Local Color

I haven't talked much about the park and the surrounding area, except for the Luna Mimbres Museum.  If you have any interest in the Indian wars and the Old West, this is a good place to be.

North of the park are the remains of Fort Cummings and the Butterfield Overland Mail Stage Road.

Fort Cummings

There are lots of folks in the park who have 4-wheel drive ATV's and Fort Cummings is a popular destination.  I am thinking when I return to the park next fall I will look into getting one, as there are lots of places accessible to the 4-wheelers but not to a nice Jeep Grand Cherokee.  And I can just picture the dogs riding shotgun.

If I had a 4-wheeler, I could pull out of my drive, turn right, and in 100 feet enter the wash.


Farther north of Deming is Silver City, one-time home of the notorious Billy the Kid.

Silver City and Billy the Kid

Silver City is a quaint little town and home to Western New Mexico University.  Lots of little shops, eating places, and activities associated with the university.

Western New Mexico University

Hidden Valley Ranch Overview

Here are a few photos:

Clubhouse

Since the park is remote from town, the clubhouse, laundry room/showers are open 24 x 7.  They do ask that you not do laundry after 8:30 pm or before 6:00 am.  Fat chance.

This is the main room of the clubhouse, complete with pool table, piano, and lots of tables.  The Friday night potluck dinners are held here.  

As you can see, they have hundreds of books, magazines, DVDs, CDs, etc.  There is a group of mad jigsaw puzzle workers who are usually at the card table.  Makes me think of Susie Cape and Grandma Shrum.

 Shanon (the owner) added this nice barn and corral area last year, replacing an old wire fence.

 He also runs a few head of cattle mostly for his family.  He told me it takes 70 acres per head to graze cattle out here.

Shanon and Jolene seems to attract strays and orphans.  The mini burro in the pen is pregnant.  Her mate has been moved to another area, as he is a pain.  See the small goats?  And in the pen to the right are llamas.  I expect an elephant any day now.

This is a roping steer, one of several left by the previous owners.  High school rodeo is a big deal in this part of the world.  Taylor and Tyler, Shanon and Jolene's identical twin sons, are getting big enough to want to participate.

The above two photos are my lot here at the park.  I am thinking of adding a small tool shed and perhaps a deck.  (It's a matter of time until I fall down the RV steps...the deck may keep me out of a cast).

My next door neighbors are from Michigan and arrived at the park a couple of weeks ago.  They went into Las Cruces to trade their old truck for an almost new 2014 Yukon.  As I have mentioned, the park is 7 miles off the highway on a country road which traverses BLM land.  A local rancher has registered Angus cattle (which are solid black) on the open range on both sides of the road.  They came back down the ranch road after dark (it is pitch black after sundown) and in a torrential rain shower.  They were moving slowly but a cow materialized right in front of them.  The cow was pregnant and had to be destroyed.  Jim is hoping his car insurance will pay for it.  

Shanon is capable of fixing just about anything and he has every piece of equipment and tools you can imagine.  There was a leak somewhere in the water lines yesterday.  One of the great things about this park is the owners live here.  Problems get immediate attention.  

Life in the Old West is very tiring for small dogs

Luna Mimbres Museum, Deming, NM

While the dogs were at the groomer (a two-hour stay), I decided to take in the local museum.  In some ways it reminded me of the Dalton Defenders Museum, a hodge-podge of unrelated items interspersed with some fascinating displays.  The volunteers who staff the museum are very friendly and helpful.  And I couldn't leave without buying myself a BRIGHT RED sweatshirt with the embroidered inscription:  "Red or Green?" and embroidered red and green chiles.  (For those of you unfamiliar with the significance of the question, it means would you like red or green salsa with your Mexican food).

The Mimbres tribe mastered pottery and ceramic design.  The museum has stunning pieces, many of which have holes in the bottom.  These pieces were apparently grave goods, buried with the deceased, purpose of the hole unknown.  The Mimbres tribe slowly disappeared or was assimilated into another tribe.

Man encounters giant squirrel?

At the main Deming Interstate cloverleaf, the concrete sections are painted with some of the designs from the pottery.

In another section of the museum, I met some old friends....yes, boys and girls, I did once upon a time know how to run a telephone plug board.

And there was another old friend across the "office"...an NCR cash register.

The weather has been quite cold in the past couple of weeks, like the rest of the US.  It's warming up and today was 60 degrees and bright sun.

In light of the improved weather, I joined a group for a day in Palomas MX, about 40 miles south of Deming.  This was today's destination:  a store with something for almost everyone except curmudgeons like me.  There is a small restaurant inside the store so I did buy margaritas and lunch.  The trip wasn't entirely a failure.  Any day with Mexican food and margaritas can be considered at least a partial success.

This post is specifically for Kathy Bosler.  Here are some photos of the inside of the RPod.

The "kitchen" area is in a slide which moves in when you are ready to travel.  The RV tech was here in the park a couple of days ago and he checked out all the systems.  The only thing he found was what the dealership told me.  The refrigerator wasn't working on propane.  Pat (the tech) called the manufacturer as this was a new model he hadn't seen before.  The technician knew exactly why it wasn't working, although Pat said he wouldn't admit there was a problem with a part.  Anyway, part is ordered. Pat has left on vacation so the repair will wait until he gets back.

I had thought I would take a shake-down cruise before I put the Pod away for the winter but with Pat's being gone, the trailer won't be ready until almost Thanksgiving.  And I am going to ABQ for Thanksgiving so will stay with Wyatt and Michelle.

Beautiful weather has come to southern NM...bright sunny days, cool breezes, and chilly nights. I am letting the dogs' coats grow out as the weather cools down.

Last week I drove to Phoenix (324 miles one way) to look at a couple of small travel trailers.  Came home with this one.  It is small and light and I can tow it with my V-8 Jeep.

I plan to take a test trip to Las Cruces (49 miles) the week after Thanksgiving to see what still needs to be added and to get some experience with set-up/break-down.  I am not anticipating any problems but you never know.

A group of park folks invited me to join them on an excursion to an eating place called Adobe Deli.  It's seriously out in the middle of nowhere and reminds me of a big Westerner or Pig Stand.  Food was good.

Last weekend Wyatt and Michelle came down.  I met them at Shakespeare, an old mining town near Lordsburg.  It was HOT but interesting.

Shakespeare

Mining Assay Office

Blacksmith's forge

Cowboys and horizontal hostesses

Next Chapters

I arrived at Hidden Valley Ranch RV Park in late July.  My RV was all set up, with electricity, water, etc. so it was easy to get settled.  I traded the big truck for a Jeep Grand Cherokee V-8 with a towing package.  Over the next few months, I am going to find a small travel trailer so I can take "vacations" from the park.

The heat for July/August/September has been merciless and we have had a (for here) lot of rain. With water standing in the roadside ditches and any little depression, we have....MOSQUITOES.  O joy...might as well be in Kansas.  On the other hand, the desert is green and beautiful.  Wild flowers and flowering cacti abound in every direction.

Datura (Jimson Weed)

Desert plants are very good at protecting themselves.  Jimson weed is everywhere and many varieties of cactus are all over the place.  

Wyatt, Michelle and Taylor came down a few weekends ago and we hiked out to where the petroglyphs are.

I went to Albuquerque last weekend to see Madison in her last race of the season.  She and a guy were neck-and-neck for the season championship in the Cruiser class.  Maddie WON!  She is a senior this year and will only race next year in the first part of the season.  She is planning to attend UTI-NASCAR so she will leave NM for NC in late summer.  Taylor is taking classes at a local juco and working part-time so she is busy, too,

Maddie in the number 76 bright red car.

Maddie being interviewed after the announcement she had won the 2014 championship, Cruiser class.

Maddie driving,Taylor at the passenger window, after having done a victory lap around the track.

While Kansas has poisonous snakes, they are not nearly as visible as they are here.  Half a dozen different rattlesnakes, including the Mohave Green (Mohave Green), are common in and around the park.  One of the long-time residents got a little too comfortable catching one to remove it and it struck him.  He had the pleasure of a couple of days in the hospital, anti-venom, and the possibility he would lose his hand or part of his hand.  Fortunately, no amputation required.  Don's index finger turned black but he didn't lose it.  Don is a pretty good amateur painter (he did the murals in the clubhouse) so he needs all his fingers.

I asked the vet about vaccinations (didn't know you could vaccinate against snakebite but you can).  He said the dogs are so small that if they take a strike with much venom, the vaccine won't be much help. He just recommended being very, very careful where I walk them.  

A Life Cut Short

My funny , loving, smart, mad Irishman died in the early hours this morning.  The photos in the last post were taken yesterday.

There will be no more posts.  Without Mike, RVing holds no charm.

Gig Harbor

We packed up yesterday (Tuesday, 6/24), under gray skies beginning to mist.  By 11:00 we were on our way out of the park and headed north.

We are pleasantly surprised at our RV park, as it is much roomier and nicer than we had expected. Nice to have an upside surprise for a change.  We called our friends in Port Orchard, Joan and Jerry, and arranged a dinner at Tides, a great tavern on the water.  Their granddaughter Lauren also joined us and a good time was had by all.  Tomorrow Joan, Lauren, Tara (Lauren's mother-in-law) and I are having a little all-female time in the harbor.  Should be fun.

Today we just wandered around the harbor.  There was a small farmers' market in the park and we examined all the flowers/honey/strawberries/etc.  See photos.

Farmers' Market

Entertainment for the Farmers' Market.  Young lady seemed to know three chords.

Lots of kayakers, paddle boarders, boaters all the time in the harbor.  

This young man wants to kayak but is afraid of the water?

Another sign for my collection.

Muppet and Lola meet Echo.

Memorial to lost fisherman from Gig Harbor.

We have been in and out of beach towns all the way up the California/Oregon/Washington coast and this is my favorite so far.