Travis & Tara's Trip
Through Southern Arizona & New Mexico
March 16 - 25, 2001
Date: Sunday, March 18, 2001
Route: Las Cruces, NM - El Paso, TX - Whites City, NM
Approximate mileage: 191 + side trips
These are the Organ Mtns, named because from the other side, they look like someone's organ. On the other side is White Sands.
Staying at a more respectable motel, we both woke up in a much better mood.
Las Cruces is a beautiful town, and if it wasn't for being in the middle
of nowhere, I wouldn't mind living there. We went to their Old Town, "Old
Town Mesilla", for some amazing shopping opportunities.
Aren't these a riot?
I was quite excited when I saw these friends cast in silver.
This sign is outside one of the buildings, a testament to the tenacity of early Mesillans.
It reminds me of that castle from Monty Python.
Did I mention all the bugs on the freeway? Evidently we weren't the only ones with bug issues.
Yeah, we made it to Texas! Tara's mom claims that Philadelphia is the armpit of the country, but
I don't think she's been to El Paso.
This brought us great excitement, and possibly 5 minutes of conversation.
Below us the Rio Grande, and on the other side is Juarez, Mexico, where the streets aren't paved and
people live in buildings made out of abandoned american garage doors.
Oooh! A bend in the road! More minutes of conversation. Tara's boss at the time, Cheryl, recounted a story of how
she took a picture of the very same thing on the way to Carlsbad Caverns.
If you look closely, you can see windmills on the ridge.
Here it is, the tallest point in Texas! Guadalupe Mtn! 8,749 feet high!
It's not often in CA that one can feel a dead bird in a visitor's center. Texans just do things a little differently.
We eventually made it to Whites City, which is actually 2 "motels" owned
by the same family, and a "restaurant" located commercially at the entrance
to Carlsbad Caverns.
After such a boring day, I really wanted something alcoholic to drink, but
the "restaurant" didn't offer alcohol on Sundays. Instead, I wearily drank
a canned Sprite.
