April 7, 2017 - Las Cruces, NM

I was up very early this morning.  The sun was able to peek through the cracks of the bedroom shade, which woke me up.

Erwin was still asleep when I finished my breakfast.  I decided to make a videophone call to a friend in Florida and we chatted for an hour.  

It was around 10:15 am when we finally headed out of the campground to do little sightseeing.  I wanted to check out Las Cruces Water Tank murals and Recycled Roadrunner.

There are several water tank murals, and we saw only two of them.  The paintings were done by artist Anthony Pennock, as well as his family members.  The water tank is a 32 foot tall made of steel and is capable of holding two million gallons of water. The murals are panted in shades of earth, sky and water. The first water tank we checked out was off Lohman Road.  The second tank was on Sonoma Ranch Road.  

Apparently someone left a sofa there to sit down and enjoy the
view of the Organ Mountains

We took I-25 to go back to Las Cruces town, then got on I-10 West.  We then took an exit to get on I-10 East, so we can go to a rest area where there is a Recycled Roadrunner sculpture.  You can see it from the interstate if you do not have time to go in the rest area.  

The Recycled Roadrunner is made of various scraps from a local dump.  It stands 20 feet tall, 40 feet long.  It stands on a fake rock, looks toward the Organ Mountains.  

Blooper!

We came back “home” to eat leftover lunch and to rest a bit before heading out again for the afternoon.  

Erwin wanted to stroll up/down the Main Street in downtown Las Cruces.  We checked out few stores, also went in Branigan Cultural Center.  Back in 1935 it was a public library, and after the death of her husband Capt. Thomas Branigan, his wife bequeathed it to the city.  There were three different exhibits: Wolves and Wild Lands in the 21st Century; Issel and Beyond; Jack London, Photographer.

Mr. Nero was the library cat during the 60's and 70's. 
There are pictures of him in different locations inside and
outside of the building 

Japanese Passport

 

Roadside attractions:

 

 

 

 

After checking out most stores on Main Street we went to DaddyO’s car wash because the Jeep really needed a bath badly. It was VERY dirty from all the dirt it gathered since last December when we were in Fernandina Beach.  There were four different packages with the top costing $16. We chose the second one for $11.  There were many vehicles in line, but it did not take very long.  After exiting the wash station we went to the vacuum station to clean the carpet and the seats.

Ta da! Now it is all clean!

Thank goodness for leftovers because, after getting back from sightseeing, I did not feel cooking.

I decided not to go out for more sunset photo shooting this evening.  I was feeling lazy and wanted to relax.   Erwin worked on his woodburning project for a while. 

~Edith