We lucked out!

In the last entry I explained how we had to detour about 50 miles out of our way for a supposed underpass that was too low for us.  Well today we took a sightseeing drive east on Rte 152 the road that we had planned to drive in the motorhome and found not one, but two!  Lucky us.

But the best part was, we avoided a narrow road with a bazillion tight turns with the only straight sections about 50 feet long between the curves for a solid 35 miles!  Fun in the car, but would have been a challenge in the motorhome.  I think the road would give the Tail of the Dragon a run for its money!

We have been enjoying the desert scenery and foliage while here, and especially the Agave plants which are in bloom.  The stalk comes up out of the middle of the plant and looks exactly like a huge asparagus spear, then pops out with the most amazing flowers.  Looks otherworldly, but beautiful.

We had a good day except for the smoke from the fires in the Gila National Forest.  The firefighters are having to deal with wind that is blowing 20-30 mph in very difficult terrain.  The fire has grown to over 339 square miles!

We realized today that CRS is evidently plaguing both of us.  We have always highlighted the routes we have traveled on our maps.  One color for the motorhome and another color for the Jeep.  We were in this area in 2005 with Nancy and CT and according to our maps we had already covered the whole route that we took today.  We made a big loop east then north up toward the Gila Cliff Dwellings, which are closed for fire by the way, and back around south through Pinos Altos, an old mining town back to Silver City.  Well, we didn't remember any of it until we got to Pinos Altos, 135 miles later, pretty sad, huh?  Pinos Altos is a pretty cool little town with an excellent Bar, Restaurant, and Opera House, called the Buckhorn Saloon.  CT went to school here so he took us there for a great dinner in 2005 while we were here.  It's still there and just as popular as ever.

The Buckhorn

A bit of a detour

Yesterday we left Elephant Butte on our way over to Silver City, NM.  We had planned to go south on I-25 then west on SR 152, a very windy road over the mountains to Silver City, a drive of about 102 miles.  A pretty day dawned with NO wind, so we got off about 8:30, but had to dump our gray water at the dump station because Elephant Butte State Park doesn't have sewer hookups.  Just added a couple minutes.  Headed down I-25, got off on SR-152, and after about 3 miles we see a sign, "Bridge Underpass Ahead, 12'6" clearance, 22 miles ahead".  Holy cow!  This is a very narrow two lane road we are on, and the most important part is we are 12' 8" high, our absolute minimum is 13'!  We find a spot to pull over and pull out the maps, no mention of this underpass anywhere, but we do find a detour that will add 50 miles to our trip, but it sure beats hitting the roof.  We have had similar situations before, and we have to wonder, why don't they show this BEFORE you get off on the road, so you can avoid the road entirely?  Lots of times there is nowhere to turn around without disconnecting the Jeep and doing a very challenging turn around.

During our sightseeing today we are planning to drive this same road from Silver City out to the east, we'll let you know what the underpass is if it even exists.