We have been here about a month. The days we work with the animals are fun and some work. We are becoming friends with lots of the dogs, and a few of the cats. It is hard to buddy up with doves, chickens and peacocks, but they are all very glad to see me with the food.
We have the RV in pretty good condition. The days are pleasant , in the 70's, but the nights can be chilly, down to the 40's. We are in high desert mountains, 4245 ft above sea level, so it gets chilly. We bought a little space heater which does a good job of taking the chill out of the air. We have a stove and for breakfast we have either eggs or oatmeal, for lunch soup and sand, for dinner usually cup of soup and a treat, which is mostly pop tarts, but tonight it is mini pies. Every once in awhile I crave some meat and salad and fruit. I am on a grapefruit kick right now.
The one thing different from home is the potty and shower. It is a manual flush, which we have to dump once a week...hope your not eating... sorry. and the shower. We have to turn on the hot water heater, which gets hot, but not much pressure, plus it is only 5 gallons, so no long shower. It is impossible to wash my hair well..
So last weekend we felt like we needed to get away. We decided to go to El Paso, where Hobo Mike had spent many of his winters at the Hobo jungle there. The idea was to find the jungle, see if we could find any of his buddies. El Paso is only about 130 miles away.
El Paso is a big city, which sits on the Rio Grande River at the western corner of TX and Mexico. You can see Boarder Patrols and huge fences that separate El Paso from Juarez, Mexico. Interstate 10 , a very busy road, runs through the city. I Would not like to travel this at rush hour. We got a motel room right off the interstate. We were going to check things out, but the luxury of a big bed, cable tv and a hot shower won out. We went across the street got a fabulous Mexican meal, and vegged. I took an hour hot shower..it was great.
The next day we went to search out the old Hobo jungle. It took Mike a while to get his barrings, since he only walked or took the bus, or train. After driving around, we found the spot, but it had been walled off, because it was too close to the border. The jungle was gone.. what a drag.
We went back to the old town where a flea market and shops were open. It was one block from the port of entry., which may explain the shops. They were only selling clothes and shoes. I never saw so many used and new shoes in the life...so there was nothing I could buy, and I was in the mood to buy. We were going to go to the boot outlet, but that was closed on Sunday, so we decided to drive back.
Back in New Mexico north of Las Cruses is one of the many old frontier forts. This one was Fort Selden. Fort Selden was a post on the Rio Grande River in now what is Radium Springs. It was built to protect white people in 1863. It played a role during the Apache Indian wars, with Cochise and Geronimo's people trying to survive.
One of the first troops after the Civil war, were the Buffalo soldiers, who gained metals of honor for there attacks on the Apache people. Also Arthur MacArthur was commander in 1884, father to Douglas MacArthur, WWII Brigadier General. Young Douglas learned to shoot a gun and ride a horse here.
The adobe wall fort is in ruins, but it is an interesting place. It was also interesting that only officers could bring their wives. Most of the time that was 4 or 5 women to 200 men. The women complained that it was a very dull place. I can imagine it was.
It was a good weekend away.
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