Friday, September 29 - Sunday, October 2, 2022

Today we left our pull out spot near Cloudcroft.  We drove to Alamagordo, New Mexico, out on the flat plains, just a short distance from the White Sands National Monument.  Looking back we could see the high ridges in the mountains where we had spent the past week. So beautiful up there.  It was much warmer in Alamagordo.  We had showers at the Rec Center in Alamagordo, drove past White Sands (I’d been there before), past the Organ Mountains which are pretty spectacular, and had a great Mexican lunch in Las Cruces at a little tortilla factory.  I am finding out that there are a million ways to make green sauce in New Mexico.  

We decided to head for Silver City at a higher elevation.  It was evening when we arrived in Silver City, and we found a spot to camp stealthily there.  We had made appointments to get our COVID Omicron variations booster shot and senior flu shot at the CVS in town.  That was for 11 am on Saturday, so we went to a coffee place found on Yelp to kill time and discovered the historic downtown of Silver City.  We loved it!!  Wonderful old buildings that had been revived with accent painting of the architectural details, incredible murals all over the place, a few surrounding blocks of neat old houses, and lots of foot traffic of interesting looking people.  Dave said the narrow streets and walled properties reminded him of Mexico.

After the shots, we began the drive north of Silver City into the Gila Wilderness.  The road is referred to as the Trail of the Mountain Spirits.  This 44 mile drive ends at the Gila Cliff Dwellings.  It’s a one-way in and one-way out road.  We got about 32 miles up this paved, but intensely twisting scenic route and pulled into an overlook.  There was no signage against it, so we hunkered down there to sleep for the night, as we were beginning to feel the effects of the shots.  It was starting to rain with thunder and lightning, and it poured all night.  When we woke in the morning, the view from the overlook was amazing with different layers of fog out in the canyons.  We drove the final 12 miles up to the monument.  Spectacular scenery and so very quiet until you’re almost there and it’s suddenly built up with houses and a hot springs spa.  Once you drive into the national monument area it’s quiet again.  Seeing the cliff dwellings was an hour and a half self-guided hike.  We wanted to see them, but couldn’t manage the hike.  Both of us felt a bit woozy after walking any distance (shots), so we decided that resting was the best idea.  We found a camp area with picnic tables and WATER!! and cooked our breakfast there.  After that we found a pull-out  next to the Gila River and napped.  The drive back to town later was not as long as it seemed going up.  We really liked the area.  We got back to town, explored a little, used the wi-fi at the coffee place (Javalinas), and at nightfall we slept in the van next to the most glorious mosaic mural in town.

Wednesday, October 5, 2022  Gallup, New Mexico

Today we are in Gallup, New Mexico.  They have a Point S Tire Shop here and we have stopped here for a tire rotation and oil change.  Slept at a Days Inn last night.  Thing about Gallup – it’s stretched out along the historic Route 66 with motels on one side of the street and a very active railyard on the other.  So all night long trains came loudly through town, every one of them blowing their horn.  I remember this now from other stops in Gallup.  Yesterday we drove through El Malpais outside of Grants, New Mexico.  Huge lava flows covering the flat land, then sandstone bluffs for miles.  Gorgeous setting.