After the Gila Wilderness

After our time in the Gila Wilderness we spent one night in a Walmart parking lot in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  The town used to be named Hot Springs, but in about 1955 the town entered a contest to be the first town to rename themselves after the popular TV game show Truth or Consequences.  The winner would host a broadcast of the show in their town.  So of course they entered, and of course they won.  I’m not sure why they have held on to the name.  It’s a little weird, and I noticed some modern town signs that called the place”T or C”.  There were also various places in town named with the original town name of Hot Springs.  Like Hot Springs Brew Pub or Hot Springs Bowling.  So I think the name Truth or Consequences is so discordant that part of the townspeople are trying to revive the original town name and others are just trying to shorten it.

Truth or Conseeuences was actually a pretty cool little town.  It made me think of Silver City (but much smaller) because the residential neighborhoods had adobe walls surrounding front yards (beautiful, decorated walls, too high to see over).  The old downtown portion had undergone an artsy revival of old commercial buildings with new-ageish businesses inside and colorfully painted building trim as well as flower pots and trees painted along the storefront walls to tie them all together.  It’s got a particular “look”.  I was not surprised to find out that a movie was being shot in part of that area.  A bunch of streets were closed because of the movie shoot.