Thaksgiving Feast

Wednesday we took a ride to see Rock City. Rock City is about thirty miles out in the desert from Deming and was created about 35 million years ago. This one spot in the desert has huge rock formations sticking out of the ground that wind and rain have shaped for millions of years. They made this place State Park and it has a very nice campground and hiking trail. Lynn and I did the hiking trail and wondered through the campground. I have attached some pictures.
Thursday we had a great Thanksgiving Feast at the hall. There were seven tables with about 65 people in attendance. The park cooked six turkeys with mashed potatoes for a two dollar donation and everyone brought a dish to pass, that's 65 dishes. We had everything you can think of dressing with or without oysters, sweet potato's, fruit salad, been salad, relishes, squash, rolls, mac and cheese, pumpkin pie and apple pie, cakes and more. Believe it or not I ate too much, again. Tomorrow is leftover dinner, so we can do it all over again. We will miss the leftover dinner because we are moving on, back up into the mountains where we can see some trees. We invited our friends Kieth and Zillah and Duane and Louise over for cocktails this evening so say good bye and talk about all the fun we have had here, thanks to them. We will miss you and hope to see you again. Next blog from the condo.

You don't want to mess with the state insect.
Click on picture to enlarge.

Big rocks

A flowering cactus

You have to watch where you walk, I got a nasty scratch from one of these.

Retired and loving it.

Lynn holding up the rocks.

Our Thanksgiving Table



We all eat too much.

Duane and Louise.

Weekend Hobbies

This weekend we worked on our new hobbies. Saturday we went to the rock club and cut and polished rocks. We tried to make some jewelry from the stones we polished but I did not have much luck. Lynn did a great job making some pendents and a small ring. I just don't have the patients for this kind of work. in the afternoon we went to happy hour at the hall and met some new arrivals.
Sunday Zillah taught Lynn to make pine needle baskets. Lynn caught on and is doing pretty well with her basket. I decided to make a couple of walking sticks for her and I to use when we go hiking. I made them from the stem of a Yucca Plant, the part that has the flowers on it. The yuccas get big out here. Sunday evening we went to the hall for the ice cream social visited with our neighbor's.

This is what we hope to find when we cut open a Geo Egg. also called a Thunder Egg.
This one has red agate and Christal. The other one has Blue Opel.
You can click on the picture to enlarge.

This one has white Christal

These are the walking sticks I made from the Yucca

This is a large Yucca with it's staff.

I spotted this home made trike at Walmarts. I don't think I would ride it
it was a little rough.

Monday I took Lynn into town to get a haircut and go to the hardware store for some parts. In the afternoon I helped Zillah make some scrolls on the computer to advertise her Pine Needle Baskets. We have started getting ready for our move on Friday and the big meal on Saturday. Hear are a few pic's of our projects.

Having Fun in New Mexico

So to start up where I left off. Wednesday we went to Paloma's Mexico and did some shopping. Our main reason was to get my prescription drugs because I don;t have insurance until January. They were very reasonable. I could buy a years worth for the price of  a month here in the US and the other one was even cheaper, worth the trip. We had lunch at the pink store, that's the name of it and it was very good and cheap with free Margaritas. It was very easy to get in and out and no one with guns. I think we are going back next week with a group from the park.
Thursday we went to our rock club for a big Thanksgiving dinner. There were about eighty different dishes to choose from along with the turkey, mashed potatoes and dressing. I had to waddle out. There was allot left so we took some home and that's what I am having tonight, so much for the diet.
Today we went to La's Cruses with our friends Keith and Zillah and did some shopping. We went to Sam's Club and Hobby Lobby then had lunch at a new Italian Pizza place. The restaurant has all it's ingredients shipped in from Italy, even the flour for the dough. They bake the pizza in a wood fired oven. It was very good. After lunch we went to The New Mexico State University Geology Museum. They had a wonderful display of Petrified Wood and Dinosaur bones.

If you click on the pictures they will enlarge.
This is a Petrified tree cut in half.

The wood fired pizza oven.



The family Bluegrass Band.

This is the Pink Store in Mexico.

These are the grinders and polishers at our rock club.

Thanksgiving dinner at the rock club.

Tomorrow we are going to the rock club and work on our rocks, we only have a few days left to get the rocks done before we move on. We will miss all the friends we have made here. Until next time.

Busy Schedule in New Mexico

Storm coming over the mountain.

We have been busy with new friends and enjoying new sites and thing to do. We tried to take it easy Saturday and Sunday, so we did a little shopping and went to a flea market and the Rock hound State Park. Rock hounding is very big here with lots of Quarts Christal and Agates in the area. Monday morning I had a suspension stabilizer installed that is manufactured right here in Deming. The new friends we have met here recommended this unit and the motor home has been getting blown around on the highway so I gave it a try. I took it for a test ride on the freeway after it was installed and it made a big improvement when driving in the wind. We joined the local Rock Club so we could use their equipment to cut and polish the rocks we have found. We went to the club Monday evening and sawed our Geo's and thunder eggs. We found some very beautiful agates and Christal's inside. Lynn worked on making a Quarts Christal Pendent and I am working on a multi colored Christal Ring. We are going to polish some of the thunder eggs and display them at home. Today we went site seeing and rock hunting with our friends Zillah and Keith. We hiked up a mountain in the desert to see some petrographic pictures the ancient Indians had made, there were a lot of them. After having a picnic lunch and doing some target practice we went to visit an old ghost town that was built in 1881 around the largest Silver mine in NM. After dinner tonight we went to an RV Resort down the road to watch a family Bluegrass band perform. A mom dad and three kids put on a great show.
We are busy all week. Tomorrow we are going to Mexico for some medications and shopping, wish us luck. Thursday the rock club is having their Thanksgiving dinner, so we signed up to go to that, they furnish everything and it is free. There is a hundred people signed up to attend.
Friday we are going to the big city of  Las Cruces with Keith and Zillah. I think we need to take the weekend off to rest and work on our rocks.

Valley Lake Ghost Town

There are about a dozen buildings spred out around the mine

Our friends Keith and Zillah

Ancient Petragraphs

Sunrise at the RV Park

Remnants of the past

Demming Site Seeing

Well we have been here a few days and have met a bunch of new friends and are having a great time. The weather has been in the 50's and 60's during the day and 30's at night with lots of sun shine. Lets see what have we done? Wednesday we went to the local rock club and they invited us back to learn how to cut and polish the rocks we have found with agates, Opel's and Christal's in them. We also went to the local Museum and spent about three hours walking around, it is an awesome museum. This town has been here since the 1800's and I think they have saved everything and put it in this museum.
Yesterday our neighbors Kieth and Zilla took us to the largest Winery in NM and we tasted wine and ended up making some purchases and then coming back to our rig and having a wine party ummmm good. After cocktail hour we went up to the clubhouse for a chicken dinner that was very good. We also went to the post office and picked up our mail.

A button hook display for high top shoes.

A birthing chair. Push push

This is a Geod with a Christal inside.

Now I know why I don't like the Dintist.

This machine was in an old Hair Salon.
I think it was for perms.

Rock hounding at Bakers Mine.

Today our new friends Duane and Louis took us rock hounding to an old mine called Bakers Mine out in the desert and we found some real treasures, we think? We won't know until we cut them open with a saw, we know we have some nice Christal's because we can see inside the rock. We stopped in Columbus NM on way home and had lunch in a little Mexican cafe. Their were a bunch of Border Patrol guy's there getting lunch. Columbus is only about two miles from the border. We seen them again on the way back, they had a check point set up on the road and everyone has to stop and get searched by a drug sniffing dog. I was worried about my pipe tobacco and the pistol I had. We got through without a hitch and made it back to the park in time for the girls to attend the Thanksgiving dinner meeting and craft time. I think we will go over to Mexico for the day next week and visit some of the rock shops in town. Lynn says she is getting tired of all the activity and needs a day off to rest, I second the motion. Boy this is a rough life. Until next time.

Deming NM

We left Gallop Sunday heading south and Doug headed for California. Doug arrived in Santa Monica on Monday and sent us a picture of grandpa holding his new grand daughter. We stayed at a Walmart Sunday night and arrived at the Dream Catcher RV park at about 10 am. This is an Escapees park and is very nice. We have met a bunch of new friends here and have signed up for some activities Like Thanksgiving Dinner, it looks like we will have about four tables of ten people. The park is furnishing the turkey and mashed potatoes and then everyone brings a dish to pass. Our table s supposed to have a meeting tomorrow to see who is bringing what. I feel a stomach ache coming after dinner.
Their is allot to see around this area and we will start tomorrow. A museum in town, the turquoise trail, rock hound state park, an old west ghost town used for western films, the largest winery in NM,  Indian cliff dwellings and Palomas Mexico to by prescription drugs. We have talked to the locals here and they say it is safe to go there as long as you are out before dark. We even have free drink tickets for a resturant over there. Margaritas and Ponchoes here we come. Till next time. Sorry no pictures.

Snow and Cold

OMG the white stuff followed me.

A couple of old friends freezing their ass.
Doug and I have been friends since grade school.

We are in a city park in Gallop New Mexico. We arrived on Wednesday.  My buddy Doug arrived Friday afternoon. Doug is on his way to California for the winter to visit his son's. Friday night a cold front moved in with a blast. When we got up it was 30 degrees and snowing with 50 mph winds shaking the motor home. The wind got so bad we decided to move to another site and try to get out of the wind. It was way to cold and windy to do much site seeing so we just drove down old Route 66 and looked at all the old buildings. We had dinner in a family owned restaurant that was built in 1947. The Indians in town paraded by our table selling jewelry while we ate. We plan to head south tomorrow and find some warmer weather. The low tonight is going to be 20 degrees. Think warm.