In order to get a camping space, we try to arrive at new locations on Mondays and Thursdays. On Mondays the weekend crowds have just left. On Thursday they haven't yet arrived. So far it's worked out great and I was skeptical when Rockhound State park in south central New Mexico told me they might not have a spot available on a Monday night.
But I got on line and paid the extra money it cost to get an advance reservation. I’m glad I did. There might have been an open space or two, but that was all.
And I can see why. The camp grounds were nestled at the foot of the Little Florida (pronounced Flo-Rita) mountains. The cactus was beautiful. The night time stars were wonderful. Our campsite was huge. Three are two other State Park nearby (Pancho Villa State Park and City of Rocks) and nearby Deming, NM has a great Mexican restaurant (Si Senor) and a brew pub and Jim wants to go back.
Bonus that has nothing to do with our travels: Today I read my adopted hometown’s newspaper, the Salt Lake Tribune, and this was one of the headlines:
Utah duck hunter shot in buttocks by his dog
The last line of the story is my favorite: "The dog and any ducks within range at the time of the accident were uninjured." (The hunter is OK, too, except for his pride.)
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| Jim hooks up the water and electricity to our rig at Rockhound State Park near Deming, NM. Our tow car is parked on the other side of the picnic table shelter to the left; normally at a state park, another rig would be where our car is, if not closer. |
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| A scenery shot. |
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| Visitors' Center at Rockhound State Park. |
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| You can just barely see a dark spot in the middle of this photo -- it's a blimp outfitted with cameras and high-tech equipment and tethered over the US-Mexican border for use by the border patrol. Also, between El Paso and Las Cruces, all the westbound traffic on Interstate was pulled over by the border patrol. We were waved on, as were other cars near us, but a pick up truck was being thoroughly searched. |
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| More scenery. I'd love to be here when the cactus blooms. |
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| The campground with our rig and tow car in the foreground. This photo and the scenery shots were taken from two mile hiking trail that makes a half circle around the campground and includes a walk through a desert arboretum. There is also a well-marked display of desert plants near the visitors' center. |
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