Last week we made it to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where we boondocked near the base of the Organ Mountains and interacted with fellow RVers.

Naturally, this interaction and meeting leads to Garcia’s Moving Castle’s next segment of RVers in the wild.

In today’s segment, we begin with Joe. After all, he is the one who encountered the RVer in his natural habitat. The RVer, our new neighbor, approached Joe late in the evening around the local watering hole aka our collection of 7 gallon water totes. Joe was replenishing our water supply and our fellow RVer was curious if he could borrow our totes to fetch water for himself and his wife.

Joe agreed, and naturally, as all conversations do, this evolved into Joe and our fellow RVer discussing the pros and cons of a black water waste disposal system vs. a composting waste disposal system. The RVer began to passionately argue that an expensive composting system wasn’t worth it, especially because a person could buy everything they needed for a composting waste disposal system from the Family Dollar.

Color Joe both horrified and intrigued.

The RVer then proceeded to give Joe instructions on how to build his own composting system from a bowl, paper towels, and ziplocs, as well as give Joe advice on how to keep a black water system from smelling. Apparently, it’s all in the essential oils.

Don’t use water to flush! Simply spray peppermint and lavender oil after every use, and you won’t need to dispose of the black water system’s contents for 3 months.

As if this conversation wasn’t memorable enough, the RVer switched gears and began regaling Joe about government secrets. The RVer couldn’t divulge everything, but his government source had informed him that President Biden hadn’t been alive for a few months. The government was using CGI and a body double to emulate the late president.

Never a dull moment!

Stay tuned for future segments of RVers in the wild. In the meantime, allow me to fill you in on our happenings from last week.

As I mentioned earlier, Joe and I boondocked near the base of the Organ Mountains. Not only did we camp off grid near these well-known mountains, but also took some time to visit and hike around the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument.

The National Monument is home to an old mine shaft, sanatarium, waterfall, and way station. Joe and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing these historic sites, as well as the hike to each of them. Along the way, we came across a few tarantulas and several noteworthy plants! What can I say, Joe loves to identify local flora!

Overall, we had a great time visiting the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument; it is always one of our favorite things to see when we come to Las Cruces.

Because we are still a little weary from traveling and adventuring, we have decided to stay in Las Cruces one more week, but instead of spending it boondocking, we have moved to an RV park. Is there a story there? Yes, yes there is.

When Joe took our portable waste tank into town to dump at the local RV park, the front office staff told him it would cost $50 to use their dump station. Now normally, it costs about $10 to use a park’s dump station. So, Joe was both surprised and intrigued as to why this park was charging $50.

Apparently, in the last few months, someone had dumped their meth lab at the park’s dump station. So, to discourage others from utilizing their facilities, they implemented a $50 fee for all patrons wanting to dump, as well as installed a lockbox over the dump system’s entry valve.

After explaining the RV park owner’s rationale, the front office staff then proceeded to sell Joe one of the park’s spots for the day. For $34, Joe could use that spot’s septic and dump his tank.

At that point, it made more sense to just buy 6 days and move our RV over to the park. Joe knew I wasn’t going to complain about full hookups!

So, we are now enjoying the luxury of full hookups as we finish our time in New Mexico. Next stop Austin, TX!

Until next time!