Kelly Mine | Magdalena, New Mexico

This old mining town now boasts two residents, who reside close to each other in their mobile homes.  One even has a wind generator.

 

I like old ruins and that type of history, so I made a short detour to see this site. 

 

I wish I knew what bird had been nesting in this structure, never saw any activity, but it was a large nest.

The little church nearby has been kept up and is very clean and in good condition.

 

 

 

There was one lone grave. I'm not sure of the origin, but he may be the founder of the area.

 

 

These structures were on the road out of the mine, and probably had something to do with transportation out and processing. 

 

While driving back to town, I just noticed one residence.  I was struck by the contrast - an expensive bus parked by a sad looking house as well as a sad looking little trailer.

 

Town was a bit interesting, quite a few old buildings.

 

It was closed, but the train station has been taken over by the library!

 

Artwork - Magdalena style. 

 

 

Of course, being New Mexico, we must have old, antique vehicles!

  

 



It was an interesting little side trip, but I'm not sure I would recommend that people take the trip just to see the town and ruins.  Besides, the RV Park left quite a bit to be desired!

 



Arriving in New Mexico

Yesterday I drove from Fort Stockton, Texas to the "town" of Whites City.  In town is one large store consisting of about 3 large rooms consisting of a few groceries, T shirts and other souvenirs.  Across the street is a large restaurant and some motel-looking rooms.  There is a post office, an over-priced gas station and a tiny museum.  And the RV park that is just outside the gateway to Carlsbad Caverns. 

On the way over, the rest of west Texas was what I expected it to look like, flat dry land with some bushes trying to grow, lots of oil drilling rigs, and in some places, huge round storage tanks for the oil coming out of those wells.  It was a two lane highway with a speed limit of about 70, nothing fancy.  The state line was nothing fancy, a few signs that had been used for target practice - Welcome to New Mexico, Mountin Time,  State Law, use seat belts. 

For some reason, the terrain became a little more hilly right after passing into New Mexico, and the oil rigs were still in evidence.  I found the RV Park, expensive not because it was an oasis in the desert and luxurious.  No, it was expensive because it was the only game in town, the only game for miles around!  I set up camp and had lunch, then drove up to the Caverns.  The photo above is from one of the roadside lookouts. 

I'm not going to bore anyone with details of the formations in the caves, since I've done that in a few other blogs.  But, I will mention one fact I probably didn't - these places are very far underground.  In this instance, if you don't take the steep, winding path of the natural trail for about an hour, you take the elevator.  Being the adventurous sort of person, I took the path on the first day and the elevator on the second day.  The elevator takes you down 850', be sure to clear your ears on the way.  That's not the bottom either, there are caves under these caves and they all continue for miles. 

The adventure continues tomorrow as I move north in New Mexico.

RVillage Works!!

RVillage is a new website for RVers - you join, add your profile and then check in at different RV Parks, State Parks or National Parks as you move around the country. If you enter the park you're in, another RVer can view that park's information and see RV subscribers who are also registered in that same park.

I joined a few weeks ago, when the Beta version was first announced. Yesterday, I found out that it really does work - I was being lazy after a long day of sightseeing the day before, sitting outside reading a book and I looked up to see a man coming across the street with his laptop. His first words were about RVillage and that he was surprised to find another member already registered in the park That would be me. He had clicked on my profile, found a picture of my truck and 5th wheel, and that's the picture he had showing on his computer. So, it really does work! As long as people check in as they arrive and are open to meeting others. And why would you not - it's part of the fun of RVing and it's great to exchange important information.

His wife came over with their sweet little dog and we sat down and discussed where we had been and where we were headed. They were headed to Florida and then north, and I was coming from Florida, headed west. We traded information on places we had been and what was worth seeing as well as parks that were worth staying in, as well as other RV related issues. He also had information on websites I hadn't known about, but could be handy for the future.

It's nice to know this works as intended and I'll be looking forward to meeting other RVers along the way, thanks to this site as well as the Facebook pages devoted to get togethers. Thanks to Technomadia for the extensive work that made this website viable!