Two Museums in Columbus

It's Sunday, it's "Meet the Press" and then some phone calls with friend and family and some Sunday papers online - the usual Sunday procedures.

The wind is blowing very hard and my Genty is rocking quite a bit. But still, in the afternoon, I had to go out. There is not much to see and do in Columbus, but there are two small museums. The one is right in the state park, the other is across the street.

The Columbus Historic Museum is actually three museums in one. There are three rooms (!), each of them with a different topic. The 1916 Pancho Villa raid to Columbus is covered in the first room. The other two rooms are a train depot museum and a general historical museum. All three are nicely equipped with lots of stuff by volunteers.

The museum in the Pancho Villa State Park is a new professionally made museum also about the Pancho Villa raid and the revenge by the US army under General Purshing, including a copy of the first US military aircraft.

A few other photos can be seen here.

Location:

31.82505N

107.6413W

4066 ft

Palomas, Mexico

Not much happened today. Checked out the grocery store and bought some fruit. This is a really poor community. Not much to do and nothing to see besides the park and the museum (and they are on the program for Sunday afternoon).

It's getting warmer now. Low 90s during the days but still in the high 50s at night to cool everything off. But the AC kicked in in the afternoon, although set at only 88.

Late afternoon I made a short trip across the border to Palomas, Mexico. This is not a typical tourist border town like Los Algodones. There are a few liquor stores, pharmacies, dentists and optometrists, but nothing comes close to Algodones. I had to see the famous Pink Store though. A huge store (for small Mexican village standards) with art, folk art and gifts from all over Mexico and a restaurant. The restaurant was almost empty, but I still enjoyed some shrimps al Ajo with rice and salad and a couple of Margaritas.

Re-entering the USA was easy, no lines at all.

I added today's photos to yesterdays album.

Location:

31.82505N

107.6413W

4066 ft

Trip to Columbus, NM

Rustys RV Ranch is really nice, but there is one disadvantage. I have no service for my AT&T cell phone and must make all phone calls through Skype. When the WiFi is up and running, Skype works very well for calls to Switzerland. You know, I have a subscription for unlimited calls from Skype to landlines in Switzerland for less than $10/month.
However, I still prefer to use the phone with (almost) no interruptions. So today I moved to another location with cell phone reception. I decided to move on Highway 9 to the east, rather than taking I-10 further north of here. There was absolutely no traffic along this route. In Animas I experienced an adventurous way of fueling up. There was no way to access to get along the pump since there were posts, etc. in the way. So, I turned around the building and basically "came from behind" at a 90° angle to the pump. It worked. I tanked up my first fuel for over $4 for almost three years.

Along the AZ-9 there was bush desert on both sides and 50% of all the vehicles on the road were Border Patrol cars/trucks. This road almost touches the US/Mexican border at some places. Along the road is also an old railway track of the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad which was built in 1902 to haul copper from Bisbee to El Paso. Now, not even the rails are there anymore.

After a couple of hours drive I arrived at Columbus, NM and settled at the beautiful Pancho Villa State Park. I have a nice Pull Through site with water and electricity for $14. I will check out the park, the museum and the area over the weekend. Maybe including another trip to Mexico and maybe the famous Pink Store. Will see.

A few photos can be seen here.

Location:

31.82505N

107.6413W

4066 ft