Overnight the temperature dropped to somewhere in the thirties. We know this since the inside trailer temperature a few minutes after Wells turned on the heat was a balmy 44 degrees. The inside temperature soon was in the sixties. Our destination for today has us arriving in Deming sometime between noon and one. Today we meet up with friends we met last summer in Alaska. Scott and Dawn live almost full-time in their camper and Anna lives in Deming. The five of us met last summer in Valdez, Alaska on the wildlife and glacier cruise the Lu Lu Belle.
So up and out of camp early as we enjoy the crisp mountain air. There are still patches of snow around since the elevation is well over 9,000 feet. There’s a coyote slinking away from a road. Soon we are down the road and this is literal since the road descends over 4,000 feet in roughly 16 miles.
Las Cruses is the big city in these parts of New Mexico and over time the metro areas of Las Cruses and El Paso, Texas are merging as sprawl from both cities expand. The final leg of the day is along Interstate 10 for sixty miles to Deming. There is not much between these places once beyond the urban sprawl of Las Cruses. “Not much,” is a bit of an exaggeration. There is almost nothing.
Marsha sees an old highway on the map that gets us off the Interstate for the last 40 miles to Deming. Off in the distance one can see I 10 but our route is more enjoyable. We pull into Deming, grab some supplies and head out to our campground maybe a dozen miles outside of Deming. The road to our campground is flat and the last 7 miles are washboard gravel so it’s a slow go. The road ends at the Hidden Valley Ranch RV Resort. A sign at the beginning of the road to the place states Seven Miles on Gravel, but Worth it.
Dawn and Scott arrive while we check in and we quickly reconnect. We are chatting next to our truck at our campsite and a Desert Wren lands on a cactus 12 feet from us. Dawn says, “Wells, there’s your photo opportunity.” Since he’s next to the truck, he opens the door grab the camera and grabs the shot. Now he explains that the shot was taken after sitting in a bird blind for an hour before capturing the shot. Not really, but it makes a good story.
The four of us pile into their car which they pull behind their Class A motorhome and head to town to meet up with Anna. From there we head out for dinner at the Adobe Bar out in the sticks. It’s an old school house converted into a restaurant and bar. It was great food and interesting atmosphere. After dinner Anna takes us back towards town where we stop at a winery. Tomorrow Anna is taking us to the City of Rocks. Pulling into the campground we see a grey fox trotting off into the bush.
Seeing North America 