Day 31 - We were starting to get a little low on gas and the nearest gas station was about 40 miles away in Animas. We were also ready for a change in scenery, so we decided to head east on highway 9 to Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus, NM. We reached Animas to discover that the only gas pumps in town were out of order. We were down to less than 1/4 tank of gas, but we carry 5 gallons of extra gas (properly mounted in safe containers on the camper) so we decided to go on to Columbus to refuel.
Pancho Villa State Park had several sites available, so we didn't bother with reservations. The campground is set up more like a commercial RV park and even though the showers were nice enough, we didn't really care for the campground itself. The onsite museum was great though. The village of Columbus is nothing special, mostly run down with only few restaurant and lodging options and little to do outside the State Park unless you want to cross into Mexico.
The original thought was to head north from Columbus to Truth or Consequences for a soak in a hot spring. There is primitive camping available in the area, but it is all at higher elevation where it is likely to freeze overnight. A check on the weather and campsite openings at Elephant Butte State Park convinced us to wait a few days, temps are expected to rise by this weekend and a campsite I want at Elephant Butte isn't available until Saturday. I haven't made camping reservations yet though, we may splurge and spend one night at a resort with private soaking pools, but I haven't decided yet whether the cost is worth it for us. We will sleep on it tonight and decide in the morning. We have decided to return to the Chiricahua mountains in the mean time and will head that way tomorrow after making reservations for Truth or Consequences.
Day 32 - Pancho Villa State Park, in general, left a little to be desired though the onsite museum and the museum just across the road were most interesting and made it worth the drive over from the Chiricahua area. The Museum exhibits in the old train depot were a little lacking in presentation, but made up for it with the quantity and variety of items from early 1900s everyday life. The campground was so so at best. In addition to feeling a lot like a cramped commercial RV park, the campground was situated about 1/2 mile from the Mexican border in a open desert environment where sound really travels well. The nearby road across the border was fairly busy and created a bit of noise that died down about 10pm, but never really stopped and picked back up again around 5am. The showers were the worst type, a push button model with no temperature control. The water was just a safe, generic, almost, but not quite hot enough sort of hot. And the push button got you about 30 seconds of water at a time. I have no idea how many times I had to push that button, but I was starting to feel like a monkey in some lab experiment. The town of Columbus didn't seem to have much going for it with very little to offer in the way of lodging, restaurants, or entertainment. The locals tell me that I should see how town fills with people when the desert blooms and when they do their yearly anniversary celebration of the Pancho Villa raid. I think a one night visit was sufficient and I will probably miss the spring festivities. We checked out after our showers and headed back to the Cave Creek area of the Chiricahua Mountains to camp for the next few nights.
Edited by Sleddog, 24 February 2020 - 05:02 AM.