March 10 to 16, 2006
We made our way on north to Elephant Butte which is also the name of a lake that is the largest lake in New Mexico. Elephant is a small town but it and the town right next to it, Truth or Consequences both cater to the snow birds. There are many RV parks in the area. There are several ghost towns and mining towns around this area, also hot springs and many museums. We will be here for a week and plan to take in the sites. The wind blew hard with even harder wind gusts the first four days we were here. So hard we just pretty much stayed home. Yesterday was a very nice day and we went into an area where there are several ghost towns, or nearly so. They are the remains of silver mines in the area. One, Chloride, has a very nice museum. This museum is located in the old Pioneer Store, a general merchandise store that one day just closed up and left everything in the store. It remained there for many years. One of the things that made this museum so very good was a lady who owns it along with her parents. She knows all the history of the area and they have purchased several pieces of property which have many items to add to the museum. She spent some time telling the story of the town and towns’ people. Upon leaving there we drove up a road (trail?) which led to the mines but never did find them. However it was a beautiful drive. Again today the wind blew too hard to go anywhere. We worked on things around the house and walked in the afternoon. Today the weather was great and was a beautiful day to go to Silver City. The mountain vistas were just gorgeous and the highway quite interesting. For anyone who is familiar with Deals Gap road in Tennessee, this road we were on today has many more turns. For those who are not familiar with Deals Gap road, it is a treacherous section of road that bikers like to drive as fast as they can. For about 30 miles, it was turn after turn with 10 to 25 MPH speed limits. It is not a well traveled road which is good. Near Santa Rita is a copper mine and it is huge. Mounds of overburden as high as a mountain and deep deep holes where the copper was removed are along the road we traveled. We would like to come back to this area another time. The city of Silver City is very clean and an enjoyable place to visit with many interesting shops in their “old” downtown. We walked around some and then had to get back on those curvy roads again to make our way home.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Thursday, March 09, 2006
March 9, 2006
We left Carlsbad at 6:30 with temperature at 47 degrees. That is the coldest it has been in some time. We headed north on 285 to Artesia and then turned west on 82 where we began to feel the wind pushing us around. We are headed for Almosagorda and have to cross the Guadalupe mountains. A sign we just passed warned of steep grades at Cloudcraft which is near a ski resort. We can see the mountains about 40 miles away. We are beginning our assent and the hills are quite beautiful with small cedar trees and cacti and yucca. There is a small stream of clear mountain water running along the highway.
Now we are in a little valley where the brush and cacti have been cleared and cattle are grazing and next to the pasture is a huge apple orchard covering many acres. Next we passed a sheep farm. The pastures seem to be pretty green so the rainfall here must be better. This fertile valley runs for several miles. It is not what we expected out here in this desert like country of New Mexico. WE just passed through Cloudcraft. They have very nice ski slopes and a nice village with very modern schools, both elementary and high school. As we leave we realize how very high up we were. We are going down, the sign warns, for 15 miles. We can see the valley below way off in the distance. We are now in the valley between 2 mountain ranges. The wind is not blowing so we are going to head on to Las Cruces to stay at a Wal-Mart there. When we were up high and could see the valley there was an area that looked white that we could not see what it was. Now that we are coming up on it we see that it is White Sands National Monument, a very large sand box! Tee hee. We drove into the park and took a one mile walk in the sand dunes. It is quite amazing. The sand is very, very fine and is formed from a very old dried up lake which now has gypsum crystals in it. These gypsum crystals break up and blow away when the wind blows, thus the sand dunes. We were able to see some of the crystal pieces laying in the sand. The climate here is very dry. A tour guide told us they had ¼ inch of rain not too long ago and that was all they had had since October. We must travel through the San Andres Mountains on our way to Las Cruces. From a distance they are quite beautiful. It is amazing that we can see so much diverse landscape in the short distance we have traveled today. Isn’t God’s creation marvelous and amazing? Thanks be to God. We are staying at Walmart in Las Cruces. It is a fairly new Walmart. Across the interstate is a big mall and there is every kind of business possible in this area.
We left Carlsbad at 6:30 with temperature at 47 degrees. That is the coldest it has been in some time. We headed north on 285 to Artesia and then turned west on 82 where we began to feel the wind pushing us around. We are headed for Almosagorda and have to cross the Guadalupe mountains. A sign we just passed warned of steep grades at Cloudcraft which is near a ski resort. We can see the mountains about 40 miles away. We are beginning our assent and the hills are quite beautiful with small cedar trees and cacti and yucca. There is a small stream of clear mountain water running along the highway.
Now we are in a little valley where the brush and cacti have been cleared and cattle are grazing and next to the pasture is a huge apple orchard covering many acres. Next we passed a sheep farm. The pastures seem to be pretty green so the rainfall here must be better. This fertile valley runs for several miles. It is not what we expected out here in this desert like country of New Mexico. WE just passed through Cloudcraft. They have very nice ski slopes and a nice village with very modern schools, both elementary and high school. As we leave we realize how very high up we were. We are going down, the sign warns, for 15 miles. We can see the valley below way off in the distance. We are now in the valley between 2 mountain ranges. The wind is not blowing so we are going to head on to Las Cruces to stay at a Wal-Mart there. When we were up high and could see the valley there was an area that looked white that we could not see what it was. Now that we are coming up on it we see that it is White Sands National Monument, a very large sand box! Tee hee. We drove into the park and took a one mile walk in the sand dunes. It is quite amazing. The sand is very, very fine and is formed from a very old dried up lake which now has gypsum crystals in it. These gypsum crystals break up and blow away when the wind blows, thus the sand dunes. We were able to see some of the crystal pieces laying in the sand. The climate here is very dry. A tour guide told us they had ¼ inch of rain not too long ago and that was all they had had since October. We must travel through the San Andres Mountains on our way to Las Cruces. From a distance they are quite beautiful. It is amazing that we can see so much diverse landscape in the short distance we have traveled today. Isn’t God’s creation marvelous and amazing? Thanks be to God. We are staying at Walmart in Las Cruces. It is a fairly new Walmart. Across the interstate is a big mall and there is every kind of business possible in this area.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
March 7 & 8 2006
We are heading for Carlsbad, NM today. As soon as we left Ft. Stockton heading north there is not a tree in sight, only brush. In the distance to the west we can see mountains which were not visible from Walmart’s parking lot. It is only 130 miles to Carlsbad. Our plan is to stay there for 2 days. We just passed a dairy farm, a big one, with many, many acres of irrigated crop land for feed for the cows. Looked unusual out here in the desert. We arrived at our campground about mid-day and soon went to “check out” the town, find a Walmart and stock up on groceries. Today is our anniversary, 41 years, so we went to out to eat at a Mexican place. It was just so so food. We have had better and worse. On Wednesday we went Carlsbad Cavern. We have been to many caves over the years and this one has some big rooms and interesting formations. We did get some good pictures. Today the wind began to blow in the morning and by evening it was 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40. The weatherman says it is supposed to die down tonight and begin to blow again tomorrow afternoon. So we plan to get an early start tomorrow and be at our next destination before it starts up again. The temperatures here have been quite warm and a cold front moving through to the north is causing the high winds.
We are heading for Carlsbad, NM today. As soon as we left Ft. Stockton heading north there is not a tree in sight, only brush. In the distance to the west we can see mountains which were not visible from Walmart’s parking lot. It is only 130 miles to Carlsbad. Our plan is to stay there for 2 days. We just passed a dairy farm, a big one, with many, many acres of irrigated crop land for feed for the cows. Looked unusual out here in the desert. We arrived at our campground about mid-day and soon went to “check out” the town, find a Walmart and stock up on groceries. Today is our anniversary, 41 years, so we went to out to eat at a Mexican place. It was just so so food. We have had better and worse. On Wednesday we went Carlsbad Cavern. We have been to many caves over the years and this one has some big rooms and interesting formations. We did get some good pictures. Today the wind began to blow in the morning and by evening it was 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40. The weatherman says it is supposed to die down tonight and begin to blow again tomorrow afternoon. So we plan to get an early start tomorrow and be at our next destination before it starts up again. The temperatures here have been quite warm and a cold front moving through to the north is causing the high winds.
Monday, March 06, 2006
March 6,2006
We are on the way west and planning to stay at a Walmart in Ft. Stockton, TX if possible. We have not had much luck lately with Walmart allowing us to stay. We are on a highway that heads north up to I-10. There are many ranches with big houses along this road. A lot of them are sitting up high on a hill and most all have a fancy gated entrance. We don’t see many cattle but it is not crop land – too hilly. This is barren country. Miles and miles of good for nothing land. I-10 highway is 850 miles across in Texas. The small towns are few and far between but the interstate highway in this part is in pretty good shape. Walmart is our home for the night along with at least 20 other RV’s and 1 big rig truck. It was quite a sight. It is not a Super Walmart so we could not buy groceries there. A Beales Outlet store si just across the street so we went shopping. They have name brand good quality clothes at discounted prices. We usually find something we like for us or our grand daughter. They carry lots of other stuff too depending on the size of the store. We have seen these stores all over the south. We each bought some clothing for ourselves since we live a bargain.
We are on the way west and planning to stay at a Walmart in Ft. Stockton, TX if possible. We have not had much luck lately with Walmart allowing us to stay. We are on a highway that heads north up to I-10. There are many ranches with big houses along this road. A lot of them are sitting up high on a hill and most all have a fancy gated entrance. We don’t see many cattle but it is not crop land – too hilly. This is barren country. Miles and miles of good for nothing land. I-10 highway is 850 miles across in Texas. The small towns are few and far between but the interstate highway in this part is in pretty good shape. Walmart is our home for the night along with at least 20 other RV’s and 1 big rig truck. It was quite a sight. It is not a Super Walmart so we could not buy groceries there. A Beales Outlet store si just across the street so we went shopping. They have name brand good quality clothes at discounted prices. We usually find something we like for us or our grand daughter. They carry lots of other stuff too depending on the size of the store. We have seen these stores all over the south. We each bought some clothing for ourselves since we live a bargain.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
February 27 to March 5, 2006
It is a beautiful day. We got away about 9:30 and made it through San Antonio and on to Castroville. We have reservations at the Regional Park in Castroville for 7 days. We stayed here last year. It is a very nice campground and park. There is a walking trail that is about 1 mile long. Castroville is a nice clean town. It has traces back to Germany and lots of history. After we got here on Monday we really didn’t do much except to get set up and of course walk. On Tuesday, I got my hair cut and then we went into San Antonio to the Mexican Markets and did some other shopping. Wednesday we went to a Lake/Dam north of here. The water in this lake was a very beautiful blue/green. This seems to be quite a busy area in the summer. Thursday we went back into San Antonio to an upscale mall with shops we have never even heard of…even a Sacs 5th Avenue. Then we went to a flea market. This place is open 5 days a week year round. But apparently does not have much business in the winter months during the week. We found more than half of the shops closed and those open mostly selling the same merchandise. It was not what we are used to at a really good flea market. We have been told there is a very nice flea market in a little town south of here that is open weekends. We will be heading that way on Saturday.
We did not go back to the River Walk in San Antonio. We were there last year and it is beautiful but we didn’t think we would see anything different. The River Walk is about 20 to 30 feet below the city streets. The pictures of the River Walk in this blog were taken last year. They show how beautiful it is. Friday we drove to a small town west of Castroville and found a small Walmart there so we stocked up on groceries. Saturday was spent at the flea market. It is a big flea market but seems like each row has duplicates of the same shop as the row before it. We like rummaging through the “old stuff” like at garage sales but there was only “new stuff” at this flea market. We didn’t leave much money there!
Sunday we didn’t even leave the house except for our 2-a-day walks. This park has a nice walking trail around it and we walked there twice a day most days. The blue/green Madina River runs along one side of the park and it is a beautifully serene view. There are picnic areas in this park and this weekend many people were in the park having a good time and many were walking the trails.
It is a beautiful day. We got away about 9:30 and made it through San Antonio and on to Castroville. We have reservations at the Regional Park in Castroville for 7 days. We stayed here last year. It is a very nice campground and park. There is a walking trail that is about 1 mile long. Castroville is a nice clean town. It has traces back to Germany and lots of history. After we got here on Monday we really didn’t do much except to get set up and of course walk. On Tuesday, I got my hair cut and then we went into San Antonio to the Mexican Markets and did some other shopping. Wednesday we went to a Lake/Dam north of here. The water in this lake was a very beautiful blue/green. This seems to be quite a busy area in the summer. Thursday we went back into San Antonio to an upscale mall with shops we have never even heard of…even a Sacs 5th Avenue. Then we went to a flea market. This place is open 5 days a week year round. But apparently does not have much business in the winter months during the week. We found more than half of the shops closed and those open mostly selling the same merchandise. It was not what we are used to at a really good flea market. We have been told there is a very nice flea market in a little town south of here that is open weekends. We will be heading that way on Saturday.
We did not go back to the River Walk in San Antonio. We were there last year and it is beautiful but we didn’t think we would see anything different. The River Walk is about 20 to 30 feet below the city streets. The pictures of the River Walk in this blog were taken last year. They show how beautiful it is. Friday we drove to a small town west of Castroville and found a small Walmart there so we stocked up on groceries. Saturday was spent at the flea market. It is a big flea market but seems like each row has duplicates of the same shop as the row before it. We like rummaging through the “old stuff” like at garage sales but there was only “new stuff” at this flea market. We didn’t leave much money there!
Sunday we didn’t even leave the house except for our 2-a-day walks. This park has a nice walking trail around it and we walked there twice a day most days. The blue/green Madina River runs along one side of the park and it is a beautifully serene view. There are picnic areas in this park and this weekend many people were in the park having a good time and many were walking the trails.
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