Elephant Butte Day Two

The day started out warm with and NO wind however the wind is coming this afternoon. We took advantage of the nice weather and took a drive north of town along the lake. The state park boundary runs all along the lake for miles and camping is allowed just about everywhere. Most places however require a four wheel drive because of the sand. There are large tow vehicles that patrol the beach area pulling people in motor homes and trailers that are foolish enough to try and camp on the water’s edge. I don’t know what they charge to pull someone out but I would imagine that it’s plenty. Once you get stuck in the sand you’re not getting out on your own.

We then drove into Truth of Consequences which is just a short drive south of Elephant Butte. The town has some interesting and colorful buildings. We shopped around for a while and headed back to the RV for lunch. Just as we got back the wind started and has been raging up to gusts of 55 miles per hour ever since.

Some brave people camping on the beach. With the wind we have been having these people are putting up with a lot of blowing sand and I have no idea how they keep their tents anchored down.

This guy could be a definite candidate for the 'big hook'

Morning view from our window

More people camped in a tent trailer

A Truth or Consequences Spa

A small studio

Not sure what business was located here but I love the color

Almost ate here because of a really nice opened court yard

Part of main street

If playing the guitar doesn't work out for ya you can always spend it.

 

This was just an interesting building that was for sale. It might have been an old motel.

Elephant Butte State Park

We made a move this morning to Elephant Butte State Park. This park is New Mexico's largest and most popular, I'm sure the reason is the water that is here. There is very little water in this state so this is a major draw. Elephant Butte Lake is a reservoir along the Rio Grande river. The park has a marina, boat landing, shore line camping and four large campgrounds with electric and water hookups. We managed to get a spot high on a hill with a great overlook.

The weather for the next couple days sounds terrible (for here) highs only in the 60's lows in the 30's and wind gusts to 50-60 miles per hour. We are regretting now that we didn't head for Arizona last week instead we are now thinking of heading that way next week.

Today being Friday meant laundry day so once we set up camp we set out to find a laundromat. We found one right outside the park at a beautiful RV Resort. After laundry we took along walk and had our supper. Right now the winds are still but they are suppose to start again later this evening and last through the day tomorrow.

Another plus to this park is that it has wifi and so far it has been very fast. 

 Our campsite

 More of our campsite

Caballo Lake State Park Day Two

With the call for a very windy day we thought another car ride was in order.Once again we would try to get to the Gila Cliff Dwellings we tried last year and it was too cold and snowy this year we made it as far as Silver City and decided it was just too late in the day to go over another mountain pass, it was just another 40 miles but because the pass is almost 10,000 feet it would take another two hours, so we stopped at McDonalds in Silver City and after a drive through the old section of town we started the two hour trek back over the pass and  home.

 We are staying in Truth or Consequences New Mexico at Lake Calballo State Park and to get to Silver City we had to go over the Emory Pass, which is almost 9000 feet elevation. The switch backs were so tight that the speed limit was only 10 and 15 miles per hour on the curves. Needless to say the trip up and down was just beautiful it takes you from the desert floor up to the Evergreen forest of the Black Range and the Mimbres Mountains and back down to the desert.  The weather turned out very nice, not as windy here as they predicted and a high of 80degrees it has been pretty cloudy though, which is unusual for New Mexico. 

 Lower elevation

 Climbing

 Emery Pass

 Emery Pass

Emery Pass

We passed through the town of Hillsboro on the way, this is main street.

Hillsboro Church

We also passed the Santa Rita Cooper Mine which is the oldest working mine in North America

Caballo Lake State Park

We got an early start today for a short drive north to Caballo Lake State Park. The day started with a beautiful sunrise and ended with some amazing colors. It was overcast until 1:00 PM then the sun appeared and it was gorgeous until 6:00. Then the wind picked up and the clouds moved in again.

We really didn’t do much today, however we did managed short drive around the area, and then hung out around the campground.  

 The sunset brought some amazing color to the hills across the lake and we managed to get some good pictures of them.

.Great start to a day

 Lake Caballo

 The Sun finally came out

 

We had a beautiful afternoon

 The wind picked up and the clouds blew in

 

Las Cruses New Mexico

We left Alamogordo yesterday morning (Sunday) and moved a little west to Las Cruses, maybe a two hour drive. We are 15 miles north of Las Cruses at Leasburg State Park.  We arrived early enough to beat the strong winds that had been fore casted. It did get very windy yesterday afternoon, a lot of dust was being blown around. We did drive into town to replenish our food stock and to stop at a large flea market that we had seen earlier on our way in along the freeway. The flea market was a bust because of the wind and the dust that was everywhere; we left without a purchase hoping there would be other opportunities for these huge sales.  

This morning we woke to a mostly overcast day. It was strange not seeing the blue sky. It did clear up however and the wind kicked up again, not as bad as yesterday but still windy. We drove back into town to explore the area. Just south of  Las Cruces we found the historic village of Mesilla, where Billy the Kid stood trial. Now the plaza of Old Mesilla is home to quaint shops offering crafts from local artisans as well as numerous restaurants serving authentic New Mexican cuisine.  We walked through the plaza and visited many of the shops. In the center of the plaza sits the San Albino Catholic Church. Another beautiful church we found, although not in the Mesilla area, was Our Lady of Health.

Our plan for now is to leave here in the morning and head an hours north to yet another one of New Mexico’s wonderful state parks.

 Our campsite

 Wind and sun protection

 Mesilla Plaza

 Interesting entry

 Old town, old car

 San Albino Catholic Church

 Inside San Albino

 Our Lady of Health