Jun 14, 2011 - El Paso TX- Las Cruces NM

Finally out of TEXAS Paso-ed El Paso and are now in Las Crusces, New Mexico. Just across the border from El Paso and Juarez Mexico. Lots of white trucks with a green stripe ( Border Patrol). The temperature has been a steady 100+ during the day and 68 at night. Limits doing allot of sightseeing and Geocaching. We went into a nearby town called Messilla. It is an original Spanish town here since the days before it was part of Mexico. The inhabitants are direct descendants of the early settlers. the town has many adobe homes and most kept in...

Feb 12, 2010 - Historic Old Mesilla

From Sunny Acres RV Park, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, fifty miles NW from El Paso. We now have two excursions around the area under our belts. Wednesday we wanted to get out & see something but fearing the remote chance that the weather forecast of rain later in the day might have some chance of accuracy, we chose to keep it close & visit the nearby historic town of Mesilla. The following comments are taken from a brochure provided by the town’s Visitor’s Center & the town’s website, with slight editing solely to facilitate inclusion in the...

Apr 3, 2009 - Mesilla, NM

Mesilla was part of the Kingdom of Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy, and finally the United States. It has a rich history with prehistoric cultures, Spanish explorers, Apache raids, the Civil War and the Wild West. Pancho Villa and Billy the Kid walked the streets. The trial of Billy the Kid was held here and the Democrats and the Republicans had a bloody show down in the square. The Gadsden Purchase finally brought Mesilla into the United States. From 1860-81 Mesilla was the crossroads of two major stagecoach lines,...

Jan 21, 2009 - Mesilla New Mexico

This is one of our base camps. High speed internet...what more can you ask for? Alamagordo, Las Cruces, Bandalier and the space port. The view of the organ mountains is very inspirational. Expect a few left turns form this stay. On to SoCal in a few days.

Apr 7, 2008 - Old Mesilla, the colorful border town

Old Mesilla is a historic community where traditional adobe structures with architectural features over 150 years old are still inhabited. Many of the present 2,200 residents are direct descendents of early settlers and follow old traditions. Their rich and diverse heritage is created by the integration of Indian, Spanish, Mexican and Anglo-American cultures. This area abounds in colorful history: Apaches periodically swept through the Mesilla area, stealing livestock and foodstuffs, murdering colonists and seizing captives. In 1884 The...

Mar 12, 2008 - Las Cruces, New Mexico

At last, civilization - cable TV, computer access, cell phones - it's great! Yes, we love the wilderness but it's great to be in a location where we can access all of the modern conveniences. We dropped off the motorhome first thing this morning so they could work on the motorhome slideout/slidein. We didn't really expect them to complete the work in one day and guess what, they have to order parts. So, we are set-up in a great RV park near town for the next week and decided we could use the downttime to get r and r. However, as I type...

Mar 11, 2008 - Fleetwood RV Rally in Tucson, AZ

Chip and I are going to our first RV rally in Tucson , AZ. Judy is hitching a ride and she is gonna stay at her friend, Penny's house. We left the house on March 10th and reached New Mexico on the 11th. We spent the first night at Midessa Oil Patch RV Park in Odessa, TX. 444 Miles The next night we stayed at Las Cruces KOA in Las Cruces, NM 334 Miles

Jan 23, 2008 - Waking up with the quails and falling asleep to the trains in the distance

Sleeping in Gilbert Ray Campground was just great - nice and quiet and dark. I woke up about 7:15 or so and walked down to the bathhouse just to see what the morning was like and what was happening out in the world. It was a brisk morning, but not so cold - a vest over my pj's was okay. There was a bird sitting on top of a tall saguaro just across from the Sea Dragon and quail scooting along and singing their song as they went. Most folks seemed to be heading out and we did the same. It's an easy breakdown when all you have is the...

Dec 18, 2007 - Pecan Farm & Historic Mesilla

Today John took us to 3 interesting localities! We started out at the Ristramnn Mercado, a roadside stand/shop that was filled with dried peppers, Mexican spices and pots, and souveniers! I bought a small pepper rista to hang over our 5th wheel table. We continued on to Stahmann's Pecan Farm. There were thousands of pecans trees. It takes a freeze before the pecans can be harvested by shaking the nuts from the trees. All the tree had been harvested and were being processed right there at the farm. The gift shop was filled with wonderful...

Mar 5, 2007 - Las Cruces, New Mexico

On the road at dawn and you wouldn't believe the beauty of the moon going down ahead of us with the sun just coming up over the horizon behind us. Neither of us could sleep, thus the early start. We are experiencing frequent Immigration/Border Patrol checkpoints, where we are asked if we are U.S. citizens. Sand storm warnings are also posted. By sheer chance and hunger pains, we stopped for breakfast at the Sands Restaurant in Van Horn, Texas, a little insignificant looking cafe. The food was fine, service very pleasant, and then we...

Dec 4, 2006 - On to Tucson

Last night we stayed in Fort Stockton, Texas. It's a little town in the middle of nowhere. We are now back to the wide open spaces of the West and the traffic is very light. You can see for miles and the roads aren't crowded with cars. It feels good to be back in the West. Except it is so darn cold. We never thought we'd miss our winter coats on this trip. This morning it was 18 degrees!! This is the South, what is going on? We got into Las Cruses, New Mexico this afternoon and have a campsite with a beautiful view of the city. We also...

Nov 8, 2006 - Las Cruces New Mexico

Today we drove from Fort Stockton, TX to Las Cruces, NM passing through El Paso, TX. We've crossed into the Mountain Time Zone aournd El Paso and are definitely in the desert. The winds were pretty strong, so it was a little rougher driving today, but we made it into Las Cruces about 3 p.m. Since it was hot, we left the dogs in the air conditioning of the RV and took a drive less than 10 minutes away to La Mesilla, which is an old town area of Las Cruces. We walked through the shops and enjoyed the Mexican architecture. One of the buildings...