New Babies

A couple of posts ago you may have remembed we had a couple of little birdies build a nest in our overhang, there were 4 little eggs all tucked down among the feathers. Well we noticed a lot of chirping yesterday and low and behold we saw these little guys pop their heads up.

All 4 of them hatched and they sure do alot of chirping for momma to come and feed them. The next thing we will be looking for, is for them to fly the nest, and with any luck they'll make it just fine.

Another modification we made, was an extended shower rod. The rod holds the shower curtain out away and gives you alot more room in a small shower stall. You can see the original shower curtain track and how much more room it gives you. This little modification is one of the better ones we have made to date as far as funtionality and making life just a little bit better.

Old Town Mesilla, NM

Earlier in the week Sheryl and I had to go down to El Paso for a Doctors appointment, on the way back we decided to to stop by Old Town Mesilla, just south of Las Cruses. The Historic Old Town area still stands as it did when it was first built, it has been very well preserved and the only real changes have been paving the streets and modern utilities.

Mesilla was the largest town between San Antonio, TX and San Diego, CA along the Butterfield Stagecoach Line (forerunner to the Pony Express)

The old curch still stands at the head of the town square and is still in use today.

All the old building now house gift shops, restraunts and galleries. The old Courthouse stands on one corner of the square, this is where Billy the Kid was tried for murdering a Sheriff in Linclon CO. NM.

The Town Square has a nice Gazebo and several historic markers.

We had been told, that for great Mexican food we just had to eat at the La Posta in old Mesilla. Well, since we were here, and it was dinner time, and we just happen to love good Mexican food, we thought we'd give it a try. All I can say is we were not disappointed!!! What a great little place with lots of history and great food. We shared a Fajita plate and there was plenty for each of us to have two good sized ones along with all the sides, some of the best Fajitas we have ever had. So if you ever make down to the Las Cruses/Mesilla NM area, be sure not to miss this little gem.

We then headed home all full and happy. Another little off the beaten path place explored, just another reason we are loving this lifestyle and our life.

Alamo Mountain Petroglyghs Campout

Last weekend 22/23 May 10, myself and a couple of folks from Military Jeepers (James and Josh) headed down to Alamo Mtn in south central NM to check out the Petroglyghs and Campout for the night. Alamo Mtn is located east of the Ft Bliss reservation near the NM/TX line out on the Otero Mesa.

I met with them at Hwy 54 and County Rd 506, approx 25 miles south of Alamogordo, NM.

On our way down, this fella (female Pronghorn Antilope) decided to run along side my Jeep for a good 1/4 mile or so.

James wanted to check out a lake he had seen on a map in the area, well as you can tell it's pretty dried up right now. I was here last Nov and it was much larger.

We reached our destination and got ready for our hike up to explore the mountain.

You have to hike pretty far up before you begin finding them. There are several small panels and many large ones. This one is medium sized with several drawings.

These Petroglyghs are approx 400 years old, and apparently there was water in the area.

These last two were some of the larger panals that we can across.

While exploring near the north west side of the mountain you can see the old Butterfield Stage Route Stop. It is just walls of stacked rocks now.

The fowers were in bloom all over the mountain.

After several hours exploring, we headed back to set up camp, dinner was cooked and a nice fire was made for the evening. We sat and shot the breeze until bed called.

The next morning came and we decided to head back up the mountain and search another area. We found several more petroglyghs all basiclly the same as Saturdays. After a couple of hours it was back to the vehicles and time to start heading home.

On our way home we ran across more Antilope and actually came across a small heard of Orax. The Orax were brought to the White Sands area of NM many many years ago for hunting.

The Otero Mesa is a large expanse of BLM land in South Central NM (1.2 million acres). We stopped for a short break on the way out, but still had a long way to go.

You can see more photos of the trip here: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/577772266nxNTEA

You can read more about the Otero Mesa and the people who made the Petroglyghs here:http://www.oteromesa.org/otero-mesa/history-of-otero/tigua/

Well another great trip in the bag, nothing better than spending quality time with great folks, thats what this lifestyle is all about. So until next time.....................................

Orogrande, NM, Off Road

Took a little trip to the town of Orogrande, NM. with some folks from the Military Jeepers fourm and the local Off Road club. Our objective was to explore old ghost towns, mines and the mountains west of town. Orogrande is a small town between Alamogordo, NM. and El Paso, TX.

The trailhead begins approx 1/4 mile north of town off of Hwy 54.

The trail heads west into the desert mountains.

The trails are fairly easy, however there are several washes to cross and some off camber areas.

After some trail riding, our first stop was the Bryce Cemetary. The cemetary is just outside the ghost town of Bryce. The small wooden cross is the orginal, the Kawanis Club erected the larger white one.

The desert was really flowering today.

Next stop was the ghost town of Bryce. There is only one building left standing and the rest are just foundations.

Both inside and outside the building is filled with old metal cans, in some places up to three feet thick.

Most all are unreadable, but some of the lables still survived.

Then it was off to explore more of the desert mountains.

Our final destination of the day was the Iorn Queen Mine, high up in the mountain. You can just see it on the mountain face to the left.

We parked on the trail down below and had to hike up to the mine.

Around to the west side of the wooden shaft is the entrance to the mined out mountain top.

The inside is huge, hard to believe the work that must have gone into digging is out, without modern equipment. Hardy folks mining Iorn Ore in these mountains.

After lunch at the mine it was time to start heading back toward the trailhead.

Along the trail back, this brick shack was off to the side of the trail in the middle of nowhere.

Back at the trailhead we all got together to say our goodbyes, some headed south to El Paso as we headed north back to Alamogordo. It was a great day out with good folks. It was good too make new frends and get together on the trail with old friends.

I highly recomend this area to anyone who wishes to get off the beaten path and explore New Mexico of days gone by.