Swellbelly Fodder

Adventure Location: Hatch, New Mexico
Teams Location:  Elephant Butte State Park, South Monticello Unit, New Mexico

 It was Truck oil changing time.  We made it to Wal-Mart about ten minutes early.  The tech showed up right on time and got to work on the Truck.  An hour and fifteen minutes later he finished with the Truck. Speedy movement in Elephant Butte is not seen in many of the workers.

Then it was move the Truck to the front of the building and purchase some groceries time. This is an in between size Wal-Mart and the grocery store part is definitely short on many items that the Shopping Team normally purchases.  That caused me to have to make decisions on substitutes or alternatives as to what get to replace an item on my shopping list. It was interesting.

The big plan was lunch at a place recommended by John. Hatch NM is the town and Sparky’s is the place.  The Truck carried us down to Hatch in great comfort.  My hope was to purchase some more green chili things when we finished lunch. We parked across the street because the parking lot was full. It is a bit inconspicious but you can find it at the main town road intersection.

John was a great guide and we went right in and the fragrance was seriously wonderful. The place was very crowded. My order was for brisket and sausage.  The sides were sweet green chili corn and spicy pinto beans. In case it matters to you the iced tea was excellent.  When our orders came, my eyes were wondering if my tummy could hold all that food. The quantity of food was way more than the prices would indicate.  This is some good moderately priced food.  The corn was excellent. The beans were only good.  The brisket had had the excess fat trimmed off but the meat was still moist and really excellent.  The sausage was also excellent.  Man that was some good eating.

When we left the restaurant the greeter wished us a cheery good day.

The décor of the place was neat and deserves a good looking around just for the giggles. John you did really good.

Hatch also has a great Tex-Mex restaurant named the Pepper Pot.  That little farm community is set up well with two excellent restaurants. No wonder folks come from Elephant Butte, Las Cruces and Deming all the way over to Hatch to eat.

The Whitewater Baldy fire is causing the OFM Teams some serious trouble.  Here is the latest report on the fire progress and direction of movement. http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2870/  . The acrid smoke was making itself known in the campground tonight.

The anticipated movement of the fire puts it on a collision path with the projected OFM Team rolling plan.  Therefore the OFM Teams will have to go around the trouble. Our original plan was to head North West from here on Tuesday.  We ran from fires last year in NM and Texas, so the Teams are practiced in dodging wildfires. North West is now out of the rolling plans. The heat here at 4500 feet is trying its best to hit triple digits every day so the Planning Team is looking for higher elevations to head toward Tuesday.

It will be interesting to see where the Teams head to when we hit the road chasing having tooooo much fun. TheOFM.