Day Six : Tucson, AZ - Las, Cruces, New Mexico

Skip this blog, very boring...

Sign outside Super8 Motel, Las Cruces

Again I probably left late and headed for Las Cruces as planned, another straight forward ride down the I10. After reaching Las Cruces, I was only a further 40miles to El Paso, Texas which I was tempted to ride to just to spend a night in Texas but the next day I was heading north which would result in backtracking so I stayed put in a Super8 Motel which was a novelty, in it's own way, being on my own with my bed, some cheeky (not porn 'cheeky') tv and time to catch up with home. It was my first motel also so for a young Irish lad, the novelty factor was mega. Staying in motels however, nowhere near equated the excitement of going to a real life American laundromat (more on this at a later date). I hate using my 'intelligent' phone when I'm around people socially although sometimes it is a necessity so I tend to allow WhatsApp messages, Facebook messages, text messages and emails all add up particularly while traveling. I like asking people (locals) for directions instead of consulting Google Maps because they often give you a better route / more scenic route. I had WiFi in SUper8 so I took the opportunity to catch up on the local and social news and backup some photos I had taken so far. 

On the road today I come across the The Thing which I had originally anticipated in my original plans. It was well advertised online and it seeed to be popular. The Thing is described as a roadside attraction that is designed just to get motorists to pull off on the stretch of interstate between Tucson and El Paso. There are huge billboard signs for 30miles before you get to this tiny museum and gift shop on the side of the road. The signs state, 'What is it?'', 'Have you SEEN The Thing??' , 'The THING of the desert' and each sign is the size of a juggernaut truck.

I found the museum, which I now realize is a glorified petrol station, there are three large sheds that you enter one by one at a cost of one dollar. Before entering a small door in the back of the oversized gift shop, you are advised 'The Thing' is in a glass case on the right as you enter the third shed. The other sheds contained bizarre statues, old models of Native Americans around a fire, tortured souls in old cages, some old farming equipment and an old car that is claimed to have been owned by Adolf Hitler. 

All of these spare items were just fillers for the grand finale being, 'The Thing'. Anybody reading this who has driven this road, and paid their dollar in to see the thing, can probably relate to my sense of disappointment. It would be unfair of me to tell you exactly what 'The Thing' but it certainly wasn't difficult to work out what it. Whatever it was, THEY were dead and they did not receive an honourable burial.......

Lessons today?? 
In August 1846, during the Mexican-American War, U.S. Colonel Stephen Watts Kearney took formal possession of New Mexico and granted citizenship and amnesty to anyone swearing allegiance to the United States. This allowed Spaniards, Mexicans and Native Americans to keep their land with newly granted citizenship providing they were willing to tolorate the labour of  working harsh lands. (I actually read about this the next day but I learned no lessons today, it was brief and boring).

Road-runner statue outside Las Cruces, NM

POW - MIA Memorial, Las Cruces, NM