Headed West to NM. Any suggestions?

[psytechguy]

After a brief 1000 mile shakedown cruise to Colorado (too cold right now!) I've decided to hop over to NM and check out the lower/Southern part of the state. Maybe even wind up over in Arizona. In the past I've always gone somewhere in the upper half of the state, everywhere from I-40 North, but I've really never been anywhere South of I-40.

Thought I'd hit Roswell and check out all the crazy UFO stuff and then meander over to T&C area. Also thought I might check out the Trinity Site over in White Sands if it's open for tours.

Anyone in that part of the state right now? Any suggestions on places to check out, places to park overnite? I'm driving a big truck/slide-in camper rig.

thanks!

Mike

 

[WheelEstate USA]

I think Compassrose is in the Roswell area...somewhere south anyway.

Just below Santa Fe on hwy 26 is the little historic coal mining town of Madrid
(say Mad-rid, rid of the madness). Cool place, fun locals, but a bit touristy. Worth seeing.

 

[psytechguy]

Thanks! Yeah, Madrid's pretty neat. On State Hwy. 14. I was thru there years ago.

I grew up in the Texas Panhandle, and my brother had a place near Penasco for a while, so I'm sorta played out on anything along the Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, corridor.

I'm currently about 25 miles South of Amarillo. I was thinking about taking Hwy. 60 over to Clovis and then head on to Roswell and points further West. New country!

Sorta interested in the T&C area, and seem to remember someone posting about being over that way recently.

BTW, it's a rare day here in the Panhandle.... the wind's not blowing!

 

[WheelEstate USA]

I don't know why I said Hwy 26...DUH :s
You're quite correct, HWY 14

That is rare I grew up out near Abilene.
We'll be up at Flagstaff, prolly most of June...come on out

 

[rvwandering]

New Mexico has some great national parks - http://www.nps.gov/state/nm/index.htm?program=all

If you're staying the state for awhile you might want to get a state park pass. It's kind of expensive so you'll have to decide if it will be economical for you or not. It gets you free primitive camping or electric hookups for $4.00 a night. http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/SPD/FeesPermits.html

Most of the casinos allow overnight RV parking.

It's been awhile since we camped in Gila National Forest but we found some beautiful boondocking spots.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[SoulRaven]

This woman stays at NM state parks and has pics at her blog.

http://dewelldesigns.blogspot.com/

 

[compassrose]

Bear with me. I have several links to post and I will try to do this in multiple posts....

Roswell is supposed to be hitting triple digits by Monday. ICK!

Bottomless Lakes SP is a very nice state park just east of Roswell.

You should really try to hit Carlsbad Caverns while you are in this end of the state. We did the walking tour ($6 per person Natural Entrance Self-Guided Tour and took the elevator to the surface at the end). The elevator is so fast! We did that as a day trip with both of the girls (they are 27 YO) and a fiance. Had a little picnic before heading to the caverns. It was a long day. Wear good hiking/walking shoes... it's a steep downhill run... forget about pictures as it's so dark they really don't come out right. Buy them in the gift shop. Your legs will most likely hurt the next day. Take your time as the air is thin. It's roughly an hour or so by car to Carlsbad from Roswell. There is a State Park right outside of Carlsbad, Brantley Lake, that is a little north of Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park

Word of warning... In Roswell, the downtown shops are so similar because the same people own all of them. You can park overnight at Wal-Mart/Sam's Club if you choose and not get hassled by the cops.

On 380 West to I-25 you will pass thru the middle of Lincoln State Monument (check out the website as you can get into all four of the museums for $5 per person). Farther west, you will pass thru Capitan where they have the Smoky the Bear Museum (the big gas station there on the west end of town is our "bathroom stop"... GET FUEL!). Keep heading west on 380 and you will pass thru the Valley of Fires. It's a huge lava flow, you can stop and pick up chunks of obsidian on the sides of the road. Small campground there also. Head farther west. You may have to wait at some point because they have bombing runs over that road (White Sands Missle Range). You can be stopped for up to 1 hour. We have only been stopped for 15 minutes.

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Bottomless Lakes SP

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Good info Rose. We may be out that way in the fall as we head back to S. Az. Margie is really enjoying seeing new places and that's a big thrill, even if I've been before.

 

[compassrose]

Carlsbad Caverns

 

[psytechguy]

This is great guys! Keep 'em coming!

 

[compassrose]

Brantley Lake

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Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park

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Lincoln State Monument

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Smoky the Bear Museum

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Valley of Fires.

Things to do in Roswell: First off, stop at the ROSWELL CONVENTION, CIVIC & VISITORS CENTER to get touristy info. It has a mailbox that is painted to look like R2D2. Has a LARGE parking lot in the back. On the north side is a free art museum. Has some historical stuff as well as modern art gallery. Really cool if you like that sort of thing. Also Roswell has a Planetarium right there too. Then there is the Zoo. It's interesting and free. I will tell you right now, the private RV parks in this town are generally "picky" about who stays in their park. Town & Country (south end of town) is the one we stay in. They are "skoolie friendly". I have even seen converted horse trailers in here. There are mostly oil field workers here right now. It isn't cheap at almost $40 per night and with the increase in tourist tax, it's gotten quite a bit higher. I suggest the state park (reservations!!!!) if it's not a holiday.

Best "bang for your buck" budget restaurant is all you can eat China King Buffet. We spend about $25 there for the two of us on the rare occasion we eat out. I have a problem with being able to eat a meal in less time than it takes me to earn the money to pay for it. Other than China King the only other restaurant that I would recommend is Cattleman's Southwest Steak & Seafood on the south end of town (corner of POE and S Main Street). It isn't cheap but they do wonderful things with a good steak and the service is excellent.

 

[psytechguy]

Compassrose, I'm getting the impression you're either originally from the area or have been there quite awhile! Great info!

Tony and Karen, thanks for the NM state parks info! Bookmarked!

Triple digit temps. Already! Dang! Hopefully I can slide through before it becomes an everyday thing. I just may end up trucking on up to Flag for a breath of cool air!

 

[compassrose]

We have been in Roswell far, far too long. Since Dec 2011. And in our current site since Spring 2012. We have "shade".

We leave NM on Sept 7, 2015! Heading East to greener locations. And I really mean "green" as in plants, grass, trees, moss, etc.

 

[StarEcho]

Don't forget Chaco Canyon! If you like solitude and places with minimal safeguards definitely consider it! It's a national park with a small campground that doesn't take reservations and has a 20 mile washboard road to get to it - the last 4 miles are the worst...BUT if you make it intact it's worth it!

Another interesting site is the Solar Observatory near Cloudcroft. Nice winding road to the top of the mountain there with a self guided tour at the end. Don't miss the signs on the way up that are a scale model to the solar system-- ie the proportions of distance between signs matches the proportional distances between planets. Awesome sundial at the top also.

VLA - Very Large Array - where they filmed the movie "Contact" - nice radio astronomy site, but NOT a place they do SETI stuff - that's in California.

Trinity site is only open for visitors 2 times a year last time I checked-- I think it's April and October-- 1st Sat or some such. VLA is open all day for that one as well to accommodate visitors to Trinity Site. Many people do both on the same day.

I second the Valley of Fire. Close to that are some pueblo ruins (well an hour drive away).

I-10 part of the state close to the arizona border is a state park - City of Rocks... it's really nice and has it's own observatory where they do star parties once a month I think. I went to one in January. All the campsites are named astronomical names.

Sorry no links, but easy to google them all.

 

[Southwest]

I'm in Roswell too, have been since around 2007 (still have the house 4 sale).

I would recommend staying on the north side of town . There has been several homicides on the south side of town the last few weeks.

 

[loess]

There is a very strange and beautiful ghost town in the Gila National Forest called Mogollon that is worth a visit if you are passing through the area. It's a 2000+ ft climb to get there and the views alone are well worth it!