A minor New Mexico State Park rant
Here I am back in New Mexico. I swear it feels like I was here last week; the time has flown by so fast. I guess this marks my official heading back to Denver travels since all I have to do is hop onto I-25, which is not that far away, and go due North until I hit Denver, a little less than 700 miles away. But I won't be getting back until around the middle of May. I'm in no hurry.
I was lucky enough to find a first-come, first-served site as soon as I arrived, so I’m all set to stay for free as long as I want. But, you may ask, what would be my plan "B" if I hadn’t found a first-come, first-served site available? And the answer is my knowledge that the City of Rocks is seldom full, especially this time of year. Remember, most of the camp sites at City of Rocks are boondocking, which doesn’t appeal to most folks. So, they tend to stay away if they can’t get a hookup site. Also, most campsites here are too small for large RVs, which also keeps a lot of folks away if they can’t get a hookup site, so I would get on the Internet, find any empty campsite at City of Rocks and reserve it for Monday and Tuesday, which will cost me a $10 reservation fee. but, because of my annual pass, the sites are free. And that would give me plenty of time to find a first-come, first-served site, which is much better than driving back to Deming and sleeping in the Walmart parking lot.
However, the City of Rocks host gave me some bad news, and here’s how it was explained to me: the price of a campsite and amenities are two separate things. I don't know if it was always that way, but it is now. So a boondocking site is free with my old-style $225 window sticker, but, and this is a big but, there is no longer such a thing as a four-dollar-a-night electric site. So here's the way the math looks.
Bear in mind, this is for a nonresident. I can stay at a hookup campsite, and it will cost $30 a night, but with my old annual camping pass, the hookup campsite will be free for me. However, whether I use electricity or not, it will cost $15 a night to have an electric hookup.
Now, I’ll tolerate this until my sticker expires in November 2025, but after that, my sticker cost would be $600 a year, and a boondocking site would still cost me $15 a night. And if all that wasn’t bad enough, no matter when you buy the annual Park pass, it expires on December 31…..way to take care of your customers, New Mexico!
So, there is no chance I would ever pay that kind of money to stay at New Mexico state parks. I'll keep coming back until the end of November, but after that, I'll find other places to boondock in New Mexico if I come here at all.
Theboondork
According to the sign in the window, this house, built in 1880, was owned by a Doctor who must’ve stayed pretty busy picking lead out of folks around here.
A Tombstone Bed and Breakfast. China Mary, a famous Tombstone lady, originally lived in the house. Here’s a bit of her history.
https://www.historyandwomen.com/2020/06/china-mary-woman-who-ran-town-too-tough.html
Tombstone church was built in 1882, many years after dozens of saloons were built.
I don’t know who lived here, but they must have been wealthy because this place is beautiful. It looks like it was built on 10 city lots instead of one or two, like most houses.