Socorro - The Middle Armpit of New Mexico

Well, we left Silver City for Socorro. At first I was going to go due east, but learned that the highway was just too scenic for us to take. So we went south, and turned left just north of Demming on a nice highway to Hatch.

Hatch, NM is famous for its chili peppers. We found a stand along the side of the road, and we were all abble to stop. Having three rigs to pull off on a shoulder takes up some space. The 3 trailers are 100' in length and then you have to add the tow vehicles. The little stand had some dried arrangements and some larger fresh arrangements, so everyone found something to their liking.

We got onto the northern interstate, and it took us to San Antonio, NM. This is a little village just south of Socorro - another village that has a few more people. Both are next to the Rio Grande so there are farms on the east side of the highway, and desert on the west side. I had no idea what we were getting into when I made the reserrvations. All I knew was that it was on the way to the next place we were going to, Ruidoso. Staying there made for two short travel days instead of one long one.

We pulled into the place, and the word dump just does not do enough to describe where we were. It was 105, no shade, and a cinder gravel lot to park on. The view was nil. Tumbleweed, sand, rock, and more crap. The blessing was that we have 2 A/C units that kept our trailer nice and cool. After we had unhooked, I decided that the three night stay had just lost a night. We would spend only one full day, and two nights. The other two couples were fast to agree. This really competes with Fr Stockton for a nasty award.

The next day we went up into some mountains to a small village called Magdalena, NM. They were having a weekend festival, and Sunday was the last day. There were some nice shops, and Pat was able to find an Indian doll that was a good buy - so we did. We went over to the festival area where they had some Indians selling their jewelry. Their prices were good so the women got some, and I had a really good root bear float.

We went back to the RV park, and it was over 100 again. This place just plain sucks. Thank goodness we don't have to stay another evening.