"Bill's Excellent Adventure!"

02-08-08

It’s been a while since I’ve made an entry so let’s see where this goes.

I have started another three week stay at Elephant Butte Lake SP, just outside Truth or Consequences, NM. I spent the last 7 days down the road about 15 miles at Caballo Lake SP. The three weeks before that, I was here at Elephant Butte. I really like this area especially since I made some friends here.

Found a good meeting and several have taken me under their wing, especially a fella about my age, Buster. Then there is Brian, Susan, John, Lynetta, Chris, Earl, James, Rebecca, Bruce, to name just a few.

My birthday was January 28th (61) and I treated five folks to a lunch at La Pinatta, a good local restaurant with outstanding homemade salsa. Let’s see, it was James, Earl, Chris, Rebecca, and Susan. Really nice folks and it was what I needed. Rebecca gave me a small chip of pottery with some markings on it. It was a very sweet jesture.

Buster took me out to a small community called Monticello, about 20 miles to the northwest of TorC. This small community has a real charm to it and makes me think of a small Spanish village with a small whitewashed catholic chrcuh and a charming small town square like area with houses surrounding it, just across the road from the church. Had a more than usual # of shade trees in the square, with a small covered stage in one corner. Lynetta grew up here. In fact, her parents settled the community coming from Monticello, NY.

Well, Buster, his trusty sidekick dog, Huckleberry took a drive way up into the surrounding San Mateo mountain range. Several of the peaks were at 9,000 to 10,000 ft. It was a beautiful and warm day but I followed Buster’s lead and took a jacket with me as the winds and altitude chilled the air. Go to the Feb08 Photo page for pics of the trip. Buster has found the Indian spirit to be a good match for his belief system. We stopped at a small waterfalls and Buster sprinkled some tobacco for the Spirits to pay his respects. We traveled up in this range, taking our time, for about 6 hours. It was a very enjoyable experience.

A few days before, I traveled about 20 miles from Elephant Butte to a small community called Engle. On the way, you cross into a very wide desert area. It was tremendously windy that day. A roadside marker indicated I was in the Camino Real and this particular area that stretches for 100 miles, was called by the Spanish, the Journey of the Dead, for the hundreds that had died attempting to make the 100 mile trek north and south. Heading back into town an enormous view of the Gila Mts and other snowcapped ranges. Breathtaking sight regardless of the direction you looked.

I must admit that I have been vegetating more lately and as a result, I have been focused on my new website thepickupcamper.com and attempting to put together a survey and advertisement for the Quickupcamper™. Although I’ve holed up some, I have been getting to town daily for at least one meeting and taking more day trips. The sunrises and sunsets from my view through my picture window (my tailgate window) have been awesome.

I have been told by the locals that Spring is about to break here. Winter seems to run apparently from Nov into Feb. I ran across a camper friend, Richard, who was at Caballo and he moved up here for a couple of days. He’s a hiker and a loner so he has moved back to Caballo to pick up on several hiking trails there.

Well, that’s enough for today.