Neon Shop and started a great evening program. First we drove up to the Sandia Peak, 10,678 feet high and enjoyed the spectacular view and the cool breeze, a nice change after a long day in the heat of up to 38 degrees celsius.

Afterwards there was no time for beautification, we set out to go to Ned’s Bar and Grill to see and hear Robert’s friend Raven and her band singing the Blues (and a bit if Jimi Hendrix, thank you Robert!). After some Mexican Food and Jack Daniels we made it out of this place at 1:30am! Time to sleep at Walmart again.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

June 8, 2013