Ghost town, Gila Cliff Dwellings, and more. May 2021

I left you in Texas at beautiful Hueco Tanks. From there I10 took us west to Lordsburg, NM where we had a planned stop at Shakespeare Ghost Town. This was a Harverst Host boondocking spot for the night- no amenities other than a brilliant starry night. Dave, the owner, carpenter, and tour guide met us with a wad of tobacco puffing out his left cheek and a sidearm on his right hip. He explained that he kept the side arm with him at all times to shoot any wayward rattler that he came upon. He was up to 4 so far this year and averages about one a month. No need to explain the tobacco wad.

Do you know why this hanging metal object is called a fire bucket? Because if it had a flat bottom somebody would take it to use somewhere else and it wouldn’t be handy in the event of a fire. Nobody would take this bucket for any chore other than putting out a fire.

Shakespeare was actually known as Ralston City. But after a silver and diamond swindle scheme went south, the new British owner renamed it after the beloved playwright. Legit mining in the area supported the town until its decline in the mid 30s. It is said that 15 year old Billy the Kid washed dishes in the old saloon.

We literally left Shakespeare in the dust the following morning as we headed north to The Gila National Forest and the Gila Cliff Dwellings. Our route took us to Silver City; which being the largest town we had been through in days, demanded a stop for breakfast burritos. Despite the disappointing burritos, we knew we wanted to return to check out the quaint town a bit more. At the time though, we needed to move on. The shortest route from Silver City to Gila National Forest and the Gila Cliff Dwelling was on Hwy 15 straight out of Silver City. Luckily we had read a few blogs and articles that highly recommended that RVs NOT go that route. We read of hairpin turns, narrow and butt clenching roads. Hmmmmm. This was a no brainer. We chose the longer 180 to 152 to 15 route through Mimbres. Still not for whimps, this route was scenic, had its share of tight curves, but kept Tim’s blood pressure in the normal range. The 35 mile drive was a 1 1/2hour crawl. It was well worth it. Maggie was not allowed on the hike to the cliff dwelling, but with it being a pretty cool day and leaving windows open in the rig, we figured she’d do OK. It was great to see that free well shaded kennels were also available for those who needed them.

The hike up to the cliff dwellings was not a long one, but it was up, 180 steps up.

Archeologists are still unsure who lived in the cliff dwellings. Most think there were more than one group of people who lived there. At Gila there are 5 natural caves that contain a total of about 40 rooms. The caves were only used for a few decades.

Seeing as how I was now on my last pair of clean underwear and Silver City beckoned us, we decided to book a couple nights in RV parks to deal with the dirty clothes issue and to locate a good brew pub that would accept Maggie. We managed to accomplish both and more. Being the obsessive knitter that I’ve become during retirement, I also located the local yarn store and indulged myself. No, I don’t tell Tim how much I spend. He and Maggie take care of finding the brew pub and let me do my thing. Another good reason for parking two nights was the excessive wind warnings. For you readers who are in Texas, this was the same wind that knocked over a semi outside of Dallas and spawned tornados around Ft. Worth. Predicted winds of 50 mph were an excellent reason to spend the second night and visit the brew pub for another round.

Join us next time as we continue north to the Petrified Forest and beyond.