Caballo Reservoir, NM to "T or C", NM

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Shawne and Jo say...
Day 23
Mileage Today: 24.5
Total Mileage: 892.6
Flats Today: 0
Total Flats: 27

We've heard of a city that is showing great promise of growth and prosperity due to the location of the first ever Space Port nearby. The town used to be called Hot Springs, because of the abundance of natural hot springs throughout the downtown area. The water is piped into tubs and pools, and the locals charge tourists to bathe in the healing waters. Back in the 1950's, a radio show called "Truth or Consequences" put out a nationwide search for a small town to change it's name to that of the show. The people of Hot Springs put it to a vote, and Truth or Consequences, NM was born.
Private trips to outer space by civilians willing to pay $250,000 each is big business. It appears that "T or C" (as the locals call it) is going to profit from it. We decided to go off route 25 miles to check this place out. On the way, we came to a Vietnam war memorial. It was a travelling Vietnam wall that now has a permanent place at the edge of T or C's town limits. We walked along the rows of tens of thousands of names engraved into the smooth, glossy black wall. We started thinking about the war in Iraq and how long it will last.
We found the Visitor's Center in T or C, and received some info on the town as well as a tip on a good spot for lunch. We stopped at Turtle Mountain Real Estate to pick up a Real Estate Guide.
We enjoyed a great lunch, and read about the town. There are some great deals on property here, but there are no jobs. The local Help Wanted section boasted five part-time jobs starting at $6.00/hr. This is an interesting community full of local artists and tourist-related industry, but if you don't own your own business, it would be difficult to make a life here.
After finishing lunch, we asked an older couple that were sitting at a table nearby about any local campgrounds. Since we were off-route, we didn't have detailed maps for the area. They gave us a lead...then the wife offered to take Jo there while her husband stayed at the restaurant with Shawne! She and Jo took off in an SUV to scope out the campground. They returned with good new of the short ride, and even took pictures of the site. (Jo bragged that she got to ride in a car, and Shawne didn't!) Jo wanted to stop at the local cop shop to see if there were any free options in town. An officer told us of a horse stable we could stay at for free, but it didn't sound appealing to Shawne. We stopped for groceries, and pedalled to the campground.
Just on the banks of the trickle of a river (it had been explained to us that they "turn off" the river in the winter to let it build up for springtime irrigation), we set up camp inside a cool adobe-style structure. Nearby, dead trees offered free firewood as dark clouds moved toward us. We sat and read the rest of the newspaper.
A story mentioned a huge hailstorm that came through the area two days ago. Structures were damaged and cars were immobilized by a "wall of ice" that covered local roadways. We thought about the past two days...our slow starts and low mileage. If circumstances, such as meeting and having lunch with the west-bound cyclist Shawn #2, and Manuel and Lydia taking us in and feeding us breakfast, we would have been here just as the storm struck. If we'd been caught in the horrible hail while riding our bikes, I'm not sure what we would have done. Lady Luck has been with us for much of this trip.
The dark clouds swirled ominously toward us. Jo thought it would be a good idea to deploy our tarp over the tent, in case of hail. Luckily, we did, because ten minutes later it started hailing small 1/8" ice. The clouds moved on, and the hail subsided.
We watched darkness come across the land, and built up the fire.

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Photos

Shawne's helmet head
Shawne tired of his mohawk and shaved it off.

Our tour guides
Thank you so much to Mr. and Mrs. Gray for showing us around.

The Rio Grande
Not so Grande this time of year.

Not much water
The dam actually "turns off" the river this time of year.

Cozy!
We think all state parks should have these structures!

Water sampling trolley
To avoid the raging waters, people swing out over the river in this device.