Day 13 -Wind Storm in New Mexico

 

When I went out to load the car this morning, I was in for a shock. The wind was howling and blowing sand everywhere. besides that it was cold. I'd decided to search a while longer for Ivan Thompson, so headed out west of Deming to where I met him on the walk. He'd told me that he worked on a horse ranch "over yonder", and out here that could be 30 miles away. I asked around to everyone I could find, and no one had heard of him. They told me most of the large horse ranches were closer to the Mexican border, and I wasn't going back down there. So I headed for Las Cruces on I-10.

 

 

During my walk, a man told me when the wind is blowing hard in the morning out here it's probably going to be a bad day....and it was. There's nothing to break the wind, so the sand blows into huge clouds, at times almost obstructing the view. The horizon and mountains were completely hidden because of the dust and sand. I reached Las Cruces, and changed from I-10 to Hwy 70E to Organ and that area. I crossed the Rio Grande and noticed it was completely dry here. I passed through Las Cruces and made the short drive to Organ. I spent one night here during the walk, and wanted to visit the owner of the RV park, Weston Lee. Weston let me use an empty trailer on a cold night during the walk.

 

We had a nice visit and I left behind a t-shirt and a jar of apple butter. I then headed to White Sands to tour the park. The wind was blowing even harder when I turned into the park. It's about an 8 mile drive in the park, and by the time I was ready to come out the roads were almost completely covered with sand, and finding the road was not easy. It was impossible to get out and walk any of the trails. I only took one picture while protected from the wind by the car, and then got out of there. Lesson learned: never visit sand dunes during a wind storm. I headed to Alamogordo, 13 or so miles away. I remember making this walk and arriving after dark, in a car it's 15 to 20 minutes at most.

 

 

Sonya Stovall works at a State Farm agency in Alamogordo on Hwy 70. When I walked across the country, she and her husband Mickey volunteered to carry my cart and supplies the 16 miles from Alamogordo to Cloudcroft. It's all uphill, with a winding and narrow road and a tunnel. They met me at the top later in the day, saving me the effort and reducing the risk. I wanted to say hello and thank them again for their help. We had a nice visit, I took a few pictures, and left here with apple butter from Virginia. The wind was blowing harder than ever when I headed out toward Cloudcroft. I heard on the radio it might reach 60mph today. As I neared Cloudcroft the temperature had dropped from the mid 50's to 29, and there was snow on the ground. The roads were clear, but the ski slopes appeared to have plenty of snow.

 

I didn't bring lots of cold weather clothes, so didn't linger outside too long before driving on east. Between Cloudcroft and Artesia, I visited (or tried to locate) several people I met on the walk. Couldn't find Joe Ben Sanders, he's moved away; Tom Runyon's roadside store must be closed during the winter; Ralph Baker the highway patrolman, and his wife Faye, weren't at home; found the Kia family and visited with them.....so some luck. I ended the day in Artesia, and decided to spend the night here. It's a nice, small, town, and even has a movie theatre downtown. Tomorrow, depending on how much success I have in finding people, I'll either still be in NM, or moved on to Texas. Hopefully the wind will ease up tonight.

 

Pictures:

Weston Lee, owner of the Patti Ann RV Park in Organ, NM;

Sand dunes in White Sands national park;

Sonya Stovall, State Farm good neighbor;

A canyon on the road to Cloudcroft;

Oil refining plant in Artesia;

"Land of the Sun" movie theatre in downtown Artesia.