PANCHO VILLA STATE PARK

Tuesday, January 6 - We had a little thawing out to do this morning. Got down to 21* over-night and our hose was a frozen popsicle. The camp host visited everyone today and told us to bring our hose in. It is getting below freezing again tonight. What is with this weather?

We visited the museum here at Pancho Villa State Park. We watched an excellent video narrated by people who actually lived through the raid.

Outside the museum is an armored vehicle used in the battle in 1916. Later they were renamed tanks.

 

In 1916, under the leadership of General Francisco Pancho Villa, a group of over 300 Mexican Revolutionaries raided the small border town of Columbus, NM.

Prior to the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, Pancho Villa SP is on the site of the last attack by a foreign power against the continental United States.

Believe it or not, all the transportation vehicles in the next photo were used by the US to secure Columbus, NM.

Nothing signaled an army undergoing change more clearly than the sight of General Pershing riding across Mexico in the rear of a Dodge touring car. This Dodge carried him as far south as the advance camp at Namiquipa and helped him stay in contact with his far-ranging cavalry units.

The Museum contains extensive historical exhibits which depict this raid, the first armed invasion of the continental United States since the War of 1812, and also the last one. The Museum is a must see if you are visiting Deming or Columbus, NM.

The State Park is on the exact site where General Perishing and his men set up camp. There are several remaining buildings on the grounds.

 

This is the first grease rack installed to service the US Army automotive equipment engaged in field operations.

Headquarters building at Camp Furlong.

Cootes Hill is named after Captain Cootes of the 13th Cavalry. It was an important lookout for soldiers based at Camp Furlong. From this vantage point, Mexico can be seen a few miles to the south.

View from the top of the hill looking towards Mexico.

Columbus played an amazing the role of this tiny New Mexico town on American history.

We learned another very interesting fact about Columbus, NM. While Columbus is not in the mountains, it has ranges on all four sides. East and North are the Florida Mountain range; West and North is the Tres Hermanas Range; South is the Sierra de los Palomas.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

Destination…New Mexico

Monday, January 5 - The drive across Texas is always a "big one."

Houston traffic on Sunday morning at 7. Love it.

We had good intentions of stopping at Kerrville, TX, about 5.5 hours from Houston on Sunday morning….but when we arrived, it wasn't a little after noon. Well, if you know Paul, you realize he wasn't thrilled about calling it a day at that time. Heck, some people were just hitting the road at that hour. So we pushed on.

We knew there were several small towns along I-10 that we could stop at. What we didn't consider is the COLD weather we would experience overnight (down to about 20 degrees). That meant we needed electric hookups at least. Then there were the oil field workers that fill up the RV parks in Texas. No room at the inn or $40 for an overnight stop. Nope! Push on!

We eventually stopped in Fort Stockton, TX, at Comanche RV Park. Full hookups, 50 amp electric for $18/night. Beautiful parking lot style RV park on muddy caliche-style gravel. Messy! But we called it home for the night. Don’t stay here if you don’t have to.

Looking right

Looking left

With the big travel day on Sunday and predictions of snow in the mountains of NM, we did some "adjusting" to our plans and are heading to Columbus, NM, instead of Truth or Consequences, NM.

Snow here in Ft. Stockton

Then we hit fog on our drive to New Mexico.

We'll spend a few days relaxing at Pancho Villa State Park.

The campground is very nice. We are lucky to be one of only a couple dozen RV'ers here. The sites are scattered in a haphazard arrangement. Could be pretty confusing if the park were filled. The utilities (water and electric) are also scattered in crazy locations at the individual sites. The sites and streets are gravel with shelters at most sites. There is a dump station. There are plenty of cacti scattered about and many small trees.

Site 42…the sites are huge.

Looking right

Looking left

You pick your own site, put the fee ($14/night) in the envelope provided, and drop it in the mail slot by the entrance gate. We were happy to see a ranger driving around in the evening checking sites and the stickers proving everyone paid. The park is very quiet and peaceful. We think we're going to enjoy our stay here!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME! (WELL, EVENTUALLY)

Saturday, January 4 - Despite predicted cold temps for the American Southwest the next couple days, we have decided to gut it out and pullout of balmy Houston on Sunday morning. Actually, the temperatures in Houston will only be about 12-15 degrees warmer (guess due to the Gulf) than where we're headed anyway. If we can get through the next three or four days, we should be back into nice temps!

Can you believe fuel prices? We saw regular gas here in Houston selling for $1.57 and filled up our diesel fuel tank today for $2.69/gallon. Thought for sure prices would shoot up just about the time we were preparing for our winter travels.

We said good-bye to daughter, Carrie, and friends here at the Houston Elks over the weekend. We enjoy it here in Houston and can see the day, sometime in the future, where we would spend most of the winter here. But we still have some adventure in our bones, so off we go!

Sunday night, January 4, finds us in the Kerrville, TX, Elks lodge. This is only a one night travel stop. Monday is "drive much of the way across Texas day" finding us in Balmorhea, TX, for the night. This is a common stop for us at I-10 Travel Stop, a Passport America campground, full-hookups for $10. Tuesday hopes to find us in Elephant Butte, NM, where Paul wants to checkout the Very Large Array (VLA) telescopes in Socorro, NM, on Wednesday. If all goes as planned, we'll report on that amazing radar installation in the near future.

2015 finds us thrilled with the CFB Championship game. As our dear friend, Russ and Donna….Oregon fans, put it….”The Battle of The O's for the National Title.”

We hope after beating #1 Alabama, there is little doubt in any football fan’s mind that Ohio State deserved to be in the top four for the National Championship. In case anyone out there doesn’t realize how big this win was, OSU is using their THIRD-string quarterback. As Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN sports analyst, put it, “Most fans don’t even know who their second string QB is let alone their THIRD string.” Well, said, Kirk.

Buckeyes vs the Ducks

Who will take home the trophy?

For a little fun, Russ sent an email asking if we would like to do a little wager on the game. Never turning down a challenge, we said…We’re in. IF and only IF, OSU loses, we will send Russ and Donna…

Fannie Mae/Harry London Buckeye Candy Box, 11.25oz, Creamy peanut butter coated in luscious milk chocolate.

When Oregon loses, we will receive chocolate covered eggs. We hope they aren’t real duck eggs…lol

For all our blogger friends headed to Quartzsite this January, our group is having a Blogger-Fest. This will be a great way to meet as many blogger friends as possible at one time. Thanks to Jeri of Just Wanderin’, the following graphic gives as much info as we know for sure right now.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!