Travel Journal May 2006

We reached Piños Altos shortly after sundown and looked at the old post office but

we were not able to get any photos because the passageway was too narrow in the

room. But except for the wood being a bit darker, it was quite similar to the Hillsboro

post office. Afterwards we went to the

, next door to the Piños Altos

Opera House, for dinner (see photos). The food was quite good, the atmosphere was

original “Old West” and the prices were quite steep. It was rather late when we

arrived back at Caballo but Dick was still in good shape and decided to drive back to

Las Cruces instead of spending the night with us.

On May 18th we left Caballo and moved to Oliver Lee State Park, near Alamogordo.

We needed to be near there to dissolve our ties with New Mexico before we head out

for Alaska. We have to stock up on provisions, close our PO Box, and have medical

appointments before we leave. Renée’s diabetes is being held in check with diet alone

(no medication). Her blood pressure is also back to normal. We can’t get

appointments at the clinic until June 7th. We stayed at Oliver Lee for a week,

accomplishing what we could in Alamogordo. On the second morning, Renée looked out

the window and saw a Puma coming down the mountain side and through the park. The

ranger said it was quite unusual to see one but the drought conditions are forcing the

animals to come down in search of food and water.

During the week at this park we took a shopping trip to El Paso and a guided tour of

the restored

(see photos).

On May 25th we moved back to White Sands Missile Range at the foot of the Organ

Mountains. It is an excellent park with 50 Amp hookup, which is necessary to run both

air conditioners. At most state parks, only 30 Amp is available and only one air

conditioner can be run at a time. Care must also be taken to make sure the circuit

breakers aren’t overloaded when other things such as toasters, electric water heater,

etc. are on at the same time.

After our return to White Sands we invited Madeleine & Rex Berryhill, mutual friends

of ours and Dick, to have dinner with us at a Chinese restaurant (see Photos) and we

talked a lot about the “old days” when all of us worked at White Sands Missile Range.

Lobo received his annual hair cut and he appears to be enjoying his summer outfit.

To be continued….