Our Journey date: 2024-04-30

This little hot rod did a loop around his corral as his owner arrived home - too stinking cute!

I spent a lot of time in Deming, New Mexico during the winter of 2023 and spring 2024, it’s always a nice welcome to work in the warm, sunny desert in the cooler months! It sure is a beautiful place to drive around and watch the seasons change if you’re into croplands and John Deere tractors!  It is a rich agricultural area with beautiful farms and crops of chilies, onions, cotton, pecans and even a winery!

Luna County sits in the very SW corner of New Mexico about 3 hours E of Tucson and 1 hour W of Las Cruces. The population of Deming is about 15,000 and Luna County is about 25,000.

A big highlight added to the community in 2023 is Trees Lake aka Pitt Park, a 5-acre lake stocked by NM Game & Fish with bluegill, perch, and catfish. It’s a popular place with people fishing and walking around the path and a few hot rods cruising thru the parking lot! I sat and at lunch a few times here during my stays!

Adjacent to the lake is the inflatable water park which sure looks fun!

Across the street is the Starmax cinema, bowling alley, arcade games & restaurant. When I swung thru at the end of April the carnival was there and I was thinking I was going to get a corn dog but it wasn’t open yet!! What a treat for the community to have such a fun spot, especially the kids!

The buzz was Harbor Freight is coming to town in the renovated K-Mart building which is now the home of the City of Deming. Known as the Pine Street Building, once completely full it is expected to add 120 jobs.

This little town keeps plugging away and it sure is been nice to see the beautiful renovations to this old jewel, especially in its old downtown corridor!

And in the middle of all of this is the most gorgeous Florida Mountains! She’s stunning from every view but a few of her highlights are Needles Eye which is a little hole in the rock that sits on the south and Dragon Ridge which looks a sleeping dragon! Oh she’s so pretty!

The west side of the mountains is definitely more developed than the east side but I spotted a handful of new homes around the Franklin Road area and County road 549, the road that runs between the Akela exit and Deming for about 18 miles.

There’s a new Valero gas station at the Akela exit and a lot of speculation continues as to whether or not a casino is going to happen here. Las Cruces sits another 30 miles east of the Akela exit and is the 2nd largest city in NM with a population of population 116,000 so I’m not surprised to see this area continue to grow. Many commute from Las Cruces to the Columbus border crossing for work which is about 30 minutes south of Deming so I can see why they would want a place half way between!

I was befriended by neighbors during my journeys here as they helped me clean up a big junk pile that I bought at the tax sale. And I got invited to have donuts and breakfast several times at the American Legion. What a lovely place to sit amongst our brave and listen to their stories in the early morning – want to know anything that’s going on in town just ask here!

I also had lunch several times at the Adobe Deli Saloon and Steakhouse which sits about 15 minutes east of town. This is a quirky place with stuff everywhere to look at and excellent food but don’t be in a hurry! What a treat to have such good food in the middle of nowhere!

I stopped by the Southwestern New Mexico State Fairgrounds to check out the Rockhound Roundup rock and mineral show and was quickly drawn to the rodeo going on there as well. It was a gorgeous afternoon and I thoroughly enjoyed watching barrel racing!

There was a young lady sitting beside me that had on super cute spurs that looked to be a prize – they say Big Bend Youth Rodeo - and I asked if I could take a photo of them – “yes maam” she said in the sweetest, proud, politest voice! She said that she had already competed and was happy with her time and I was surprised to learn that she was competing against these people! Atta girl – I have a feeling that she used to winning! What a great way to spend the afternoon!

As I headed north for home, I visited the City of Rocks State Park which sits ½ hour N of Deming.  She’s mesmerizing with her cool dinosaur sized rocks.  It’s a geologic formation made up of large, sculptured rock columns rising as high as 40 feet. They were formed millions of years ago when a very large volcano erupted and the erosion over millions of years slowly formed them. There were a few people enjoying the park and I laughed at the van – how iconic and I barely noticed the tent set up inside the big rocks – that was cool!

I also made a quick swing by Bill Evans Lake which sits about half an hour NW of Silver City. I first heard about this lake when one of the locals told me it holds the record of the biggest bass ever caught in New Mexico at 15 lbs 13 oz in 1995! In 2023 the NM game & fish made improvements with new fishing jetties and a new boat ramp! There were a few people fishing and canoeing on the lake – I appreciate the man who held of his fish so I could snap a quick photo as it flopped around!

I sure love spending time in this small town and I’ve said many times I sure wish I had a little place here so I could hang out in the wintertime!

Great Mexican restaurants, a great coffee shop, a Cato fashions, friendly locals and now a Harbor Freight – what more do you need!