We headed out from Elephant Butte today, and are pretty much heading home now. After fueling up and getting some cold medication for Cath, we headed north from our campsite via I25, and east/north on roads we hadn't been on before.
Along the way we stopped at Abo Pueblo Ruins, a National Monument mission location from the 1700's. Free admission.
It was interesting to see some well-preserved adobe ruins (maybe a bit of restoration in places), and imagine a small town there so long ago. It was on a trade route in a pass through the mountains, and connected with the Camino Real, which went right down to Mexico. Year-round water made the site livable. Apparently a lot of the trade was salt collected in nearby salt flats, and shipped (by burro) to Mexico.
We saw MANY long trains today, likely 100+ cars long, usually pulled by 4 locomotives. A lot of the area is a large mesa top, flat but high, reaching about 6,500 ft elevation. The approaches on both sides were down around 4,000 ft. The climbs were pretty gentle though, the van didn't complain at all, and the road surface was good pavement.
This picture is across the new-looking double rail track, across a salt flat, with power-generating windmills in the background:
We continued on, stopping at Tucumcari NM for fuel and ice-cream bars, and proceeded north on #54 to Logan. We expected to stay in a state park called Ute Lake, but it didn’t appeal.
Should have stayed there anyway, as we ended up in Arrowhead RV park at the north end of town. What a dump, no working washrooms or water, $10 for a parking spot. Still 28C at 5:30, a mild night.
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