Trains

 2/15- Alamogordo NM

   I started the day with an urban hiking experience. The woman at the campground told me there was a grocery store just a couple of blocks away. Well the blocks here are huge. I guess I should have been alerted when she said it’s on 10th Street and we were on 24th street. 

   It was a walk through an area with small one floor houses. It’s very rare to see a two story house and a lot of these houses are built Pueblo style. A lot of the yards are crushed stone or just plain old dirt. Some yards are covered in concrete which is nice when it is 100+ degrees in the summer. Almost all the yards are fenced some with bricks and others with chain link. There are dogs in almost every one and sometimes 3 or 4 barking dogs. As I would walk down the street a wave of barking dog would flow along with me peaking as I hiked past.

  In the afternoon we walked to a model train museum. We had no idea what to expect but we got a personal guided tour from the owner who has won awards for his work with miniature trains. We got the history of model trains as well as seeing several big set ups that they had on display. When I asked him what he does when he just wants to play with the trains he said he doesn’t. He is really into setting up the diorama setups that the trains run through. He says he rarely touches the trains. He did do some amazingly detailed work.

    It actually rained last night and rather heavy for a short period of time. It didn’t do much for cleaning the dust off the rv though. It’s cooler today with highs only in the high 50’s. The wind has calmed down considerably from yesterday.