May 18: Las Cruces

The weather forecast suggested that a change in plans was necessary, so rather than hike in the wilderness I chose to walk along the Rio Grande to Mesilla, an old village established in 1850 and whose town center is recognized as a national historic landmark.  It was at the crossroads of two stagecoach lines and attracted such notorious figures as Billy the Kid, Pancho Villa and Pat Garrett.  Many of the homes and buildings retain their old Adobe style and have interesting stories to tell. I thought it might be a good change from the crossroads of malls which my hotel sits between.

It was 3.2 miles along the river walk, which was delightful.  Ducks swimming, lots of birds of various, but un-named types, and even a beaver, or at least I thought it was a beaver.  Then another 2.2 miles into the village of Mesilla. A woman at the craft market this morning in Las Cruces told me about La Posta, a restaurant that was well known and had excellent food, so I headed there after a stroll around the very charming town center. La Posta had fish tanks with piranha in them — not sure why — and there were signs suggesting to keep our hands out of the tank, and several parrots who looked sullen in their cages. I chose a table on the outside patio under the pecan tree, as it was turning out to be sunny and warm. The margarita was perfect, so I had a leisurely lunch reading a magazine, in no real hurry to walk the 5.4 miles back. I stopped into a few shops but found them mostly trading on the history with few authentic items for sale. I finally headed back out of town for the river just before 3PM, mindful of the ominous skies which were suddenly threatening.

By the time I reached the river it had begun to rain.  Seriously rain. The Camino taught me how to walk in the rain, so I wasn’t worried (nor was I loving it), when the rain turned to pebble sized hail. I ran to a spot below the roadway — the pebbles had almost hurt as they rained down on my noggin. I stayed under there for about half an hour, monitoring the storm clouds and checking the weather app to see if there was a time of clearing on the way. At last it appeared to stop, so I began the river walk 3.2 miles and did it at a brisk pace.  I had seen lightening in the distance, and while I know you don’t want to be the highest thing in a field when it’s lightening, I couldn’t for the life of me remember what you were supposed to do. So I walked fast. I have never been so glad to see my little silver Prius as I was when I finally reached the parking lot.

And now I’m back in my hotel room, and it’s grey outside, and still raining, so I’m going to watch the season finale of Survivor and be perfectly happy that I survived my adventure today!