Pancho Villa, Elephant Butte,and Albuquerque

 Our first New Mexico State Park visit was at Pancho Villa, just a few miles from the Mexican border.  It was the site of the Pancho Villa raid in 1916.  For the US it was a first for many things in the military, including first airbase, first grease rack.
(Who would think of such things?)

 We visited here in March.  The museum was quite interesting.  It really marks the leadership of General " Black Jack " Pershing who later would command the Allied forces in World War I.  10,000 forces were sent 400 miles into Mexico.   They didn't catch Pancho Villa, but they did scatter his followers.  And they learned a lot about chasing the enemy through the desert.

Motorized troop carrier.

Note for the Dodge Touring Car used to escape the raid.  Bullet holes and all.

1915 Dodge Touring Car.












General Pershing soon discovered that the mechanized vehicles--including this car--were better at chasing through the desert than using horses and burros.

The use of the vehicles and the first use of the airplane helped to be ready for WWI.

 The next State Park after Caballo was Elephant Butte.  The part of the lake you see behind our unit is but a small section of the lake.  It continues for at least 10 miles further north.  There were a large number of campers and boaters taking advantage of the lake this past weekend.  This is New Mexico's largest lake--on the Rio Grande.  It is obvious when you walk to the shore that the lake is way below normal in the drought.

Adding to our collection of older motorhomes is this classic belonging to one of the camp hosts.  Looks like a 1960's or 1970's?  Dodge Champion.  The artwork reminded us of tie dye and "flower power"

Never found out what "Moon dog" referred to.  We were thinking 1950's radio hosts???

Today, we are at Enchanted Trails in Albuquerque.
This campground is a Passport America spot, which means we camp for half price--$15-- per night.  They only allow 2 nights this time of year, but that is plenty for us.  To the right of the red truck you notice the Route 66 sign?  That's right, we are camping on Route 66.  Only for a short time right now, but we might come back this way to go west.

This campground was  trading post in the 1940's. It is at the top of a hill just west of Albuquerque.  It is located at about 6,000 foot elevation.  The building was used in several mediocre films.

 You have to love the above in the campground.  The 1954 Vakashunette trailer towed by a 1950 Hudson Commodore named " Evelyn"

 To the right is a 1963 Winnebago trailer , about 12 feet long or so.  As you can see, the owners of the campground are into antiques.

 This trailer is a 1956 Yellowstone "Geneva".  It looks like a number of older aluminum( think Airstream) trailers from the era.

What caught our eye is the view inside from the window above the hitch.  See below.

Note the all wood interior.  Also, note the full sized residential refrigerator and stove.  Since these trailers are available to rent, they have been updated somewhat to modern standards.

 Collecting antiques.  We were surprised to see this
old Wurlitzer organ inside the campground office area.  This theater organ was quite old, but they are refinishing it with modern digital sounds that recreate the original huge theater organs.  It already has a new set of keyboards and pedals.

   And lastly, we couldn't resist this little gem. 

This would be a century old karaoke machine.


Well ---kind of---sort of.  Quite entertaining.