The travel from Roswell to Las Cruces along the 70/380 was beautiful. Rolling hills, new road and no traffic. Without knowing it or planning it, we ended up in Ruidosa, the home of Ruidosa Downs. Quarter-horse racing capital of the world plus it was the centre of the famous Lincoln County War which raised the famous Billy the Kid. This little town can house thousands of guests and the accommodations range from run down RV parks to luxury spa hotels and casinos. As we drove through this 'Vegas', in the middle of the mountains, Dave spied a Pelican.
I pulled into the Visitor Centre parking lot which was adorned by life size action statues of Quarter horses. Kyle barked! Turns out we had also found the Hubbard Museum of the West. The town seems to have a 'thing' for bears and the Visitor Centre staff have a good sense of humour.
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We walked back to find the Pelican and discovered that there were three wood carving shops nestled beside each other and they all had the same stuff. Black and brown bears in every size imaginable, a thousand different poses and goofy signs. Really cute but it was the large Pelican out on the roadside that Kaye wanted.
The carver said his son had made the Pelican and the barter began. We settled on $45 which I made into $50 and we picked up a couple of other small items. I had to go back and drive the freight train over as "Pismo" was too big and too heavy to carry. Kyle is not quite sure what to make of our new friend.
When we left the mountains we were greeted on the Interstate by a flashing sign: "High Wind Warning". There goes the gas mileage, it was just off my nose. When I stopped for a roadside relief, I had to lean into the wind to just walk about. Amazing how the lush hills can turn into barren desert in such a short distance. Why would anyone choose to live here?
The next major sign was: "Expect up to One Hour Delay When Flashing". We had reached White Sands Missile Testing Range. The little signs mounted on the barbed wire fence all said; "No Stopping Deadly Force Authorized". Dodge don't fail me now. The wind was whipping the pure white sand into huge mounds that in several places had swallowed the fence. Some Army dudes will have some shovel work to do when this storm passes.
Silver City is nestled into the hills and made famous by mining over the years. It still boasts one of the largest open pit mines in the country. Rose Valley RV Park, located on Memory Lane, had lots of trees with big spaces but poor WiFi. The real treat was that it was located right beside the Old Silver City Cemetery with some famous dead folks!
The old downtown has been mostly restored in period. Excellent little museum and the town is packed full of art shops. The university is also art focused. Its history includes having the main street completely eliminated and turned into a gorge by a massive rain storm. The gorge has now been turned into a park and the businesses turned their 'Back Doors' into their new 'Front Doors'. This resulted in creating two main streets. Kyle loved the walk down the old gorge.
The town has an Off Leash dog park which is a whole block of land donated to the city with funds to maintain it by a lady in her Will. There were no friends there to share it with Kyle but he left his mark to let them know he was thinking of them.
Our next plan is to race to the ocean again. We have decided to go back and investigate Pismo Beach, CA further. We loved the beaches and so did Kyle so why not. On our next leg we noticed a State Trooper with a Semi pulled over just as we entered into Arizona. Then a few miles further there were two Semi's pulled over going the other way, then another one on our side. We have driven 8000 miles and had never seen a Semi pulled over and now there have been four in under 10 miles and it did not stop. The troopers even set up a temporary 'all trucks report' stop right on the Interstate. Hundreds of troopers and vehicles. Don't know what the blitz was all about and could not find any info on the news as we had crossed into California.
Beaumont, CA has a wonderful Holiday Inn Express. We met Andre Metzger and Brando (his friend and caddie) in the hot tub. They were competing in the qualifying playdowns for the Canadian Golf Tour. 320 players for 20 slots. Andre's quote; "We are well positioned for the weekend". Met them again at breakfast, very upbeat. Kaye checked his stats a few days later and he came alive with a 65 and tied for ninth. Welcome to Canada Andre!
Kyle has discovered ground squirrels. He has not figured out that they 'talk' to each other. He ran from hole to hole to hole to hole to hole until his pink tongue was dragging but he could not help himself, every time one of them stood up and 'chirped' he felt compelled to run to that hole and shove his nose in it. He even tried to dig some of them out.
We were greeted at Pismo Beach with beautiful sun shine but not exactly hot temperatures. We are OK with 68F but these Californians are wearing parkas and winter boots on the beach while we are in shorts and bare feet. Our RV Park is a concrete jungle but being right on the beach makes up for the lack of grass and trees. Some great little eateries, lots of American Muscle Cars and the sound of crashing Pacific waves. Sorry Florida, California has you beat in our books.
Our plan was to just chill for a week and then head straight home via hotels. There is a lot to do and see in this area nick named 'Five Cities' and it has really caught our eye. I guarantee we will be back here again. Here are some links to some more of the photos from these areas.
Silver City Nm. Photos
Pismo Beach Ca. Photos
Our travels to the USA have come to end for this year. Thanks for sharing in our adventures and enjoying our pictures. Till next year.....
Dave, Kaye + Kyle
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