Spring has Sprung in Las Cruces
April 1 through April 9, 2012—Yep, back to Mom D’s beautiful backyard. Her garden was growing strong with Swiss chard, spinach, and lettuce that made it through winter. Fresh local greens, yum! We had a couple potlucks with our New Mexican family and Mom cooked up an awesome Easter feast. Of course we had our fill of Caliche’s frozen custard too with loads of fresh strawberries and Mom’s homemade fudge sauce. Everything in moderation right?
We moved into Mom’s house for the week so we could do a super clean of our home, garage, and storage unit (Casita, Xterra, and cargo box). And take advantage of the comfy bed, hot showers, and good company. (c: Thanks Mom!
While hanging at Mom’s, we got out daily for hikes in the desert and a quick jaunt up Baylor Pass.
Mexican poppies were in full bloom at the bottom of the Organ Mountains making the views out back even more spectacular.
The Xterra got its rather expensive check up: new spark plugs, fluids drained and replenished, and new struts. With over 100,000 miles, it’s still going strong.
We got our ‘big city’ fix after being in the boonies for a of couple months: picked up some packages (like our fire pit above), stocked up on supplies, and then we were off on our slow, meandering path north so we’ll get to Wisconsin by June 1.
Within the City of Rocks
March 25 through March 31, 2012—We left Percha Dam and at Uncle Hank’s recommendation, took a scenic drive (Hwy 152 to 62) through Hillsboro, over Emory Pass, and past Faywood to City of Rocks State Park. Along the drive, we passed beautiful campsites among the pines—too bad there was zip Verizon wireless service back there…. And yep, the road is as twisted and winding as it looks on a map.
We had a quiet week at City of Rocks (CofR) parked in site #1, Bootes—level and with great solar.
Uncle Hank, Eddie, and Chico (his pups) joined us for a couple days. Family style meals are always fun in our little home; three people and three dogs with plenty of space to spare.
There’s a three-mile trail that circles the park and we found that if we ran the road from the campground up to the overlook, we could stretch the trail out to just over 4 miles. Here’s a view from the overlook:
We joined in the astro-geekery of a ‘Star Party’ one night for close ups of star clusters, the moon, Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and—most spectacular—Saturn. Jim checked out Faywood Hot Springs which has recently re-opened. It has both camping (RV and tent) and small cabins available (two are pet friendly).
Last time we were at the CofR, I caught a glimpse of a great horned owl taking flight in the moonlight. This year I heard them before I saw them—two great horned owls silhouetted on top of the pinnacles in the early morn.
We drove the Gila Cliff Dwellings Scenic Byway route one afternoon through the burb of Bayard past Lake Roberts and through funky old Pinos Altos. Beautiful drive but slow going—lots of twists and turns—definitely the long way to Silver City.
Hoping to find a little eatery for dinner, we strolled through eclectic downtown. Weird; most everything was shut-up tight on a Friday night. Luckily, we found Don Juan’s Burritos stand on the way out of town: deliciosos y baratos—definitely get your burro smothered in green chile.
Knowing that the wind would be picking up (50 mph gusts!) and that the Xterra was overdue for it’s 100,000 mi. maintenance, we bailed after only a week at CofR. Until next year!
***Reality Check***
New Mexico is WINDY. High winds often close the highways. Day after day of wind can kind of wear you down. Locals say it’s something to do with ions… Well whatever it is, it makes us cranky.
Family Campout on the Rio
March 22 through March 25, 2012—We left Columbus, NM and spent a few days at Percha Dam State Park where we met up with our New Mexico family for a weekend campout. Just north of Deming, we caught Highway 26—a nicely paved and scenic back route to Hatch—we highly recommend this over I-10.
Percha Dam Campground is just below Caballo Lake, along the Rio Grande. The camp is surrounded by junipers and cottonwoods—a nice change of scenery after being in the desert for close to a month.
It’s about a two mile run/bike from the campground past farm fields and a small pecan orchard into Arrey where you’ll find friendly Chihuahuas roaming the side streets along with a post office, a church, and a small café.
Being spring break, lots of families were staying in the park and even a couple Boy Scout troops. We joined in a group learning how to make tortillas and fry bread from scratch. Know the difference between the two? Well, it’s lard.
We missed out on the NM red chile but we caught the entertaining tale about Turtle’s Race with Beaver. A self-described ‘old Apache from Albuquerque,’ the camp host is an impressive storyteller.
While at Percha, we shared many community meals and late night campfires. It was a great time had by all—including the 9 dogs in our group: Star, Scamper, Punkin, Eddie, Chico, Paya(sada), Mari(posa), Osa, and Risa.
Thanks for a great weekend Mom, Mollie, Rosa, and Hank!
Pancho Villa State Park, Columbus, NM
March 4 through March 21, 2012—Back in 1916 Pancho Villa, with a few hundred amigos, came across the border to shoot up and plunder Columbus, NM. U.S. Army General Pershing then marched back into Mexico with a posse a few thousand strong to teach Pancho a lesson. Now those good ‘ol days are commemorated in modern day Columbus with an annual event named after the old army Camp Furlong.
Pancho Villa State Park now occupies the land that Camp Furlong once did. This is a snap of the campground. Mexico is only 3 miles away and makes up the background.
B&C of Hortonstravels were in Columbus in 2011 for the big event. We were in Georgia this time last year reading about it in their blog. Rumor was there are lots of homemade tamales, tacos, and read more…
I was just lazing about the campsite reading the Internet. Julie, Brent, and Christine were all working. Boring.
The day started OK.
Then about noon, I open the letter from our dear health care insurer: Cigna. They are raising our premiums 31.2% for 2012. Great News! I mean, why wouldn’t they raise our rates a meager 31.2%? It wasn’t even an outrageous increase like 32% would be. Completely reasonable. It must be expensive to insure two 40 something’s…right? We haven’t had any insurance claims or chronic illnesses. Our lifestyle is low stress. We exercise daily. We have BMI’s in the low 20s. We don’t eat alot of red meat. We eat mostly whole grains and organic veggies including edamame for Dog’s sake. It is clearly obvious they got a raw deal and must be losing gobs of money on us. I understand. Even so, for some reason it still made me grumpy.
Immediately I knew what to do: Go to Mexico. Get Tequila. read more…
