Saturday, March 14, 2020 - Moving to Deming, New Mexico; Coronavirus and RVing.

Saturday, March 14, 2020 - Moving to Deming, New Mexico; Coronavirus and RVing.

I had made an attempt to find an RV site yesterday on our drive to Benson, not thinking about how the mountains surrounding the Tucson area might have an impact on getting through.  After trying twice and not being able to talk more than a few seconds before losing a signal, I gave up, and then promptly forgot all about it.

We pulled out of Diamond J's at 8:50am.  As we made our way south from Tucson, I made a third call to Sunrise RV Park (the same one I tried to reach yesterday), hoping they would have a site available at our next planned stop in Deming, NM.  When the owner answered, I told him I was the person who tried to call twice yesterday, but lost him due to a bad connection.  He just laughed and said, yes, I remember you.  Fortunately, he had a spot available for us for the night.  We originally planned to stay two nights, but we decided to stay one night, and if we chose to extend it a day if our site would be available.

Long, lonesome highway - I love how open the countryside is here.

It was a beautiful day.  I could not take enough pictures of the beautiful wild flowers (or weeds) in the fields along the highway.

We took advantage of almost every rest stop along the way to stretch our legs, and when the time changed from Pacific to Mountain time, it just so happened all of a sudden it was noon - and lunchtime.  We enjoyed sandwiches on our "honey white bread"  that we purchased from Breadsmith, followed by an almond bar.  That bread is so good!

It was 2:24 Mountain Time, when we pulled into Sunrise RV Park.  At the office, Walter asked if I minded if he stole my husband - what?  He wanted to take him to see the available sites and let him choose our site.  That was really nice.  Dean chose an EASY pull-through site with full hookups.  One of the easiest sites we've seen - as there was a large open area behind the site making it very easy to pull straight into.  

We needed to go to the grocery store for a few things, as our pantry and freezer was running a little low.  We first went to Walmart, where we were able to get most of the things we wanted.  I am low on hand soap and not surprisingly, those shelves were empty, only one of many shelves that were empty throughout the store.  As we left, Dean said he wanted to make a quick look around town before we returned to Bentley.  

Loved this gazebo, with benches placed all the way around it.

A nice park in the downtown area.

The trees are starting to bloom here - so pretty.

Luna County Courthouse, Deming, NM

A short time later we spied a Walgreen's so he pulled in there so I could check on hand soap.  A nice young man noticed us looking at the shelves and showed us an area where there was a few hand cleansers in another part of the store.  He had just found them for his family.  I thought that was very nice of him.  It so happened, we walked down an aisle where there was coffee.  Oh my, I had forgotten we were out of coffee, so I grabbed some of that as well.  It would not have been a happy place tomorrow morning without our coffee.  Lol!

After that we continued our drive around Deming.  It's a pretty nice little community.  With it being right off of I-10 they have a number of eating establishments.  There is a golf course almost across the road from the RV Park.  We drove alongside of it and there were a few folks still playing.  

Returning to the RV, Dean grilled hamburgers which were delicious.  It had been a long time since lunch.  We have two more burgers for dinner tomorrow night too.  Dean wanted ice cream.  While there was not a Dairy Queen in Deming; there was a Sonic.  Guess where we went?  

I mentioned in my heading Coronavirus and RVing.  Dean and I have taken it seriously but we are not overly concerned with it.  We have followed the recommendations of the CDC and trust God will take care of us.  When we arrived at the RV Park, I asked the owner what should we make it a point to see/do in the Deming area, since we are only here for one night.  When he told us almost everything is shut down due to the virus, and today the state announced they were shutting down New Mexico State Parks as of March 15, we were surprised.  We knew about school closings, etc. but had not even thought about State RV Parks, or others being closed.  We wondered how that might impact site availability in private parks, and will other states follow suit?