Las Cruces and Hatch NM

Yesterday was a busy one.  We woke up early to clear skies, a light wind, temperatures in the 40’s and a cold trailer.  Oops, helps if you remember to close the ceiling vent before you go to bed.  No problem, we’ll just turn up the thermostat on the propane heater to take the chill off and give the small electric space heater a helping hand.  Oops, no propane heat.  Heinz worked on it for about an hour and being the Renaissance man that he is, got the problem diagnosed and fixed.  Turned out to be a bare thermostat wire causing havoc.

After completing repairs and eating a quick breakfast we were off to Las Cruces, New Mexico, home of New Mexico State University, to look around.  While there we ran across an artist’s street fair and stopped to look it over and learned that February is Art Month in New Mexico.  Strolled the fair looking at all the wares, bought a jar of mesquite/wildflower honey and a necklace and earrings of turquoise, looked over the dogs up for adoption at the Humane Society’s booth (no, Suzi, we didn’t come home with one), and listened to the Mariachi band.

Street Fair

Street artist at work

 

Street Fair

The obvious

Drove around the town for a bit, then took the scenic back road up to Hatch, NM, home of the world’s best green chile peppers.

Hatch is a small town; village is probably a better word.  There is not much there except pepper fields and pecan orchards.  We did stop at a couple of chile stands, but as it will not be pepper season until the fall, we were not having any luck finding anything but ristras of dried peppers.  Then I noticed a sign outside of Chili Willie’s advertising frozen green peppers.  Heinz stopped (probably so he wouldn’t have to listen to me whine anymore) and we went in.  It was my lucky day.  We bought their very last bag of whole, frozen green chile peppers, a two-pound bag.  The woman in the shop told us that the first cutting of the season is traditionally Labor Day weekend.  Guess we’ll have to go back then.   You can order peppers on line, but they are pricey since they are shipped overnight.  And shipping them would also mean no trip to New Mexico for the Chile Festival!

Leaving Chili Willie’s, Heinz noticed a RV sales place with some old Airstreams on the lot.  Needless to say, we pulled in immediately to check them out.  There were three in all, 2 trailers and one motorhome, all from the 60’s and needing VERY big hugs.  All three had all the original fixtures and cabinetry, but would need complete overhauls.  Not real sure we’d be up to doing this again, but you could see the potential in all of them. 

We drove over to Mesilla (south of Las Cruces) to find a restaurant we had been told about, La Posta de Misella.  The restaurant has been open since 1939 and is in an adobe building that was originally built in the 1840’s by Roy Bean and his brother, yes, that Roy Bean…the hanging judge.  The place was later a stagecoach stop for the Butterfield Stage Line.  The building was terrific, the decorations phenomenal, and the food… to die for!

La Posta, the building is painted throughout

After eating WAY too much good food and drinking a really fine margarita made with Dos Luna tequila, we waddled out to the plaza and wandered around.  The area has quite a few old adobes and the oldest brick building in New Mexico, built in 1860.  The original owner opened a mercantile in the building and was killed in the building by bandits in 1866.  His heir came over from France to claim his inheritance and sold it to another man in 1886.  That owner was also killed in the building by bandits.  Over the years the building has been used for several different businesses and is now another shop.  We also got to hear the church bells and mass at the Basilica de San Albino on the plaza.

Basilica de San Albino

Shrine outside a home

Home doorway in Mesilla

And of course, we made some more friends along the way…

Today we are staying close to home as the temperature has dropped into the high 40's/low 50's and the wind is blowing 25-30 mph with gusts up to 40+.  There is dust in the air everywhere, so neither of us is feeling very ambitious about getting out and about.  Tomorrow we plan to head up to Alamogordo to see the White Sands National Monument and maybe do some hiking in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  Then on Tuesday we are planning to leave here and move our base of operations into the Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico to try boondocking, fly fishing, and bird photography.  There are no services in the forest, so if I don't get a post out tomorrow night, we'll catch you up on our adventures when we get to Albuqurque in a week or so.

We are currently in El Paso TX.  What happened to our planned stay in Alpine you ask?  Well, it happened, but the WiFi broadband was not wide enough to allow for long stays on the Internet or uploading of pictures; therefore, no blog posting.  That was the only downside of the Lost Alaskan RV Park.  The place was VERY clean with VERY friendly people and reasonable prices, especially with our Escapees Club discount.  So, let us catch you up.  We stayed four nights and then had to vacate the premises as there was no more room at any of the parks in the area due to the Annual Cowboy Poetry Reading Festival, which was starting on the 24th.

While in Alpine we had a great time checking out the local area.  Local, however, is a relative term out in west Texas.  Alpine has a population of around 5,500.  The nearest large city (i.e., more than 5,500 people) is El Paso, 220 miles away.  However, Marfa (pop. 2,700) is 30 miles, Fort Davis (pop. 1,000) is around 25 miles, and the Big Bend National Park is a mere 110 miles from Alpine.

Are we there yet???

We spent a day driving around, getting a feel for the place.  It is high desert, the Chihuahuan Desert to be exact, surrounded by the Davis, Chinati, and Chisos Mountains.  We went up to Fort Davis and spent some time at the Fort Davis Historical Park (the post was closed in 1885).  The fort was built in the mid-1800's to protect traffic along the San Antonio/El Paso trail from Apache, Comanche, and bandit attacks. At its height, approximately 600 Army troops were stationed there at any one time, mostly Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry after the Civil War.  This was also the fort where the Cavalry’s camel unit was stationed.  That's right, camels were imported into the Chihuahuan Desert in the 1800's as pack animals for the US Army.  Apparently the program was quite successful until the Civil War when the unit was disbanded.

Parade Ground in front of officers' quarters

Married officer housing

Officer housing

Later that afternoon, we went over to Marfa and wandered around town.  Unfortunately, it was Sunday and most of the art galleries were closed.  Seems that Marfa has become quite the artsy town, with quite a few artists moving in and galleries opening.  We did get to see the Chinati Foundation.  It's a contemporary museum and studio space on 340 acres in old army barracks and artillery sheds opened by Donald Judd back in the 70's.  It has installations by Dan Flavin, John Chamberlin, and Judd, along with other rotating exhibits by other modern artists.  It was a bit esoteric and abstract for us.  However, we did enjoy the aluminum installation by Judd.  Guess living in an aluminum tube has given us an appreciation for the stuff.

Aluminum installation by Donald Judd

That night we made sure to be in place at dusk to watch a terrific sunset, followed by the Marfa Lights up in the Chinati Mountains.  The lights are fun to watch, some say they’re reflections from auto headlights on the highway across the valley floor, others think they are due to atmospheric changes as the temperature drops after the sun goes down.  Who knows?  But they are quite the tourist attraction and the town has built a fancy viewing area with telescopes for your viewing pleasure.  

Sunset outside Marfa, TX

Monday we got up at 0400 and drove down to Big Bend National Park in time to see the sunrise over the Chisos Mts. and the Chihuahuan Desert.  Big Bend is 800,000 acres of desert and mountains bordered by 118 miles of the Rio Grande.  Across the river is Mexico.  We did some hiking along the Lost Mine Trail and the Santa Elena Canyon.  It was absolutely breathtaking, literally and figuratively.  Boy, we really need to work out more!  Between being out of shape and being at 6,000 feet elevation, we were pooped!

Sunrise at Big Bend National Park

Sunrise at Big Bend National Park

The Chisos Mountains from the Lost Mine Trail

Santa Elena Canyon and the Rio Grande, right side USA, left side Mexico

On our last day we lounged around the trailer for the morning, then went to eat in Alpine at Reata’s.  We had run across a cookbook at the Big Bend Park gift shop on Monday with some fabulous recipes and after buying a copy discovered that the original restaurant was in Alpine.  It is apparently a “destination” restaurant for the foodies out there.  I had Carne Asado with Cheese Enchiladas and Heinz had the Chicken with Mango Salsa, with a side of Jalapeno Cheese Grits.  Yummy!  But later that evening we had even better food up in Fort Davis for dinner at a little bistro called Lupita’s Place.  Actually, it’s a little trailer parked n the side of the main drag with some tables outside.  We had the Texas Tornado Burrito - melt in your mouth tender brisket with avocado paste, queso fresca, and green chile sauce and the Asado Burrito - super tender pork and a fiery red chile sauce.  Now THAT’S a destination restaurant in my book!

Lupita's Place, Fort Davis, TX

Along with eating our way across west Texas, we also took in the McDonald Observatory on top of Mount Locke outside of Ft. Davis (home of NPR’s StarDate).  During the afternoon we took in the Solar Tour that included a lecture on the sun and neighboring stars, real time telescopic images of the sun, and a tour of two of the telescopes, altogether a 3-hour tour.  That night (after that wonderful dinner at Lupita’s) we went back to the observatory for a Star Party.  This included a humorous look at the night sky narrated by an observatory employee.  I have never seen so many stars, with no night lights anywhere for miles around, it was phenomenal.  Following the talk, you got to wander around looking through various telescopes varying in size from 16 to 28 inches, each aimed at a different area of the sky.  We got to see the Orion nebula, the Andromeda nebula, Jupiter and 4 of its moons, among others.  The star party lasted around 2 ½ hours and there were around 100 people in attendance.  The workers told us that this time next week the star parties will have around 1,000 people each night due to spring break.  Wow, glad we got there when we did, telescope lines were short and no one minded if you took your time ooh-ing and ahh-ing into the lens.  If you ever make it down that way, this is bargain priced entertainment.  A total of 6 ½ hours for $20 each.

McDonald Observatory

107 inch telescope

Along the way we have continued to make all sorts of friends and wanted to share their portraits with you.

Wednesday we packed up and headed over here to El Paso.  We’re parked in the Fort Bliss FamCamp.  The past two days have been spent resting, doing small maintenance on the trailer, and scoping out El Paso.  With Juarez across the river, there is a definite Hispanic cast to the town.  Lots of adobe, lots of colorful tiles on the buildings, etc. 

Last night we took in a concert by Joe Bonamassa.  Wow, this was our second time to see him in person and we were blown away again by his skill on the guitar.  Now I know how the Deadheads felt all those years…we may have to start following Joe from town to town.

Tomorrow we’re off to explore Las Cruces and Silver City over in New Mexico and maybe do a little hiking in the Gila National Forest if there’s time.

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Recipe Corner... This one is adapted from Reata: Legendary Texas Cuisine by Mike Micallef.  We enjoyed his version, but added more cheese and jalapeno to suit our tastebuds along with using fast cooking grits to speed things along for RV cooking.  The original calls for cooking regular grits for 30-40 minutes.

Jalapeno-Cheese Grits (Serves 6-8)

3 cups water

3 cups heavy cream

3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced

1 tbsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

2 ½ cups quick cooking grits

4 tbsp unsalted butter

3 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Combine the water, cream, jalapenos, salt, and pepper in a large saucepan and cook over high heat until the liquid has reached a rapid boil.  Reduce the temperature and simmer for 5 minutes.  Slowly stir in grits, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.  Cook until grits are soft and creamy.  Remove from heat and add butter and cheese.  Stir until both are melted and thoroughly mixed into the grits.  Season with more salt and pepper, if needed.  Serve hot. 

Once again we are woefully inadequate in keeping up with the blog...worse than usual, it's been 2 months since we posted anything.  Mea culpa to all.  We are currently in San Antonio, TX.  We spent mid-December to mid-January with relatives in Louisiana.  My sister and brother-in-law put us up and generously loaned us workshop space to continue working on the trailer.  Their house was beautifully decorated and set the mood for Christmas wonderfully.

We enjoyed their Christmas Open House, a great Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with family, New Year's Eve and Day parties, and meals out with the family.  You sure can't beat the fried catfish restaurants in the South, YUMMY!  We were also introduced to a couple of great restaurants in Shreveport that were new to us: The Broken Egg for breakfast: great omelets with crab, chorizo, or crayfish, and Superior Steakhouse: great steaks obviously, but also some wonderful Cajun seafood entrees.

We had a terrific surprise over the holidays, our Bird of Paradise that we've been nursing along for 3 years finally bloomed!  Turns out that the plants take 3-4 years before blooming for the first time.  Who knew?

Heinz got the fridge installed, and the pantry and kitchen cabinetry completed before leaving Louisiana... the storage space is coming along wonderfully.

We've been in San Antonio staying on Lackland AFB for the past three weeks and with access to the base wood hobby shop have continued to work on the trailer.  The propane and water are connected and we now have heat, hot water and a working cooktop.  It was exceptional timing as San Antonio had record cold temperatures for a couple of weeks and even had a light dusting of snow.

We also managed to get the closet, and TV cabinet and dining table mostly completed (pictures to follow later when they're done).  We now officially have beaucoup storage space!  All in all, we are settling quite nicely into our rolling home.

We haven't let the sights go by the wayside.  We did the "mandatory" tour of the Alamo and watched the IMAX movie on the battle (you were right Kathy, you DO tear up towards the end).  We also wandered the Mission Trail and got to hear Mass at Mission San Juan de Capistrano (built in 1731).

The pictures above are (in order): The Alamo, Mission San Jose, Mission San Juan de Capistrano (two pictures), Mission Espada, and Mission Concepcion.  The last one is the only mission that still has the original frescoes from the 1700's.

We've also taken advantage of some of the more fleeting events in the area.  We've caught a few movies, including The King's Speech and The Rite.  We have found the neatest little movie theater just a few miles down the road, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.  As you buy your ticket you begin to get a sense that this is not your usual theater, the ticket clerk hands you your tickets and tells you to present them to your server in the viewing room.  As you walk in the lobby you realize that there is no place to buy candy or popcorn, but there is a bar serving drinks and a gift shop selling movie paraphernalia.  Then you make it into the theater itself and you find that they have taken out every other row of seats and installed rows of tables instead.  A waitress comes by and you give her your order off the menu...pizzas, burgers, salads, chicken or fish and fries, a choice of about a dozen different beers, wine, cokes, and oh yeah, popcorn or candy.  If you order popcorn it comes in a big metal bowl instead of a paper bag.  Dinner with your movie.  What a blast!  

San Antonio is in the middle of the annual Stock Show and Rodeo.  It goes on for 2 weeks, so of course we went last Friday night.  Wow, what a spectacle!  The stock show was for both 4-H kids and adults.  The prizes for the top animals for the kids ranged from $1,000 and up for best in show, plus whatever the animals sold for.  There were some good looking animals on display.  There were all sorts of events going on all day, every day, but we only made it for the rodeo that night.  The rodeo was then followed nightly by a concert.  We got to see Train perform.

We plan to be here until Saturday and then move on.  Next stop will be Marfa/Alpine, TX and the Big Bend area.