April 1 New Mexico

Monday, April 1

31 degrees at 6:30 this morning.  Ice on the hood and bumper, though we stayed comfy inside with the heater.

We head out towards several RockHounding places north of here, but the frosty ground soon becomes snow-covered.

 Not knowing the condition of some of the back roads we are going towards, we adjust plans.

By the time we turn around and head back south, the snow is mostly gone and things are warming up, so we try to find site 53 near the old Red Cloud mines.  Interesting traffic on the back roads!

Not sure if we ever found the correct site, but we explore a bit and Greg does find some interesting rocks with purple in them.  Some of the snow, shaded by evergreens, lingers.

We go back to Carrizozo, sharing a PB&J on the road.  The snow covered mountains near Ruidoso are the background

but we turn west on 380 before reaching them.  Through more lava fields of one of the youngest volcanoes of the US.

Next stop is the Mineral Museum at New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources in Socorro. Socorro has a history of mining, and this museum is on the campus of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.  Huge chunks of beautiful petrified wood outside!
 Great displays of minerals from around the world,

with a large section dedicated to New Mexico specimens.  Wow!  Wishing we could find some of these!

This is a nice green campus with lots of trees, spring flowers, and yellow brick buildings - almost ivy league-ish! We pick up a book called Gem Trails of Texas at their bookstore.

Just a few blocks away is Old San Miguel Mission, founded in 1598 and recently refurbished outside.

  Huge wooden beams inside and an interesting spiral staircase to the choir loft.  This is one of the oldest Catholic churches in the US.

From here, we head south to the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.  We have been here in  Winter when this is home to thousands of geese and sand hill cranes, so we are curious to see what we will find there now.  Answer:  roadrunners, turkeys, egrets, heron, ducks....a few deer, but it is late afternoon.

We decide to find our BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campground outside of nearby San Antonio and revisit the refuge in the morning.

 The campsite is marginally maintained, with a few picnic tables and fire rings.  No one here except a loudly mooing cow that comes towards us and then veers off.

 I watch it for a while and hear a faint answering call.  Turns out that it was calling for its young offspring, who shows up after 10 minutes or so.  They wonder off quietly into the sunset.

Temperatures are warmer and we have worsts and salad for dinner and call it a night. All is quiet; even the wind has gone to sleep.

Sunday, March 31 Roswell, Ruidoso, Fort Stanton

March 31, 2019

A brisk 33 degrees at 6:30 this morning!  Didn't want to bother neighbors this early by running the generator to make coffee, so we scoot into Roswell's McDonalds for breakfast and wifi.  They do make the most of the space visitors theme in this town!  We've done the UFO museum before and agree to disagree on its importance - I am pro, Greg is no.

We pass through a tiny town called Hondo and liked the sign at this shop.

We continue on to Ruidoso Downs and the Hubbard Museum of the American West.  Since it is affiliated with the Smithsonian, we figure it can't be bad.... and it isn't!

The museum is in what used to be an ice skating rink, but the designers have done a nice job in re-purposing it!  Many of the items are from the personal collection of Anne Stradling who began collecting horse-related items as a young girl in New York.  In addition to many saddles and bridles   there are firearms, Indian and Kachina Dolls, clothing, photographs and paintings, and a large collection of buggies, coaches, buckboards and other types of wagons.  Greg is particularly impressed with presentations, lighting, etc.

This chess set made with Indian dolls was unique.

 Called "Passing Times", this life-size bronze  by Veryl Goodnight depicts a woman in fancy dress riding sidesaddle passing another woman in trousers riding astride.

Next door is a Billy the Kid museum - the region's other claim to fame.  We've seen a few "Billy Slept Here", or "Billy escaped from jail here" type places in the past and opt to pass on any more.

From here it is a bit of a drive to  Fort Stanton, which is rich in history.  We stop at another Rockhounding site along the way and find a chunk of green limestone and some selenite.

The area around the site of the fort was occupied by the Mescalero Indians up until the mid 1800's, when white settlers began moving in, attracted by water and  fertile land.  The ensuing Indian Wars with Kit Carson and crew significantly reduced the population of Native Americans.   Fort Stanton was established in 1855 to protect the growing Anglo population.  It also housed the Mescalero Apache Indian Agency in 1868.

In the 1870's cattle became big business and in 1878 the Lincoln Country Wars broke out.  These were bloody battles between different factions that wanted to deal in provisions for the fort, a business worth millions in todays currency.

 The Fort was briefly held by Confederate Soldiers during the Civil War, and was largely burned, first by the Union and then by the Confederates, though most of it was stone so it wasn't completely destroyed.   In 1896 the Fort was decommissioned, rebuilt and became the first Federal Tubercular Hospital, largely due to the perceived healthy climate - very dry.

In later lives, it became a State Hospital, and then a Mental Health, Rehab Correctional Facility from 1964 to 2009.  It has been a Living History Museum since 2011.  There is also a Federal Military Cemetery located nearby.

Our guide, Scott, was a good storyteller and showed us several buildings.  Many well known military people were here over the years, including Generals Sherman and Sheridan, and General Pershing prior to WWI.

The temperature was falling as we toured Fort Stanton and we talked to a ranger there about possible warmer places to camp.  He suggested heading down to the Tuscalero Valley and Valley of Fires BLM campground - about 2,000' lower in elevation. We find a nice campground on a ridge overlooking fields of lava rock.   Heated restrooms, electric hookups and showers for $9 a night!

It is very windy and cold, so we opt to stay in, read and work on photos.  From our campsite we can see a boardwalk through the lava fields, but no hikers today.  We have a brief wintry rain and are happy to run our small electric heater through the night!

March 29,30 Into New Mexico

March 29th

We had a small thunderstorm come through last night, but this morning dawns clear and it is already 62 degrees at 7:30AM.

Today will be a long day driving as we head northwest to the New Mexico Border.  We stop in Brady for a quick breakfast.  Near Sweetwater we drive for miles through small ranches with giant wind turbines dotting the terrain.

We head up 84 towards Lubbock, passing recently plowed fields with irrigation systems in place.  Cotton is a huge crop in this area.

The New Mexico border arrives without fanfare about 3:15 in the afternoon and we turn on 70 west to Oasis State Park, located in the middle of a desert of scrubby brush, sand, cactus and a few trees.  "Oasis" refers to a (man-made) lake here which is rare in this area.

 
 It is stocked with trout, catfish and bluegills and has attracted quite a few families with fishing gear.

The campground of about a dozen sites with hookups is full, so we take a "primitive" site - no electric or water with a shade area, picnic table and fire ring.  It is blow-the-hat-off-your-head windy, and it shakes the Trek periodically.  We are amazed at birds' ability to fly in this!

The bathhouse does have lovely hot showers, though we find in New Mexico conserving water is paramount so the showers have a push button which gives about 30 seconds of water with each push. We camp next to a man who spends the entire winter in New Mexico, having bought a NM Pass for $250, which entitles him to unlimited camping at their state parks, with a 14 day limit each spot.  Greg and I have a hard time imagining 14 days here!

Beautiful sunset and lots of doves around us and the 80 degree weather cools so dramatically that half way through the night we have to pull out the extra blanket!

Midnight at the Oasis shows a sky full of stars, with the big dipper spilling directly over us.


Saturday, March 30

35 degrees this morning at 7 AM!  Kind of a surprise, though we hear later that a huge mass of frigid air has moved into this part of the country.

There are already a few people fishing as we enjoy breakfast tacos with eggs and sausage.

We head out to the town of Portales.  We liked their Welcome Sign.

In Portales, we find the Blackwater Draw Museum.

 Blackwater Draw is a 640 acre landscape of early human activity in North America.  The Clovis site here was the 1st archeological site to discover evidence of humans hunting mammoths - proof that man lived the same time as mammoths at the end of the ice age in North America - 11,000 to 13,000 years ago!  Perhaps you've heard of the Clovis Point, a type of spear point.

The museum is a bit underwhelming but does show some pottery, beads, and basket remnants found at the site. The write ups were interesting and deserve a better display.... apparently funding is an issue. (Isn't it always?) Also photos and sketches of mammoths, camels, short-faced bears and other animals that roamed this land.  And some more recent Indian artifacts.

Also in Portales, we go by the Windmill Collection at the Fairgrounds there.   No Dutch windmills here, but a collection of ranch windmills from the southwest and midwest.  Until electricity, these were the standard way of accessing water.  Today there are a few in operation but most use electric or solar powered pumps.

We turn at these ruins of an old stone school to reach site 59 from the Rockhounding Book.  The road is rough, but doable and we find some interesting agate and other stones.

I'm always amazed that flowers find a way to flourish in the oddest places.

Next stop, Jiffy Lube in Roswell for an oil change.  Nice friendly folks, quick service and free popcorn and soda, puts us back on the road, heading to nearby Bottomless Lakes State Park.

 That's Greg up there!

 240 million years ago, oceans covered New Mexico and Texas.  As seas disappeared the waters dissolved some minerals, leaving underground domes which soon caved in and created these lakes which range from 17 to 90 feet deep.  Early settlers called them "bottomless".  It is still windy as we check out the Devil's Inkwell and a few other lakes.  Some are stocked with fish and have attracted a few fishermen.

Plain campsite but nice evening and good showers.

 Salmon cakes and salad for dinner tonight.  Quiet except for the wind.