Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

We find ourselves in a quirky little town tonight, if only briefly, but it has been a memorable visit so far... Seeking out some hot springs to visit (it's hot, dry work traveling through the desert) we learned that Truth or Consequences changed its name from Hot Springs in the 1950's to capitalize on a popular radio show of the day. We further learned that the town was located next to the Rio Grande River (which we'd enjoyed so much at Big Bend National Park) and that there were lots of places set up to exploit the hot springs. We're at the Artesian Campground tonight. We're paying $6/night for dry camping (no water, sewer or electrical hook-up). But for an additional $6 we were able to secure a private hot tub for a 1 hour family soak. After each session they empty the water, wash the tub and await the next patron. The 5' x 6' tub is 3' deep and has a huge pipe bringing 108F naturally heated spring water into it when the faucet is open. We inserted the "plug" and turned the tap. Water poured in and filled the tub in just a few minutes. A cold water shower is situated above the tub to cool off and/or rinse under. For the next hour we soaked and splashed in our private hot tub. Very cool! We spent the previous 2 nights in Alamogordo, NM (somewhat of an armpit place) as the winds whipped up to 30-40 mph with 50-60 mph occasional gusts -- a little intimidating for an 11' high van to be out driving in. When Monday mellowed out a little we enjoyed a short hike around the Three Rivers Petroglyphs about 30 miles out of town then escaped to the movies to see, "Monsters versus Aliens". This morning we checked out of Alamogordo to a sunny day and spent a few hours scrambling about on the extremely white gypsum sand dunes of White Sands National Monument before heading to Las Cruces for a delicious lunch (double thumbs-up from the whole family) and a 2-hour trek up to Truth & Consequences. Tomorrow we head south-west again and into Arizona (a state that does NOT observe Daylight Saving so our clocks get tweaked once again). In the later part of April and early May we'll do more touring through the northern parts of New Mexico, including Albuquerque.