The border patrol and winter winds

It's a long and boring drive on the interstate 10 into Las Cruces. At times it seemed the only ones on the road besides us were the border patrol. There are lots of them in their signature green and white trucks, some with trailers for their ATVs, parked on the side of the road. We saw one stopped on the shoulder with two officers holding guns on a couple of young Mexican men lying on the ground in their red and turquoise hoodies. I don't know if they were carrying drugs in their backpacks or just trying to get into the land of opportunity.

On all the roads heading north from the Mexican border are border patrol checkpoints where all vehicle traffic must stop to be questioned. We've had to show our passports and say where we were coming from but so far we haven't had the sniffing dogs inside Mohita. One officer seemed a little suspicious though. When we told him we were exploring the area he said, "And you are travelling around in THIS?" We tried not to be insulted.

Yesterday we arrived in Las Cruces, a city of about 100,000 not far from the west texas town of El Paso. We drove in from Demming in a windstorm. We'd spent the previous night being buffeted by winds gusting to 50 mph. They come howling across the wide open spaces this time of year whenever a front comes through. even though the sun is shining and the sky is clear blue, the wind makes it mighty cold in the morning. We liked Las Cruces better than we expected. There's a cute little 'old town' called Mesilla with adobe buildings, good restaurants and shops, there's a large and pleasant state university, and a downtown area with the main street closed to traffic and a farmers market happening. We visited the city art museum and saw a very interesting exhibit of New Mexican art. The museum also offers classes in ceramics, painting, and weaving. All the towns and cities in this area seem to have thriving arts communities.

Location:NM 25 heading north