TanksPanky: FTJ, Entry 77: The Dustbowl Called Las Cruces

While being awed by our mountainous surroundings in Las Cruces, New Mexico, we all quickly became very tired of the never-ending high winds and dust clouds that blew everywhere nearly night and day, permeating our rigs, our clothes, our cars, and our bodies. Heard of the saying "eat dirt"? We did, every day. Plus, our eyes were crusted with it, our noses dried up (no humidity to speak of here in the desert), and our skin was cracking, dry, and dusty. Yuck. Four days of it was more than enough.

The Organ Mountains, as seen from our Las Cruces RV resort.

Note the clouds (or is it DUST?) above the peaks in the background.

We saw a few of these artsy water tanks.

An unfortunately dark photo of the office at Hacienda RV park in Las Cruces.

Our sites are on the left of this paved lane.

A Screw Loose

In the last blog, I wrote about the treacherous ride through the Guadalupe Mountains. Well, after we arrived in Las Cruces, Beau discovered that all of the mounting bolts on the tow bar (which holds our Malibu as we tow it behind), were dangerously loose. Can you imagine if one of those had given way? The "Bu" could have broken loose and we could have killed someone -- like Dave and Joyce, who traveled behind us!

Beau called the local RV service place and we had Harvey the Marvey RV's tow bar fixed, imposing ourselves on Joyce and Dave most of the day.

In the evening, we went to dinner at Lorenzo's, a nice Mediterranean restaurant.

A Mediterranean restaurant in a pueblo-style building.

Carrie, our waitress at Lorenzo's.

The Santa Fe Trail

When we left Las Cruces, we headed north to Santa Fe. This drive was much nicer, with continuing dramatic scenery and beautiful vistas once again.

Love this sign -- from a town we had reserved in, but then changed our minds. (The winds in Las Cruces convinced us to cancel our trip to Silver City and the night's stay in Truth or Consequences.)

Salt Basin

Along the way we stopped at a rest area and learned a bit about the area. For instance, we were driving through the Rio Grande Valley, where the Rio Salado Sand Dunes form from sand blown (what a shock) northeastward from the normally dry bed of the Rio Salado (salty river). The Rio Grande is in a deep trench between the uplifted Los Pinos Mountains to the east and the Ladrones Mountains to the northwest. Rocks from the crest of the Ladrones are found four miles deep below the dunes. Hmmm -- I think that is where they would have found our RVs had we stayed too much longer in Las Cruces!

We also were on the path of the old Camino Real, which wound its way below the basalt buttes of San Acacia. The buttes were called Acomilla and formed the walls of a narrow passage for the Rio Grande, along which hostile Apache frequently waited to ambush travelers in the old days.

Found this online:

El Camino Real del Tierra Adentro ran from Mexico City and the port city of Veracruz to Santa Fe, a distance of over 1,500 miles. Many of New Mexico's early settlers sailed to the new world from Cadiz, Spain, considered by some to be the actual beginning of El Camino Real. For 300 years, people from Mexico and Spain settled New Mexico along the famous trail.

Pretty cool.

The views as we approached Santa Fe got better and better, with snow-capped mountains beckoning us forward.