Ok, here we go! We got a reasonable start on Sunday morning and left the house in Oro Valley by 10 AM. What we forgot and left behind, we will just have to do without - or buy on the road since we are not returning for 3 months (mid-Sept). I was still in the process of cleaning the refrigerator at 8:30 PM the Saturday night before our departure and I wasn't about to get back home to a moldy fridge
Things went well on the drive to Elephant Butte Lake SP until a large sign above I-10 announced that the border was closed at the New Mexico-Arizona state line. What!? The sign recommended taking an alternate route - what alternate route?? - this is southern Arizona - roads are few and far between. We decided to reconnoiter at a Love’s truck stop in Benson, Arizona and figure out our options. We were going to take highway 191 north, but suddenly it looked as though the border might be opening. We found out that 2 semi trucks had collided - it was a total mess!! It seemed that one truck driving on I-10 had rear-ended another one that had pulled over and was parked on the shoulder. We found out later that there had been a fatality - not surprising since one semi cab was completely torn apart. Other than that one problem at the border we had smooth sailing to Elephant Butte Lake state park and set up camp around 5 PM.
We had a beautiful view of the lake (really a dammed-up part of the Rio Grande river) but boy was it hot while we were there. See my review of the camping experience at: Elephant Butte Lake State Park
The best part of our trip so far was our visit to the Geronimo Spring Museum in downtown Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. (The town was previously named Hot Springs prior to the name change in 1950 in order to gain national publicity from the hugely popular (at the time) NBC radio quiz show Truth or Consequences, which promised to do a live broadcast from the first town to change its name to ToC.) The area had been known since ancient times for its hot springs and continues to have lots of folks visit in order to soak in one of the many bathhouses. Unfortunately, our time was limited and the heat was beastly so we passed this time (definitely will try this on our next visit!) Geronimo Springs Museum is your typically under-funded local history/natural history/ancient native art/ etc. museum that has a little bit of everything including dust, spider webs and poorly-labeled exhibits. But it is really a HIDDEN GEM! and contains one of the most amazing collections of ancient native art (mainly ceramics) reaching back over 1000 years. My review of the museum can be found here: Geronimo Springs Museum
We left Elephant Butte/ToC after 2 nights and arrived 2 days ago in Santa Fe after going through Albuquerque on I-25. We are now at the Santa Fe Skies RV park about 20 minutes south of downtown. Both the truck and the Sunflyer are doing well and Nala is enjoying the new smells she encounters on her walks around the park. (I will be writing a review of the park later in our stay - we will be here for 2 weeks). During our time in Santa Fe we will be going to see the Albuquerque Isotopes baseball team play the Salt Lake City Bees on June 28, going to Bandelier NM to see the cliff dwellings, Los Alamos (site of the development of the atomic bomb in WWII), trying the local breweries and generally prowling the local arts, museum and restaurant scene. More reviews to come later in our visit!