From Tucson, AZ to Columbus, NM

We took off the tire covers, filled up the propane tank, hooked up the tow car, paid a hunk of change for gasoline, and left Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson after camping there for ten weeks.

Obviously we like Tucson and the Davis Monthan Fam Camp. It feels like home. But we want to see a few more places before heading to our sticks and bricks house in Salt Lake City for a few weeks later this spring.

So we drove 242 miles east to Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus, New Mexico.  We'd made a day trip to Columbus last year; the town is a little sad looking -- dusty with down-trodden-looking houses -- but they have a great museum at the park and a lot of history. We also wanted to visit Palomas, a small Mexican city of 4,700 just three miles from the park. Last year we were given tickets for free margaritas at Palomas's locally famous "Pink Store" -- home of a restaurant and authentic Mexican shopping -- but didn't have our passports with us.  So the Pink Store is a destination location this time.

As for Columbus's history:  It's the site of the last invasion by foreign troops on US soil when in 1916 Pancho Villa's revolutionaries raided the small town and killed 10 soldiers and 8 civilians. I wrote a short history re-cap when we were here last time.  To read it you can click here.

Back at Davis Monthan this rig -- a semi-tractor pulling a flatbed, Smart Car and a fifth wheel RV -- parked near us at Davis Monthan for a few days.  The Smart Car is so short it sat cross-wise on the flat bed.  

Our last camping spot at Davis Monthan was at the end of a row and had a nice little cactus garden near our rig door.  By the time we left, a lot of empty spaces graced the Fam Camp.  The snow birds are heading home and the full-timers are looking for cooler climates.

This cactus near our rig at Davis Monthan was getting ready to bloom.  You can barely see the buds on the same type of cactus in Columbus, NM, where we are as I write.  Columbus is about 2,000 feet higher and much cooler than Tucson.

On the way to Columbus:  A spot of green along I-10's mostly brown New Mexico scenery.

Our campsite at Pancho Villa State Park in southern New Mexico. We made reservations for peace of mind, but we wouldn't have needed to.  Probably only about a quarter of the sites are full.

This birdie (Cactus wren? Spotted wren?  Not sure which) has a nest right next to our camping spot.  There are also a lot of loudly cooing doves here at Pancho Villa State Park; I'm thinking all the doves are what prompted the name  of the nearby Mexican city of "Palomas," as paloma is Spanish for "dove."