The Great Gila, NM Road Trip

 Just a quick recap of our trip. 

Tuesday around noon:  We said goodbye to Little Lola. It was heartbreaking but absolutely necessary. Once she was sedated and really relaxed, we could feel a huge tumor on her liver that did not feel good. I'm pretty sure she had been in considerable pain for a while. So that was a very sad day. 

Wednesday: We hit the road around 10am (I think). The route Google suggested was the 60 through Globe and Thatcher then some other minor highways through the mountains to Gila. +That road was so windy it was nerve racking. So we decided that we would take a different way home - the 10. We arrived in Gila around 4ish local time. Now I knew that these people had dogs, they indicated that they had 2 newfies. Well when we got there we discovered the 2 newfies and a puppy great dane. Ugh. To make things much worse, Mavy did not like the puppy at all. Probably it was too big and too playful. Too much energy for him. So that made the whole thing a little more challenging. Every time we left the unit we had to make sure the coast was clear of all dogs so Mavy could go out. Also, he did not peep or poop for a long time. Turns out he has a shy bladder (and rectum) and in spite of stopping many times, he did not pee for 5 hours. He didn't poop for 36 hours, but that is no where near Bella's 52 hour record. Anyway, that always makes life exciting when the dog won't go. Also, we discovered that there is nothing in Gila. Nothing. Okay, not completely true, there is a post office and a library. Since we figured there would be some place to grab some food, we really didn't pack anything. Mistake. Thankfully there was a mini-mart in the next town, Cliff, that sold some frozen dinners and we got some frozen bowls. They were not good, but they were food - barely. Shortly after that we went to bed because we were tired from the road trip. The bed was interesting. It was so squeaky. Every time either one of us moved it made these loud squeaking noises. So that was fun. 

Thursday: I got up around 6am and meditated. Made some really bad coffee. And read. I had started a book that was really cheesy and just fell into it. I read most of the morning until C got up. Then we got ready  and headed out about 10am to do some sightseeing. We headed into Silver City and cruised around there for a while. Got a cup of coffee at a local coffee house and sat in the park and drank that. Then just walked around a bit. Walked along the Big Ditch and through downtown. I was not overly impressed with Silver City, it was kind of hippieish and very artsy - definitely not my style. So then we headed down to Lordsburg which has a ghost town called Shakespeare. I really wanted to see that. Well, what a hell hole. Seriously. The place has so many closed stores and abandoned buildings, it was scary. And Shakespeare was apparently closed and you had to call to see it. Yeah, no. So we headed back to the AirBnB. We stopped back in Silver City to pick up some dinner for that night, got some pretty good Mexican food. And then headed back to the place. Once there the owner came by and asked if we wanted a tour of it. It's an almost 200 year old ranch house that has been through many, many iterations. So we went to the Saloon and he gave us the history of the land and the buildings. Then we toured the main house and some of the grounds. It was interesting but sort of boring. After that we went back to our cottage, C watched football, I read, we ate dinner and went to bed. Oh, the highlight of the night was Mavy finally pooped. 

Friday: Again, I was up early. Thankfully C got up pretty early too and we packed up and headed out. We were done. We were on the road by 8am and home here by 1pm. We took the 10 home and while it might have been a little longer, according to Google 30 minutes, it was much easier driving. We set the cruise control at 75 and just cruised home. It was good to be home and sleep in our own bed last night. Mavy was happy to be home also. 

Lesson learned from this trip: First, search the area and find out what is around there. If there is no food we need to know so we can bring some in. Second, ask the locals about places to go and things to see. Don't assume that Google really has the best information (just remember Lordsburg). Finally, plan the trip better. There were many things along the way that I would have liked to stop and see but we didn't know about them until we passed them. So I need to spend some time planning the actual trip and stops I want to make along the way. 

Okay, that was our 3 day trip to New Mexico. We have never really done anything like this before so I consider this our shakedown trip. Things we need to do, things we don't need to do, etc. I'm pleased but I'm far more pleased to be back at home.