Day 136, Wednesday, March 4, 2020 - Pancho Villa State Park, Columbus, NM

Site 28

I did have to take a photo of the morning blue sky at Sunny Flats. Of course it decided to do this as I was leaving. It was down to 33°F at 6:30AM. My neighbor came over & put a new site sticker for two days and added a bunch of chairs for a friend that is arriving later today. That annoyed the neighbor on the other side since he was planning to move into my site when I left. Glad I'm gone, although I'd love to have seen the results. Photo at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Since all the reservable sites were booked until April, I called Pancho Villa State Park from the Chiricahua Museum to see if they had any openings (Yes, it is spelled Pancho, not Poncho as my spell checker insists). Unfortunately, all I got was an answering machine. They called back less than 15 minutes later, but by then I was out of cell coverage & it went to voice mail. I decided to skip going directly to Pancho Villa on NM 9, which was a good shortcut, and stop at the Deming Walmart for some water since I was down to less than a gallon, and the makings for a homemade pizza.

In Deming, I checked the voice mail & discovered that they had 2 first come sites open as well as many dry sites. Since I've never been to Pancho Villa, I headed south on NM 11 after Walmart rather than north to my usual City of Rocks stop.

The 2 sites were still open, so I'm currently in site 28 for 4 nights. Water & electric for $14.00 per night. A nice site with a covered picnic table. After setting up I walked around the campground, and met a couple that have retired from teaching geology traveling in a restored GMC motorhome towing a restored Volkswagen bug.

After setting up and my walk, I headed to the showers. Like City of Rocks, the softest water I've ever showered in. You spend far more time rinsing than washing. A permanent showerhead with a weak flow, shower curtain, a small but dry drying area (including the floor) that had a bench & a pair of hooks. A push button with a 10 second run with fairly hot water. Except for the super soft water, I'd rate the shower at a B.

Back at the trailer I sat in the sun until dinner, which was a homemade pizza using Pillsbury pizza dough. First time for the Pillsbury dough - easier to use than the typical store refrigerated dough, and almost as good.

Until Tomorrow -