We got all the doctors approvals to exit Mesa and head east as long as we returned in October and completed labs and tele visits while traveling. So with a little apprehension we set out on a trip east. First to empty out our storage unit and visit friends in the Atlanta area, then, journey north to upstate New York to visit with family and more friends.

The hardest part of this life style is the “tear down”, hauling every thing from outside into specific spots inside as everything has its place, and finally hooking up the Jeep. Even preparing ahead of time it still took us 2 hours and at 10:15 a.m. we drove away from Mesa.

We took route 60 east towards New Mexico and the area around Miami, Superior and Globe were reminiscent of the scenery of Utah, with all the hoodoo’s and rock formations. Not many towns on this route and many were on the verge of becoming ghost towns.

Leaving Arizona the land quickly becomes green and the cactus become sparse. We arrived in Deming New Mexico at 4:00 p.m. at Dreamcatcher SKP RV Park. We were exhausted and poor Steve was suffering elevation sickness at 4300 ft.

 

We’ve already noticed the change in fuel prices. We started out in Mesa at $5.15 per gallon for diesel and already in New Mexico it’s $3.75 per gallon, and gas is $3.50 as opposed to $4.99

We made it to our next stop in Lakewood NM  another SKP park called The Ranch. The rate here is $79 per week for first time visitors.

These campsites are owned and when the owners leave, they are available to rent

The campground is situated on an old oil field, which is what a lot of this area is comprised of, with many Deriks working in the area. We are in the middle of nowhere, and the residents here are so friendly, when we pulled in we drew quite a crowd. I guess it was quite exiciting for them. Apart from the campground, Lakewood consists of a church and post office.

We ventured out the next day to Artesia about 12 miles away where the oil and gas industries flourish, along with farming and ranching.

We needed to buy a belt for Steve and found a Walmart where we met a fellow Brit in the men’s department. Turns out he grew up about 15 minutes from me in London, that’s the second one we’ve met in 3 months, the last Brit we met was in Yuma, and he went to the same school as me

Really beautiful sculptures throughout the town, which has a long history 

A huge Sinclair oil refinery

Fifty miles to the south were the Carlsbad Caverns

They had elevators to go down into the caves, so we were able to go down and explore. We walked as far as the Big Room, one of  over 100 rooms or caves, when I suddenly envisioned a recurrence of our trip to see the wild horses at Salt River in Mesa where we walked 100 yards from the parking lot and it took us 2 hours and the assistance from 3 park rangers to get us back, then saw the horses in the parking lot when we got back.

The caverns are also a sanctuary to thousands of Brazilian Free Tailed bats who travel from Brazil every year to give birth the fly back to Brazil during the winter months

Next day we drove 50 miles to Roswell in search of aliens. Most disappointing, no aliens and the museum was a bust. But once again we met some English people and had a lovely lunch at the Cattle Baron

We went to the Roswell International UFO Museum & Research Center

The weather  in this area has been very different from Mesa. The mornings are sunny and warm but later in the day the clouds roll in and anything goes. We’ve had really high winds with tornado warnings. The couple we met from the UK told us a tornado dropped about a mile from where they were staying. We’re not in Mesa anymore

Tomorrow we move on to an Alpaca farm and 2 other Harvest Host properties in OK and TX