I am enjoying Life......

I believe I last wrote a post on Sunday….leaving Muleshoe, Tx for Villanueva State Park, NM..I took Us-84 west…a pleasant enough drive. Light traffic and the start of barren  landscape..the towns where small and few and far apart…Arrived at Ft Sumner mid morning and decided to see “Billy the Kid” Museum and Grave site….I have to say its in the middle of no where and I was expecting a Road Side “Snake Farm” atmosphere…to my surprise, Museum did a good job of representing Billy’s namesake…Had a lot of history to include his letters,  Rifles..and other keepsakes…The Museum is a good size and houses more than 60,000 antiques and historical artifacts.  the gravesite was plain and Spartan…it was a cemetery, but had not been expanded since the ‘30’s or so…I spent about 45 minutes and enjoyed the history lesson of “the Kid”, and the area to include the Fort…It was one of those times where your footprints are standing at the same place where history was made…good or bad…it seems like I have those moments a lot on these trips…it’s a good feeling!

Not a good shot...but its the Tombstone of Billy the Kid (c) Horst Kelly Photographer

I decided to take the long way to my next campground and traveled west a good bit, then working my way north to l-40 heading back East, exit 230 came fast enough and I headed north on NM-3….I was not prepared for the drive..they had a sign that indicates everything 30 plus feet should not use the road…Mmmmm. it was very narrow, had drop offs, no guard rails and not maintained very well…22 or so miles later I get to the Hamlet of Villanueva, make a right turn and a mile or less enter the campground…it’s a New Mexico State park…sits in a valley..about 4000 elevation…sites are mainly wooded.  I was going to take a primitive site, but it was too hot for me, so I took an electric site…..there is a stream running through the CG…makes for a nice sound in the evening and the Pecos River is in the area…unless that stream is the Pecos…There is NO…let me repeat, NO cell or internet coverage…not even with my Wilson sleek booster and enhanced antenna…each site has a picnic table some covered…mainly tents  and some pop-up  campers.. not much photo-ops…..grilled a salmon for dinner..relaxed and called it a night around 9pm….

Real two headed calf..stuffed...(c)Horst Kelly photographer

now that's "RV'ing....(c)Horst Kelly Photographer

Anyone remember these switchboards as a Kid..(c)Horst Kelly Photographer 

Monday morning I got up 0530, and hitched up at first light..by 0700 I was on NM-3 going north… this portion was not as bad as getting there…12 miles up the road I hit l-25 and by early afternoon pulled into Cheyenne Mountain SP, Colorado. . I’m impressed by the neatness of the place…sites are a combination of semi-private ..to open…they have 4 or 5  different areas…I’m sitting on top of a hill with Cheyenne Mountain as my “Back Drop”… and my opposite view is Colorado Springs down below..not bad…I’m here until Wednesday, (16 Sept)…and then its US-50 west.. Miles traveled yesterday 200, today 290….dinner this evening was pork steak and  salad…..Until next time…Horst sends

From my Cheyenne Mtn. campsite.....Life is going rather well (c)Horst Kelly Photographer