Tracy's here and it's off to New Mexico

Friday the 10th - and Tracy's touched down in Phoenix....it's off for a quick shop and home for a shower and pack the car - we're off to New Mexico.

We had a good ride out there - we stopped at the Apache Casino - literally seems like it's in the middle of nowhere.

The ride was long and Tracy was shattered and then we found out that the storm that came through had put rocks across the road up to the mountain where we were supposed to stay, so we stayed in Silver City. The Holliday Inn - 'the best hotel in town' if you believe the old chook on the front desk. Basically it was a disappointment. If it's the best - I wouldn't have wanted to see the worst. It wasn't horrible - but putting that tag on it was a wrong move. It was hellishly expensive for what it was (USD125 - or there-abouts). The room smelt of vomit (and after dinner I got some sort of funky food poisoning that I'm still fighting), and the lady above us was walking around all night (the floor boards creaked badly) and she was talking loudly on the phone.

We got up early-ish the next morning and I thought I was over my bug, so I had breakfast - BIG mistake.... On the road, heading down to Mexico I had to get Mary to pull over several times because I thought I was going to puke. Sadly I did not. I think I would have recovered much quicker if I had. Tracy was her usualy caring self and took a photo of my trying to puke - and both she and Mary were 'trying to help' by making hugely loud puking noises while I'm doubled up and heaving.

We stopped at one rest area that was really cool - the guy tending the grounds had been to Sydney during leave in the Vietnam War and kept throwing Australianisms into the conversation, which was pretty funny. He used them all correctly though - which was impressive considering how long ago he'd been there.

Mexico was interesting. We parked the car in the US and walked across (much safer), but our destination was about 100m past the border. We were disappointed to find out that we weren't going to get our passports stamped - because we weren't going further than a certain distance into Mexico (I think it was 250miles). The Pink Store (so named because it's pepto pink) is so cool. They had such great stuff in there - all hand crafted, not mass produced (except the t-shirts, of course). You're offered a free drink when you walk in - beer or a margarita or soft drink) - I was still feeling less than great, so I declined and was feeling very upset at the thought that I knew I shouldn't eat any lunch - but when else will I eat Mexican food IN Mexico??? I managed a very small meal - not all of it - but it was good. I ordered a Margarita for photo shots and had a little of it - but mostly it went to Mary. Tracy had had 6 Coronas by the time we left - the first one free and after that they were only USD2 a pop!

Tracy was a shopping dervish - she got heaps of great stuff. I was pretty happy with what I picked up and Mary got some goodies too - more blue for her house!

The Pink Store also has a restaurant in it - which was the BIG pull for Mary, since she'd been missing this one dish for nearly 5 years. The waiter checked about 6 times that she wanted it REALLY hot - she explained she wanted it so hot she would cry. She did!

We then picked up cheap booze for the Halloween party - a bottle of Kahlua worked out to be USD10...not bad at all. We had no luck finding the cheap drugs (pharmaceutical) that we were after - but that wasn't a real issue.

On the way back to Silver City we stopped at the City of Rocks. It was really cool. There were probably hundreds of boulder formations just sticking up out of the ground - without there seeming to be an explanation. We had some fun, taking photos there and mucking around. I had started to feel a little better by this stage thankfully, so we had a good trip back. Well, except for having to stop every 5 minutes for pee stops since somebody had lots of beer.

We stopped at the Poncho Villa museum - and Dora had a nice visit there. We took some photos on the old railway carts and carriages etc. (I wasn't brave enough to bring Dora out in Mexico in case I offended any of the staff in the Pink Store - they were really nice people).

Tracy had the great idea of flashing for a photo - so after waiting for several cars we lifted shirts quickly - just in time for a pedestrian to see all --- once he got in his car and drove past us (laughing like lunatics by this stage at being sprung) he honked his horn.....not my finest moment probably - but funny.

Back in Silver Mary took us up a trail to what seemed like the top of the world for the sunset - it was amazing - then we high-tailed it up to the Buckhorn Bar - that is still the same building of the bar and opera house that was built in the 1800s. By this stage my stomach was rebelling again - so I skipped dinner, hoping that would help. The bar had a great atmosphere and we peeked into the Opera house (even though there was a function on) and it was worth the time.

Then on up to the Mimbers Mountains and on to Lorraine's place. We pretty much sorted out bedding - taking over Lorraines whole little cabin and crashed out.

The view to wake up to was increadible. We walked down and said hello to the horses, had some breakfast and went into town to start the trip home.....