January 6, 2006

January 6, 2006

Deming to Silver City, New Mexico & Gila ( pronounced "Heela" ) Cliff Dwellings

YEAR 2 DAY 203

 

Today was sunny and warm again.

My first job this morning was to replace the latch on the bedroom closet door. Joanne broke it this morning. Fortunately, I carry a spare. Joanne went to the office to pay our bill, and get some documents of mine three hole punched, while I hitched up and prepared for departure. We pulled out of Dream Catcher RV Park, heading west for a few miles on Interstate 10, then turning north on Hwy. 180 towards Silver City. At Silver City we found our way to Silver City RV Park, registered, and set up on our assigned site. While Joanne prepared lunch, I got the trailer unhitched and set up.

We ate lunch quickly, then set off for Gila Bend National Forest, and the Gila Cliff Dwellings. It was about a 45 mile drive on Hwy. 15, a narrow winding mountain road. The drive took 2 hours. I was sleepy after lunch, so I drove about halfway, and Joanne drove about halfway. It was a good learning experience for Joanne to drive Dee-Dee on a difficult mountain road. To get to the cliff dwellings, we had to hike about a mile, steeply uphill, at an elevation of about 7800 feet. Oh, my aching lungs ! The cliff dwellings were constructed about 1280 A.D. by the Mogolló n people. The dwellings are rooms built within caves on cliff faces. Quite amazing ! This is one of only four places in the world where ancient cliff dwellings are intact, and can be entered.

After viewing the Gila Cliff Dwellings, we decided to return to Silver City by a different route, known as the Trail Of The Mountain Spirits Scenic Byway. South on Hwy. 15, then southeast on Hwy. 35, then southwest on Hwy. 152 to Hwy. 180, and west on Hwy. 180 back to Silver City. The route took us through New Mexico's high desert, through small mining towns, high plains ranch lands, and forests. We haven't seen forest since California. I was surprised to learn that here in New Mexico's high desert, the temperature variation between day time highs and night time lows, is 60 degrees ! Yikes !

It was dark by the time we got back to Silver City, and Teddy's supper was late ! MEOW ! Joanne prepared supper while I set up the laptop, did today's accounting, and downloaded today's photos to the laptop. I'll process them tomorrow. After supper we watched a bit of TVwhile I worked on today's journal entry.

DSK