Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Dream Catcher RV Park, Deming, New Mexico

Oct 5, 2019

Temperature 83

Till We Meet Again

Deming Visitor Center

The Fall season is definitely upon us.  The days are in the 70;s or low 80’s and the nights have been in the mid 50’s.  Perfect all the way around.

There was one last task on the Fall cleaning list and that was to clean the two exhaust fans in the ceiling.  In the past I have struggled to get them really clean.  Getting my hand up in and around the blades was always a chore.  I decided there had to be a better way.  Well, there was.  After studying the bathroom fan for a bit. low and behold I discovered that the one piece fan blade is held in place by a small set screw.  Loosen that up, the fan blade unit comes off and you now have full access to the remainder of the fan including the overhead cover.  In addition you can now take and properly wash the fan blade in the sink.  The net of it is, both fans now look brand new.

The remainder of the day we both spent reading our books.  I finally finished mine and to say I was disappointed with the ending is the understatement of the year.  The ending was twisted and sad and not what you would hope for.  It’s one book I will not read again.

Late afternoon the decision was made to gather one more time to say farewell to Bobby and Mary.  Mary was our activity director and she did an absolutely fantastic job during the past couple of months.  Bobby in turn worked in maintenance and as always also did an admirable job.  They are now off to Raccoon Valley in Tennessee for the winter.  Birrrrrr!  We’ll see them again next year when they and we move to the Escapees Park in Summerdale, Alabama.

A much smaller group gathered than the night before.

Another puzzle to do.

Leftovers from the night before.

Of the 24 plus rigs that were here, we are down to three ours being one of them.  By the end of the week, we’ll be gone as well.  There are not many others here either.  This park, because of its immediate access to Route 10, is more of a transient park.  The park will see a lot of rigs coming in around 3 to 4 pm, by the next morning they’re all gone.

Let me share with you now some pictures of our visit to the Deming Visitor Center. The Center is housed in a recreated train depot from Deming’s early years.

This is today.  It is now no more than a bus shelter.  Yet, this is the busiest train station in Deming, of course it is also the only one!  A little research and you discover that you can travel by train to Deming from 19 destinations and choose from 49 daily train schedules to get you there.

 

Within the Center we discovered this beautiful table.

Outside we discovered Southern Pacific’s Locomotive No. 1221.  A yard engine all her life it was used to make up trains for other engines to pull.

She was a typical snorting, rod-churning engine of the age when steam ruled the rails.

No. 1221 topped the scales at 138,640 pounds, stood over 13 feet tall, occupied 31 feet of rail and cost $35,000 when new.  It is one of only two surviving members of Southern Pacific’s S-10 production run.

Back at the end of the railroad display was the little red caboose.

Looking down the center aisle.

Inside, I found a couple items of interest.  No information on who or why this was created but it was neat looking.

And then this a sad testimony to the world we now live in.

The murals, however, are great.

That was about it at the Visitor Center.

Our day on The Road of Retirement was another great and wonderful one.  We just relaxed, finished up our Fall cleaning, read our books, and ended the day again in the best way possible, gathered with friends new and old.

Thanks for checking in with us again.  We always enjoy your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Dream Catcher RV Park, Deming, New Mexico

Oct 4, 2019

Temperature 81

Friday Night Barbecue

Well, contrary to the weather report last night was decidedly warm.  There was rain, off and on for most of the night.  When we awoke the rain had stopped but the sky was overcast.  The forecast was for sun later on.  That, they did get right.

We spent the better part of the day doing our Fall house cleaning.  I finished doing the wood work with Murphy’s.  I pulled the heating vents and cleaned them.  In the back I re-taped the seam between the duct and the vent.  Barbara and I cleaned out the kitchen cabinets, and were able to sort and get rid of items we no longer use or need.  Not a bad start to the day.

Late afternoon it was time to gather together for an evening barbecue.  Mary, once again did a super job of planning and preparation.  This time we gathered at Javier and Susan’s site.

The group – the few still hanging around – begin to gather.

Kelly even joined us for a bit of time.

Bobby and Javier doing the honors at the grills.  Trust me, they do know how to grill and they do it well.

Javier and Susan preparing the pulled pork.

Once again if you went home hungry it was your own fault.  There were hot dogs, sausage, ribs, chicken, grilled potatoes and vegetables, pulled pork and for desert we had watermelon and chocolate cake. Yes, we do indeed know how to eat.

It was a fantastic time with good friends.  By the end of this week we’ll all be scattered here and there.  Which made this evening even more special.  Really, what in life is more important than time with family and friends.  We’re sure going to miss everyone we’ve come to know during our time here.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  Once again we give thanks to the God above for this wonderful life we live.  We are ever grateful for each and every minute that we are given to do life our way, traveling along, hand in hand, singing our song.

Thanks for checking in with us.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Dream Catcher RV Park, Deming, New Mexico

Oct 3, 2019

Temperature 83

The Exodus Has Begun

Deming Luna Mimbres Museum WW I and WW II

The Exodus is under way.  The Convergence is over and the rigs are rolling out.  Some are headed to the Balloon Fest, some to family in California, some to other parks in Texas, others to who-knows-where.  We’ve had a wonderful time going here and there with the group, making new friends, and in general just hanging out with everyone.   Business cards have been exchanged and I’m sure we’ll be seeing many of our new friends in other parts of this great land again some time in the future.

Today I was able to accomplish a few things.  I was able to defrost the freezer.  I got all the blinds dusted.  I changed our route back to Florida at the end of 2020 – and will probably change it again at least a dozen times before we start home.  I cleaned half of the wood work with Murphy Soap.  Barbara went off to the Wishy Washy and got the laundry done.  Late afternoon we both went to Social Hour at the Activity Center.  What a great time that was.  We ate chocolate chip cookies, swapped RV war stories, and laughed until it hurt.

OK, there’s a few points of history that I want to share with you regarding Deming that we learned last week during our visit to the Museum.

We begin with Camp Cody.

During the First World War, the War Department established Camp Cody near Deming, as a training encampment that covered over 2,000 acres.

During it’s height it housed over 30,000 troops.  It was named after the famous Buffalo Hunter, William F. Cody – also known as Buffalo Bill.

 

The camp setup had three main streets and eighteen cross streets.  Altogether there were twelve miles of graded streets.  There were 6,000 framed tents with wooden floors, electric lights and coal heaters.  The men ate at one of 120 mess halls and showered at one of 1,200 shower bath houses.  There were also five YMCA buildings, a Knights of Columbus, a library, and a Post Office.  Eleven warehouses stored food and provisions for the Army of 30,000 men.

The men stationed here even wrote a song entitled We’re Coming From Camp Cody which became the official song of the Thirty-Fourth Division, US Army Camp Cody Division.

At the end of WW I the base was closed and a serious economic decline hit the Deming area. Deming’s two banks, The Bank of Deming and the First National Bank were forced to close their doors. Recovery was slow.

We move now to the 1940’s.  The coming of WW II stimulated economic growth in Deming.  Part of this was due to

A diagram of the air field.  Runways are at the top.

Here is a model of the above diagram.  Again, runways are at the top.

There was also a large number of support personnel necessary to keep the training aircraft in the air.  They might be mechanics, fuelers, or ordinance personnel.  There were also the cooks, bakers and even truck drivers.

A picture of a preflight check.

Truck Drivers.

The program ended in September, 1946 and the Deming Air Field became the Deming Municipal Air Field.  Today some of the structures and foundations still remain.  Some of the hangers are still used today.  This is a picture of one of the remaining hangers which was used in the film Indian Jones and The Crystal Skull.

Another noted but tragic event in Deming’s history also took place during WW II.

As a part of the war effort, the Deming National Guard was called into federal service and was sent to Bataan, Philippines. This unit was the 200 Coast Artillery commanded by C.G. Sage, the publisher of the local paper. Altogether, there were about 246 men from Luna County in the regiment.

Unfortunately, it did not end well for the 200 Coast Artillery.  In the face of unrelenting Japanese attacks Bataan fell to the enemy.

What happened next was even worse than being captured.  The surrendered Filipinos and Americans soon were rounded up by the Japanese and forced to march some 65 miles from Mariveles, on the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula, to San Fernando. The men were divided into groups of approximately 100, and the march typically took each group around five days to complete. The exact figures are unknown, but it is believed that thousands of troops died because of the brutality of their captors, who starved and beat the marchers, and bayoneted those too weak to walk. Survivors were taken by rail from San Fernando to prisoner-of-war camps, where thousands more died from disease, mistreatment and starvation.

Outside in Veterans Park is this Memorial.

We’ve now come to the end of another chapter in the history of Deming, NM.  We have a few more items of interest to cover but we’ll save them for another blog in the future.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It had a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  It was just our kind of day.  It started well and it ended even better as we gathered one more time with new friends.  You just can’t ask for anything better.

Thanks again for checking in with us.  We always enjoy your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Dream Catcher RV Park, Deming, New Mexico

Oct 1, 2019

Temperature 79

The Columbus Story – The Pancho Villa Raid

What a difference a day makes.  Today was overcast and cool.  A perfect day to go sight-seeing since there would be no sun beating down on us.  We had a quick breakfast of pancakes, juice and coffee, and then we were off.

This was our destination for the day.

as well as, The Columbus Museum.

We knew little about Columbus, even less about Pancho Villa’s raid on this small New Mexico town on the US-Mexican border.  That is why we went.  We wanted to discover and learn.

In 1891 the Village of Columbus was established near the Mexican border.  It was originally supposed to be called Columbia but the request was denied because of the numerous amount of requests for that name due to the Columbia Exposition.  However, Mr. Bailey who had originally applied for the post office of that name reapplied under the name of Columbus, after his home town of Columbus, Ohio.  That name was accepted at the Post Office Dept and on June 18, 1891 the new post office was opened and Columbus, New Mexico was established.

In 1902 the railroad came to town.  Due to the homestead act many came by railroad to Columbus eager to set up new homes.  Those who settled here used the railroad as it was their vital form of transportation.

 

By early 1916, Columbus was a flourishing frontier town.  There was a 12 grade school, three hotels, one bank, two general stores, one grocery store, two drugstores, one hardware, two churches, a lumber yard, a blacksmith shop, restaurants, a Ford automobile dealership, a newspaper, and a Coca-Cola bottling plant.

By 1912 the army established camps  along the border because of the unrest in Mexico.  Their Army Camp at Columbus was just south of the depot and was later renamed Camp Furlong.  With the establishment of the camp railroad traffic increased to ten trains a day.

The peaceful life of this small frontier town was changed forever on March 9, 1916.  On that date at 4:12 am , Pancho Villa’s six hundred bandits raided Columbus and the Army”s Camp at Columbus.

 

They came from several directions and the fight centered around the business district, the army camp, and the stables.

 

The Army and the townspeople were caught by surprise.  One of the first to sound the alarm was

During the raid some were able to flee.

Practically every business was broken into and looted.

One of their major targets was the Ravel Brothers general store.  Though it could never be proved, they believed that they had cheated them in an arms deal.  The store was looted but not burned and the Ravel Brothers escaped unharmed.

By 7:30 am it was over.  The raiders had retreated back over the border with American troops in pursuit.

But the damage had been done.

And lives had been lost.

 

 

 

 

The American response was swift.

 

Today there is still much debate as to why?

There were others who thought that there was much more to the raid.

That concludes our day of learning and discovery.  We were thrilled to have this opportunity to again immerse ourselves in yet another piece of American history.  We hope you enjoyed learning along with us.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was a perfect day from sunrise to sunset.  Once again we got to do it our way, hand in hand, traveling along, singing our song.

Thanks again for coming along with us.  We always enjoy your company and your comments.  Catch your tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!