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| Our backyard in Truth or Consequences |
Truth or Consequences was originally named Hot Springs, but “won” a contest to be renamed Truth or Consequences for the 10th anniversary of the game show. As a result Bob Edwards came to T or C every year for 50 years (1950-2000) to lead their Fiesta Days Parade and celebration. There is a room to him in the local museum. The hot springs still drives what economy there is and spas and wellness facilities abound.
Recently they are reaping the consequences of
New Mexico and Sierra County building the Spaceport outside of town, (waaaaay
outside on multiple dirt roads in the desert!).
They were poised for a boom, and then SpaceX had a launch fail and
Virgin Galactic crashed a space plane. Activity
at the Spaceport has dwindled to a few “ACME” companies, but they hope with the
new space plane arriving soon, perhaps, SpaceX may also return. But it has devastated their downtown
businesses. Most of the gallery owners
have pulled out and the junk and antique dealers seem to be barely hanging on.
Our B&B reminded us of a slightly newer version of our
old Lake Murray trailer-cabin in SC. It
still had the trailer harness but had new porches and decks. And in the scheme of things, I’d say we were “upper
middle class” in the town!! LOL (population 6000 and dwindling!) The 7 foot round tin spring fed hot tub in the
back yard was the draw for us and it didn’t disappoint. We enjoyed several long soaks and the mineral
water left you feeling smooth like a baby!
It was nice to have a break from restaurants and grill steaks by the hot
tub and watch rented movies.
On Tuesday morning we rode out to Elephant Butte Lake. It was a smaller version of Lake Powell, and
unfortunately just as low. The dam was
built in the early 1900’s (1917-20) and was the largest man-made dam at the
time. Its claim to fame is it started
the controversy of international water rights, as they were damming the Rio
Grande, right above Mexico. (BTW, the
funniest T shirt in town was… welcome to New Mexico: it’s not new and it’s not Mexico!)
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| Note "mushrooms buildings" in background |
Then we drove out to the Spaceport. Without a reservation, or joining a tour, we
knew we probably wouldn’t see much and we were right. The guard was really nice, and pointed out
the best places to take pictures without crossing the barriers. The buildings looked like giant portabella
mushrooms, and the crescent sculpture at the entrance was intriguing.
We left Truth of Consequences Wednesday morning and headed
toward Tombstone, AZ on our way to Tucson.
We enjoyed the Old West Town, even if it was a tourist trap. We bought tickets to the shootout at the OK
Corral and it was fun and included 2 old time newspapers that I’m taking back to
Abbie, along with the required T Shirts!! We called Daddy and he was
disappointed we didn’t go to the epitaph graveyard. I guess we’ll just have to go back!! BTW my
husband gets the “Son in Law of the Year
Award” for fixing Daddy's computer remotely!!
Tonight may be our last hotel night. I'm posting this from Borderlands Brewery where Dave is meeting with his business partners. Tomorrow (Thursday) we will be in
Phoenix and will retrieve Bessie. Cross
your fingers.
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