New Mexico Road Trip

For those of you who have not being following with a scorecard, we’re off on our travels once more.  We still have stuff to write about San Miguel that didn’t get done because half the town lost its internet connection in a storm, so look forward to that with baited breath.  Meanwhile, our quest is to find a place in New Mexico to spend a month or so in winter, so far without success but where we are now, Silver City, shows promise.  The surroundings are lovely, the downtown a little worse for wear because of the recession (remember when it started, you right-wingers of short memory), and tomorrow we go exploring the Gila Wilderness.  Meanwhile we are sitting in a motel without water, but they’ll relocate us to their other place if they can’t fix it soon.

White Sands National Park

Hike up to 7,300 feet

Rock-hugging plant life

So what have we accomplished so far?  Well we managed to get beyond the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles on our second day: all you hear is the thumping of bibles, all you smell is dead cows and farting cows, and all you see is nothing.  As soon as you get near the New Mexico border, it all starts to look beautiful.  Our first serious port of call was the noisy town of Ruidoso, where we found a wonderful Mexican greasy spoon called Chef Lupe’s, where we had breakfast twice, and it has the best huevos rancheros ever.  We suspect they mark the order checks for the cook.  The first morning they put a G on there for gringos, and the eggs were kinda mild.  Next day they would be G2, meaning “those gringos are back, let’s see how these suckers stand up to some real food.”  Not for the faint-hearted, but you know something?  It’s only the second time since the Great Disaster that I’ve actually felt something in my upper lip.  And what’s wrong with the beautiful mountain resort town of Ruidoso?  Not the major fire which wrapped around it in June, but the fact that it could be a mountain resort town anywhere.

Pictures included from our hike near Ruidoso, and from the White Sands National Park.  The latter may not be up to snuff, because my little camera found it exceedingly difficult to cope with the amazing brightness of the terrain.