3-16-12 Friday Day 8 of New Calizona Vacation

Our night at Deming New Mexico was pretty uneventful, and we are up and ready to head easterly. Chris has found a Spyder dealer in Las Cruses so he is leading us to the dealership. As we are pulling into Las Cruses, there is a sign for Barnett HD, so Chris pulls in for us to check it out. Nice store but the big Barnett's is in El Paso. We make it to the Spyder dealership, and Diana & Chris actually find some cool clothes. Was worth the trip. :-)  

Next stop is the El Paso, and Chris has been breaking out with the song about the Rio Grand....oh my. (El Paso City! By Marty Robbins) As we pull into El Paso Lupi tries to take us through Ft. Bliss Army Depot. She kept telling us to take Sergeant Major Ave. We did and guess what...it is the road to get into the base. Thank goodness there was a u turn area, so we took it and corrected our oops. Lupi actually took us to the dealership and once again, its not the right place. Finally make it to Barnett's, and have to say, it is really a big place. We make our purchases and have to say Diana found one of the cutest t-shirts from there. It is pink, and I got one, and she didn't. She may regret this, cause I know when I wear it, she will be wishing she had gotten one.
We find something to eat at the local Furr's and man the food was different. It was really good. Had some different things to eat. It is warm here, and we have been shredding clothes since Las Cruces. Nice to have some sun. Sure has been a mix of temperature. 
Next stop is Alamogordo. You will not believe all the trains we have seen on this trip.  They are really long and are loaded double decker.  We stop and get gas and go ahead and put our leather back on, cause we are getting ready to start back through the mountains to get to Ruidosa for our stop for the night.   
Cloudcroft is pretty busy, and amazed to see all the snow still on the ground. As we climb into the mountains, the white stuff is still pretty thick. We get to Ruidosa and I for one am so happy I have my leather on, cause it was a brisk ride. Chuck pulls into the Walmart in Ruidosa, and Diana and I are really excited, since we haven't been in one for over a week, and we are having with drawl. It was so nice to give Wally world some of our money :-) We drive through Ruidosa looking for a place to stay. We drive by the cabins we stayed at with Roger and Linda and Diana & Chris during one of our trips up here. Brings back some good memories of some really nice people we miss. OK, so we make a u, and drive back towards a motel that I spotted. As we pull up and look closer at the place, I think I have made a wrong selection. This little old scrunched up lady comes out, and I ask her if we can look at her rooms. We proceeds to tell us that she will let us have them for $45 per bed. She opens the door, and a silent gasp was felt by all who looked. Chucks eyes were save, as we got out of the room rather quickly. It was so old...the carpet was ancient, and made me wonder about the beds. I told the little lady we were really wanting king size beds, and she tells me she would let us have the room for $40. Poor thing, she was quite lonely, and proceeds to tell me she was 98 yrs old, and she had lived in Ruidosa for 65 yrs. She had two husbands and they had both died. I am sure she is a very wealthy little lady, as the property her motel is on is probably worth a small fortune. Finally was able to break away from her, and Diana and I got to laughing about the little lady and her ancient place. It would have scared us to death to even think of spending the night there. We all just wanted to give her the money and just leave. She was a funny little lady, and I am sure she had stories to tell. She told us about the illegal gambling, and the prostitution that had gone on in the early years of Ruidosa. 

On down the road we find a motel that has new beds and newly decorated. Well, have to say it was much better, and we settle in for the night. The Biggs room has some issues, as the toilet won't flush...get that fixed and then they have no heat. The owner takes care of everything, and we get some sleep. Tomorrow we head to Amarillo. We are trying to stay ahead of a front that is coming in behind us.

These two pictures were taken at the motel we staying in for the night. Love the bear pic, and as usual Diana was hoping to see a bear in the mountains...this is as close as she got.
If you read above, the Biggs had an issue with their toilet in their room. The second pic was taken to the right of our room. Told Chris he could always use this one if his didn't get fixed. Never saw Chris out there, so I am thinking that theirs was up and running quite nicely. :)