Las Cruces, New Mexico

     Our trip across I-10 was uneventful and we arrived at our next destination, the Hacienda RV and Rally Resort, in Las Cruces, N.M.  What a relief to finally exit the Great State of Texas, if only by a few miles!  Actually the trip across I-10 and this section of Texas was quite pleasant, and Debbie seemed to be much more relaxed.  Although the vistas included lots of desert and dirt, the canyons and mountains in the distance were very pleasant to look at.  We passed through El Paso in a light rain which seemed to confuse these Texas drivers, but we made it through the congestion without any mishaps.  It has changed quite a bit from when I was here previously in 1997 for K9 school.  It seems that El Paso is just spreading out and growing up.  There are tons of shopping malls which would be expected, but there are also advertisements for Broadway shows.
     We settled into our campsite, and decided there was plenty of time to get out and see the area.  Since we were only spending 2 days here, we needed to get going.

 After finding a car wash to get a ton of grime off of the Jeep, we headed out to see what we could find.  And no, we didn't find 2 feet of snow!  But we did find 2 feet of white sand at the White Sands National Monument.  We passed through some gorgeous mountains and dropped over near the White Sands Missile Testing area.  The GoPro recorded our journey over the top and the desert vista of the Chihuahuan Desert that opened up before us.  As far as we could see was flat open desert.  And way off in the distance we thought we could see a white horizon.  About 30 miles further across the desert, we found the White Sands of New Mexico, which spreads out for 275 square miles.

 We approached the ticket booth manned by Rangers of the National Park Service, and Debbie whipped out our America the Beautiful Card, and we passed through the gate after a nice welcome from the Ranger.  As we entered into the world's largest gypsum dune fields in the world, it became apparent that these dunes are constantly changing as the winds whipped across them.  The roadway changed from pavement to sand, and appeared that it had recently been plowed similar to snowplows.  We took a walk up onto the dunes, and were amazed at first how soft they were, and then how hard they were.  Climbing up, a shoes sank into the sand making the journey a little difficult.  Once on top, we found them quite easy to walk across as the were quite well packed.

      Returning to Las Cruces, we found an eclectic Mexican restaurant in the historical town of Mesilla, N.M.  La Posta de Mesilla is located in the original adobe  La Posta, which has been standing for more than 2 centuries.

We enjoyed a great meal and a couple cold beers to finish up the day.  The restaurant is located less that a mile from the Hacienda RV Park, and we would definitely recommend both locations to any of our friends who find themselves in Las Cruces.
     Today we ventured back to El Paso, only because we wanted to visit the Border Patrol Museum, and have lunch with a fellow agent from Campo that we hadn't seen in many years.

The Museum is sustained only with contributions and fund raisers, and is constantly working to upgrade and improve the relics inside.  It is doing a wonderful job documenting the rich history of the Border Patrol, and actually has a Piper Cub airplane used by the BP, hanging from its ceiling.  There's a very chilling section in tribute to our fallen Agents, and documenting their stories.  The gift shop is a major source of funding for the Museum, and Debbie and I worked the sale that was ongoing and scored some nice shirts.

Tomorrow we continue our journey west, and hopefully we'll make it over to Mesa, Az.  Not quite sure where we'll be staying, but there are plenty of RV Resorts to choose from.  Hopefully the weather stays nice, and we can take in a little spring baseball.