Gadsden Who???

James Gadsden, the U.S. Minister to Mexico, negotiated an agreement with Mexico, finalized in 1854. The United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico. This provided the land necessary for a southern transcontinental railroad and attempted to resolve conflicts that lingered after the Mexican-American War. Without this purchase, Tucson and Yuma would be in Mexico.

In April, 2020, a Tucson based geocacher developed a "Challenge Cache" based on the Gadsden Purchase. It required finding at least five caches in each of the 11 current counties that included land from the Gadsden Purchase. I already had finds in all 11 counties, but in five of them, I did not yet have at least 5 finds. In a couple of the others, I had over 1000 finds but that didn't help!

I spent some time studying the map with one eye on county lines and the other on potential geocaches that would be relatively easy to find. I added a handful of others, just because I was going to be driving by and they were cache types that interest me. I developed a plan in Cachetur which told me it would be 720 miles. First stop of importance was Santa Cruz County where I logged the caches I needed and spotted some pronghorn on the hill keeping an eye on me.

The next caches I "had" to have were in New Mexico, but I wasn't going to pass the the chance for a couple Whereigo caches, including one that highlighted some of the remaining neon signs in Benson.

The Texas Canyon rest stop was a worthy stop where I studied some of the granite boulders for an Earthcache. It's amazing how much geology I've learned from Earthcaches. Makes me wish I'd studied some geology in school.

I knew I wasn't going to want to try to do this as one massively long day so I started late enough that Hidalgo County, NM became a good spot for a boondock. There were a couple caches at exit 4, and I knew that there were some defunct businesses there, but the area was less inviting than the last time I was through here.

I wandered down to exit 11 where I found some waterfront property for my overnight boondock, just as the sun was setting. It got down to 34 degrees overnight, but I was expecting that.

I headed east as the sun rose the next morning, grabbing coffee in Lordsburg and then heading to Deming where I logged the caches I needed in Luna County before turning back to the northwest towards Silver City.

I picked up several in the Silver City area, completing what I needed for Grant County. In the process, I solved a puzzle cache and got a bit of education at Western New Mexico University. Geocaching is certainly easier when classes aren't in session!

By noon I was back in Arizona, enjoying the twistiest road of the trip, headed for the last cache I would need to meet the requirements of the challenge.

Once again, I got a chance to see things I wouldn't have seen otherwise, and enjoy some socially distanced windshield time. Life is good!

There's the Question - What's the Answer?

There's a big question mark out in the desert east of Rincon, New Mexico that's been bugging me for a couple years. It's only visible to people who know how to look for it. It's in one of the six counties in Southeast New Mexico that I hadn't cached in yet which tantalized me more.

With the temperatures dropping, but not yet freezing, it was time to check it out.

In 2004, we purchased a new Subaru Forester for BJ. In 2017, we bought her a new Subaru Outback and gave the Forester to our daughter and her husband. When they recently bought a pickup, I got the now surplus Forester back. This trip was going to be a good test of its health and possible confirmation of a concept I had for it.

I left home after church and headed east, knowing that I was going to be pushing against sunset by the time I got there. The last 4 or 5 miles was nicely graded gravel county roads.

I found a spot to park just as the sun was disappearing. My overnight project was to confirm that I could sleep comfortably in the back of the Subie. I'm glad I'm not an inch taller, and I may be making some additional mods to improve that application.

With the sun up the next morning I headed out on what turned out to be a 6 mile hike through the desert.

I located and signed all 37 caches in this series, but because they were challenge caches I couldn't claim all of them yet. Four of them were challenges with requirements that I don't yet meet.

With the challenge question out of the way, I headed north towards Spaceport America to pick up a couple caches in Sierra County before headed to Las Cruces for more caches and a spot of BLM land to call home for the night.

I stopped by White Sands,

and toured some of the statuary in downtown Artesia as I worked my way east, visiting those last remaining counties.

I was planning to stay near Hobbs, but still had some daylight so after snagging one cache in Gaines County, Texas, I turned around and headed southwest. I was just east of Carlsbad when the light got low enough that it was time to find a spot for the night.

The next morning, I continued south of Carlsbad. I made a stop for a virtual cache at Rattlesnake Springs which turned out to be a beautiful place, especially with the early morning reflections.

I swung through a bit of far west Texas to pick up three more Texas counties.

I'm not sure what the numbers indicate but this picture sums up that day. Windblown and dry.

All in all, it was a good test. The Subie performed well, got 60% better gas mileage than the truck, and had just enough space for a quick and dirty solo sleep space. Time to start modifying it into a desert runner.

Rim Country

The other reason to overnight at Datil Wells was to time my approach to Pie Town when at least one of the cafes in town was open. Last time, I was too early and I wasn't going to make that mistake again!

What I didn't realize until I was sitting at breakfast was that Pie Town is a well known stop on the Continental Divide Trail even though it is several miles away from where the trail crosses the highway.

Speaking of breakfast - my choice was New Mexico Apple pie, and of course, a serving of dairy to make a well rounded breakfast. The Gathering Place was the only cafe that was open on a weekday morning, but turned out to be an excellent choice. They have their business to a science - you don't buy by the slice, you buy a small whole pie

Which leaves plenty for breakfast again the next day! Actually, the size would have been just right to split three ways but sometimes you have to make a sacrifice and eat it all alone.

As I headed west towards the Arizona border, it was clear that we were headed into Arizona's monsoon weather.

Camp, for several days, was a spot off of the Young Road, south of Willow Springs lake. I was the first to arrive for the tenth annual Team Evil Fish camp out. Got a spot where I could get some sun on the solar panel but didn't get many pictures around camp since it was in the middle of the weather factory - grey and wet most of the time.

I did find that in general, there were a few hours in the mornings where I could get out before the weather went south. Did some hiking on the Highline trail,

enjoying some of the views,

and logging some caches that hadn't been visited for more than a year.

Other days, I drove in to Payson to visit a few special challenge caches. Nearly all of them were positioned at the top of hills which lead to some beautiful views.

Most of the caches were in good shape, but that wasn't always the case! This one was spread out over a small area with the lid off and the base full of water. It suffered from exposure to the Arizona sun and was falling apart.

It was worth drying out the logbook enough to stamp it. It hadn't been visited for over two years! I dried out the container and tried to arrange it with better protection.

Meanwhile, other folks had set up camp and a few more came to visit on Friday.

It took some special assistance to get the fire going but eventually we enjoyed a nice fire for a few hours.

Saturday started off with rain that finally broke for a bit. I decided to take the opportunity and make a run for it, heading for the barn. Turns out the rest of the group enjoyed a nice afternoon while I unloaded the trailer and started the wash.

Won't be long and we'll be on the road for another short trip.

The Things You'll Find

I headed south out of Tucumcari early enough that I got to enjoy the sunrise trying to break through the clouds.

When I got to Clovis, I hung a right on Highway 60 and headed towards home. Clearly, there were some expectations that didn't pan out. A nice intersection sporting aging, cracked asphalt and a stop sign that ends at a fence immediately behind me and nothing but prairie beyond that. It's a nice stop sign!

New Mexico does a great job of putting in "Official Scenic Historic Markers" although sometimes with little notice that they're coming up. This area had been overtaken as a storage area for asphalt millings while they were resurfacing the road but the sign told an amazing story. You can click on any picture for a larger version.

Fort Sumner was another crossroads with history and not much else. In this case, it appeared the town was staying alive thanks to the Billy the Kid Museum.

More often, it was occasional old ranch buildings that were falling down.

The Yeso Post Office has seen better days but the building looked like it might still be salvageable if you had a reason to live in Yeso. Like almost everyone else, I just kept rolling through town.

Duran was once a railroad town but the railroad left and later the town was impacted when I-25 was built. There are a number of interesting abandoned stone buildings and about 35 remaining residents in town.

Corona is about 100 miles NW from Roswell but apparently close enough to be visited by aliens. As near as I could tell, this one was a legal alien.

Another scenic historic maker, this one commemorating the Trinity Site - the location of the first atomic bomb test. The actual site is well to the southeast of the sign.

Home for the night was BLM's Datil Well Campground in Datil, NM. This a first come, first served campground at about 7500' elevation. No hookups, but absolutely spotless bathrooms, and a miniature visitor's center with wifi. I don't think any of the sites are level, but I was able to get close enough with a couple lego blocks that I didn't have to unhook.

The weather was delightful. The campground is not far from the continental divide. I was pleasantly surprised to see wildflowers thanks to the elevation and recent rains.

Going East to Go West

Well, perhaps more correctly, going north to go east to go west! I'm driving back roads that are new to me (for the most part), touching a bunch of new counties along the way.

After taking the loop around the west side of Santa Fe, I headed towards Taos. One of the corners in my route looked more like a turn down an alley, but the artwork was colorful. I passed through crossroads like Trampas and Chamisal before Penasco and La Cueva.

On the north side of Las Vegas I stopped to check out a steam engine

before turning north again along a section of the Santa Fe Trail.

In Wagon Mound, I turned east again, heading out across the prairie.

All along the way, the farms looked tired with the rows of rusty equipment much longer than anything that looked alive and well.

Towns with highway crossroads looked nearly empty. There was no waiting to take a picture without any cars to be seen.

In fact, the only place I saw cars in Roy was near the cafe so I stopped. Huevos rancheros are always on my 'must have' list when in New Mexico, this time with both red and green chili. As usual, the green chili was more to my liking!

End of the day was in Tucumcari. I was looking forward to seeing neon along Route 66

but the town was full of shuttered businesses and parking lots filled with weeds. Only the Blue Swallow Motel still had their neon lit.

It seems like only the cemetery was still open for business.