The museum being closed, we did what we had planned to be activity #2 first. It is a visually very interesting place, with all the building being what they call “Spanish colonial” style. A number of businesses and restaurants were closed, on account of Presidents day, but there was plenty open, and we had a… Continue reading Old Town Albuquerque
Category: 2024 winter RV trip – Southern USA
Drive from Alamogordo to Albuquerque NM – when plans go off the rails
A beautiful drive, as we are crossing over to a different valley. We arrive early, because we are heading to a “First Come First Served” campground, which we had been told after calling them that they had plenty of availability. That was true, because when we got there, the campground was empty and we were… Continue reading Drive from Alamogordo to Albuquerque NM – when plans go off the rails
Three Rivers Petroglyph site
The Three Rivers Petroglyph site is a short drive from Alamogordo. According to the visitor center, there are over 20,000 individual petroglyphs in the area. We saw several hundred on the half-mile trail we took. It was an amazing experience. (FYI, these are not painted petroglyphs – there are engraved by removing a naturally occurring… Continue reading Three Rivers Petroglyph site
White Sands National Park
Today we spent the day at White Sands National Park, including walking 4 different trails and walking a total of almost 6 miles. If that wasn’t enough, we also did some sledding down the sand dunes. Interestingly, we only saw young kids doing that, with their parents supervising. I guess we are kids at heart…… Continue reading White Sands National Park
Travel to Alamogordo, NM
Today was just a short drive from Las Cruces NM to Alamogordo NM. In doing so, we drove past White Sands National Park where we will return tomorrow. Today was a quiet day, no touring. After settling in to our campsite, we went to enjoy a coffee at Starbucks, and then went to a car… Continue reading Travel to Alamogordo, NM
Backtrack to El Paso TX – border fence!
Our first stop today was a waypoint right next to the USA-Mexico border wall (railroad tracks – road – border wall – Rio Grande river – City of Juarez, MX). We actually got to touch the border wall (and no, there wasn’t anyone crossing illegally where we were, unlike the images we see on TV). … Continue reading Backtrack to El Paso TX – border fence!
Hiking in the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument
Today we hiked the “Dripping Springs Natural Area” trail. The trailhead was a convenient 30-minute drive from our campsite. The trail itself was 1 ½ miles in length, 3 miles return. The pleasant surprise with it is that some sections were still snow covered from this past weekend’s storm. The views were spectacular, and at… Continue reading Hiking in the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument
journey to Las Cruces NM
Not only are there no services, but there are also nearly no inhabitants. Most structures along the route (and there aren’t many) appear to have been abandoned quite some time ago. It was only about 20 miles out from El Paso, that we began to see some residential unit density and roadside mailboxes. In the… Continue reading journey to Las Cruces NM
summary of our first BLM experience
BLM stands for Bureau of Land Management and is part of the US Government. It sets aside certain areas for public use, and no cost to the users. Such camping involves no hookups (see previous post on dry camping). In this case, the area was set up as a campground, and had designated areas for… Continue reading summary of our first BLM experience
dry camping summary
We did it, we camped 4 nights in an entirely self-sufficient manner. In practice, this means we managed with the 40 gallons of fresh water in our tank, propane for cooktop and oven, water heater (normally we heat it electrically), and space heating (the blower motor runs off the 12V batteries). No sewer hookup, so… Continue reading dry camping summary