Location: Siesta RV Park, Mesilla, NM
The campground fairies only made a brief stop to Canyon Lake Marina Campground. In other words, they left tp, but the showers were still locked up. I know people love to bash the government and praise free enterprise, but in our many years of camping nothing beats the State and National Parks. I want to publicly thank the 48 states we've camped in for their campground aesthetics, professionalism and cleanliness. (As an aside when we asked one of the private campground workers about the locked showers the response was "Complain at the office, I'm f***ing done." ) Soooo, we moseyed on down the road to Lost Dutchman State Park and asked to use the showers. Let's just say the experience was close to nirvana:)
After finally getting cleaned up we made it to Roper State Park much sooner than anticipated. Again, with the temp being in the 90's, we weren't in a hot springs state of mind. We decided driving in an air-conditioned car listening to an audio book of Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi" was much preferred. All the other state parks were either too far or too soon so we finally opted to end our day in Mesilla, New Mexico right outside of Las Cruces. Six years ago, on our first road trip across the U.S. we drove thru Mesilla and loved the quaint town with its chill vibe. We found a private RV park (it is what it is), unloaded our bikes and explored the town. A Mexican restaurant patronized mainly by locals was recommended to us. We were out front, on our bikes, still "on the fence" when a really sweet elderly couple came by and told us we should definitely try it. The woman started describing in detail the signature dish (stacked enchiladas with green sauce and an optional egg on top) and we decided to give the place a try. No sooner had we sat down and ordered drinks when an appetizer appeared at our table. It was compliments of this cute couple!! Now, how wonderful is that?! We held up our drinks and said to them, "California thanks you." They responded that they used to live in Long Beach, but NorCal was okay too. After dinner they stopped by, wanted to make sure the dinner met our expectations, and gave us other recommendations in town. This is why we love traveling so much. Your day can start out with a grumpy, burned out employee and end with a kind act from a stranger. Tomorrow we hope to check out a farmer's market in town and visit White Sands National Monument. We love to eat local food so we are really looking forward to tasting the local, fresh fare.
