2002-03 . . . Episode 4 - SE Arizona . . . Oh, the Damn Truck!

Tombstone Territories RV Park lies exactly halfway between Hwy 80 and Hwy 90 on Hwy 82 and has no railroad nearby, which is very unusual for an RV park. It is fairly isolated and sits in a large desert canyon surrounded by mountains (hills) - the Mules, the Dragoons, the Whetstones and the Huachucas. The terrain here is different again, mesquite trees have taken over from the creosote shrubs and there is more undergrowth grass. The sites are large, there is great bird watching (a family of quail visit every morning), and there are the most incredible sunrises and sunsets! We weren't planning to stay here that long, but truck troubles and wanting to avoid the holiday traffic has resulted in our staying here for a month.

Hwy 80 (to the east and south) leads to the infamous Tombstone, then onto an interesting old mining town cum Artist/Hippie community by the name of Bisbee and finally ends up at the Mexican border at Douglas, AZ/Auga Prieta, Sonora, Mexico.

Arizona's economy seems worse this year and, like so many of the places in Arizona, Tombstone has interesting history and old characters in costumer wander the streets but has evolved into a place that chases and depends on the tourist dollar . This can sometimes make it very uncomfortable. We tend to check into the Visitor Centres first and try to stick to the Museums and non-commercial settings. The place we liked best in Tombstone was the old Courthouse (a State park). It was filled with pictures of the old town with its gunfighters and memorabilia. There is a reproduction of the courtroom and the yard houses the original hanging gallows. Boot hill is still there but they seemed to have re-stoned and lined up all the old graves. I don't think any of them are the originals. In fact, we were even told that the site had been changed so it was more convenient for the tourists.

Bisbee was built up the sides of a narrow canyon. Historically, it grew with around copper mining but when the quality and quantity of copper ran out, Bisbee apparently was invaded by hippies in the 60's and 70's and is now considered a major art center.

The main attraction in Douglas is the Gadsden Hotel and at the border crossing, Auga Prieta has some interesting murals and cigarettes for $9.00 a carton. AND then it happened!! The truck started hic-upping and missing. We made it back to the RV park and the resident mechanics were all very helpful and suggested this and that. So they changed a switch and fuel filter and it ran fine for a few miles and then started again. No choice but to take it into the dealer. Well, this was Wednesday and they couldn't work on it til Monday. So we were park-bound til we took it in and then park-bound til they got it fixed on Friday. Fortunately, the $3000.00 fuel injector pump they replaced was under warranty so it cost us less than $100.00.

We really needed to get out and on the road so we decided to take advantage of a package offer to stay overnight and tour Biosphere2 . . . something we wanted to do anyway . . . and give us the chance to try out the truck without the trailer.

2002-03 . . . Episode 3b - New Mexico - Out from Las Cruces

The longer we stayed in New Mexico, the more we liked it - the history, the colour, the people - BUT - we realize you can't do everything so it looks like this will not be our last trip here. Doing short trips from Las Cruces offered us the opportunity to explore just some of the flavour around there.

Las Cruces is now the largest and central city in the area but, during the Civil War, Mesilla was name the capital of both New Mexico and Arizona. It was the home of a lot of the "Old West" characters and where Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced. They have managed to preserve many of the buildings dating back into the mid 1800's and much of the feeling. It's now heavily dependent on tourism. There is a market in the Plaza twice a week and a fascinating collection of refurbished houses, store and streets.

---

The Missile Museum, the While Sands National Monument and the White Sands Missile Range are east of Las Cruces. The public is not allowed on the Missile Range at all (there are some great stories about gold treasures hidden in the Range area that they expect will never be found) but the Museum has a exhibition park where they show off their misses of destruction.

The White Sands National Monument is a vast gypsum dune field that, on first encounter looks like the snow on the prairies (except it's a lot warmer). They actually close the park when they launch a missile but we missed that. It was fun crawling around the dunes.

---

We started to travel west and north in hopes that we would get to the Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument. We got as far as Silver City and discovered that it took a full day to get up there and tour the cliffs and we just didn't leave ourselves enough time. Our alternate plan was to stay at Deming after we left Las Cruces and travel to the cliffs then . . . never made it . . . we have to leave somethings for next year, eh (Deming is famous for the duck races it has in September)!

Truth or Consequences is a small town north of Las Cruces. It used to be called Hot Springs because of the

 

 

 

 

 

healing mineral baths but became TorC after the program offered to pay a town to change it's name to Truth or Consequences to mark the show's 10th Anniversary. It actually has a great little museum that houses mining artifacts and a rather extensive collection of pottery from five or six different tribes and Fred did find the hat he'd been looking for since Arizona.

To get to TorC from Las Cruces, we took the back road through the chili growing areas. Now, there are red chilis and green chilis. Actually they are the same thing, except the green chilis are picked early and roasted. The red chilis are left to dry on the vines and then ground for powder or put into sauces. The red chilis tend to be hotter but the heat depends more on the variety. I didn't know this, but the heat comes from the veins rather than the seed. The red dried chilis are also used a lot for decorations, woven and hung on doors or made into wreaths.

We travelled up the Geronimo trail to an old stagecoach stop Cuchillo and would have travelled further but we ran into some snowflakes - not something we wanted to see.

We left New Mexico on December 7th with Jan and Fred (our neighbours from Las Cruces), travelled to an isolated RV Park (Tombstone Territories RV Park - Hwy 82) in the desert just outside of Tombstone, Arizona.

2002-03 . . . Episode 3a - New Mexico - to Las Cruces

The weather drove us into New Mexico - it was really getting cold! We followed Hwy 40 into New Mexico and our first night was spent at Grants about 60 miles west of Albuquerque. Even though New Mexico is one of the youngest states, it is rich with history, ancient Indian sites and the struggles with Mexico for the territories.There were a lot of places to explore . . . BUT . . . New Mexico (especially the higher northern part) is definitely September country. There was only one place we didn't want to miss - the Pueblo of Acoma - Sky City - the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the United States.

The Acoma Pueblo sits on top of a high mesa. They say this site was chosen because it made an ideal site for defence against enemies although the oral heritage tells of the origin and migration that the site was Hak'u-the place ready for people to occupy. It was said to be occupied as early as A.D. 1150.

Tourists are not allowed on the pueblo without a guide and there was a $10.00 fee to take up a camera. Our guide shared with us the kinds of conflicts the peoples' had experienced (primarily with the Church) and how they had retained much of their culture, beliefs, symbols, rituals and traditions within the Catholic religion. The Acoma are a matriarchal culture. Our guide was not married and he lived with his sister and her family. It was his responsibility to discipline his sister's children.

There are still about thirty families that live on the mesa and they retain many of the old way (there is no electricity) and traditions but have adopted other modern ways (like the windows and doors) to make their lives more comfortable.

The products sold on the pueblo (pottery, jewellery, fabric) are all created by the people who live there.

The Kiva is a meeting place for men (so said Orvil, our guide). There are no doors and only a small opening in the wall where the women can pass in messages. The entrance is a hole in the roof - thus the ladder. Every Indian community we explored had a Kiva or meeting place and they were very central to life.

Mount Taylor Mountain (one of the four Sacred Mountains) is visible from the pueblo.

---

We took Hwy 6 to bypass Albuquerque and met Hwy 25 at Los Luma on our way to Las Cruces. All along the highway there is a variety of Roadside Trading Posts - each has it's own particular charm.

---

We made Las Cruces our base for exploring. Las Cruces is in the Mesilla Valley surrounded by the Organ Mountains. The is a strong agricultural area with pecan groves, cotton fields and chilis. There still is desert but it's very different from Arizona and California. The weather tends to be cooler, but still very pleasant. It could be almost freezing at night, but as soon as the sun comes up, it gets very warm and cools down with sunset.

We really like it here . . . so much to do and see. Rather that being surrounded by "snow-birds", the people are mostly local who have chosen to live here. The markets, the festivals, we enjoyed it so much. It seems to be a centre for the arts and crafts, there are open markets almost daily and the University (NMSU) has quite an influence. The Mexican influence is very strong, too . . . the architecture, food (we're trying our hand at making burritos, tacos and have graduated to non-gringo chili). The RV Park has very large sites surrounded by grass and trees and we have made friends with our closest neighbours as well as the owners.

---

We've broken our New Mexico adventures into more Episodes to download easier !