2018 - We Survived New Mexico!

El Morro National Monument

After leaving Canyon De Chelly, we headed into New Mexico.   We had planned on staying in the Bluewater State Park for four days but once we got there (at 1pm and on a Tuesday no less) we found out that it was already completely full.   We ended up staying in a KOA in Grants, New Mexico and it turned out to be a great (even though expensive) stop because it was so close to a “must see” place that a fellow camper had recommended to Jerome way back when we were in Colorado.    The “must see” place,  El Morro National Monument, was only a 40 minute drive from our campground.   Once again, Jerome’s socializing with fellow campers lead us to another incredible part of our American landscape and history.    We have never understood why so many people choose to carve their names and initials into beautiful walls of rock but here we were glad that they did. 

Translation:   General Don Diego De Vargas, who conquered for our Holy Faith and for the Royal Crown, all of New Mexico, at his expense, was here, in the year 1692.

  Indian pictographs and petroglyphs, as well as ruins, were left by the Puebloans who lived on the mesa top, abandoning it around 1400.  Travelers along the ancient trade route to Zuni relied on El Morro’s water source, a pool at the base of the towering sandstone bluff. 

Jerome at the water pool at the base of El Morro

   Second generation Spanish conquistador inscriptions on the walls, from as early at 1540,  were soon joined by those travelers that followed, including  governors, soldiers, priests, emigrants to California, army exploration, and railroad surveying expeditions.  Many of these people chose to immortalize themselves by carving evidence of their passage – symbols, names, dates, and fragments of their stories into the rock face. 

Isaac T. Holland - 1st Emg. Train - July 18, 1853 - (the Emg. is the abbreviation for emigrant)

R.H. Orton - Capt. 1st Cal, Cav. - 1866

  How interesting to learn that in 1857, the army even experimented with camels for desert transportation along this route.   Once this became designated as a national monument, all of the “recent” graffiti was removed.   Several different methods have been employed to save this “tapestry of history” but to no avail.   Time is slowly eroding the evidence of these people and their passage through here but it will remain forever etched in our memory.

Turquoise Trail Campground

With our pre-planned campgrounds once again thrown to the wind, we had to re-group and find different places to stay until we got across New Mexico and into Texas.   Our next stop was in Cedar Crest, just east of Albuquerque.   Turquoise Trail Campground was a nice change from all of the flat, dry, dusty, and hot scenery that we had become use to seeing.   It was in the foothills of some smaller mountains with green trees and cooler weather, especially at night.  The co-owner of the campground is a geologist who is slowly going blind but is an incredibly gifted artist.  If you ever get a chance to see any paintings by Raymond Bowman, check them out.

Zia Campground in Ute Lake State Park

Our last campground in New Mexico was Zia Campground in Ute Lake State Park, in Logan.  It wasn’t a particularly bad place and the hosts were very friendly but we don’t ever plan on returning there.  It was flat, dry, hot, few trees, and no one followed any of the campground rules.   Dogs barked, whined, and howled, even at 11:30pm and 6:15am, and many of their owners didn’t keep them on leashes nor pick up after them.  The sandspurs were so bad there that we are still finding them in our trailer, rugs, carpet, and clothes, two days after leaving there.   To make matters worse, we didn’t even have any cell service, not even texting, the four days that we were there.  The only thing we can say we really liked about this place is that it was really windy.

us camping in Hereford City RV park - just 5 RV sites basically in the parking lot of the city park picnic area, overlooking the two ponds and near the community pool

the distant pond and the community pool - our campsite is in the parking lot in the foreground

It seems that all of the state parks in New Mexico are booked up for the weekends in the summer, like our state parks are in Florida during the winter, so we had to find another place to stay before we could utilize our reservations for Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Amarillo, Texas.   We found a well maintained, small city RV park, on a lake, with only 6 sites and electric and water for free (donations gladly accepted) in Hereford, Texas.   The community pool was next door and we swam and showered there for only $2 each.  There was also a community fitness center next door that we showered at for free as well.  Quite unusual findings for a city park, plus it was even like a lush, little green oasis in a struggling Texas town.    It was the right price and a nice “find” to while away our 3 days until we could get into Palo Duro Canyon State Park. 
 

We wish you all well and appreciate each and every one of you that follow our blogs and especially those of you who keep in touch with us!          Jerome & Jean