Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Coachlight RV Park, Las Cruces, NM - Dec 4-6
This is our first time to stop over in Las Cruces. We had several reasons for stopping here, but the main one was to visit our friend Jessica Piasecke, who is going to grad school here. We met her at Chaco (as you may recall), where she is doing a field study of the elk population. We visited the Old Mesilla area, one of the most colorful and historical towns in SW New Mexico. In early times, Pueblo Indians and Conquistadors used it as a camping place. In 1854, the Gadsden Purchase annexed much land in southern NM, including Mesilla. The Butterfield Overland Mail & State Line set up regional headquarters here in 1858. At that time, Mesilla was the largest town in the southern part of the NM Territory, with a population of 3,000. Pat Garrett, the famous sheriff who shot Billy the Kid, is said to have had an office here. Billy the Kid and many other outlaws contributed to the wild side of life here. He was tried in a building on the plaza and was sentenced to hang for the murder of Sheriff Brady. He is said to haunt the nearby courthouse. There are many interesting shops as well as an outdoor market on the plaza.Jessica and her friend Luke came over for dinner and a fun evening of Trivial Pursuit. As usual, Jessica trounced us!! We also were able to go to a local bridge club for an afternoon duplicate game. Again, we had fun and came in first.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 12:03 AM 
