Day 16: No dark sarcasm in the classroom: Whites City, NM to Columbus, NM
Cold and windy last night. Still slept pretty well. One of us still refused to turn on the furnace but we had built up enough heat during the sunny day that it did not get as cold inside the van. The cup was not blue. The morning winds did make it feel colder than it was outside.
Morning walk was up towards the gulch and beyond. Stopped on the way to take some more pictures of the gulch and tried to get a shot or two of the differences in the earth. The gypsum (I assume) veins just appear suddenly among the canonical dirt. There are also some outcroppings of quartz like material. Since I am not at all a geologist, I know enough to know that it is not Mennonite and that it is pretty. I only got tripped up twice by various obstructions.
We departed at ~0930 in the windy as F conditions. Knowing the drive would be a bit arduous given it was a close haul / headwind and the van doesn’t really like wind too much. We give up about 6 litres per 100 km in these heavy headwinds. Plan ahead for fuel stops! In the distance near the Guadalupe Mountains we could see some rain falling and dark skies. Off we go!
As we drove along at our usual snail’s pace we climbed up the mountains towards the Texas border. Yes, we did not have enough of Texas and had to go back! We gained a few thousand feet of elevation and then right around Guadalupe Mountains state park, the rain started to get heavy and the temperature dropped. At 3 C we started to notice the ice chunks forming on the windshield and be swept away by the wipers. Thank you wipers. Then 2 C and the hail. Then 1 C and the snow. Not enough to make me require a costume change, but enough that in these winds, at this elevation, with this van, it was a bit unnerving. Fortunately we soon started our descent and the worst was over. We did have some more rain along the way, sometimes heavy but not too alarming. It was interesting to see the snow collecting in the mountains at a distance.
We stopped on the outskirts of El Paso and provisioned at Walmart and did a bad thing and grabbed some Chick-Fil-A for lunch. I don’t like their “values” but I am ok with their chicken. Frankly, next time I seek fast food chicken I shall seek Popeye’s (yes, we are shareholders) As I went in to C-F-A the FedEx driver that walked in in front of me was packing a sidearm. So, we started up a conversation, agreed to rob the place and made away with some chicken, a Cobb salad for Ozzy (his real name) and $18.63 in USD!!! Oh, wait, we didn’t rob it. We did get chicken and Ozzy did get his Cobb salad. We had a nice chat until he got the call about some payment being late.
Since we were east of El Paso the GPSs guided us north through the Transmountain Highway though the Franklin Mountains. Up we go again. Down we go again. The wind makes it so easy. It was pretty and we enjoyed some vistas as we drove.
After transversing the mountains the GPSs had a hard disagreement about route. Garmin wanted us to go the long (wrong) way up the 10 to Las Cruces, west to Deming, NM and south to Columbus, NM. Waze was up for the adventurous route along highway 9 just north of the Mexican border. Yes, let’s do that!
This 60 mile (100 km) stretch of road was pretty straight. We got passed by 2 cars the entire way and saw maybe a dozen going east. And we watched. “Is that the wall?” became our new game. We watched the GPS to see when we were getting close to the border and then looked south. Ah, wall! No, wait, it’s a fence. Is a fence a wall? Sure. Take pictures!
We arrived at Pancho Villa State Park right in Columbus at ~1445. It took us a few moments to get a level spot to park. We are getting more particular. The museum closed at 1500 so we will have to tour that tomorrow. Shower!
The State Park is situated on the grounds of Fort Furlong. Pancho Villa attacked it on March 09, 1916. It was the last time an armed force entered the United States. There is some history here.
Something strange about this site, it looks like the site post has been bumped. I have only seen that once before. As a good citizen I shall attempt to fix it after sunset.
Out for a nice walk in the huge winds to give Amy some exercise. We could not cook outside (wind) so Mrs Milddogs cooked our Louisiana boudins (cajun sausage) in the oven. They were good. I had a build (rye and coke) made with this fine bottle of rye Mrs Milddogs selected for me the first time we were in Texas. I used the remaining ice from my C-F-A fountain drink. The rye is called Sazerac and it makes me think of the name Jamie has for Claire on Outlander.
Our evening activity includes sitting inside a shaking van (wind).
Tomorrow we are heading into Arizona near Tucson.
It’s real!
