Leaving Truth or Consequences for the day, we drove through desert and mountains.

Desert at Truth or Consequences

The city is surrounded by desert.   This is a picnic pull off about a mile out of town.   Continuing, we knew when we arrived at Truth or Consequences Airport.

Sign for airport

There was also a small sign, but we loved the retired Air Force jet as a marker.  We are driving the northern part of the Geronimo Trail National Scenic Byway.   We will see living ghost towns.   These are towns that came into existence when silver mining in the area was profitable.   When the mines shut down, most people moved.  However, each of these towns still exist and each town has a small number of permanent residents.   Shortly we arrived at Cuchillo, previously called Cuchillo Negro.  The town was named for an Apache chief.

San Ignacio Catholic Church in Cuchillo, New Mexico

We really liked this church.  San Ignacio Catholic Church was first built in 1867.  Catholic Mass is still held here every Sunday.  The name, Cuchillo Negro, means Black Knife.   The same name as a nearby creek.   According to US Census, sometime between 1900 and 1910 the name was shortened to Cuchillo.   We enjoyed seeing these deer.

Deer

They watched us as we lowered the car window and took photos, but they did not run.   We quickly left to allow them to enjoy their time grazing.  The next town is Winston.

Winston General Store

In the late 1800’s silver was mined here.   Winston grew as a town for families, a change from a more rowdy town a few miles away.   We will tell you about that town next time.   We went into the General Store.   They really have everything.   Groceries, tools, souvenirs, beautiful turquoise and silver jewelry.   And delicious chili dogs.

Delicious chili dog

Everything is in crock pots and you make what you want.   Enjoying a warm, sunny day, we decided to eat outside.   Food was delicious and the nice weather was just what we wanted.   Let’s drive around town a little.

Winston post office

A cute small post office.  The population is estimated at only 61 full time residents.   Frank A. Winston, was a prominent resident in the early days.   The town was originally named Fairview in 1881.   But when Frank Winston died in 1929, the town was renamed for him.   A lady at a Tourist Information office told me Frank went to Europe and saw some metal work he liked.   He bought the metal work, had it shipped to New Mexico, and built a Carriage House to fit the metal.

Carriage house

The Carriage House is still standing and it is very nice.  It is nice to see good workmanship still being used now.

New Mexico desert landscape

The New Mexico desert in this area is nice to see for a change, but we think it would be very difficult to live here all the time.  But we love to visit.   Next time we will show another living ghost town.