Well, it's been awhile since I last posted- life got in the way and basically I've been lazy.
So how was it? In a word: awesome!!
Me and two friends left for Columbus around 9:00 PM on Wednesday, March 7 and drove all through the night. We made good time all the way through Arizona and New Mexico and we arrived in Columbus around 12 Noon the next day. After checking in the park staff, we set up our camp, minimal as it was, and rested up for the festivities. Two more of my friends rolled in a bit later around 3 PM.
The weather was much warmer than last year with temperatures going up to the 80s during the day and dipping into the 40s at night. As usual with camp-out situations, my feet got the coldest and I cursed not bringing a third blanket (I'm tall so two blankets doesn't really work too well). Luckily, I was able to bum an extra blanket off of my compadre Chris.
So how was it? In a word: awesome!!
Me and two friends left for Columbus around 9:00 PM on Wednesday, March 7 and drove all through the night. We made good time all the way through Arizona and New Mexico and we arrived in Columbus around 12 Noon the next day. After checking in the park staff, we set up our camp, minimal as it was, and rested up for the festivities. Two more of my friends rolled in a bit later around 3 PM.
The weather was much warmer than last year with temperatures going up to the 80s during the day and dipping into the 40s at night. As usual with camp-out situations, my feet got the coldest and I cursed not bringing a third blanket (I'm tall so two blankets doesn't really work too well). Luckily, I was able to bum an extra blanket off of my compadre Chris.
Our Camp- "home" for me was the tent on the right. My compadre Chris shared the dogtent with me. Believe it or not, it actually fit both of us with room to spare.Now, for the important question: was it windy? Fortunately, no- wind was pretty minimal and rarely rose above a slight breeze.
We spent the rest of the day Thursday getting ready to act as an honor guard for the memorial ceremonies scheduled to commemorate the raid on March 9.
Friday, or "Raid Day" (March 9), found us up pretty early and the park volunteers were kind enough to cook us breakfast. Afterwards, we prepared for our part in the memorial ceremonies. The memorial ceremony started around 10 AM and it was pretty moving although some of the speakers were a tad long-winded (as what usually happens in these sort of small-town commermorative ceremonies).
Overall, it was good and we concluded with firing a 15-gun salute (I still need to clean the rifle!).
Me and my compadres as the honor guardAfterwards, we were given a walking tour of the town, featuring key highlights of the raid. The tour was given by the command historan of the Sergeants Major Academy at Ft. Bliss, Texas and Richard Dean, president of the Columbus Historical Society and great grandson of James T. Dean, one of townspeople that was killed in the raid. It was very informative and for the first time, I really walked away with a clear understanding of the sequence of events and how they occurred during the raid. Very instructive!
We even made in the local newspaper, Deming Headlight:
http://http://www.demingheadlight.com/news/ci_5421885
More to follow!
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