Chaos Leaves Town

While waiting for my various dental appointments to come and go, I came to really like the bike I’d bought up in Socorro. But then on a nice Sunday morning in December, I’d rode it to the Patio Cafe carrying my laptop to try and listen to the Seahawks game. I did that simply because I liked the outdoor patio there at the cafe, and the bike ride.

There is a setup on the NFL’s website where you can sign up to listen to games. Since I don’t have satellite TV, that’s what I usually do. Anyway, there was something wrong with the WiFi at the cafe, I couldn’t connect. The cafe was closed on Sundays so no help there. The game had already started as I hurried back to my RV, leaned the bike up against the RV without attaching the locking cable, ran inside and turned on the computer. After 4 minutes of screwing with setting up the computer, I finally have the game coming through the speakers and settled down to listen to the game. Four feet away, within those three hours I listened to the game, someone walked up, grabbed my bike and rode away. As soon as I noticed it, I called the police, and a few days later had fliers up all over town. The cop was helpful but didn’t hold out much hope of ever seeing it again. And he was right, 4 weeks later, not a word about it from anyone. I really miss that bike, so comfortable to ride, so smooth, so easy to change gears. Oh, well. It’s original MSRP was $500. Even though I only paid $125, it felt like I’d lost $500.

On a return trip from the border, I took this shot of Columbus. Still had nice warm weather.

The weather had been very nice for a month with warm days and cool nights, but then that big winter storm rolled in. It really hammered the country, ruining crops in Florida and dumping feet of snow all over the Midwest and eastern states. Even we, in the Southwestern desert, felt it as the nights and then the days grew colder. Eventually culminating in this event:

This happened during the night and early morning. Stayed cold all day.

There were still some people staying here at Columbus Best RV Park.

And a shot up the alley towards the west.

So I spent the rest of 2009 in Columbus Best RV Park in Columbus, NM. Walking to downtown whenever I wanted to eat at the Patio Cafe or check out movies at the library. Every 21 days or so, I’d drive up to Deming to do some serious shopping for food but most of the time I just stayed home and worked on my computer projects while planning the journey into Mexico. Oh, and watching the nightly news from El Paso as they recorded each days massacre of another five to seven people in Juarez. Enough to make a grown man cry to be sure, but I had a mission of sorts, of the most selfish kind. I don’t have to go to Guadalajara, but I’d been planning the trip for a year in order to visit several small villages near there with world renown artisans plying their trade. Copper and gold smiths, painters, sculptors, and weavers. I wanted to see them and their work in the villages where they worked.

Oh, and enjoy the weather too. So, I waited out the cold weather in Columbus for a couple more weeks, got the last of my dental work done, and headed south on January 14th, 2010. Before I left Columbus, I got a couple more shots of the main street where I’d spent so many hours over the past couple months.

Main street, looking West.

Last look at the hotel where Villa's men killed two of the 18 they eventually killed during the attack. Main street looking East.

Well, that’s all there is from Columbus or from New Mexico, the next posting will be from inside Mexico as I head due south (nearly) for a thousand miles.

As I rode into Columbus, this roadrunner crossed my path. Where's Acme when you need them?

The first week in Columbus, I rode the bike around town several times, at least twice a day, and visited all the local sites. And I did find a very nice little cafe with WiFi. Named the ‘Patio Cafe’ it’s right downtown Columbus and has the best food! Wow, the soups especially were unique and delicious. Everything I had there was just excellent. The kitchen staff all spoke Spanish and no English but the waitress told them that I wanted to take them all back to Fairbanks with me. They laughed at that but didn’t want to go. Shame though, I could have opened the best restaurant in Fairbanks.

He stopped to check me out.

The open desert near the RV park.

While I was riding my bike around Columbus, I noticed another museum across the street from the one I’d already been to. This one was much bigger, newer, built by the park service. It took a couple hours to wander through the place and read all the history. Naturally, it’s focus was the attack by Poncho Villa and the US army’s response and campaign.

A touring car used to escape the attack. Has bullet holes all over. The family that used it was able to miss being killed, but here were some wounds, and headed up to Deming to alert everyone up there of the attack by the Mexican forces.

Just an old wagon.

An army transport vehicle used during the campaign.

A plane used during the campaign, 'The Jenny', and the commanding Generals touring car in the background.

An armored car, which turned out to be a precursor to the tank.

This hill overlooks both the town of Columbus, and the attack route of the Mexicans.

Where the army staged for the counter attack. The Mexican border is just three miles away.

And the town of Columbus.

After roaming around the site for 2-3 hours, I went back into downtown and visited the sites of the attack.

A week later I called and set up my first dental appointment in Palomas, Mexico at the Fierro Clinic.

The Fierro dental clinic.

The office is very modern, comfortable dental chairs…lounges really…Novocaine or whatever they use these days that actually worked (I’d had some surgery done in Mazatlan where the doctor had to inject a pain killer five times because is wasn’t working like it was suppose too, like it had been watered down), and an assistant that speaks English. After showing the doctor my broken fillings, he went right to work setting the root up for a crown. Instead of the $600-$900 I’d be quoted in the US, this would only cost me $190. After the work was finished, I walked over to the counter to pay and Dr. Fierro asked me how everything went. Shook my hand and thanked me for coming. I left the office and headed back to the border. Two hours later, after they had run out of patients, the good Dr. and the staff were having an early afternoon dinner when two armed men charged into the building wielding automatic weapons and grabbed Dr. Fierro. His kidnapping was in the Deming newspaper the next day and the staff at the RV park where I was staying let me know about it. That kind of put a damper on my dental work visit to Mexico. Who wants to be kidnapped walking to the dental clinic? I waited an extra week to see what would happen to the good Dr. and to let things cool down a little before I started to go back for the rest of the work. The staff was pretty closed mouth about the kidnapping when I’d inquire about the doctor, all they would say is that they didn’t know anything about the situation. Protecting the business I gathered. Anyway, after I left that day, I wandered down the street towards the border and stopped in what’s known as ‘The Pink Store’. This is a nice large store stuffed with Mexican handicrafts from all over Mexico. Then there is a bar and restaurant there too. In fact, when you walk in, they ask if you’d like a Margarita. Free! But just after dental work that doesn’t sound all that appealing so I skipped on that. But I did have a nice lunch.

Giant sculpture outside of the pink store.

Some of the brightly colored ceramics available. These happen to be bathroom sinks.

A look at the thousands of items available.

I can't fit this sculpture in my RV.

My favorite glass works. I almost bought a set of these.

Another of those metal sculptures outside the Pink store.

Just showing the wild colors they use for buildings down here.

An interesting building a block off the main street in Palomas.

Just as I was taking the above picture, this guy on a bike zipped past me and shouted something to some bad looking dudes to the right of the building. Sounded like nothing I wanted to be involved with so I quickly got out of there and back into The Pink Store for a few minutes. Nothing happened back there that I know of after that, no sirens, no squealing tires so I probably misjudged the action going on. I did feel it had something to do with my walking back there with a camera, but I never pointed it at the guys standing along side the street. The guy on the bike came back as I was walking back to the Pink and gave me a glance over his shoulder as he passed me. Wasn’t a friendly glance either.

So, that was my first trip into Mexico since early 2007. Exciting in many ways. Nerve racking in others. Palomas is only around 45 miles from El Paso/Juarez. Juarez is the murder capital of the Americas. Over 2,000 killed in ’09 and now in ’10, already more dead then at this time last year (I’m writing this in Jan. ’10).  Many kidnappings too. Not often tourists but that isn’t unheard of either. Especially in the bigger cities.

But, despite the potential for violence along my route, I’m determined to head on down to Guadalajara in early January, then over to the coast. The people in Mexico are really nice and I’ve only felt threatened once in all the months I’ve lived there. I didn’t expect this trip to be any different.

After I left Socorro, I traveled 3 hours south to Deming, New Mexico. I planned on staying at a LoW campground. LoW=Loners on Wheels. I expected this to be a laid back, live and let live kind of park with the expectation of some fun meeting people enjoying the same life style I had chosen. I’d checked out the club online several times over the years so thought I knew what was up with them. Well, my expectations were 180 degrees out of sync. The park was one of the most up tight parks I’d been to in 5 years. They even had the laundry room locked up! Wow, very unusual in my experience. Oh, and they had this rule that you could only use certain kinds (which meant certain brands) of liquid detergent. Then there were 20 other rules, and then more rules. So, next morning I got out of there. Park was nice enough, but really, if I’d wanted to be imprisoned, I wouldn’t be an RV’er. When I walked into the office the next morning asking for a refund for the prepaid second night, it took them several minutes to figure out how to do a refund. Even asking me if I could just forget about it. (NO!). But they did have some pretty ‘cactus’ in little gardens here and there in the park so I got some pictures before I left.

At the LoW RV Park in Deming, NM

And some of the cactii all around the park.

Weird looking stuff.

Interesting color.

This one had fruit.

Eventually, this will be 20' in height.

Looks neat, but packs a bite.

Some of them had these tall central spires.

Someone put a lot of work into this miniture, so I thought I'd show it to the world.

And the cactus garden. Started and maintained by the guests of the park. Some of them are here for months at a time.

It’s a half hour drive from Deming, NM south to Columbus. Right on the border with Mexico, Columbus was my chosen spot to hang out while I got some dental work done. I had picked this place because I had never been there and wanted to visit a new area, it was only 3 miles from the border, and there were two RV parks in town. Here’s a shot of some of the hills around this very wide and dry valley on the way down from Deming. After I parked on the side of the road, I walked to the other side to get this shot. When I made that walk to and from the RV, I was forced to walk in the scrub land right next to the road. When I stepped up the stairs, I noticed that I had maybe 10 cacti spines in my shoes. Took me 10 minutes to get them all out. Including the 2 that had penetrated the soles of my shoes and into my foot. A little blood, nothing to worry about. What I was very worried about though, was that some of those spines were long enough to flatten my new tires. So as I drove away, I turned sharply onto the roadway trying to reduce my tires exposure to the spines. A week later, I hadn’t lost any air from the tires so I got lucky.

A few miles outside of Columbus, NM.

When I arrive, a half hour later, in Columbus, I drove around this little town and soon found a museum. Since it was still so early in the day, I stopped in there and got a look at the local history. The history of Columbus includes an attack by Poncho Villa, the Mexican bandit, back in 1916 or so. Several people killed and many buildings burned to the ground. That attack set off a series of counter attacks so the town of Columbus, which had at the time of the attack maybe 300 soldiers stationed there, eventually had thousands. The counter attack was not hampered by the Mexican government, since Villa was a rebel and they were trying to get rid of him anyway. The US military was never able to capture or kill him and the campaign into Mexico faded away over time. But the US army was able to test out several new implements of war like a prototype tank, and the use of airplanes in supporting roles. It was also a campaign where motorized vehicles were used more then horse or mule. The tank wasn’t very successful but the planes and trucks were. And then WWI started up so the US moved on to other things. Villa was later assassinated in his home town by one of his rivals in Mexico. I’d guess you could call it a successful attack on the USofA.

The Columbus Museum.

Pretty good condition, considering it's age. That's my RV behind.

A fire truck used during the campaign.

Looks fun to drive.

If you like to look at old cameras, the museum has plenty.

The hotel where two died. Shot as they tried to escape from the front door. Man and pregnant woman.

After browsing around town and the museum for a couple hours, I went back to the ‘Columbus Best RV Park’ and set up in a spot where I was suppose to be able to receive WiFi. That turned out to be true and within the hour I was back on-line. Then after some more Internet research on the town and Palomas, Mexico, I jumped on my new bike and headed back to town. Since the park was  only around 2 miles from downtown, and the place is flat as a skillet, and by the looks of it, as hot as one in the summer, it wasn’t long before I’d literally seen the entire town. A library downtown had internet computers, a nice cafe across the street, a newer post office, a museum, a grocery store…everything I could want for a few weeks stay, while I had dental work done. Then there was a grocery store, cafe, & bar in a big, newer building. Funny thing was the hours of the cafe and bar. Not even open until 11:30am and closed at 9pm. When I came back late in the day the following afternoon, I found that the bar, inside the same building but with different hours, brand new, was only open Thursday, Friday, & Saturday from 5:30pm to 9pm. So, as a result of that, I only went there twice while they were open in my two months in Columbus.

Went into Mexico for dental work about a week after getting to Columbus, I’ll show you that next time.

After leaving Magdalena, it’s just a short run down the hill (Magdalena is up in what passes for mountains around this part of New Mexico) to Socorro. As I’m coming into town, I notice a RV park on my right which has a ‘Free WiFi’ notice on their sign. Initially, I pass the place because I don’t recognise the name of the park from my guide books. Not being one to miss an opportunity, I whip a U turn and park along the road. The office looks  deserted but while I’m picking up a brouchure the owner walks in. Wishing to wash the bad taste of the poor WiFi I’d had to contend with at the last RV park out of my mouth, the first question I have for him is, “Do you have free WiFi, and does it cover the park”? He laughs and tells me, “Yeah, it is a very strong signal all through the park, and very fast equipment, too”. Then when he told me it was only $175 per month for full hook ups, I was, pardon the pun, hooked. That was less expensive then the crappy park I’d just left. I moved my rig right in, tried to level it, then happily hooked up to electric. In 10 minutes I was on line.

The next day, I removed the bike from the carrier and rattled around town a bit. I’d had several problems with the bike up in Magdalena so I was kinda looking for a new bike and happened to find a bike shop which had some used bikes on consignment. Didn’t hurt that the bike shop was right next to a nice bar, so over the next 2-3 weeks I visited the shop several times. I also went to the local Wal-Mart store and gathered a few names and prices. I kept coming back to the bike shop though, since they had a really nice ‘Giant’ brand uni-sex bike. The price on it was $175 and I didn’t want to pay that much soI finally asked the shop owner what he would take for it. Since it was on consignment, he just handed me the bike owners phone number and when I called them I offered $125 for it. They took it, I got the bike, and we were all happy. Except for the bike shop owner. He got nothing except goodwill. When I had looked up the bike on line, I found that the MSRP was $500 originally, back in 2002. It still looked brand new and I found that the woman that owned it just never rode it. Her husband had gotten it for her when he had purchased his. I hoped that it’s looking somewhat like a girls bike might help keep it from being stolen, since most bike are stolen by guys.

I rode all over Socorro with my new bike and had a great time. Visiting the old church, the artist galleries, the nice little bar downtown, etc. Now here in Socorro there were several galleries I visited. Very large, with lots of high quality artwork. Took my time and visited all I could. Which is why I ended staying there a month. Oh, the weather was very nice too. Short sleeves, but carry a jacket weather.

Looking back towards the mountains where Magdalena is, from the RV park I'm staying at.

The old church. Built the first time in the 1500's.

A neat spiral staircase.

The altar.

Some of the statuary.

The plack.

This was one of the places where the Indians, that were being brutalized by the Spanish, ‘For God’, rose up and killed the missionaries. Wasn’t for another 50 years that the Spanish came back, murdered thousands of the now peaceful Indians, and forced them to become Catholic. If you didn’t believe, you died. One of the main reasons I dislike religion in all it’s forms.

The atom bomb plack in downtown Socorro.

One piece of nuclear blast damaged wreakage.

This is a tiny city park. Right across the street from my favorite bar.

This is 'Veterans' street. This is all there is. It's not being kept up very well.

And here is the bar where I hung out. The Capital. Very old, lots of wood.

After a month here in Socorro, there wasn’t much left to see, so it was time to head south again, closer to Mexico.

The next couple nights, Saturday & Sunday, I stayed at the casino, to watch the NFL games and to hang out in the casino. After leaving the Dinosaur NP, and traveling most of the day,  I’d arrived here around 4:30pm. I’d been here 4 years before so it wasn’t all that interesting and I used the spare time to do some minor repairs to the RV.

Parked at the Ute Indian reservation casino RV Park.

They have a discount for overnight parking if you have a casino cash card, I didn’t but an Indian guy walking by the check in counter offered his. Friendly.

Looking over at the casino.

The next morning, Nov. 2nd, I'm back on the road south. This interesting plateau was just a couple miles south of the casino.

Since my destination is due south, I don’t bother with freeways. I’d have to go out of my way to get on one anyway, so I stay on two lane roads the rest of the trip. Not seeing any traffic for 2 hours at a time is my kind of travel. A few miles before my destination – Magdalena, New Mexico, I’ll passed the VLA (Very Large Array) where they have been conducting deep space radio investigations for decades.

Here's what most of the trip looked like. No one in sight. Suits me fine.

Oooo, new blacktop. Quiets the trip, smooths it out. Loverly.

The VLA. This is as close as you can get from the highway. You can take a tour if you want, but I wasn't that interested. I've seen hundreds of pictures in articles about the VLA so feel I know most of what there is to know about the site.

This site is just about 30 miles from my destination, Magdalena, where I expected to find an interesting art community. Turned out that perception was wrong, but it had an interesting local history. There were and are some artists there now, but not like I expected. I didn’t find any original art I liked enough even to think about buying.

Downtown Magdalena. Most of the business, like this one, had closed years before. I could see some really old antiques through the windows. Those still in business, had reduced hours.

I did find a museum, art gallery, and thrift store all displaying artwork but nothing spectacular. Then I had trouble with the owner of the campground. I was trying to help him work out his problems with a weak WiFi signal in the campground area and told him I was a Computer Consultant. That upset him for some reason and rather then letting me help him, he soon started accusing me of somehow messing with the system from my RV. The signal was so weak in the first place because he didn’t have an outside antenna, just a standard two antenna AP inside his house. Which had a metal roof. Ass. So, I only stayed two nights.

Wholesalers of Everything, and a sign on the door, "If we don't have it, you don't need it".

And the little museum. Use to be the train station.

So, after almost two days here in this quiet and sleepy little town, I headed off to Socorro, NM. Hoping to find a better RV park with good WiFi. I did find a nice bar across the street from where I was staying and I had an afternoon beer there alone with the bar tender, but then the owner walked for the night shift and promptly turned up the jukebox way to loud for that time of day with only one customer. But it is his bar, so I just went home.