February 28th – March 1st, 2019

We had sunshine and clear skies driving to Las Cruces. The Las Cruces KOA is called Journey and sits just outside of town. We spent our first day just getting settled in and making a plan. We decided this would be a good spot to take care of business.
We had the oil changed and tires rotated on the truck, went to the library to print and copy, finished up the taxes and tied up loose ends. Even on the road there’s a “to do”list!

Wednesday Feb 27th – We made a trip downtown to old Historic Silver City. There is a lot of ART there! The stores are even singled out by “ART” on their windows and the sidewalk in front of their stores and galleries. JP chatted with a couple of artists and grabbed a photo with their work.

We popped into the Historic Plaza Hotel. It dates back to 1880 and is still up and running. 

We had a really good lunch at Diane’s Downtown. It certainly earned its TripAdvisor rating. The restaurant was pretty, the service was good, the beer was cold and the food fresh and yummy!

We filled the second half of our day with a trip to City of Rocks State Park.  135,000 years ago there was a volcanic event 1,000 times bigger than Mt St. Helen’s that caused these rock formations to form. They’re huge and have interesting shapes and formations. The State Park is a Campground too. It’s weird to see a RV nestled in-between the towering rocks. 

The picture below gives an idea of the size of these rocks – Jerry is at the base.

Tuesday Feb 26th – This morning we drove Hwy 180 S to Bill Evans Lake, another Trophy Bass Lake. The lake was small but pretty. JP looked happy fishing under clear skies and sunshine! We stopped in a little town called Cliff so JP could visit with a local fishing guide. He builds fishing rods and knew the scoop on all things bass. The cold weather doesn’t make for good bass fishing.

We keep crossing the Continental Divide at 6,355 feet.

Monday Feb 25th – We’re staying at Silver City RV just on the edge of town. It’s small, quiet and comfy. Every AM the office has a coffee shop goin’ on with fresh baked goodies. We packed a lunch, got JP a 3 day fishing license and we headed into the Gila National Forest. In 1924 the US Forest Service established the Gila Wilderness (the first wilderness area in the nation).

We stopped at Robert Lake so JP could do some fishing. It has trophy size bass but alas no fish in the chilly waters.

We headed up to the Gila Cliff Dwellings for the second half of the day.
Its a bit of a hike up and around the one mile trail that climbs 180 feet over steep and rocky steps. A bit harder for us since the elevation was about 8,000 ft. A stretch for us sea level folks at 20ft!

The Cliff Dwellings were left behind over 700 years ago by the Mogollon People. No one knows why they left their home here around 1300 or how long the dwellings will continue to live on. The dwellings have been dated back to 1280 by studying the tree ring patterns from the wood used to make the ceilings. Pretty amazing!

February 24th – February 27th 2019
Sunday Feb 24th – Today was a long travel day. We left White Tank early for the 6 hour drive. We pulled into Silver City New Mexico around 3:30. We found Walmart right after we had the worst Chinese food imaginable (the $5.55 price and words “Chinese Fast Food” should have been a clue)! There was a little snow on the ground but sunny skies. The water in Lucky froze overnight. The forecast was a low of 17 -so not surprising!