Pancho Villa Celebration

These actors and actresses also participate in the reenactment of the gun fight at the Okay Corral in Tombstone, AZ.

Every year in March there is a reenactment of the invasion of Columbus, NM by Pancho Villa.  This year the date was March 10th.  We traded a day on our work schedule with the other camp ground hosts so we could see the event.

On March 9, 1916, Francisco "Pancho" Villa invaded the town of Columbus in response to President Woodrow Wilson throwing his support to Venustiano Carranza.  Seventeen American citizens were killed, and the center of the town was burned.  It is not clear if Pancho Villa personally accompanied the raid, but one thing is certain.  It was the beginning of the end for him because President Wilson ordered troops to capture him, dead or alive.

Horses come to Columbus from the surrounding area to the south, including Palomis, which is just across the border in Mexico.  It is 4 miles from where this picture was taken to Palomis.

Horses and their riders come in all sizes, shapes, and colors.

This was my favorite costume among the riders.

It was a fun day in the horse parade for these young riders.  Obviously this is not a reenactment of Pancho Villa's raid.

This young rider is an A's supporter.  This almost at the end of the parade.

After the horse parade, people were waiting in the town square for the Mariachi dancers to begin performing.

This little girl really loved this little dog, and the feeling seemed to be mutual.  I showed the pictures to her parents and they were really pleased.

We gave up waiting for the dancers and went to the museum at the Pancho Villa State Park.

Weapons began to be modernized during this conflict.

This is a 1917 Dodge Touring Car.  Archibald Douglass Frost and his wife Mary Alice and six month son were fleeing in it when the raiders sprayed it with bullets. He was hit twice, and there are bullet holes in the side of the car.

Modernization of warfare included the use of airplanes for reconnaissance and cars for transportation.  General Pershing, who was famous as a horse soldier, resorted to using a car in the pursuit of Pancho Villa.

Here is a picture of an Indian motorcycle, circa 1914.

A look to the past gives one the sense of how far we have come.  The museum at the Pancho Villa State Park is an excellent one.  We learned a lot about this period in our history, and about Francisco "Pancho" Villa.

Ibex Hunting in New Mexico

We have a sizable population of Ibex near Rock Hound State Park.  Although we have been told that Ibex have been seen in the Little Florida Mountains where the park is located, we have not seen any.  The largest population is located in the Large Florida Mountains to the Southwest of us.

Ibex is a specie of goat given to the United States by the Shaw of Iran.  They were relocated from the Washington D.C. zoo to New Mexico with an agreement that the population be kept to a certain size.  Consequently, the Fish and Game Department has closely monitored depredation hunts.  In this post I am displaying a few photos of an Ibex that was taken by Mr. Mickey Montgomery and his friend, Mr. Joe Fuller (with their permission).

The rules for the hunt allow for the taking of a billy if the horns are 15 inches or less.  Nannies can also be taken.  The Game Wardens monitor the hunt closely.  When the hunter registers his or her success, his or her name is entered in a drawing for a trophy hunt.

The depredation hunts will continue until the required population size is reached.

A great variety of RV's come to Rock Hound State Park

Turtles take their homes wherever they go.

In this post I want to feature the great variety of RV's that come to Rock Hound State Park. Some are huge motor homes and some people show up with a tent.  We try to find a comfortable place for all them.

This first picture is our camper.  It is a 27 foot Zinger by Crossroads.  We are camp hosting, and have the best site.  It's winter so all the trees are bare.

Here is site 8 and 1/2.  Ours is site 8.  Both of these sites have full hook-up. It is one of the amenities of camp hosting.  The gentleman who occupies this works three days a week in the Visitor's Center.

We only have one site set aside as a handicap site.  It is number 9, located next to the rest rooms.  Note the concrete pad and walkway.

Site number 10 also has full hook-up.  It sits back in an equipment storage yard and is occupied by another volunteer.

This is site number 11.  It also has full hook-up, and is currently occupied by another camp host.  We each work 4 days on and 4 days off.  Sometimes we swap days so we can attend to personal matters.  It is nice to have cooperative camp hosts.

This is a better view of the fifth wheel that is in number 11.

Now rather that taking you on a tour nuumber by number in a chronological order, I am going to show you the great variety of RV's we had on this particular day.  Notice how much room there is in every site.  We have received many compliments on the amount of room each site has, plus how nice the park is, how clean the restrooms are, and how nice the showers are.

Some people come in vans of various sizes.

This van occupies a huge site.  These are first come-first serve sites so anyone can occupy the site no matter what size RV they have.

We see various sizes and models of the Class-C type motor homes.

This modest pull behind occupied site 27, which is a pull-through site, and the first site in which we camped in June.  We became friends with the gentleman who occupied it, and friends with his rescued dog, Bucky.

Bucky is a very friendly dog.  I walked up to the trailer once and knocked on the door.  I was afraid Bucky was going to "friendly" me to death.

Of all the small trailers, pop-ups, and tear-drop trailers, this is my very favorite.  I  visited with the owners at length and they told me in great detail how they built this.  It is very light-weight.  They were an older couple, and they disconnected this trailer from their car and pushed it in by hand.  The lady did the paint job.  She made it in the image of a turtle because turtles take their home every where they go.

We have seen several makes and models of this tee-pee type pop-up.  They fold down to a low profile for towing.

This is the other extreme.  A big diesel pusher that tows a jeep.

This motor home was towing a smart car.  Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the car, but we decided it definitely was a smarter way to go if you had a motor home.

This view was taken from above the group site.  The group site can accomodate four campers, and is used as an over-flow area when it is not reserved by a group.  Groups have first priority.  It is the only camping area in the park where people tend to feel crowded.

Some guest have a car and non-camping trailer, but still choose electric sites.  It occasionally gets down to freezing, so they plug in little heaters.

The following pictures are of the various types of campers in the non-electric sites.  We have 5 non-electric sites.  They are relatevely far apart, and can even accomodate larger units.

This is the best non-electric site in terms of location.  It is the highest site in the camoground.  You can see Deming, all of the campground, and everything west of here.

When the campground gets full, we start using the day use area as an over flow camping area.  We even park them along the road in front of the Visitor's Center.

One brave soul even showed up on a Harley.  We let him put his tent on the far end of the group site.

So there you have it.  Everything from motorcycles with tents to huge motor homes.  Rock Hound State Park is a favorite campground for many visitors.  Come and see us sometime.