City of Rocks State Park

10/25/14
Windy and I loaded up for our trip to Deming via the back roads and set out for Hatch. Curves and hills and small little towns made me happy we were not on I-25. New Mexico is sparsely populated, and poor in many areas. There's some farming. It appeared that corn had been harvested recently, and there were also large fields of cotton, soon to be picked. The road is flat and straight once out of Hatch and into Deming. Deming has grown up since I'd been there in 2003. Walmart and the associated chain stores created a strip. There were family shoppers, yet not many farmer looking folks. Maybe some ranchers. I loaded up with groceries and got cleaned up for meeting the ranger and the other camphosts. City of Rocks State Park is off in the middle of seemingly nowhere. Then suddenly we came upon a stand of large rocks, all relatively the same size, and all grouped in a gathering that could resemble a city. At night, the sky was filled with stars. There's very little ambient light here. I met another camphost who introduced me to some other campers she'd met and we all chatted by a nice campfire. By the time we broke away, I was tired and hungry. I finished setting up the basics at the campsite, got the interior of the bus halfway organized and made some dinner. Windy is pretty happy here, as he's been getting away with field trips without his leash. That won't continue long. But I am very happy that we are settled for awhile, and that he does not have to travel for at least a couple of months. For me, the work will be easy and the fact that I won't be paying for water, electric, or sewerr is fine. I'm also happy not paying 50-100 dollars a day for fuel. The bus is indeed more economical when it stands still. What a great day!