Friday in Deming, NM

What a fantastically gorgeous day in New Mexico.  We had a leisurely morning of sitting and sipping coffee and discussing whether or not the traffic was one or five miles away.  That makes, no-never-you-mind.  What is impressive is the fact that we can see the interstate from our table in the camper, yet hear nothing.  Minuscule 18  wheelers roll by and even tinier (sp?)...I guess iddy biddy would be a better description... cars.  Our window is about five feet in length and we can see an entire train on the tracks from engine to caboose and there were so many cars I lost count.  Now where on earth could we see anything like that in Bft?  I never thought of us as living in a crowded town.  Next came a wonderful HOT shower in The Room, and after lunch we headed to town.  From the kitchen sink window you can see vague outlines of buildings on the horizon and that's the town.  It's about 10 or 12 miles from where we are camped.

New Mexico has seven inactive (I hope) volcanoes.  That's probably why the mountains seem as though they just jumped out of the ground.  Many of them look like piles of rock and I suspect they are, come to think of it.  I'm still marveling at the landscape that is so foreign to Dan and me. 

On the way to the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum in an old armory building in downtown Deming, Dan saw a road runner that was running down the road.  I asked what they called them before roads came to the area and he sagely said, "Birds".   Never mind what I thought.  The armory was built in 1914 and housed munitions and had an indoor rifle range which is now a doll room.  There are dolls of all shapes and sizes from all countries along with all the bells and whistle that go with dolls and toys for girls and boys.  There were soldiers from different periods, baseballs and bats, card games, books, paper dolls, doll houses, and tea sets.  I shan't tell you how many I recognized from my past.  What I will say is that having sisters older than I was an advantage in recognizing some of the things I saw and in have a daughter much younger than I.

There was china from everywhere, a full size chuck wagon complete with tin plates, cups and copper covered over-the-fire "cooking pots" and meat forks and knives for cutting slabs of beef; water pots and dishpans for washing and rinsing the dishes.  One of the rooms was dedicated to formal dining, another to pottery from many different Indian tribes along with woven baskets and bone needles, bracelets sliced on the bias from clam shells and rooms of beautiful dishes, each with a hole broken in the bottom.  These dishes were burried with the dead and the hole was broken in the bottom so that the spirit could escape.  There were arrow heads from teeny tiny ones to hand size quartz ones.  One was a lime green, translucent quartz and it was gorgeous.   Farther in the exhibit, were examples of yesteryear with old dentist chairs and equipment, a lawyers office, a kitchen store for the missus and a clothing store.  Don't let me forget to tell you about the beauty parlor with the huge dryer and electric curlers that I'm sure Frankenstein would have lusted after.  An REO automobile and an old fire equipment vehicle.  There was also a room with the most unusual collection I think I've ever seen.  It was full of liquor bottles.  Wild Turkey had eleven different bottles each a different wild turkey design.  Crown Royal had a foot high chess set and each player was a liquor bottle. There were politicians, Friars and missions, beautiful birds, Scottie dogs...black ones and white ones, Elvis, Marilyn, an Ohio state one with all the presidents from that state.  Another display had a donkey in Uncle Sam's hat and across from him wan an elephant in an Uncle Sam's hat, too.  Then they had miniature ones that could sit out in any home as a lovely nick knack.  Dan said at first he though some of them were bisque figurines.  They were most attractive to see, no matter the size or shape...even Cleopatra, et. al. were there.  I forgot the seven dwarfs and King Arthur along with Guinevere and Lancelot.  I wish I could dump what's in my head for each of you to see.

 There was a large display of geodes from all over the world in the museum, some granite slabs and a meteorite from Africa.  There was a display of sharks teeth from New Bern NC!  Wow.  Whadda ya know...in Deming NM, NC is displayed, too. .We left there and went to Rock Hound State Park and Dan went in search of rocks and geodes...one of his favorites.

On the way to the State Park, I saw a road runner and it was running along the side of the road.  (I must unthink what I didn't tell you I was thinking earlier...see above.)  Those "birds"are funny looking as they run along.  I expected to see Wilie Coyote at any moment.  While Dan went rock hunting, I finished Caravans.  I do enjoy Michner's books.  He, uh, Dan, that is, brought a bag of rocks back to the truck and by that time it was heading back time.  Junnie must have thought we'd gone off and left him.  I hope the moon was as lustrous for you as it has been for us tonight.

Blessings to each of you,
Three Traveling Troopers