Moving on to New Mexico

On Friday March 6 we left Tucson for Elephant Butte, New Mexico.  It took us about 5 hours across Hwys. 10 and 25 and we arrived about 3:00 p.m.  The high temp for the day was 62 but it was sunny with an easterly wind which contributed to lousy gas mileage.  We checked into Elephant Butte Lake RV Park- Joe and Nancy were about 1/2 hour behind us as they stopped to visit with a friend along the way.  We went through a cool town called Hatch which is the chili capital of the US (I think that's what the sign said- there were chili stands all over with those long strands of chili peppers for sale).  We'll have to go back and check it out.
Elephant Butte is a small town just north of Truth or Consequences. It is located on a reservoir that is about 15 miles long and is the largest lake in NM.  In the summer they get over 100,000 people in this little town!  Our park is very nice- spacious neat sites. There aren't that many people here- obviously winter is their low season.  They have a nice indoor pool and hot tub, pickleball court, nice laundry and fire pits! The main thing is that it's QUIET here!  Across the street is a lodge with a restaurant and spa.  Kirk and I had a fish fry there Friday night, we also went there for Sunday breakfast buffet. Reasonable prices and good food.  The property adjoins a state park so walking the dogs on marked paths is just across the street- what a change from having to drive 20 minutes like we did in Tucson.  There aren't as many cacti here, just a lot of scrubby bushes like creosote and we think pinon.
Saturday was spent driving around the state park and town checking everything out. On Sunday afternoon we all went to the Blackstone Hot Springs (one of 10 in town).  It is in a very old motel.  For $45 the four of us got to use the "wet room" for an hour. This included a large soaking tub and another enclosed steam room with a waterfall you can sit under. We alternated between the tub, steam room and a cold shower. It was very relaxing!  Afterwards we were driving around town and Joe crossed the Rio Grande river in his truck- it was that shallow, about 20 yards across.  There were people fishing in the river, I guess they catch catfish.  Sunday night we had hamburgers on the grill and actually sat outside to eat.