Snowbird playing golf in Truth or Consequences. Photo courtesy T or C/Sierra County Chamber of Commerce
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John and Darliene Hertweck lived for ten years in their RV, wintering in the South and touring in the North during summers. Then they put a mobile home in an RV park to continue their association with RVers and snowbirds. For the last eight years, as volunteers at the Deming Chamber of Commerce, they regularly talk to snowbirds. They could be considered "snowbird experts."
Some years back, John achieved snowbird fame – or notoriety. He got his picture on the front page of USA Today in a feature about snowbirds "boondocking" on BLM land in Arizona. Boondocking is camping without hook-ups.
According to the Hertwecks, snowbirds are drawn to our part of the country by the warm weather, the quiet and economical locales, the friendly people, and the activities available.
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St. Luke’s Church
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“House of cards” has a whole ‘nother meaning when it comes to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Deming , New Mexico. According to legend, in 1892, the original structure of this frontier church was financed by $40,000 of winnings from a poker game with Doc Holliday in attendance and hosted by the notorious Lottie Deno. And, for a fact, Lottie Deno made one of the altar cloths used by St. Luke’s.
The church’s design was an architectural triumph of sorts and one popularly celebrated in its day – train station modern. The land for the church was donated by the old Santa Fe Railroad in 1890. The plans for the original structure were those of a train depot. Compare it with the local chamber of commerce and visitor center which occupies an old train station and you can see the resemblance.
The church’s somewhat dark past is matched by its dark interior – beautifully so. The simple wood interior provides an appropriately spiritual backdrop for devotion and the weekly Eucharistic service. The stained glass windows, crosses, statuary, and altar further please the aesthetic senses and the soul. The simple and sophisticated, sensual and spiritual, are wonderfully balanced.
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