New Mexico
Glenwood, Quemado Lake, Adobe Cafe, Pie Town
Bluewater Lake, Gallup

June 10, 2014 - Glenwood, NM
Glenwood New Mexico is a community of a few hundred people if you count the surrounding ranches.

Glenwood is in a canyon so you're driving along Highway 180 thinking you're in the middle of nowhere, which you are, and all of a sudden you're there.

There is a part time pizza place which is better than most franchises and apart time breakfast place plus a few small RV parks. There's also a free Federal park an easy walk from the main eateries.



The Blue Front Cafe used to be the place to go for local musicians but Bucky & family got burned out running it. Now the property is run by ferrel kitties fed by Bucky.





Glenwood also has an active community center where we got lunch for $2.

We stayed at Bucky's Glenwood RV Park.
There are 6 parking spots for $18/night or $80/week. Bucky only had one space available so he allowed us to park my rig and the Casita in the same spot. Bucky's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet but near as we can tell that's about the norm for Glenwood. We weren't sure how long we would stay so he said to pay him when we leave.

Glenwood is a nice community with a diverse population of friendly people. Land here is not cheap because there is so little of it. Most of the area is US Department of Agriculture land. Ranchers rent from the feds for the most part. If you want to buy anything more than milk and white bread you have to make a 130 mile round trip to Silver City.

June 14, 2014 Pie Town
Left Glenwood June 12 for Pie Town, our next official destination on Barbara's guided tour of New Mexico. First stop was breakfast at the Adobe Cafe near Reserve New Mexico.

The Adobe is out in the middle of nowhere and not much from the outside.

Inside however if I didn't look out the window I'd think I was back in Seattle. They had great lattes and espresso drinks and fresh baked pastries.

The breakfast was good as well. No hash browns out of a box. New Mexico is full of surprises.

Barbara wanted to see what I thought about the free campground at Quemado Lake, about half way between Glenwood and Pie Town.

Quemado Lake was cooler than Glenwood and a bit quieter so we stayed two nights. Our nearest neighbor, about a block away, was Kitty who is full time in her 1970s RV with her two dogs.




You can see by the sign there actually is a town called Pie Town. Pie Town isn't much more than a wide spot in the road.

Pie Town is famous for, duh, pies. Pie-o-Neer is open Thursday through Sunday 11 to 4.

It was 11 when we got there so we had quiche for breakfast immediately followed by pie for desert. Barbara had New Mexico Apple with chile and I had blueberry. Next day same thing.


As advertised the pie was great. New Mexico is full of surprises.

We parked in Jackson Park across the street from Pie-o-neer. 20 acres, park where you want for as long as you want. But one spot is permanently taken.

This wagon belonged to Bob usually called Sundown. After his wife died he went on the road in this wagon pulled by three mules. He came to Pie Town every Summer. He wintered somewhere in Arizona. He said he was going to finish his life as slowly as possible.

He died here in Pie Town so someone adopted the mules and they left the wagon in his spot.

June 16, 2014 Bluewater State Park New Mexico
Driving from Pie Town to Bluewater in winds 20 to 30 miles an hour gusting to 40 was no picnic. In my Subaru or Cessna 172 no problem but in a truck with a rectangle box on the back you get blown all over the road. To say I didn't like it would be an understatement. By the time we got to the New Mexico State park at Bluewater I was pretty stressed out.

We tried several parking spots before settling on two that were reasonably level. (For you non-RVers you need to be level for the fridge. You can burn out the elements, even start a fire.) What is this guy going to do?

We had to pass up a few with a lake view.





Some folks, mostly fishermen, park right on the lake.


With a yearly New Mexico pass ($225 for me and $100 for Barbara who is an NM resident) we can park free for 14 days in any of New Mexico's 35 state parks. 6 days out and you can start the 14 again. Electric when available is $4/night extra. After finding our spots next on the agenda was to wait out the wind. Three days of rocking RVs making all sorts of noises I've never heard before. Mostly traveling in an RV is pretty good, sometimes it's great and sometimes it sucks. This was a sucky time 1,000 away from my comfort zone, the I5 corridor. The second part of the week was much more pleasant. Feeling better now.

There was quite a bit of wildlife including horses but this was the only animal that stayed still long enough to photograph.

Gallup New Mexico
On my birthday we took a side trip to Gallup New Mexico. Now of the 10 cities mentioned in Bobby Troup's Route 66 I've been to 6.


I wonder if the nostalgia for Route 66 would have been as great without Bobby Troup.



We had a great breakfast at The Plaza. Doesn't look like much but the Yelp reviews were good.We then headed downtown which is mainly Indian goods and western wear.



I bought a Native American style belt made in China and a pair of Minnetonka moccasins which are made in the US. Barbara bought a pair of moccasin style boots. Barbara loves boots. She now has 5 pair which live in a basket under the back seat of her truck there being no room in the Casita.

Before going back to Bluewater we had a snack at the El Rancho hotel.

Opened in 1937 by the brother of DW Griffith* the hotel played host to a lot of movie stars from the 40s and 50s.

*In the teens Griffith created many of the techniques of movie making still used today. With Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford he created United Artists which was destroyed about 65 years later when Michael Cimino went over budget on Heaven's Gate.