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And now, it’s time for another story of drama and tense emotion. A tale well designed to keep you in..... A-N-X-I-E-T-Y!!! And with us again to set the stage for our latest thriller is the noted lecturer and world traveler, Commander Neville Putney.
—A skit from the Bob and Ray comedy radio show
My story, well designed to keep you in..... A-N-X-I-E-T-Y, starts off with us searching for our next campsite. We were heading for the El Malpais National Monument. El Malpais is Spanish for The Badlands. More on that later. This west central area of New Mexico is delightfully remote and rarely visited, but it is gorgeous. The problem is, there are few campgrounds. Actually, there is only the Joe Skeen Campground, a tiny BLM 10-site campground that is pure boondocking, but free.
So, let’s see: Free; in the middle of some of the most gorgeous territory anywhere; only 10-sites available; and no other campground for miles and miles? How about that for A-N-X-I-E-T-Y?
Following our strategy, we are not moving to a new campground on a weekend, although being Thursday, we are creeping up on it. Also, we got up before the chickens to leave the Bighorn Campground early enough to reach the Joe Skeen Campground somewhere around 10:30 am. We have to be the first newcomers looking for a spot.
The drive through western New Mexico is enchanting. I see where New Mexico gets its slogan - Land of Enchantment. The mountains are pristine and beautiful, the countryside is empty and wild with only a couple of villages spaced 60 or 70 miles apart, and gas stations are about 100 miles apart. At one point, I saw a sign that pegged us at 8,002 feet above sea level - our highest point yet. One remote village, Pie Town, was reaching out for us to drive 20 miles out of our way. Pie Town is renown for, well, its pies. But no, we soldier on. We are on a mission to be the first newcomers at the Joe Skeen Campground. Not even pie can divert us.
Back to our action-packed thriller. We arrive at the Joe Skeen Campground at 10:48 am. The rough gravel road winds for about a quarter mile. We have to drive 5 mph, adding to the A-N-X-I-E-T-Y. We reach the campground and it looks perfect, with a terrific setting nestled beneath some buttes and mesas.
We start to circle the only loop. The first site, a wonderfully laid out site, is occupied. Site two, also taken. Three has a camper, Four, five, six..... all down the line it was the same.
Or was it? We made one more pass. Site six was taken, but was that another site right next to it? Another competitor just behind us also drove by the suspect site. I made a third pass. Sure enough, site seven, deceptively masquerading as part of site six, was open. I grabbed it.
Whew, I bet that kept you on the edge of your seat with..... A-N-X-I-E-T-Y. We set up camp. I checked under the camper - no leaks. We got lazy for a couple of hours before finally getting off our butts and heading out for a little scenery.
Oh by the way, Joe Skeen was a conservative Congressman from New Mexico. We stayed anyway.
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