Thunderstorms in New Mexico

Saturday, June 30, 2012--Las Cruces and Silver City, New Mexico

I left El Paso worrying about the heat because of a reservation I had made for a tent campground for tonight.  I decided to take the day as it came and to hope they would release me from my reservation if it was just too miserable to set up a tent and sleep in it.

I took the back road, New Mexico Highway 28, from El Paso to Las Cruces.  As promised, it was a nice scenic route following the Mesilla Valley which, thanks to the miracle of irrigation, is full of wineries, pecan orchards, truck farms, horse farms, etc.  It's a two-lane road which also has lots of bicycle traffic, so I had to be careful in that respect.  Thankfully, most of the cyclists seemed to be going the opposite direction.

Besides the scenic route, another reason for taking NM 28 was that it goes through the old pueblo village of Mesilla which is on the edge of Las Cruces.  It used to be the bigger of the two towns in the 1700s and 1800s.  It has a downtown that consists of a Spanish-style plaza which is surrounded by old adobe buildings housing wineries, restaurants, tourist shops, etc.  I parked and walked the plaza and the area within two blocks of it.  It's probably much like Santa Fe was when it was still only a small village.

From there, I headed downtown to Las Cruces.  They have a Saturday market which I wanted to see.  I was surprised to find it to be much more than I expected.  Actually, much of it was an arts show.  It had 2-4 rows of booths running two blocks along Main Street.  Some were stalls selling vegetables, pecans, bakery products, etc.  But 80% of it consisted of arts and crafts products.

While in the area, I took a quick tour of the Las Cruces Museum of Art.  It is small, but it had a couple of interesting exhibits.  Most of their work is contemporary which I appreciate.

I got in the worst traffic jam of my life trying to go to Sam's Club to buy gasoline!  They must be MUCH cheaper than elsewhere.  There were at least 40-50 cars waiting in line to buy gas.  I barely got out of the parking lot.  I retreated to a place I had passed on the way that had gas for $3.09 per gallon (cash only) and bought there.

Before leaving town, I stopped at the New Mexico State University campus.  I visited their small museum and walked around the main part of the campus.  It is not an impressive one.  The UTEP campus was much nicer in terms of quality and design of buildings and layout and landscaping of the campus.

It was a long drive to Silver City.  About 28 miles earlier, I passed my campground where I have a reservation.  At the time, the thermometer was showing 102 degrees F.  I could see showers in the distance and decided to explore Silver City before backtracking to the campground.  On the way, it rained quite hard a couple of times and the temperature dropped to the low 70s!!  I drove through the Western New Mexico University campus, a small, but nice looking school and then parked downtown.  Silver City was a boom town in the 1800s, and in recent years shopping centers and a Walmart have been built.  That means that its downtown is too big for what is needed today.  Many buildings are vacant and those that aren't often are filled with thrift stores or junk stores advertised as antique stores.  There are a few bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and tourist shops which make it a weekend destination, but I can't imagine anyone staying there more than one night.

I'm writing this at the Silver City McDonald's.  I'll buy dinner here, since the campground has no restaurant.  Then I will head to the campground to see if the temperature is better there now.  It should be about 17:00 when I get there.  It's a hot springs campground called Faywood.  If I'm lucky, it will be cool enough to enjoy the hot springs AND to sleep okay in the tent.

Walking Steps:  9914 steps
Distance (3 days--2 local and 1 on the road):  302 miles