Rainbow Trout

They stock trout in the Rio Grande River below the dam that forms Elephant Butte Lake. One guy in camp who fishes the river all the time started to catch lots of trout so we thought we would give it a try. Wow! What a blast -- we've caught lots of beautiful rainbow trout between 12" and 15". They are really tasty just panfried.

There was an earthen dam in this part of the river that they just removed. You can't tell it was even there. This caused more current in the river which even though it is very low it must be what got the trout moving. We hear that when they open the headgates at the big dam at Elephant Butte than the walleye start swimming up this river. We've also heard that people fish shoulder to shoulder when the walleye are in here -- not sure we want to deal with that -- we might see what the increased current does to lake fishing.

The picture of the fish in the net was from our last fishing adventure on the lake. It's a catfish that Jim caught or Nebraskan Walleye as he called it. We have two couples from Nebraska as neighbors so Jim loves to give them grief. They came to fish also. He also caught a tumbleweed. I should have taken a picture of that in the net. Only in New Mexico can you set your hook and bag yourself a tumbleweed!!

No, it's NOT snow!

We took a little road trip over to the Alamogordo area of New Mexico. We stopped at White Sands National Monument. It's a small "National Park" that contains the largest gypsum sand dunes in the country. The sand looks and feels like the stuff found at the most beautiful beaches. You can play in the dunes -- bring or buy a saucer and sled down them. This park is wedged in between two military bases. The Army's White Sands Missile Range -- where the first atomic bomb was dropped and an AirForce base. The Airbase is a backup landing site for the space shuttle although its only been used once. There is also a NASA facility in the area.

We also checked out the Space Museum in Alamogordo. It has all the old stuff in it they used to help prepare astronauts for space flight for the Mercury up to the Apollo missions. Old space suits -- American and Soviet along with examples of the dehydrated food they ate -- even the "toilet" facitlities. The museum also has a collection of the different rockets that were tested as well as an incredible collection of satellite technology. We understand now why this area is crazy about space and willing to help fund a commercial "SpacePort". Where eventually anyone with the money can take a ride in space.

Looking for ET

We went to see the VLA -- Very Large Array-- about an hour from Socorro, New Mexico. The radio telescope array that was used in the film "Contact". It was awesome to see these huge telescopes. There are so many they take up 20 miles of a big open plain. It wasn't possible to get a picture that shows them all. We stood under the one where these people are and it moved while we were standing under it. These telescopes move all the time to stay on the area in space they are tracking. They weight a 1000 tons and yet you can't even hear them move. They are all on a railroad track system so they can move them around pretty easily. They are not actually used to listen for ET -they just used them in the film because they look cool. We had to watch the movie "Contact" again and yes we were exactly where they filmed -- same walkways -- view out the window of the building -- very cool.

We also finally got to change over to South Dakota license plates. We had changed to South Dakota residents last fall -- new address, drivers license but our license plates didn't need to change until February 09 so we waited. It only took a week after applying for them to actually get the new plates. They must not make many -- not that many people in South Dakota -- so it's very quick. We like being "residents" of South Dakota -- cheap licenses and no state income tax. Most of the full time RVer's we've met that no longer own a home somewhere have switched residency to a state with no income tax.

Fishing in January

Fi Fishing is starting to pick up. We caught some nice size white bass. This was the third week in January -- open water -- warm enough for shorts. Although the water temp is around 48 degrees. We hear from the local guides that come February we should be able to start catching walleyes in some of the deep holes in the river -- the Rio Grande -- downstream from the lake. The lake istself is full of debris from the runoff. The snow in the mountains up by the border of New Mexico and Colorado melts and runs into the river. You would not believe the garbage floating in the water. It's worse than when the ice melts and leaves all the garbage on the shoreline of Mille Lacs.

Jim took some pictures of mule deer. They are hidden amongst the cactus. They have very large ears -- seems to be a trait for a lot of the desert animals around here. This group of deer hang out in the state park -- close to the lake. Deer hunting isn't allowed in the park but duck hunting is -- and duck hunting is still open.

Deer hunting is finally over so we are going to try exploring in the mountains. It's been impossible with all the hunting going on up there. Hunters everywhere -- camped out. They would pull all sorts of campers up into the mountains. You can camp pretty much anywhere in the national forest up there. We are hoping that once its quiet again up in the mountains we will be able to catch a glimpse of some elk.

Carlsbad Caverns

We took a "vacation" to Carlsbad Caverns. Its almost a 6 hour drive from our RV park to the Caverns. We decided to stay at a motel in Carlsbad for two nights so we could get there and see the sights without being rushed. It was easier to spend the money on a motel and not worry about maybe hitting snow in the higher elevations pulling our camper. We got there by going south to El Paso, Texas and then headed northeast up to Carlsbad. We went past Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas. We didn't stop but there are lots of stories about lost gold mines and buried treasure in those mountains. Carlsbad Caverns is actually on the eastern side of these mountains. The town of Carlsbad is twenty miles north of the Caverns and is along the Pecos River. They have put in a really pretty riverwalk along the Pecos -- we went there and watched as they were stocking some fish in the river. Fishermen were right next to them -- trying to catch something. We weren't close enough to see what kind of fish they were stocking.

We went to the Caverns and went on two tours. The first one was ranger guided in the "Kings Palace". Every room was beautiful and some of the original Journey to the Center of the Earth with Pat Boone in it were filmed in this part of the cave. The ranger did the "shut off the lights and see what dark really is" thing along the way. The second tour we did was selfguided through the Big Room. The pictures here are from that part of the tour. It took Jim a while to figure out the new digital SLR camera we just got. I'm hoping with the new camera the pictures for the blog will be even better.

We came back to camp heading north and west through Roswell -- went by the Alien Museum and through the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in the Lincoln National Forest. There was snow up in the high country through here but the roads were clear. We came around by Alamogorda and the White Sands National Monument and Missile Range then north home.

We really enjoyed the trip but were glad to get back "home". The Carlsbad area is a little warmer than Elephant Butte but except for the one mountain range with the caverns its pretty flat and desertlike there. At least where we are its much prettier and there is a lot more to do.

Rockhound State Park

We drove down to Deming, New Mexico to check out Rockhound State Park. Its in the Little Florida Mountains. I included a picture of what the mountains look like. This is the park where you can rockhound and dig for geodes -- thunder eggs -- rocks with crystal formations inside that you see when you crack them open. This is where the woman from the Travel Channel's "Cash and Treasure" show dug out some geodes. I remember seeing her with a pick axe digging them out.

I checked the web for info on the park and it said to bring a shovel, pickaxe and hammer. We stopped at the hardware store and picked up our "rockhounding" equipment and went to the park. What we weren't prepared for was the climbing involved. We climbed all over like a couple of mountain goats--me digging with the shovel and Jim swinging the pickaxe. At one point we looked down and Jim comments that he doesn't even like to fly this high. All that work and all we found was some pretty jasper but no geodes. There is also all kinds of quartz and semi-precious stones like opal that you can find here. I am showing a picture of carnelian -- its a kind of quartz that we've been finding closer to home but you can find it at this park too. You can take 15lbs of rock from the park. We saw one couple with two grocery bags full.

One scary note -- I read the notice in the bathroom after we scrambled all over the park that there might be Hanta Virus in the area. The rodents may be infected --- its the nice way to say Bubonic Plaque.

We finally had some pictures taken of us and our rig. I hope to have some of the inside to share. We love our "house". I love the fact that it doesn't take very long to clean from top to bottom.

Is it really January?

We were fishing at the end of December so I took some pictures from the boat. I had to take one of all the pelicans hanging out on one of the breakwaters made out of tires. They use these tire breakwaters in front of the marinas to keep the boats from getting pounded by waves.

I also had to take a picture from the boat that shows the mountains in the background with snow on top. It is very strange to be fishing on open water -- in the low 60's and be able to see snow. We also helped a duck hunter by getting some ducks that were back in a canyon to fly by him. He missed.... Hunting seasons are much longer down here. Duck and deer season are still open.

We headed up into the mountains to see the snow up close and get some pictures. There was only a little bit left on the ground up there. It was in the 50's and it smelled and felt like April instead of January. Jim was hoping to see some snow melt running down the mountain and filling the dry washes. The snow seems to just evaporate -- no water rushing down -- and maybe bringing some gold down with it. At least not yet -- The mountains should be getting another 6" now and more to come so we will see what happens.