Florida Spring Training 2017- Day 74

We got a fairly early start at 9:00 am under clear, but windy skies.  The good news was that it was mostly a tail wind.  The road was clear and we made good time to Las Cruces, NM arriving at 1:30 pm local as we gained an hour - we are now in the Mountain Time Zone.

It was "wide open spaces" again with a 80 mph speed limit.  One thing we always have to remember when travelling in this area is to keep fuel management in mind.  We rolled into Fort Stockton yesterday on just about an empty tank of gas.  Today, even though we filled up before we left Ft. Stockton, we stopped in Van Horn, TX (about 120 miles further west) to top off the tank.  Even though there may or may not be any "Law West of the Pecos", there certainly aren't a lot of gas stations between Fort Stockton and El Paso along I-10.

Although we said we were finished with sightseeing on this trip, we decided to drive into Mesilla, a historic Mexican area just south of the RV Park to look around, have a drink and possibly stay for dinner.

The town is a more-or-less preserved historical community centered around an old town square and the San Albino Basilica, a historic Catholic church.  The town features a variety of contemporary boutiques, restaurants, unique stores, galleries, etc.. The plaza and surrounding area have a traditional adobe look and many of them are original/restored buildings from the early to mid 1800's.  There were also several vendors set up in the plaza  selling local crafts.

The history of Mesilla dates back to the early 1800's as several trails came through the area and the town became a transportation and commerce hub.  The town reached its prime in the 1870's then declined when the railroad was routed through the neighboring town of Las Cruces.  Today, Mesilla is essentially a place for tourists to visit as well as place for locals to gather, with activities centered around church services and events.  It appears they also have entertainment and special shows regularly scheduled in the Plaza throughout the year.

On the way into Mesilla we visited the mother of all spice stores where they sell among other things, bushel bags of dried chili peppers  (They had five different kinds of peppers, graded by degree of hotness).  They had lots of other things including bags of ground spices, spiced nuts and many other things Hispanic in nature that are really hard to describe in a few words.  You would have to see the place to fully appreciate it.

We had Margaritas and dinner at a great Mexican restaurant on the plaza , La Posta de Mesilla, before returning to the RV for the evening.  We will drive on to the Phoenix area tomorrow.

Day 74 Pictures - Mesilla