Ghost Town A Bummer

We passed the Stein Ghost Town on the way into Wilcox, Arizona and we couldn't stop so we went back to tour it. Bummer, it was closed, being fumigated for some reason. Since we were close to Lordsburg, New Mexico we decided to go there and fill up the car at Flying J and have lunch at their buffet.

Another Bummer, they don't have a buffet at this Flying J. This is the first one we've been to that didn't have a buffet. We found another restaurant that was highly advertised and went there to eat lunch. Another bummer, the food was not really good at all and the service was good either.

We drove through Old Lordsburg which was an old cow town and took some pictures of what was left or it, not much I'm afraid.

Touring White Sands Missile Proving Grounds

We finally had a sunny day when the high winds had calmed down. We wanted to tour as much of the Proving Grounds as possible. They have very strict restrictions on where you could take pictures. White Sands Proving Grounds is the location of a site called "Trinity" which is where the first Atomic Bomb was detonated. They still have locations where they test Top Secret Missiles.
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Mesilla New Mexico

My cousin Frank took us for lunch at La Posta de Mesilla which has been in business since 1880. It was originally a way station" for the Butterfield Stage Line to La Posta de Mesilla.

The U.S Government established Fort Filmore in 1851 to protect the newly conquered territory and it's people.

Outlaws such as Billy The Kid and Dutch Hubert frequented many of the bars and dance halls in town. It was at a jail in Mesilla that Billy The Kid was tried and sentenced to hang in 1881. This is the town from which he escaped.

At one time Mesilla was the Capital of the New Mexico Territory but now Sante Fe is the Capital of the State of New Mexico.

Las Cruces, NM to White Sands Missile Grounds

From Anthony, Texas to Las Cruces, NM is about 26 miles, but from Las Cruces to White Sands is another 30 miles. The directions we were given told us to take US 70 off I-10 and drive to White Sands.

We drove all the way through Las Cruces before we found US 70 and that route took us through a part of old Las Cruces. Once we got through Las Cruces we soon learned that we had to climb a mountain that was about 6,000 feet and almost straight up too. There were several big trucks going up the mountain and they werent able to do more than about 25 miles per hour. We were able to drive up at about 45 miles per hour.

When we got to the Base we soon learned they didn't believe in street signs, the only ones we could see were on the left side of the road. We missed one turn and had to go about 3 blocks before we could turn around and find the street we wanted. After that it was no problem getting to the FAMCAMP.

There are only eight sites but they are long, level and well appointed. They have full hook ups at each site and a covered patio with nice picnic tables. The scenery is a beautiful mountain range on three sides and the sunsets and sunrises on them are pretty. The name iis somewhat misleading, we looked and looked and never did find any "White Sand".

Flying J in Anthony, Texas

We finally got rid of some of the high winds for a while and made it safely to Flying J in Anthony, Texas to refuel and have supper.

We have found Flying J to be very RV friendly, they have a separate island just for RVs and you can fuel up with either gas or diesel and propane is available there too.

Flying J usually has a good buffet and of course you can order from the menu as well. The food here was real good and you can go back for seconds if you like.

We joined about five or six more RVers in spending the night there. It was reasonably quite and the parking lot was fairly level. The sunset view from there was nice.

Tomorrow we're heading to White Sands Missile Grounds to spend three or four days in their RV Park.

On The Road Again

The time has come when it's time for us to get back on the road. We don't like to stay in one place too long.

We're planning a trip out west and then into Canada and Alaska later this summer. We hope to have a couple from Alabama join up with us and see some of the west they have never seen.

The trip from Tarpley, Texas to El Paso was a little rough. We fought head winds most all the way, they were from 30 to 40 miles per hour.

We had a man pass us driving a truck with a horse trailer behind and he passed us like we were parked. About 45 minutes later we saw where he had hit the right guard rail and skidded across the highway and turned over. We saw them getting him out of the truck and they had already removed his wife. We didn't see any horses but we did see one cow. They had four State Troopers and two Paramedic units there.

We spent the night in a Passport America RV Park close to the Balmorhea State Park. Their sites are 100 feet long, full hook ups and cable TV and the rate is $10 per night. It's real quiet there and the sunrises and sunsets are beautiful.