A HAPPENIN' PLACE!

Well, we've been in Deming at Dream Catcher (Escapees) RV Park for 2 weels now. In that time we've worked 4 days, gone to Las Cruses twice, enjoyed the holiday with a bbq and fireworks with our 'family', played games, exercised, and did chores. In other words, whatever everyone does when they are at home. Today we finally saw some wildlife besides birds and cotton tail rabbits. This little beauty of a tarantula surprised us in the driveway. I had never seen one "in the wild". I had never seen a black one before. This one would fit in my palm.

We also saw this lovely gopher snake curled under a tree. The work crew was cleaning out tumbleweeds along the fenceline and apparently disturbed this beauty. It pretended it was a rattlesnake by hissing, shaking its tail and getting into strike position.

Oh, I forgot. We saw this horned lizard outside our door on the 4th. It so nicely sat and posed. Notice its lovely white stripe. It has another on the other side of its spine. In the desert this guy and the snake would have been all but invisible.

After all this excitement we went shopping in Las Cruces and ate pretty good pizza for lunch. Back home we exercised, ate salad for supper and went to the clubhouse for a (card) game of hand and foot (aka hands and feet). Back home again, I decided to do a little ironing. I put water in the reservoir and heated up the iron. Out crawled about a hundred tiny ants! We picked them up a few months ago, but I didn't see them very often, and then only a half dozen or so. Now I know where they've been holing up! I filled and swished the reservoir a couple of times before all the ants and their eggs came out. Fortunately, my reservoir is clear, so I could see when they were all gone. What a full day. We're exhausted! Tomorrow we work, so nitey nite!

Louise and Duane

LAST TRIP--FOR A WHILE

After three months of touring and visiting, we are back in Deming, NM again. The last leg of our journey took us south on I25 from TorC through the rest of the Rio Grande Valley to Hatch, then southwest on cr 26 to Deming. Along the way we saw bare fields and groves of trees,

green fields,

glimpses of the river,

and Hatch, the town of chili and giant statues.

We also saw a pink house,

the return of yuccas, (not pictured) a large dairy farm, hay fields, and a wind farm.

We arrived in Deming safe and sound and got settled in. For a week we did household chores and errands, and worked our first two days. On Sunday the 26th we went to the Wal-Mart and saw this interesting trike in the parking lot.

After that we decided to visit the "ghost town" of Shakespeare, outside Lordsburg. We looked forward to browsing through the buildings and watching the reenactments and demonstrations. Instead there were only two guided tours, at 9am and 2pm. We had arrived at 11am. We decided to tour Lordsburg instead. I was interested in it ever since I saw the movie Stagecoach. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see. The items of interest to us were closed on Sunday. We decided to give it up and go home. Back on the highway, Duane suddenly sighted a bunch of horses at the fairgrounds. We decided to check it out. We found the Hidalgo County Youth Rodeo in progress. We got a seat in the bleachers and watched the 0-5 age group pole bending. In this event the horses are ridden into the arena, guided in a figure 8 through the poles, then out of the arena. Fastest time wins. We were amazed by these little ones! This little guy walked the whole way, but the others trotted or loped. They were so cute and fearless!

We watched the rest of this event before we had enough dust and heat. Time for home.

Monday (yesterday) was our 19th wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to the movies. Cars 2 was our pick. Very fun. Then we headed to the Adobe Deli for some good steak and ribs. Other than that we have been very quiet, trying to stay cool in the 100+ heat.

Stay tuned. You never know when we will do something interesting again.

Louise and Duane

CHLORIDE, NEW MEXICO

Being Sunday drivers, we took road 52, the northern leg of the Geronimo Trail National Scenic Byway to check out some of the little towns along the way. First up was Cuchillo, named for nearby Cuchillo Negro (Black Knife) Creek which was named for a local Apache chief. Settled in the 1850's by Hispanic farmers and ranchers, it became a stop for the stagecoach and a resting place for travelers. It was located midway beteen the railroad in Engle and the mines near Chloride and Winston. It wasn't a mining town, so it has a church!

The rest of the town isn't so neat. Click on the pic below to view the town "law". The policeman is a manekin head wired to the headrest!

I mentioned dramatic scenery. We drove up 2000 ft to nearly 6000. It was nice and cool up there. We were also in some of the curviest, roller-coaster roads we have ever been on--and in open range!

These weren't the first cattle to make us wait.

We had not seen a double hairpin curve before!

The Haves and Have-nots. Not all these cattle are in the fence.

We also drove through Winston. This town sprang up when a group of families in Chloride rebelled against the sinful ways of that town and created their own town--with a church. At its height the town had a population of about 1500. Its pretty dilapidated now. The nicest building is the one on the left--the original General Store, now the modern general store. We stopped here on our way home for cold drinks and a restroom break. The restrooms are actually bathrooms with showers!

Our goal on this trip was Chloride, founded in 1879 when silver chloride ore was discovered. At its height it was home to 3000 residents. Originally a tent city, by 1881 it had 8 saloons, 3 mercantile stores, 2 butcher shops, a hotel, boarding huses, an assay office, livery stables, a candy store, drug store, law office, a Chinese laundry, and a millinery store.

Interesting concept.

Past and present meet.

Chloride declined in the mid 1890's when the U.S. goverrnment selected gold as the monetary standard, dropping the price of silver so low it wasn't worth hauling out. In 1923 the owners of the Pioneer Store locked the doors and walked away. Only bats and rats occupied the place until the late 1990's when it was bought and restored over several years. All the tools below were displayed on shelves. The owners decided they could be better seen if displayed on the walls. Otherwise the merchandise was cleaned and replaced as it was.

Original clothing display.

Shelves of canned goods and tonics. Brands used then include Maxwell House and Folgers coffee, Quaker Quick Oats, Calumet Baking Soda, Del Monte tomatoes, and of course, Prince Albert in a can.

Several residents at the time were children of the miners. Two of these were especially helpful to the new owners. In their honer space was given in the museum. One of these was Cassie Hobbs, who made almost everything for her house and herself by hand. Below is her hand crocheted sun hat.

She made dolls, painted, made designed and made her clothes, and assembled and carved her home furniture. Her husband Earl, a cowboy, was away from home most of the time, so Cassie took care to make herself comfortable.

Crocheted shoes. Behind and to the left are crocheted boots (from cotton thread usually used to make collars, cuffs, and doilies) which Cassie was making when she died.

Original store as it looked when it was in business.

To the left is the Monte Cristo, originally one of the saloons. With 42 school age children in town, it was rented for a school. Undaunted, the owner opened up a new saloon across the street. In its heyday, Chloride was as unruly a mining town as any. Where the silver flowed, so did the whiskey and of course the people who made the money were the people with something to sell. Chloride still has a few residents, as to all the little towns on the Byway, but mostly the towns are slowly being reclaimed by the desert.

The Monte Cristo today houses work from local artists--paintings, photographs, handmade items of all kinds.

Once the bank was built, there was no money to put in it, so it became.......a saloon!

Hangin' tree. No one was hanged here, but unruly people were tied to it until they sobered up. It still markes the middle of town.

Cassie and Earl's place, also Cassie's workshop or "doodle dum" as she called it, are made of native stone. Both are registered historical places.

Backtracking on the road, we entered Winston and happened to capture these two trikes for our biker friends.

Serendipity sent these two pronghorns for our viewing pleasure.

Outside Cuchillo we found these well tended fields.

Most of the towns look like this--dilapidated and overgrown and looking like only ghosts live there. Note the "law" in the lower left corner.

We have enjoyed our stay in this area, despite daytime temps in the upper nineties and winds every afternoon until dark. The winds today are gusting up to 70mph, but we don't mind. They just help cool things off. Tomorrow we intend to end up in Deming, so our blogging will be more sporadic. Stay tuned, though. We just might sneak off to someplace unexpected!

Until more comes along,

Louise and Duane