Greetings once again! Nearly two weeks ago Sheila and I left for another road trip. New Mexico was the intended destination for night #1, but it didn't happen that way on the Monday that we left.
One of the cats had a vet appointment, so we knew that it would be an afternoon departure and our intended stop for the night was Deming. But, I-10 was closed that morning due to a serious accident, so we were thinking of another direction. We learned that the interstate was opened later that morning so around noon we left in the direction of Benson.
When we got to Benson, it was discovered that some needed items were accidentally left behind, so it was back to Tucson. Neither one of us was in the mood to get back in the direction of Benson, so we headed north towards Globe. We rolled in around 4ish and later on had a meal at Irene's Mexican restaurant.
Irene's, in my opinion, makes some of the best tacos you're going to find in this state. I should have done the taco combination like I did our last time there, but I did the enchilada/relleno/taco combo. The cheeses they used in the enchilada and relleno didn't exactly agree with me. That said, I'll eat there again, but I'm sticking to the tacos.
It was decided to take US70 over to Lordsburg, and then make Deming from there. I hadn't been on that stretch of highway since 2010, and it was an opportunity to make new memories with someone special. I was tired when we got to Lordsburg, so Sheila took the wheel and we stopped in Deming.
Dinner that night was at Irma's, where this time I had two stuffed sopapillas Christmas-style with carne asada for the filling. It was too good to be legal. I took a photograph which may eventually make one of the photo pages here. We went back, and upon reading the local news online that there was a confirmed tornado eight miles west of Deming, which we missed, since we went to Globe instead!
The next morning Sheila wasn't feeling too well, and asked if we could spend an extra day there. I was OK but I said we could, and I spent the day reading and walking around. Later we went to Walmart for some things, and stopped off at Si Senor restaurant downtown, which gave Irma's a run for the money. I had their #1 combo plate, and that chile relleno was bordering on rocket fuel but it was excellent! After looking at the news online, we learned that Safford (AZ) had a tornado warning the previous day! What the crud? Tornados, rare in the southwest, following us around? It's a weird weather year what with this El Nino.
The next morning we were on our way to Alamogordo, but made a long stop at Hatch. I'll never forget that smell of roasting Hatch chiles. It was delightfully pleasant. We had lunch at Sparky's BBQ, which I think is something of a tourist trap, but their green chile cheeseburger addressed my weakness that I have for that kind of burger.
The second long stop was White Sands National Park. If I had stayed working for the Navy TechRep office another year I might have gotten a trip or two out to their missile range. We drove around the National Park some, and then continued on our way to the Super 8 in Alamogordo.
Alamogordo was intended as that I've been wanting to see their Space History Museum for some time now. Super 8 was selected because they had guest laundry available. The sweetie at the front desk was a big help in getting us checked in, and we booked for two nights. We ate at a German restaurant downtown, with recipes being that of the Bavarian style. It was delicious, and too good to be legal.
The next morning we spent a good chunk of time at the Space History Museum, which I want to see again soon. Weather forecasts had severe thunderstorm warnings so it was off to Walmart Neighborhood Market to get some microwavable meals as this one was forecast to be a real bastard of a storm, which it was.
From there I wanted to go further north, but with flood warnings in effect for the northern half of the state, we really had no choice but to go south. We got back to I-25, caught up with I-10 in Las Cruces, and when back in Arizona we decided to return home that night.
If I'd have had my druthers, we would have been out for two or maybe three more days. But we were being chased around by bad weather, and going north just wasn't an option. The unusual weather this year has wreaked (or should I say "wrecked"?) a lot of havoc in northern AZ and northern NM, and as I write this we are getting rain and thunderstorms here in Tucson.
As for photos, I took a lot more on this trip, but it may be a while before I get them posted, and I'm likely going to post those of Oatman AZ first. I have seventeen active retirement projects, with two nearing completion, not to mention a ton of reading that I want to get caught up on.
And as for road trips, we're hunkering down for a while. I have commitments here in Tucson to address in the month that starts tomorrow, and I don't like traveling in December. If we go anywhere it will be an overnighter or a two nighter somewhere, like maybe Yuma or Prescott and it won't be over a weekend.
Anyway, that is that. For now.
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