May 24 - “Ouch!”

Woke up with terrible backache. I directly attribute it to having to carry suitcases up the stairs because of no elevator and no ground floor rooms available and no mention of that fact on the Choice Hotels app. Are you listening, Choice? 

I managed to manhandle the suitcases down the evil staircase. Chris was a champ getting the really heavy ice chest down. She helped heft the suitcases and that ice chest into the car. That girl was amazing. 

The road to the Gila Cliff Dwellings was right by the hotel. We jumped on it and attacked the incredibly wind-ey road (as opposed to windy). By the time we reached the park we had added to our list of live critters seen:

 A cute little 6 inch tall turkey

2 Javelinas

Numerous Mule deer, including one in the middle of the road that we had to wait on. 

A tiny squirrel with huge ears.

My back eased up to a dull ache thanks to a flexerill and a nap. I was determined to do this 1 mile hike, even though it was a pretty tough one. We bought a walking stick to help me out. Glad for that hunk of metal. 

At the apex of this hike we got to actually climb into some dwellings carved and bricked in some 700 years ago. It was fascinating to see how they lived. Oh, and inside the houses, it was cool. Like they had an all-natural air conditioner running.  I even climbed down a replica ladder to get out. Chris said no to the ladder and backtracked to an earlier exit. We joined back up in the end and finished out the hike in fine fashion. 

Our next stops were kind of cloudy. We just weren’t sure what the best approach would be. Since it was going to take us hours to get back down out of the mountains and into civilization, we located a hotel that fell right about where we needed it to be: Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. No, really. That’s the name of the town. They were hoping the old TV show would relocate there. May as well have. It was canceled soon after the renaming. 

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ says, All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

Father, thank you for the experiences that just keep on piling up. I could use a little more relief from the backache, though. Amen.