Day 9 - Deming, New Mexico

California or Bust…

Day 9 – Deming, New Mexico

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Pulled out of the Carlsbad KOA at 9:45am on a beautiful, sunny morning… the temperature was a brisk 45 degrees.  We are planning to drive just under 200 miles today but it is going to be slow going through the Lincoln National Forest and over the Sacramento Mountains into Alamogordo.  My Brother James warned us that this route was very steep… more on that subject later.

Beautiful weather in Carlsbad.

Proceeding North on Hwy. 285, we drove by groves of pecan trees in the desertscape.  We turned West on Hwy 82 in Artesia and the landscape changed dramatically… wide open spaces of nothing… just rocks and sand.  We thought we were driving through “nothing” in Texas, but the nothing in Texas has nothing on the nothing of Southern New Mexico.  No wonder there are so many “top secret” areas for military testing and alien activity… we were just south of Roswell and Area 51.

After driving through 60 miles of desert, we got to the Lincoln National Forest and drove parallel to the Rio Penasco River, through beautiful cattle country and numerous large cattle ranches.   Still in the foothills of the Sacramento Mts., we stopped at Tom and Pam Runyan Ranches which had a fishing pond with rainbow trout and a petting zoo complete with llamas, a 6 month old camel, pot belly pigs,  goats and a baby deer.  They also had a fruit stand and gift shop… we purchased some cherry butter, cherry cider, dried fruit and a small blueberry tartlet.  Everything was tasty!

Look at that face...

She knew she was cute...

Nice Buuuuuuuuttt!

We continued our climb through several small towns and began to see snow on the pine and birch covered hillside.  At the crest of the Sacramento Mountains was a cute alpine ski town called Cloudcroft... elevation 8600 ft.  It was a busy Sunday morning at the churches, restaurants and there were lots of hunters geared up for opening of deer season.  The decent down was steep and winding with several truck “runaway” lanes.  After passing through a tunnel and pulling over at a scenic overlook, we noticed our front brakes were smoking.  James was right, it was a steep highway with a 6% grade.  We waited at the overlook for a good half hour to let them cool off.  In the distance, and still at 6750 ft., we could see White Sands National Monument.  It really looked like a lake, it was an optical illusion.  We cautiously continued our decent in to Alamogordo and stopped at the McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch and Arena Blanca Winery for a few samples.

Cool tunnel on a 6% grade......

Waiting for the brakes to cool.  White Sands N.M. in the distance.

Alamogordo Fact:  The first three completed atomic bombs known as the "Trinity Test" were successfully tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico on the 16^th of July, 1945.

From Alamogordo, we took Hwy 70 West past Holloman Air Force Base, White Sands National Monument, White Sands Missile Range and connected to I-25 in Las Cruces (now the 2^nd largest City in New Mexico and growing).  We picked up I-10 and traffic slowed to a crawl and was funneled through a Border Patrol check point with scanners and facial recognition cameras.  We rolled down our window and the officer asked how many people were in the RV and if we were US Citizens.  He asked if Riley and Brigit were US Citizens because they didn’t look like “Gringos”… just kidding!

Another 50 miles and we arrived at our next overnight stop… the St. Clair Winery, a Harvest Host Site, in Deming, New Mexico.  We learned about the Harvest Host Program from some friends in the Keys who travel the Country in their RV.  The program or club requires a $30 annual membership and provides a directory of wineries and farms across North America that will allow you to stay overnight for free.  Of course, their hope is that you learn about and purchase their product.  At the St. Clair Winery, we enjoyed tasting quite a few of their award winning wines and did not have to drive.  We met Phillipe, the winemaker, who came out to see who was camping in his parking lot.  He gave us some olives to taste.  For dinner we cooked inside and ate sautéed scallops served over a bed of steamed spinach paired with an Artesa Albarino.  Our first night staying in a winery… with more planned for this trip... the dogs could run through the grounds... it was quiet... very cool!

Great overnight stop!!!