After spending more than a month in southern Arizona, we finally made it to New Mexico. The RV dealer in Tucson was unable to fix two other issues, so we made an appointment with their sister agency in Albuquerque. We had not planned on driving that far north due to the cold weather, but we also wanted to get Tiny Tin fixed. We drove through the picturesque old mining town of Silver City, stopping only long enough to move the street sign we'd knocked over while trying to back up on a small street (oops!). Silver City reminded us of Bisbee with old buildings that now housed shops, cafes and galleries. We stayed on the outskirts of town and opted to visit the Gila Cliff Dwellings instead of exploring Silver City.
The route up NM Highway 35 and Highway 15 was a long and winding road, a bit harrowing with bits of snow and ice on the road, but a beautiful drive. We even saw a herd of javelina's on the way back! The Gila Cliff Dwellings, built by ancient Puebloans of the Mogollon area were apparently only occupied for about 30 years. We hiked up and were allowed to wander through the dwellings, thinking of the challenges our ancient ancestors faced.
We stayed in the small town of Mimbres and then made our way over the Mimbres Mountains to the town of Truth or Consequences, which was another long and windy road,with even more snow. The scenery again was amazing. After a brief stop in Truth or Consequences (the town that changed its name in the 1950's from Hot Springs to that of a popular radio show), we arrived in Albuquerque for our appointment for Tiny Tin (the RV). Oh yeah, we also picked up a young man hitchhiking from the mountain pass and gave him a ride to Albuquerque (ABQ). Our good deed for the day!
The RV park we found was directly across the freeway from the RV dealer at the outskirts of ABQ. We spent an entire day there but the technician found and repaired the problem, which was an electrical short created when the satellite dish was installed in Seattle. Due to cold temperatures and impending snow, we departed early the next morning without seeing any sights in ABQ, and headed south to Alamogordo with hopes of warmer weather.
In route, we stopped at the Valley of Fires and Malpais Lava Flow, outside the town of Carrizozo. (isn't that a great name? Unfortunately, the town was left off of New Mexico's most recent state map) We took the dogs for a walk around the flow, which was very reminiscent of the Big Island and one of the Galapago Islands. While at Alamogordo, we visited White Sands National Monument. The sands, which are actually gypsum, cover 275 square miles and can be seen not only from the highway, but from outer space (so they say). The White Sands are beautiful and unique. The park allows visitors to hike and play on the dunes, yet also manages to protect them. Because White Sands also hosts a military base and missile launch site, we visited Alamogordo's Space Museum to learn a bit more of that history. It was a nice little museum.
After White Sands, we stopped at Three Rivers Petroglyphs, just below Sierra Blanca and enjoyed walking around numerous ancient petroglyphs, created by the Mogollon peoples between 900 and 1400 AD.
Crossing the Sacramento Mountains, we arrived at Roswell, site of a UFO crash in 1947 - or so the story goes. We visited Roswell's UFO Museum and Research Library, which contained many reports from around the world of UFO sightings and encounters with extraterrestial beings. It was sort of a hokey museum, but the 1947 incident has drawn millions of visitors (like us) to Roswell since then. While in Roswell, we also visited their History and Art Museum which had a wonderful collection of historical artifacts and art. We found Roswell's off-leash dog park and Fergus was able to run and play ball a couple of times before we left town.
Our last stop in New Mexico was at Carlsbad Cavern National Park. Unfortunately, the elevator that helps many tourists descend/ ascend to the 750 foot depth of the Cavern was out of service. We walked about halfway down the Caverns and decided we'd seen enough stalactites and stalagmites and returned without seeing the major rooms. On our way into and out of the park we saw a herd of Barbary sheep, which was a bit startling. Apparently the wild herd is the offspring of some Barbary sheep that escaped from a private ranch many years ago.
We hope to return to New Mexico later this year as we missed seeing the northern part of the state where even more noted sites await. We were not, however, disappointed with the diverse beauty of southern New Mexico and its ancient historical sights. Now we're off to Texas, on a cloud of heifer dust.
Photos include Truman inside the laundry basket (his choice); Gila Cliff Dwellings; Mimbre Mountains; Valley of Fire; White Sands; sunrise at Alamogordo; Three Rivers Petroglyphs; Roswell UFO museum; and Carlsbad Cavern.
The Recall: We departed Tucson on Tuesday, December 29th with the intention of exploring more of the area outside the city and dawdling a while longer in the area to see if the parts needed to repair an issue with our RV would arrive. The recall, issued November 25th by Winnebago, involved the propane gas system on our model and we'd been advised to disconnect the gas and seek to get it fixed. Since the RV is now our "house" and we hadn't noticed a problem, we chose to continue using our propane system, but immediately endeavored to get the part. This is the 'whine' part of the story - because when the Winnebago company issued the recall they didn't have the replacement parts needed to send out to the dealers/service providers in the USA. This is apparently not an unusual situation for various vehicle (and other?) manufacturers, however, it sure puts the consumer in a very uncomfortable situation. We started trying to get the part sent and replaced since the recall notice -- and finally, the Tucson RV dealer called us last week - just after we left the city, to announce the part had arrived. The dealer couldn't squeeze us into their busy schedule until January 6th and we made the decision to stay at a nice RV park outside Huachuca City. We rented a car for a week and managed to fill our days wandering around this area.
The Close Call: Before leaving Tucson, our son, Jay, insisted we use his propane heater as the temperatures continue to be very cold in the mornings here. In lieu of using our own furnace, we'd been using a small electric heater which helped keep the temperatures inside "Tiny Tin" around 60 degrees when we'd wake in the morning. Anyway, we went to bed around 9pm that night and were rudely awakened by the blaring of our carbon monoxide alarm, telling us to get the heck out of the RV! We turned off the propane heater, opened windows to air out the RV. When we'd settled down, we started giggling about how Jay must have been plotting to get his share of our 'wealth'. He denied it the next night and told us he and others had safely used that same heater inside tents and houses... We reminded him we're spending his inheritance and we were grateful for the noisy CO alarm!
Cranes: One of our day trips in the rental car was to the Whitewater Wash Wildlife Refuge east of here. The Sandhill Cranes stop there to rest and feed in the winter as part of their migratory pattern. After driving along a mostly deserted highway then country roads, we were rewarded with seeing 1000's of these beautiful birds.
Blimp: Each morning since our arrival in Huachuca City, which is just a few miles north of (US Army) Fort Huachuca and the community of Sierra Vista, there has been a big blimp over the community and the Huchuca mountains. We learned it is part of the drug interdiction strategy. We're not sure if it's part of the military's operation or the DEA or ??, but it became our landmark.
Caves: A neighbor in Olympia suggested we see the Kartchner Caverns. I'm not a fan of caves and we had chosen to ignore this state park when we stayed in Tombstone and Bisbee. Well, being only 10 miles south of the Caverns and plenty of time on our hands, we visited the Caverns and both of us were delighted with our tour. The Kartchner Caverns are one of very few 'living' caves and was discovered only in 1974. The AZ State Parks have done an amazing job of making the Caverns available to the public, carefully controlling the caves' environment and enforcing rules to make sure it remains living. Cameras (cell phones, water, etc.) are not allowed in the Caverns, so we have no photos to share. The other surprise to us was the warm and humid temperature inside the caverns. We had to put our jackets back on once we completed our tour.
Mexico: One of our day trips took us down Highway 83, with beautiful and varying scenery to the border town of Nogales. We had wanted to park the rental car and walk across the border - mostly just to explore for a short while. Unfortunately, Jim had left his wallet and ID in the RV, so we agreed to try to put our toes into Mexico on another day. This time, we chose to cross at the very small town of Naco, just south of Bisbee. We parked the rental car on the US side and walked across the border. The US and Mexican towns of Naco were both poor and lacking any charm. At least in Mexican Naco there were shops: We saw a number of pharmacies and a couple of bars, a grocery store and a few other businesses. In the USA's Naco, there was one bar in operation in the entire little town. It was a disappointing venture that lasted perhaps 20 minutes as we walked through the little dusty town. We did, however, get our passports stamped - our only souvenir.
