Quite windy the past two days, so we have stayed at Caballo Lake State Park.  Winds steady at 35 to 40 mph with gusts up to 60.  When it gets that windy in Southern New Mexico it also means lots of sand with no visibility.  We've been enjoying a bit of Spring around the park. This is a  strawberry cactus in bloom.

Always fascinated by old rvs.  It seems that New Mexico has a larger number of older units still in use.
This one is on a private permanent site just outside the park. I'm guessing up to 50 years old by the style?









Don't know if Time Maker is the maker of motorhomes or the name of this one. It seemed in very good shape with new antenna on roof and all.

 We don't dine out often, but we have found two places recently that we couldn't resist.  People around Caballo recommended Sparky's in Hatch as great food.  So, away we went.  We followed a side road down, past field after field of Alfalfa, chiles, and pecan groves. 

Fascinated by the use of water in this dry country in a time of drought.  Elephant Butte will start to release water into the Rio Grande late May to early June this year, instead of March.  Also, the normal level is 3 feet of water release, but this year 6 inches. 

So the Rio Grande from Las Cruces up to Caballo Lake is pretty much dry. And all of the canals we have seen are also dry, dry, dry.  But! The farmers are irrigating the fields and groves from wells with long intricate systems of plastic or rubber water lines and ditches.  It seems-- lots of water.  Which is lowering the water table and frustrating the farmers further down the line in Texas. Hope they get some rain soon.

We had Sparky's People's Choice. For a little over $12 , 2 plates-$6 each--of pulled pork, barbecue
beef, sausage, 1 large rib, and the best home made chile cheese fries ever!  We were full.









You can tell what is grown in the fields around Hatch.

These are called Ristras. Strings of dried red chiles.
Lots of chiles.









Chiles anyone?  Here, everyone uses chiles in everything--or so it seems.  We have enjoyed green chiles--they are popular on hamburgers.

On the subject of dining out, the other stop we enjoyed was in Deming, New Mexico. Recommended by a number of people at the Escapee Park.  We had a gigantic Reuben, and Italian sub, and French Onion soup.  Had to take home half.   There are pictures from Trip Advisor on this link.  http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g47009-d511601-i48894328-Adobe_Deli-Deming_New_Mexico.html