SOLO ROADTRIP II: LINCOLN & LAS CRUCES [DAYS 8-9]

i am still going to complete this trip though it has been a year and i just completed my big trip of 2022, so look out for that! the next morning i left pretty early to go to lincoln, but first stopped at the alien dunkin' (my favorite chain to get an espresso drink). apparently, this was the morning of a parade as it was the opening of the county fair. it was nice to leave the more desert / agricultural landscape & go up some hills to see some pine trees.

i knew lincoln was a must because the only street of this community is a state historic site (and lincoln is so small it is only considered "an unincorporated village"). it also turned out to be one of my favorite stops of the trip. the main building is a museum, but here you can also get a map of the other historical buildings from the late 1800s.  some are open to enter, others are now private properties. some of the buildings are the 19th century tunstall store, the san juan mission church, & the courthouse. lincoln is considered to be one of the best preserved old west towns in the united states & was called "the most dangerous street in america" by president hayes.

the original settlers were native new mexicans, but the community is mostly known for its ties to billy the kid. here is where the lincoln county war (1876-1879) was fought, between rival economic factions. billy the kid was caught & being held at the courthouse to be hung where he got hold of a gun, shot 2 deputees, & escaped. he was later found, shot, & killed in fort sumner (a place i also visited a few days before).

i wish i could find more info online on this structure, but alas i could not find any. looks pretty old though.

i love cute post offices.

fort stanton was a last minute add-on to my trip, but ended up being one of my favorite stops of the trip (today was a really good day for history). i love when i feel like am being brought back in time. the fort is surrounded by the lincoln national forest. it started in 1855 as a military post to control the apache indians. it was then used by both the union & confederate side during the civil war. later it would also be a tuberculosis hospital, a ccc work camp, a wwii internment camp for germans & japanese, a training school for the developmentally disabled, & prison for woman & juveniles. 

88 structures are still standing with some of the buildings as old as the 1850s! i was able to visit the officers' quarters, a chapel, the hospital, and the post office (which is still open).

the parade grounds

the hospital.

the hospital was my favorite to visit. inside is an exhibit about how it was a tuberculosis sanatorium for sailors from 1899 to 1953. inside you get to learn about the patients & the people who worked here, including a lot of woman.

officer quarters

my mug & the chapel

i then made my way to alamogordo, but thought i would stop to see outside the smokey bear historical park in capitan as it was only a few miles away. i knew it was closed, but still wanted to see. near here is where a cub was found in 1950 during a fire & became the living mascot of the nfs, smoky bear (the mascot already existed, but he was only a cartoon for ads). he stayed at the national zoo in dc and years later when he died, his body flown back to the this site & buried (near the area he was found). 

the building was closed, but i was able to walk around the grounds.

it was a really good choice as it was a very scenic drive through the lincoln national forest & mescalero apache indian reservation, even though it was a bit of a detour. since i had more time, i thought i would stop at a big antique mall in ruidoso, a ski village. it was a great visit as i got to talk to the owner, who was an elderly woman who travelled solo. apparently there is a community group of old solo travel women who also go fishing, kindred spirits. she told me about their facebook group. she also told me the history of the 2 story-building as it was a dance hall in the 1970s.

the register is the old bar with bronze horse heads on the railings.

i then arrived to alamogordo, away from the forest & now to the sandy desert. this is a very commercial area & known as a stopover when visiting white sands national park, where people sled down the sand dunes. i though about going, but since i was on my own, i decided to skip. i hope to go back again with someone & sled. i first ate at the applebees and then made my way to the campground, oliver lee memorial state park. this ended up being my favorite campsite of my trip. i have the unpopular opinion of preferring desert landscapes most days. the campsite is located at a canyon with the sacramento mountains nearby. 

it was really cool to be so close to the rock cliffs. the restrooms are also really nice. i had a couple of strangers warn me of the rattlesnakes that go on the blacktop at night, which i had no idea. luckily i did not see any & stayed in my car when it got dark. 

the sunset

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the next morning was really nice. i knew i had time, so i had a slow morning & took this super posey selfie.

the first stop was las cruces to go to a museum, which was a little boring. las cruces would be my base for the day. the museum did not take very long & i did not have much planned. i did not realize i would be so close to texas, so decided to stop at el paso to check another state off my list. the freeways were intimidating. as most museums were closed this day (including a fort i really wanted to visit), i decided to stop at chamizal national memorial which is literally right at the mexican border. the site celebrates conflict resolution with the border negotiations between the us & mexico. 

marker with mexico in the distance.

after returning to new mexico, i stopped at a cracker barrel (where i was mistaken as a university student).

next was mesilla,  an old town neighboring las cruces. the town was established in the 1800s and was the crossroads for 2 major routes of transport and trade. there is a strong old mexico & spanish influence. in the main square is a little park & shops in old adobe buildings. 

the old square

i bought the little green ring on my ring finger.

i love cute post offices

this night i decided to do something kind of crazy - stay overnight at a rest area. i made this decision after doing a lot of research. when looking for overnight stays, i also check out rv/camper sites that provide free stays. the rest area near las cruces appeared & after reading some reviews (on multiple sites), i learned there was 24/7 security on site & most people gave good reviews. overall, it was a very good decision. there were restrooms & at night, you could see las cruces below, the highway that splits the city, and the rock formations in the background. the only down side was the trucks could be loud (which i was aware beforehand) & it was a warm night. it was definitely an interesting experience & i did not feel unsafe at any time. 

they view of the rest area during the day.

in the morning when i was packing, i did meet an older man who was driving his truck from arizona to delaware to go to his father's funeral. he told me about how he use to be a trucker so this was not new & that he was scared of flying, hence driving across the country. he ended up giving me a plastic bag full of snack bags of dorritos & we went our separate ways. i say this all the time, but you meet generous people when you travel solo. people like helping.