Spring in Van Horn, Texas

 But it sure felt like summer!  92° this afternoon.  

Before we left Percha Dam we met the neighbors. Father, son, both wives, 2 month old grandson and two good sized dogs in a small camper.  We didn’t ask how they could all fit in there.  

We were just north of Las Cruces when spring arrived at 10:45.  

Nice easy drive of 200+ miles to Van Horn.  Easy run through El Paso. There wasn’t any slow traffic showing on the map so we went right through the city instead of over the high mountain bypass. 

So here we are in Central Time, only one hour off from home time.  That’s two time changes in 4 days.  We’re adjusting well.  We still have over two weeks until the SC shoot. 

We are at a new campground in Van Horn   Our usual Wild West RV place was full  plenty of room here and it is only 1/3 mile away.  

One nice thing about all this warm weather is sitting outside in the evening   Shorts n t shirt at 9 pm is just fine!

Spring arrives at this minute!

Las Cruces

El Paso

Camp at Mountain View RV in Van Horn

One of the Mountain View’s, there are a few.

Moon, Venus, Sunset

Percha Dam & Caballo Lake

 The morning was a pleasant hanging out at camp. Not much here for hiking and it’s too hot by noon anyway.  So this afternoon we went up to Caballo Lake and sat in the shade of a tree and watched Skye play in the water for a couple hours. 

Then stat prep for travel again tomorrow.  Meaning go up to Elephant Butte for fuel.  “Only” $4.99/gal up there.  My fleet card discount in Hatch was still $5.12. While we were there we hit the grocery store for some pre-cooked dinner to avoid cooking in the heat.  93° this afternoon.   Now at 6:45 it’s getting comfortable again.  

On to Van Horn TX and Central Time tomorrow.  Then Sheffield TX the next day and Fredericksburg TX the day after.   Camping in Lukenbach TX.  Yup.  “Were going to Lukenbach Texas with Willie, Waylon and the boys”. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3EKHUA1aBLA

We have neighbors tonight, a family from El Paso, two pickups a small camper, several people and a baby.  It’s still pretty quiet   

Lunch attention

Swimming!

I’m not used to swimming to go fishing

One oddity of Truth or Consequences NM is this parking arrangement.

See the line of cars on the right?  They are parked.

That might be a bike lane to the right of the parked cars, not sure.

But only one lane for traffic with parked cars on each side.

Hatch, NM & Percha Dam

 Wow, a normal day again.  Hotter than the others but nice and calm

It probably topped out at 91, or a bit more.  We left Deming this morning and came up to Hatch, the self proclaimed “Chile capital of the World“.  Every few feet there is another Chile vendor.  You can buy dried chiles by the 20# sack.  I wouldn’t know what to do with that much!  This time of year there are not any fresh chives, they are just being planted now.  NM grows around 77% of the chiles in the US, and much of that is grown in the Hatch Valley.

So after wandering the streets of Hatch we came 12 miles north to Percha Dam State Park where we will stay 2 nights.  It was so hot this afternoon that we mostly just hung out in the shade.  Late afternoon we rode around a bit with the truck AC on.  This is a very small park so it only took a few minutes to cover it all.  But a few more miles north is Caballo Lake State Park.  Both parks feature dams on the Rio Grande.  There is a little water here at our park but Caballo Lake is a fairly large lake, 18 miles long if it were full.  But reservoirs never get full out here.

By sunset it was cool enough to walk around the campground.  We had one camper come up to us and say that he thought he had seen a VT plate come in here.  He grew up in Mass.

Sunrise in Deming

This became our favorite Hatch Chile shop

Caballo Lake

Camp

This cat came by

And Skye wants to meet the cat

Sunset

Deming, NM

 This was a much better day!  We lounged in the KOA campground for a few hours while the AMA guys (Any Make Automobile) searched for a part.  They came over and checked a measurement and he thought he had found one, but had to check the size.  A bit later they called to say Come on over!  They put it on and we were on our way for <$200 by 2 PM.  It’s only an hour or so to Deming so we came to the Adobe Deli, the Harvest Host we intended to be at last night.  Also where we were Jan 29 before arriving in AZ.  

So we celebrated St Paddy’s Day with some Knappogue Castle, my favorite Irish whiskey, then we had dinner at the Deli.  It’s called Adobe Deli but it’s a regular restaurant.  Carlene had a BBQ sandwich and I had a French Dip and Dos Equis.  All very good.  Not very Irish, but this isn’t very Irish country either.

We made reservations at a state park just north  of here for two nights.  We’ll explore Hatch and the Percha Dam area on the Rio Grande.  Skye should like being by a river again, if there is water in it.  When we came through Las Cruces in Jan. it was pretty dry.  It’s a dam so there should be.

Some entertainment while at the garage

The broken part, you can see the extensive wear on the hinge point that broke

Lots os yellow flowers along the highway

At Adobe Deli

I mentioned last time that this place is part museum 

We had not seen this before 

Hand crank starter, wooden wheel spokes

1928 registration plates 

Even the customers have interesting cars

Is that a rocket engine?

This upper deck offers good views

The camper in the background 

Out toward Deming to the west

Inside

Good night