Truth or Consequences

My next camp was at Elephant Butte Lake State Park, I scored a water/electric site with a great view of the lake.

This is a very large park with 3 seperate campgrounds all around the lake. I can see this place being super crowded in the summers!

It is also just outside of sprawling metropolis of Truth or Consequences (Abbreviated to “T or C”). current population around 6500. T or C was formerly known as Hot Springs, NM but in 1950 the city changed its name to win a contest for the NBC radio show of the same name. In May of 1950 Ralph Edwards the host of the radio show visited and broadcast the show from the newly named town. There is still a annual event to commemorate the event. Today the city mostly caters to tourists who come to visit the hot springs.

I visited town and hit the RV’ers friend (Walmart) to resupply, while there is a Sonic drive in and a McDonalds, there is no Starbucks or other large chain stores.

The campground was way less than half full during my stay, I enjoyed the solitude of the quiet nights and spent my days kayaking the lake and exploring the shoreline on the bike. Since the lake is low there are literally miles and miles of shoreline trails to explore, I was very pleased that for the most part the fat tires on the bike really handled the sand well, only a couple times did I have to walk the bike out of the sand.

I was enjoying it so much I decided to extend my visit and I ended up staying 12 nights total. I was able to befriend a very large family of quail who would visit me every morning and evening, (I think the bird seed may have had something to do with it).

I even had a visit from a pair of road runners, the first time I have ever seen one outside of a cartoon. No sign of Wile E. Coyote however.

Of course you cannot come to T or C and not enjoy one of the many mineral baths in town. I made several trips to Riverbend Hot Spring and really enjoyed soaking in their private pools. The water is between 102 and 106 degrees and once you settle in, it is so relaxing. I would usually go soak in the late afternoon. Truly, a great way to wind down for the evening I had some of the best nights sleep of my whole trip.

On one late afternoon visit I was treated to an amazing cotton candy sunset over the Rio Grande river. New Mexico truly has some amazing sunsets!

I experimented with my 80 watt folding solar panel and it worked great, charging my portable power station and the e-bike in just a few hours. Free energy from the sun is pretty awesome!

Since I had missed the Three Rivers Petroglyph site not realizing it was only 30 minutes from my previous spot in Alamogordo I I took a day trip to the Petroglyph National Monument near Albuquerque. One of the largest sites in North America it was an amazing experience. I visited the Piedras Marcadas Canyon site and did the 1.5 mile loop trail and the scenic trail. There are around 400 petroglyphs on the trail. I was lucky and had a warm sunny day to enjoy the site. I photographed a lot of the carvings but I think my favorite was this little dude who reminded me of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes for some reason. Click on Calvin for many many pictures.

Of course being a nerd I couldn’t visit Albuquerque and NOT visit the famous Breaking Bad house of Walter White. You can see by the signs and cones that the current residents are not thrilled at the attention and apparently have been know to yell at people who stop for selfies, much less try and throw pizzas on the roof. I felt guilty and just rolled down my window for a quick drive by shot and got away un-chastised.

My next stop will be near the historic old town of Silver City, NM at the City of Rocks state park. But for now, I’ll leave you with a short video of my new quail friends, be sure and turn up your sound they are making cute happy quail noises!