April 5, 2017 - El Paso, TX to Las Cruces, NM

The morning was beautiful. We got our Lil' Home ready for the road trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico.  We left Hueco Tanks campground at 9:45 am.

 

We took Texas State Highway Loop 375 to avoid congestion within El Paso city area.

The visibility was much better today than it was yesterday. The wind was not as strong and there was no sandstorm.

The drive through the Franklin Mountains was awesome.  Beautiful formations!

 

Sleeping Dragon???

 

 We arrived New Mexico State line at 11:10 am, pulled into rest area. The visitor's center was closed and the sign notified that we can check into one in Las Cruces, NM.

Las Cruces is the second largest city in the state of New Mexico.  In 1907 the city was officially incorporated as a town before New Mexico became the 47th state. New Mexico State University is one of the key components to the success of Las Cruces’ economy and growth.  There are lots of outdoor recreation that are close or within driving distance to/from Las Cruces, such as, Dripping Springs Natural Area, Chihuahua Desert National Park, White Sands National Monument and Prehistoric Trackways National Monument.

Erwin and I were impressed with the cleanliness in the town. Litter free almost everywhere.  The minute we drove into Las Cruces my gut feeling told me that I am going to like it here very much and will stay one winter month here.

We checked into Hacienda RV Park in Las Cruces, off I-25 and reserved site #120 for 3 nights. The campground is well maintained, has a small gift shop within the office.  It is not too far from historic Mesilla.

After getting our LH set up we hurriedly went to Las Cruces downtown to see what was out there during Thursday's Farmer Market Day, but most booths had already closed up when we got there.  One vendor told us to come back on Saturday when they will close 7 city blocks for Saturday's event.  

Barnett's Harley Davidson store is not too far from Hacineda RV Park. We were on our way to visit the historic Mesilla when we decided to pull over to get Harley Davidson T-shirts for our FL friends.  The store was not as big as the other one we went to in El Paso, but it had nice selection of T-shirts. 

 

 The historic town, Mesilla, has a population of around 2,500.  The town was incorporated in 1848.  There is a town plaza with small shops around it, such as gift shops, art galleries, restaurants, etc.

   

 

We visited Basilica of San Albino, the Roman Catholic church.  The current structure was built in 1906, and is one of the oldest churches in the region.  Spanish and English languages are used during daily masses.

 

 

We visited the neighboring areas to check out adobes, colorful front doors and garage doors, adobes, catci, sculptures, etc.

 

 

 

 

 Our friends recommended us to eat at Si Senor, so we decided to go there for supper. However, after placing our order we realized that there are two Si Senors in town. One is a dine-in restaurant and the one we were at is a "fast food" joint. Our friends emphasized to be sure we go to the restaurant. Too late!  However, our foods were so yummy and hearty and we could not finish it all.

 On our way back to the campground we stopped at Toucan Market on E. University Ave just to see what it was like The store sells organic and gourmet stuff.

Mural at Toucan Market

I was little exhausted to go out and find a great spot for sunset photo op. I chose to stay at the campground and managed to get a picture of the sunset

~Edith