Tuesday:

We ventured off to the gilla cliff dwellings. 48 miles from the rv park. First part of the drive was easy enough. After that we encountered twisting ,narrow,no centerline,& many hirpin turn rds.

Travel time was slow. No rv's over 21 ft allowed on this part. There is another way in,but that ups the milage to 68. When we met the other rd(about half way) the rd was wider a little bit,and had a centerline. Still hairpin turns and very twisty. Now we arrive at the visitors center. Only the be told that the bridge to the parking area for the dwellings had damage due to a recent flood,and some of the support got washed out. So we had to walk from a parking area by the bridge to the trail for the dwellings. A mile walk in and back out. Good thing it was flat!!Once we encountered the trail ,there was a hike up of about 200 ft. Felt much longer. They said a moderate climb,I think maybe a bit more. Trail had many steps in places,just gravel in others. The dwellings area was well worth the hike in. Pics later will show this. My only suggestion to them would be to have some kind of shuttle for the walk from the bridge.My observation of the bridge was a vehicle could go over,in fact they had there service van on the other side.!!

White sands ,NM:
Visited the white sands national park on Sunday. Went over in the morning and did the drive thru, climbed some dunes, walked the 3/4 mile boardwalk. Saw a few lizzards,not much else,too hot for critters . Headed back to camp ,had lunch and went over to the pistacio grove across from our rv park. Saw the trees ,bought some pistacio's ,tasted some wine. They coat there pisticio's with flavorings or spices. Can get them hot,mild,lemon flavor,ranch,etc.We bought lemon and ranch
Left after supper to go back to the sands for a easy sunset dune stroll ,led by a ranger. Stayed long enough to see the sunset behind the San Andras Mts.,very beautiful. Forgot to say we ventured into a do it yourself car wash on the way over. Bad idea. Left soap streaks alllll over the truck. Ended up toweling off the truck this morning before we went out.

Memorial day;
This morning we decided to visit a place called three rivers petroglyph site. It wasen't far from our rv park. We took the dogs,thinking for sure they could walk with us. Wrong. We were able to find a place under a tree that would shade them for a bit. We could see the truck from the elevation we walked up,so not to worry. Once on the trail,there were numbered signs to indicate where the glyphs were. There were petroglyphs everwhere. 21,400 petroglyphs were identified by a team from the university of NM. Jornada poeple from approx 600 years ago did all the drawings . From there we went back,loaded up the trailer and headed west. Back past the white sands and thru Las Crucis,a largeish ,sprawling town, at the foothills of the portrillo mts. Most of the trip was flat except for a long gruling climb up from the white sands missel proveing grounds. This would be over the San Andres mts. Truck was very happy to reach the top. Along rt 10,and off on 180,which ended up to be very straight,with a gradual climb to Silver city where we are now. Tomorrow we are off to see the Gila cliff dwellings, which were the home of the Mogollon people. Should be a good day.

Sat. May 29 . We left that very nice koa in carlsbad to travel forward on the adventure. Not so much to see for most of the trip today,not till we reached the mountains. An easy climb up,not even noticing the grades. Pretty soon we saw signs that said all trucks must have eng.retarders , so many miles ahead of us. Well,we have tow haul, why worry. There is a town at the top (and ski area!!) ,called cloudcroft. No special attachment to this town,except on the other side starts the downhill run. Tow haul held us back alot,but also did alot of brakeing. By the time we stopped halfway down at a pull over for lunch, I smell d the brakes. Not a good smell. !!
Oh yea,there were at least three runaway truck ramps we passed. Thankfully we passed them all. Campsite here is not pretty at all. we did have a view of the mountains till someone came in next to us. Oh well,maybe next place will be better. Can't complain too much,as our sites have been pretty good so far. Tomorrow we are off to see the white sands of NM. This is where they tested our first atom bomb I do believe. They also use this area for the missel proveing grounds,or at least used to. Will find out more tomorrow. There is also the white sands monument which is where we are going. They have a ranger led easy stroll sunset walk,where they talk about the night animals of the desert. Should be fun. Its only 15 miles away,not the 50 it took to get to the caverns of our last stop.Pictures should follwo soon
Love Dad

Hores drawn cinderalla cariages on beal st,memphis. Corn fence,metal mesuem. Waterfall at the woodland gardens. Cant get e-mail out yet,I'll send some more tomorrow. Dad

Outdoor chappel at the woodland gardens,hot springs . Outdoor r.r. at the woodland gardens. Third is a metal fish sculpture at thr metal museum. I'll keep trying