Cloudy, Windy, Dusty Day

Pretty painted bench between shuttered windows

No grass here but patterns made with different colors of gravel

Blue door in a residential area

Another cloudy day! We didn’t have any real plans for today so after the usual walks this morning and checking out the usual blogs after breakfast, I lay down to read, fell asleep and woke up about 1:30 p.m. I’ve had an aching shoulder for the past couple of days so took ¼ of a muscle relaxant last night. Hate to think what would happen if I took a whole one.

Anyway, when I woke up, I got the laundy done.

It’s been a blowing dust storm all day today but still reached 71F. The skies were brown for most of the day. My plan had been to go to Old Mesilla today and walk around the shops some more but the day just wasn’t conducive to that.

Still have to find a campground in Alamogordo. We’re scheduled to move on Monday!

Photos today are ones I took on my walks this week.

Happy St Patricks Day!

Edward Jones office

Giant Roadrunner Replica

Beautiful Southwestern Architecture

It’s turned cloudy today but the good news is that it was 57F when I got up to walk this morning. I walked around the area, there are some restaurants and shops near here and they are quite interesting. The doors and window trim have been aged. I took a photo of the Edward Jones office for Sandy. There is also a huge roadrunner in front of one of the restaurants that I photographed. Then I crossed the street into a residential area and took photos of some of the houses. We both love the southwestern architecture!

Bib didn’t want to go out this morning. Not sure what he’s afraid of here although there is some construction going on across the street. Eventually Gordon caught him and we took him out.

Gordon got an email from a full time RVer that we met in Wawa last year. They are in Las Cruces today and are heading over to White Sands and then leaving tomorrow. If they get back from Alamogordo in time we might get together tonight, otherwise we’ll probably see them on the road again. Unfortunately that didn't work out but I'm sure we'll meet again down the road.

After lunch, Gordon really needed a haircut and I wanted to check out the Mesilla Mall, the only large mall in Las Cruces so we headed over there. The anchor stores are-Sears, Dillards, JC Penney and Barnes & Noble. The only thing I bought was some BioSilk for my hair. It’s been so dry the last few months that this stuff has been a lifesaver. I started using it about five years ago but probably didn’t really need it till I got here. It’s a great detangler too! On our way back we took University Ave all the way to the end just to see where it goes and it comes out just south of Old Mesilla not far from where we’re parked. So we got home about 2:30 p.m. My back was very tired so I lay down to read and took a nap. I did wear a green T-shirt today even though I’m not really Irish!

The photos today are of the Edward Jones office with it’s blue door and window trim, a giant replica of a roadrunner and a beautiful house just across the way from us in the residential area where I was this morning.

Our Trip to El Paso, TX and Its Mission Trail

Ysleta Mission

Socorro Mission

San Elizario Mission

Located in El Paso’s Lower Valley are three stately adobe churches that remain as living testaments to the faith of our Spanish and Indian ancestors. The Ysleta Mission, established in 1682 is the cornerstone of the Ysleta del Sur Indian Pueblo. Two miles east on Socorro Road is the Socorro Mission, first built in 1682 and currently under renovation. Six miles farther east is the San Elizario Chapel established in 1789.

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It was 66F by 9:15 a.m. today! It just felt like it was going to be a hot day!

When I got up this morning, after I walked Bib, I asked Gordon if he wanted to go to El Paso today as we had planned to take a day trip from Las Cruces rather than camping there. We decided we’d go after lunch and come back after sunset.

We left for El Paso at around noon and stopped at the Information Center just on the outskirts of the city. We got some literature on the area. Gordon is interested in the old missions and there are three of them in El Paso so we drove to the three missions, Ysleta, Socorro and San Elizario,.

From there we took the Border Highway to downtown El Paso. Not seeing anything of interest there, just another big American City, we decided to head for home. We arrived back at Las Cruces at about 4:30 p.m.

Don’t get me wrong about big American cities, I’m sure if you live there, they are very interesting and there’s lots to do but for someone just driving into the city, there wasn’t anything outstanding to ooh and aah over.

It did however reach 79F in El Paso. Around 3:00 p.m. the skies clouded over so didn’t figure there was much use staying there for sunset.

When we got back I read for a while and tried to take a nap but that didn’t work so I started to get supper prepared and cleaned the strawberries that I bought yesterday.

After dinner it was just TV and internet!

Shopping!

This door leads to.......
Taken in Historic Old Mesilla, Las Cruces, NM

Sandra at Downtown Mall, Las Cruces, NM

I didn’t sleep well last night. Took forever to get to sleep. Must have been because of the long nap I had in the afternoon. Anyway, I was up at the usual time and took Bib for his walk. I decided not to go on my walk this morning as we had planned to go to the Farmers & Crafts Market in the Downtown Mall. It turned out to be less farmers and more crafts but not much of that either. All in all, it was a bust! I had planned to be there for two hours but after about 20 minutes I had seen it all. Most of the mall stores are empty and you will note from the photo of me above that the place isn’t exactly busy. I met up with Gordon and we drove over to the Rio Grande off Picacho Street then we decided to go to Historic Old Mesilla.

We walked around the streets of Old Mesilla and took photos. We had planned to buy a new coffee mug for Gordon if we could find one. We’ve been looking at most spots we’ve stopped on this trip as the one he got 17 years ago in Bar Harbor needed to be replaced. We had also decided to get a southwest type blanket for each of us to have something to remember the area. One of the first stores we went into had the mug and the blankets at a very reasonable price. So we bought three blankets, one for each of us and one for the truck. Then we stopped and had coffee on the patio of Café Don Felix, a quaint little coffee shop. We walked around going into shops but didn’t buy anything else.

When we got home and had lunch, I decided to go to SuperWalMart and pick up some groceries so after parting with $100+ there, I drove over to University Avenue and drove a ways on University then returned to the RV.

I had a short nap, got dinner ready while Gordon went and took some sunset photos, had dinner and then got the dog brushed. When I was working he got brushed every week, since we’ve been retired, he hardly gets brushed at all. Poor puppy! Just goes to show you, if you want something done, give it to a busy person!

Back to TV!

Tuesday in Las Cruces

Rio Grande and the Organ Mountains

Pecan Groves

Today was nice and sunny and about 72F. It clouded over late in the afternoon but still had a gentle breeze blowing.

After our walks and breakfast, I got busy making my stew, then vacuumed and did some cleaning. There’s very little grass around here and a lot of gravel so we keep dragging the gravel into the RV and it’s not good for the floors or the carpet but very difficult to keep outside.

By then I was all sweaty so went for a quick shower as Gordon had mentioned he wanted to do some exploring. We drove over the the Rio Grande area, then stopped at the Visitor Information Centre in Mesilla who suggested a trip down SR28. We drove through a couple of small towns and lots of pecan groves. Pecans seem to be big business in this area.

We got back in time for lunch and then I thought I’d take a short nap which turned into over two hours. It was one of those naps where you’re way down somewhere and very hard to fight your way back up. I felt groggy for most of the evening.

I mentioned yesterday that this isn’t the nicest park that we’ve stayed at, nothing pretty or inviting about it but it has very speedy free wifi so that’s what I’ve been using instead of our internet satellite. If I decide to do any banking or anything like that I plug in the satellite internet but it’s hard to resist the speed that the wifi provides especially uploading photos.

Looks like another night of TV for us!

Now in New Mexico

RV Doc's Park & Service, Site #25

When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain
(Organ Mountains, Las Cruces, New Mexico)

I was up at 7:00 a.m. this morning to prepare for our change of location. Since we wanted to be on the road fairly early, I gave up my walk and just walked the dog.

We were on the road at 9:00 a.m. and arrived at RV Doc’s Park & Service at Las Cruces, New Mexico by 1:00 p.m. We were set up by 3:00 p.m. and then went and tried out the campground’s showers. RV Doc’s isn’t the nicest campground we’ve stayed at by far, there’s no pool or spa, not that we used them very much anyway and the sites are pretty close together, much like Tucson but it’s very convenient to most things and has great cable stations!

There wasn’t a lot to see along the way here from Benson, just some mountains, some flat land, scrub and the Rio Grande just as we were coming into Las Cruces. It was a pretty straight shot east on I-10.

Weather here today is sunny and it got to 65F compared to 31F when I got up in Benson, AZ this morning. It’s actually quite pleasant.

After we got set up and showered, we took off to explore the city. We wound up seeing Historic Old Mesilla which was founded in the early 1800’s and was originally a Spanish settlement. It is now shops, galleries and restaurants. We’ll have to go back there and take some photos. Then we went to what we think was the downtown area and then headed towards the Organ Mountains where we took some photos. On the way back we stopped at Taco Bell for dinner and now we’re in for the night.

WHAT THE……?

Snow on palm trees

Looks like a winter sky and snow on the cactus

Snow at Jackrabbit Gulch

Snow on the truck

This morning I got up to……SNOW! What’s going on here? I thought the snow was supposed to be at elevations over 5000 ft. We’re at 4093 ft. Anyway, we did indeed have snow this morning but it did melt quite quickly. Some snow fell off the back of the RV this morning when it was melting and scared the bejeemies out of the dog.

Regardless of the snow and cold, Bib and I did go for our usual walks this morning. I bundled up with several layers of clothes and Bib went au naturale.

We also had problems with the internet satellite. There was a lot of cloud and apparently the wind shifted the dish a bit overnight so Gordon had to repoint it. When he went out he noticed that the rain had loosened the ground stake, lucky we had the gas can filled with water on it or if might have fallen over. After repointing, it’s working fine.

The temperature didn’t rise much today, at 11:00 a.m. it was still only 39F but I had to go out to get groceries and water. After that little job was done, I came back and took Bib for a walk and they lay down on the couch in the sun to read and of course, fell asleep.

At 3:30 p.m. it was still only 49F although it was quite warm in the sun. There was still quite a breeze when I went for my afternoon walk.

Tonight we had leftover chicken cacciatore and then settled in for a night of TV – my favorite night with Desperate Housewives and Gray’s Anatomy.

Photos are from this morning’s snow aftermath. It’s funny to see snow on cactus and palm trees!