New Mexico!

I was eager to head OUT of Arizona after a month of stressful hell. I'd never been to New Mexico and since it's winter in most states, I knew southern New Mexico was dry and sunny. Everyone warned me regardless of the sunshine, it's much colder than Arizona. I woke up to 21 degrees this morning, but the weird thing I cannot yet grasp is there is no ice and no frost! It's dry cold!

Roads here are spectacular. They maintained them...and they voted for Harris in the last election so Democrats take care of their state. Many of the highways look like national park roads with exceptionally smooth surfaces. This is so different from Arizona with the potholes as big as cars,  patches that make the van shake so bad I wonder if it will fall apart, and the overabundance of Republicans. And in Arizona one is expected to drive 75 mph on these bad roads!

Zippy thinking she went the wrong way.

Definitely not a road Zippy likes to roll.

My first stop was Silver City. Oh, I love this town! It has a killer historic district that feels like a little hippie town with new age shops complete with a food co-op! There are bike shops and lots of bike warning signs, every kind of art, and a college that has a "Lifelong Learning" program of community classes. The surrounding mountains are filled with trees taller than five feet. There are a lot of BLM campgrounds - I stayed at the Continental Divide Trail campground off Highway 90 the first couple nights.

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I ventured north out of Silver City to the Gila Cave Dwellings. Highway 15 is scary with drop offs and no center line, but the scenery was beautiful when my heart wasn't racing and my palms sweaty!

Since I hadn't seen water for nearly two months, hiking up the mountain to the cave dwellings was a treat with the babbling creek running parallel to the path. So beautiful and peaceful. I camped at the McMillan Campground and then the Cherry Creek Campground for two nights. National forest campgrounds like BLM campgrounds are free.

My next tourist site was City of Rocks which is just south of Silver City. I love being a tourist, but I wasn't that impressed with this site. Fun to walk around although I spent too much time watching for rattlesnakes. However, the visitor's center has a SHOWER! I took my first shower in three weeks! That was worth the $5.00 day fee it costs!

Next I headed to Albuquerque. They have the La Montanita Food Co-op filled with all kinds of health and not so healthy foods. I splurged. 

One thing I loved about this co-op is the bathroom sign:

To be continued.....