DAY 62 - Gila Cliff Dwellings

Yesterday we organised a hire car so we could head about 45miles out of Silver City to see the Gila (Hee-la) Cliff Dwellings.
We went out for breakfast before stopping on the way back to the motel to pick up the car. The car wasn't ready so we went back and did the final pack up and waited for a call to say the car was ready.
After picking the car up we stopped into the supermarket before heading into the hills. We planned to spend the night up at Gila camping.
Jo acted as Mum, as Scott drove, and made our lunch as we wound our way. On the way we passed a guy walking with a dog who didn't want to get off the road. We stopped to say hi and found out that "Barrett" was walking the Continental Divide Scenic Trail (the walking equivalent of out ride). The dog had been following him for about the past 100miles!! He had named him "Divide" and they had really bonded. We gave them some water and a little food. Barrett was a really nice guy who had no idea about dogs. He was a really innocent, almost naive bloke. We left them hoping we might see them again tomorrow on our way back to Silver City.
We eventually arrived at the Cliff Dwellings and pretty much went straight up and did the walk around them. They are really amazing and it was great to have Chris along for the ride to act as guide and personal interpreter!
After we had finished our wander around we went and bought home made ice cream which was super yummy.
We set up camp and enjoyed an awesome meal of freshly made Burritos (actually using fresh food!!) washed down with a couple of beers.
After dinner we had a worrying few moments when a skunk decided to come and have a "sniff" around. Luckily it didn't spray but the odour lingered long after he had moved on. Very cute, but really stinky!!
We were just about ready to hit the hay when Alan, Charlie and Dave turned up. Alan had finished his ride earlier today and they had driven about 4 or 5 hours to catch up with us in Gila. That was super cool to see them and to hear about the last section of the ride.
We eventually hit the sack after much laughing and story telling.