A Gentle Zephyr

The locals tell us that the wind always blows in the Spring in southern New Mexico.  They are 100% correct.  This morning the wind was a tolerable 10 mph from the west southwest.  By 10 am, the wind was consistently at 20 mph, with gusts to 30.  By this afternoon, the gusts were above 60 mph and all the surrounding mountains had disappeared in the dust, so we hunkered down in the trailer and watched the world blow by.  Tumbleweeds, grocery bags, and random debris blew through the park like roadrunners ahead of the coyote.

Before things got too weird weather wise, we went into downtown Las Cruces to a farmers market.

I'm sure that on a better day the sidewalks would be filled with people and vendors, but today things were a little sparse.  In fact, at the north end of the street the wind was blowing the tents around, and most vendors were packing it in for the day. At the south end of the 1/2 mile long pedestrian walkway, where this pic was taken, the wind was substantially less, and we had an enjoyable walk.  We didn't buy much, just a couple of cups of coffee from a lady who roasts the beans herself, and makes coffee to order on the spot with individual cup coffee filters and hot water.

After an afternoon of chores, getting fuel for the truck and grocery shopping, we decided that dinner out was in order.  After all, we had worked hard all afternoon!  Let's see, Wednesday evening we ate at the Double Eagle (New Mexican food), Thursday it was Andele! for traditional Mexican food, last night we stayed home and BBQ'd New York steaks with all the fixin's, so tonight we chose Los Mariachi's for a meal that combined traditional Mexican with New Mexican dishes.

A Chili Relleno with a Hatch chili.

Two tamales with red sauce for Donna.

Sopapillas stuffed with Chili con Carne.  I ordered one with red sauce (mild) and one with green (hot).  Delicious!

We ate every bite!






This is our last night in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  As I write this, the wind is still blowing about 20 mph according to the local news, and it's supposed to get down to 30 tonight.  We have been planning to travel north from here to Albuquerque, and then west to begin our return home, but the weather has thrown us a bit of a curve.  The low in "Alba-kirk" is going to be in the 20's for the next few days, and I40 west toward Flagstaff was closed earlier today due to snow and icy road conditions, with the low tonight in Flagstaff predicted to be 9 above zero.

Needless to say, we have changed our plans.  We're going to return to Tucson tomorrow, find an rv park, and plug in and keep warm.  We hope to follow warm temps north and west for a few days after that, maybe toward Bullhead City, NV. We'll see.  In any case, Las Cruces has been an enjoyable experience, and we hope to return one day.