Sunny & hot
146 miles
I arose at 8.20, had a free breakfast in the motel and left at 9.45. I stopped at the White Sands National Monument visitor centre to purchase some postcards and a book about the dunes, as it had closed by the time I left the previous evening. I then continued back towards Las Cruces as far as the turnoff to the missile range museum, now open. I opted to leave the car just outside the gates of the military establishment rather than pass through and park outside the museum -- it was only a two-minute walk and saved hassling with paperwork to show that the car was properly licensed and so on. On foot, I merely had to show my passport.
Outside the museum was a large collection of missiles, but I opted first for the cooler environment of the interior. This had plenty of interest, with some exhibits on the prehistory of the area but the majority devoted to the missile tests conducted on the range since the first test firings of German V2 rockets in 1945. I learned that Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto, had been involved as a specialist in optics for missile tracking. There was also a display about the space shuttle -- the orbiter ``Columbia'' landed there in 1982, and while it remained a backup landing site it was proven to be far from ideal, as there were many problems caused by the sands entering delicate machinery. Following the loss of orbiter in February 2003, several tributes had been added.
A side room was devoted to what is probably the most historic event to take place on the missile range, namely the Trinity test of July 1945. This took place nearly 100 miles to the north, in the aptly named Journada del Muerto, a barren landscape once used on the trail between El Paso and Socorro as it made for easier progress than trying to follow the Rio Grande valley for those who had adequate supplies. Radiation at the site is above background levels but insufficiently high to be unsafe for visitors. The site is only open to the public two days per year, one in April and the other in October. The exhibits included various relics of the test, including trinitite, the green glassy substance formed from the desert sands by the blast.
I returned outside to see the missile collection. This was missing its V-2 (away for refurbishment) but had examples of virtually every other missile tested on the range. Some names were familiar -- Patriot systems from the 1991 Gulf War, Pershings from the Cold War, a Redstone as adapted for use in the early US space programme. There were some weird designs, including one device shaped almost like a flying saucer which was used for testing designs for Mars landers. Launched from Roswell, could this be be the cause of the reports of alien visitors to the state?
It was now lunchtime and I was feeling peckish. The nearest town was Las Cruces, and I headed there to look for somewhere to eat, handicapped somewhat by heavy traffic and roadworks in the town centre. I found a Denny's restaurant, and had a cheeseburger and fries for lunch, then found my way back to the interstate to continue my journey south, initially on I-25 but joining I-10 (southernmost of the major east-west interstates) just beyond Las Cruces.
After a short while I crossed the border into Texas, and stopped briefly at a visitor centre near the state line. I picked up a few brochures on accommodation in the state and particularly nearby El Paso, my destination for that evening. Outside was a monument commemorating the Confederate side in the Civil War -- Texas was the most westerly of the Confederate states, and confederate forces occupied much of present-day New Mexico for a year before being driven back.
Soon after, I was entering the outskirts of El Paso. For several miles, I-10 provides one of the main routes across the city, and traffic was heavy. I had a particular motel in mind and thought I knew which exit I needed to take, but unfortunately I misremembered the number. This made life difficult when I turned off too soon and rapidly found myself lost looking for the motel. I made the further mistake of trying to continue without rejoining the interstate -- without adequate maps of the surrounding streets this made life very difficult. Eventually I was heading back towards the freeway but pulled into a parking lot to check my maps again, and realised I was outside the very motel I wanted. I stopped the car and went to check in.
I rested for a while and wrote a couple of postcards, allowing the rush-hour traffic time to subside a little before heading out again. My aim was to head for downtown El Paso close to the Rio Grande, which there forms the international boundary that separates El Paso from her sister city of Ciudad Juárez, named for a Mexican president of the 1860s. The drive was not overly pleasant but I found my way to where I wanted to be, and parked the car at the border parking, at a cost of four dollars.
El Paso and Ciudad Juárez have a long history. The first Spanish explorers came in 1581 and found it a good place to cross the Rio Grande; subsequently the area became known as El Paso del Rio del Norte. By the 1860s, the town had been divided along the Rio Grande through the loss of Texas and New Mexico to the USA. The southern part briefly served as the seat of the Mexican government under Benito Juárez in 1865 after the French invasion of Mexico. In 1888 the city was renamed after Juárez. Today Ciudad Juárez has a population of two million, making it Mexico's fourth-largest city and nearly four times the size of its US sister city.
Just ahead was the bridge. There was a pedestrian toll of fifty cents but a little to my surprise no border checks as I joined the rush of people crossing the bridge from the first world into the third. The contrast was immediately evident as I stepped off the bridge. The street I had left at the El Paso side was a shabby downtown location with nothing of interest and no soul. Here was the Avenida Juárez, a street with character, even if it was obviously geared up to the casual visitor from the richer neighbour. Souvenir shops abounded, and to my surprise vast numbers of places offering cheap eyetests and contact lenses, not to mention a liberal sprinkling of dentists. I looked in a couple of souvenir shops but declined to buy anything, a little to the upset of the staff. I ignored several people on the street offering me taxi rides, and decided to wait until I got home to get my eyes and teeth checked out.
I wandered slowly down the street until its junction with the Avenida 16 de Septiembre (Mexico's Independence Day). A short walk led to the busy Plaza de Armas, flanked on its western side by the Guadalupe Mission of 1659 and a much more modern cathedral next door. Services were just finishing in both, and I tried to move against the mass of people coming out, but it was evident that they were being closed for the night.
I then took a walk east along the Avenida 16 de Septiembre, looking in some shops to see how prices of everyday goods compared to those back home -- quite cheap, it seemed. I went past the Old Customs House, now a museum, which in 1909 was the scene of the first-ever meeting between the presidents of the United States and of Mexico.
Further on I found a small internet cafe offering an hour online for 10 pesos (roughly one dollar). Compared to the price of such things north of the border, this seemed excellent value, and I sent out a couple of emails before leaving as the cafe was about to shut. The proprietor seemed happy to be paid in US currency but as might be expected gave me change in pesos.
I decided it was now time to head back to El Paso, and returned to the bridge. There was a long queue of traffic on the bridge stretching back from the US border checks, but as a pedestrian I had no problems, just a request to check my passport and asking whether I had purchased anything in Mexico. I returned to the car and headed slowly north, on the lookout for restaurants. There seemed to be nothing obvious and I decided to head back to the motel.
Opposite the motel was an Arby's fast food restaurant, not exactly ideal but it saved time and hassle, and it was getting late. I had a sandwich and fries then returned to my room. I found quite an interesting programme about the history of ``Cheers'', and went to bed at 11.40.