Spring trip to New Mexico?
Hi all! My wife an I bought a 29 foot Durango 5'er this past summer (woo hoo!)and are thinking about a trip to New Mexico this coming spring. Neither of us have been to New Mexico before so we ar...
Forum Discussion
Hey Bill - You could literally throw a dart at the map of NM and find someplace magical.
We stopped someplace really offbeat last winter and absolutely loved it. It was Rusty's RV Ranch down in the panhandle north or Rodeo.
I picked this place kind of by mistake, because we were looking for someplace to camp near Chiricahua National Monument. Chiricahua is in Arizona, but there's noplace to stay anywhere nearby. This spot in New Mexico looked close on the map, but there was a big mountain range in the way. Did you ever see the movie Rat Race where Cathy Bates told Whoopi Goldberg she "Should have bought a squirrel"? We had a similar experience with the woman who ran Rusty's. She gave us a hand drawn map with the "shortcut" to Chiracahua. She described all of the landmarks and told us we'd pass a sign that said "road closed for winter" and to just ignore it. The pavement ended and this so-called road turned into a narrow dirt fire road that was covered in snow in many spots. I don't switch my dually over into 4WD very often, but we needed it for the snow.
Chiracahua was incredible though and we had a great day. At the end of our hike there was no way I was driving over that mountain shortcut again, so we took the highway around and it was about fifteen minutes shorter.
Rusty's RV Ranch was a hoot. When we checked in, she mentioned to me that their camp was "light pollution free" and that we couldn't use any exterior lights on our RV. She had a basket full of loaner red flashlights if we wanted one. It turned out to be a big draw for amateur astronomers. Some of the spaces even had special pads poured for people to set up their large telescopes.
Each of the spaces were about 30' x 100' pull through. They were massive. It was like having our own yard. Even if the place had been full, we wouldn't have been anywhere near our neighbors.
There was a big communal hot tub that was the size of a regular residential swimming pool, but it was above ground and hot. That was a fun nightly outing. And as promised, the view of the night sky was incredible.
Add that to your list of interesting destinations. I would definitely go back. Skip the shortcut to Chiricahua though.
We stopped someplace really offbeat last winter and absolutely loved it. It was Rusty's RV Ranch down in the panhandle north or Rodeo.
I picked this place kind of by mistake, because we were looking for someplace to camp near Chiricahua National Monument. Chiricahua is in Arizona, but there's noplace to stay anywhere nearby. This spot in New Mexico looked close on the map, but there was a big mountain range in the way. Did you ever see the movie Rat Race where Cathy Bates told Whoopi Goldberg she "Should have bought a squirrel"? We had a similar experience with the woman who ran Rusty's. She gave us a hand drawn map with the "shortcut" to Chiracahua. She described all of the landmarks and told us we'd pass a sign that said "road closed for winter" and to just ignore it. The pavement ended and this so-called road turned into a narrow dirt fire road that was covered in snow in many spots. I don't switch my dually over into 4WD very often, but we needed it for the snow.
Chiracahua was incredible though and we had a great day. At the end of our hike there was no way I was driving over that mountain shortcut again, so we took the highway around and it was about fifteen minutes shorter.
Rusty's RV Ranch was a hoot. When we checked in, she mentioned to me that their camp was "light pollution free" and that we couldn't use any exterior lights on our RV. She had a basket full of loaner red flashlights if we wanted one. It turned out to be a big draw for amateur astronomers. Some of the spaces even had special pads poured for people to set up their large telescopes.
Each of the spaces were about 30' x 100' pull through. They were massive. It was like having our own yard. Even if the place had been full, we wouldn't have been anywhere near our neighbors.
There was a big communal hot tub that was the size of a regular residential swimming pool, but it was above ground and hot. That was a fun nightly outing. And as promised, the view of the night sky was incredible.
Add that to your list of interesting destinations. I would definitely go back. Skip the shortcut to Chiricahua though.
