December 8 in New Mexico

The day dawned bright and beautiful in El Paso, with one neighbor beating on something just as he was doing when we went to bed and the other neighbor being evicted.  Things are interesting all over everywhere.  We continued on I-10 along more straight roads.  After three days of bright sun, there's still snow in gullies and on the north side of taller structures.  Tall structures, much less tall trees, are hard to find, though.  What is most amazing about New Mexico so far?  There were several varieties of cacti at the welcome center.  Junnie and I sent Dan in to get maps, tour information, guides, camping guides and whatever else he could find while I tried to take some pictures of the cacti and wide vistas of mountains and desert areas.  How is it possible for land to be so flat, have little vegetation, scrubby bushes, dun colored dirt with occasional black cows grazing on the tufts of grass and be perfectly gorgeous.  The blue hazed mountains in the far distance and the closer granite ones with rivulets of snow still visible show a beauty I've never seen before.


We found a camping store along the road just as we were about to enter New Mexico.  It was fun going up and down the aisles seeing what is available and wishing we had places to put some of the things they had.  We did buy a converter to change electricity input from 50 to 30 amps.  We only have 30 amp and even though it seems, to us anyway, that if you provided 50 amps, surely you'd have thirty.  That's not so.  A few times of renting a converter at a campsite would cost more than the converter.  Now we're the proud owner of a converter and we'll be glad to show it to you at any time!


As you enter the state on I-10, the first town of any size you approach is Las Cruces and just outside the town is Old Mesilla.  I doubt seriously that the adjective was part of the original name.  Anyway, it's a lovely little town with Spanish influence.  Adobe is the building material of choice and they have a center square they were decorating with Christmas trees.  Around the square were silversmith shops, restaurants, the basilica, a tortilla factory, pottery shops and chili pepper processing places.  Dan insisted on wheeling me all over town, not letting me walk anywhere.  I suspect there was a motive to his actions.  If he pushed me, how could I go in stores and spend money?  He's cagey, but more than that, he's extremely thoughtful and takes excellent care of me.


We were intrigued by all the rv campgrounds in Deming, New Mexico.  If there are so many sites, there must be lots to see and do there.  We found a Passport America campground that read really interestingly in the directory.  It's an adult only park where you may hear a coyote yipping and open range cows lowing.  Great.  This is where we're going to stay!  As we get to the exit, I begin reading the instructions to Dan on how to get there.  Now this is a site he read to us last night and we thought we'd go there.  Directions are to be read as needed.  We turned off I-10 and drove to state road something and turned left to go over I-10.  At the first intersection, turn right and watch the mile markers.  When you get to mile marker 9 slow down and turn right onto another state road and go 2.5 miles on the gravel road.  Turn right at another place and follow the signs.....  Well, we got here, but both of us were beginning to wonder if perhaps we should have called first.  Judy and Maurice are really nice people and have helped us tremendously.  They even told us a short cut to get to Deming.  Thank goodness because we were at mile marker 19 when we started this venture.  They have a huge place called "The Room".  There you can watch TV, play cards, use the exercise equipment and they have heated showers!  YEAH!!!

Our supposition was correct.  There are lots of things to see and do here.  There's no telling what tomorrow will bring and that makes things all the more fun.


We hear our precious kitty in Beaufort is doing well as are the plants in our house.  We are blessed with amazing friends.  Thanks for being one of them!


Blessings.
Junnie and company