11/13/010 (Sat) - Movin' West to Chiricahua Monument National Park

We left Carlsbad around 8:00am this morning heading down route 62/180. This part of the country is totally without any scenic highlights. All I saw was desert type plants and dead looking grasses. Miles and Miles of this. After a bit we started to see mountains and when we hit the Texas border we were in the Guadalupe Mountains and they were amazing. We actually stopped at the National Park visitors center to see if we could drive in and thru the park but the answer was no, it is a wilderness park and only hiking takes place. They did have a museum and a theater so we could see what the park was all about.  We chose not to.

Once past the Guadalupe Mountains the scenic view was one of total flat land with nothing for miles on end. We did come across a short spot that had what looked like white sand but it was pretty chilly so who knows it might have been snow. Nah it was sand.

In this area all we saw was the whitest colored grasses, those cactus that look like they have about four stalks with yellow flowers or buds. A few small bushes but it looked almost like waste land. There was not even a house for miles and when one did pop up it was an old run down trailer or a really run down small shack. Once and I mean once in a while I would see a nicer house. All the land must be owned by ranchers but I would not live there. No people at all. It would be around 80 miles to a grocery store. Nope no sir not for me.

So today we started out in New Mexico, then we entered Texas, then New Mexico again, and finally we are in Arizona. If we had brought our passports we could have added Mexico to that list as we were only about 20 miles from there.

We are in a small town called Willcox and it is as close to a ghost town as I've ever seen.  The town is mostly closed buildings with very few places open for business.  All the traffic is centered around I-10.  It's hard to believe just two blocks away is the busy modern area and then head to historic Willcox and you step into a town that is in need of major repair.  I doubt that it can be saved.

So tomorrow it's touring the Chiricahua Monument National Park and then heading back home to Mesa, AZ.  It will be around a 200 mile drive.