Imagining the Old West

Today covers our drive from Albuquerque to Las Cruces, NM.

It was an overcast day--the perfect type of weather for driving into the sun. On cloudy days, driving seems to be less of a strain.

It is about 200 miles between the two cities, and we have been planning on driving between 200-250 miles a day when traveling between extended stay parks.

Shortly after leaving Albuquer-que, we ran into a little rain. The clouds and mist created some interesting covers for the surrounding hills.

The much-needed rain did not last long, and the sun, whose absence had been most welcome, appeared. While the reflection off the highway created a striking ribbon, the artistic product of sun and wet pavement was lost on me.



I just saw glare.

Along this sparsely populated stretch of the interstate, it was possible to imagine scenes from the Old West.

We could imagine Colonel Kit Carson riding from Fort Sumner rounding up the Mescalero Apache and Navajos, interning them at the Bosque Redondo in a chapter of history the Navajo refer to as the "Long Walk".

Or Billy the Kid riding across the desert landscape on the side of the ranch-hand Regulators against the General Store Monopoly in an attempt to break their stranglehold on the local economy in the infamous Lincoln County War.

Or the famed African American Buffalo Soldiers earning distinction fighting against Geronimo and the Apaches.

But seeing the Doña Ana Mountains and Robledo Mountains north of Las Cruces brought us back to the present day.

We stopped for the night at the Hacienda RV Resort in Las Cruces.