Las Vegas New Mexico

October 22 - 24, 2017:

We towed the Jeep today on routes 325, 412 and 56, crossing the border into New Mexico and then on interstate 25 to Las Vegas, New Mexico.  It was about 195 miles across wide open rangeland with several long uphill grades that gave the RV a workout.  Towing the Jeep up the long grades really drags it down.  There were two towns enroute that really interested me, Clayton, Kansas where we stopped for gas and Springer, New Mexico where we stopped for a stretch  before getting on interstate 25.  We were basically following the route of the Cimarron cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail the whole way to Las Vegas.

Historic building fro sale in Springer, New Mexico

Old R & H Livery Stable in Springer, New Mexico

Wagon Mound was a landmark for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail

We arrived at the Vegas RV Park to find the office closed and a sign saying to take any open campsite and leave the money in an envelop in the mail slot.  Since we’re staying a few nights we just paid on Monday morning.  This is our 3rd time in Las Vegas, its one of our favorite stops heading back to Tucson, but on previous stops we stayed ay the Storie State Park a couple of miles further outside of town.  As Storie State Park doesn’t have a working dump station or a shower house at this time, we decided to try the Vegas RV Campground this time.  

The town of Las Vegas developed when a group of settlers received a Mexican Land Grant in 1835.  As a result, the downtown had a walled in central square for protection as was custom at that time.  The Central square remains and is something that really gives this town a special character.  The Santa Fe Trail came right through the old downtown to the square which became a regional trading center.  The US wrestled a large portion of the southwest away from Mexico during the Mexican-American War.  US General Kearny actually came to town with his forces in 1846 and stood on a rooftop in the square to advise the people that  they were now US citizens.  If you ride the back streets on the Hispanic side of town it is almost all old adobe houses, some very run down, some abandoned and falling apart and others looking beautiful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas,_New_Mexico

A photo collage in the Plaza Hotel on the square

 

The Central Square 

The restored Plaza Hotel built in 1881

Santa Fe Trail marker

The square is filled with historic buildings

Every time I come to town, I hope to see that
someone has opened up this building

The old cafe is another one that needs a savior

There is a fund raising campaign to restore the old fire station

There are whole neighborhoods of old Adobe buildings around the Square

Many wealthy influential merchants set up shop in Las Vegas and built impressive buildings.  The arrival of the Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad in 1879 away from the old town square resulted in expansion of the town with an equally impressive “New Town” area.  The railroad built a depot with the adjacent "Castaneda Hotel and Harvey House Restaurant".   In the early 1900’s Las Vegas was a leading New Mexico town, bigger than Santa Fe or Albuquerque.  As the 1900’s worn on Las Vegas declined, the money people moved away (as greedy developer types tend to do once they make the easy money) and the town began to spiral downward.

I'm always drawn to this mural in the "New Town" area

The Masonic Temple in New Town

The El Fidel Hotel remains a beauty

The old Lion has been patched up since my last visit

  

I cruise around town looking for changes and new places to explore so I end up at Pedro's Bakery, which was great and super friendly.  Almost across the street is "Mary Ann's Famous Burritos" which I make a point to go to for lunch.  It was a little rough and dated looking inside and quite a long wait for the food.  A local drunk was eating at a table and babbling in a rough gruff, unintelligible (to me) voice.  The waitress did a good job of keeping him in check, he was sort of alternating between Spanish and English and every once in a while she would tell him to watch his language.  Then he started coughing and choking like he might vomit, I was just wanting to leave at this point, when my food came.  He eventually left when the owner came out from the kitchen and told him if he shows up like this again he won’t be allowed in.  After all that, the Burrito was just OK, so they don’t exactly get my recommendation, but it was interesting.

Pedro's has good stuff

In Las Vegas, one must go for breakfast or lunch at "Charlie's Spic and Span", it’s the best, with fresh tortillas made in the restaurant.  We went for breakfast and it was great as usual.  I always visit the murals in the parking lot when I go there, they are most interesting.  We then wander around the square, Twinkles going into the "Thread Bear" quilt shop while I go into the "Plaza Hotel".  The Hotel has been totally restored  and the owner did a video on it and some basic town history that plays in the gift shop.  We then go in the “Paper Trail” store to buy a card and end up spending over $50, we love this store.

   

You can't go wrong at Charlie's Spic & Span

These murals tend to give the hispanic version of history

A new artistic bar and restaurant, the "Skillet" opened recently that definitely appeals to the local "New Mexico Highlands University" crowd.  I went in the evening for a beer to check it out, it was crowded and seems to be the new happening spot in town.  My former favorite small bar that had good live music on weekends has changed, a new name, a totally different look, more normal looking, they still have the live music on weekends, but I much prefer the old place. 

  

The Skillet has expanded from a food truck

Borracho's is a disappointment

Lupe's Lounge still has the best bar mural
anywhere !

Since the 1990’s Las Vegas has been struggling to rebuild, with limited success, but there is hope for the future.  The "Castaneda" was a great railroad hotel that was abandoned for many years but somehow escaped demolition.  A few years ago, a savior, Alan Afield, came onto the scene who is doing a complete restoration of the building which is currently in progress.  He has done this previously at the "Posada Hotel" in Winslow, Arizona.  The "Rawlins" building across the street was used to board the Harvey Girls and is also under restoration.  When completed this area should become a destination.

I took a ride on Railroad Avenue to check on the progress of the "Castaneda" and the "Rawlins" restoration which appear to be making good progress.  In 2015 I had a tour of the Rawlins building from the owner and I was happy to see how great the aluminum front looks after cleaning.

https://www.abqjournal.com/385849/new-owner-shows-off-historic-las-vegas-nm-hotel.html

The Las Vegas Depot where Amtrak's Southwest Chief
still stops

The Castaneda Harvey House Hotel

  

The Rawlins Building

We took a ride out of town with no particular destination and ended up on a backroad that took us into a hilly forested area through the old town of "San Ignacio".  We couldn’t believe the number of houses and ranches in this remote area.  We ended up on a dirt road in the National Forest.  It was a very scenic ride with several old buildings. 

This old adobe building looks to be in great shape

  

We passed the San Ignacio cemetery

Across the street was this monument must have
historical significance ?

There were several ranches along the route

We had planned to go to Santa Fe next until we saw the weather report for sub freezing cold and snow.  As a result, we are going straight to Albuquerque where it is milder.  

The next stop is Albuquerque, New Mexico,

Twinkles and Slick 

Oklahoma Panhandle and the Black Mesa

October 19 - 21, 2017:

The ride today is on routes 83 - 51 to Elkhart, Kansas where we cross into Oklahoma and then take route 56 to Boise City and then route 325 to Black Mesa State Park in Kenton, Oklahoma.  Again it was miles and miles of corn fields sprinkled with many oil and gas wells.  The panhandle area of Oklahoma was once known as “No Mans Land”, for a period between 1850 and 1890 when it was not indian country or claimed by any state and was a neutral strip.  It remains today very remote with virtually nothing in the way of development.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_Panhandle

Our route is following the Cimarron cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail

We have passed so many old combines this year, farmers
seem to keep the old ones and park them where that can
be seen from the road as revered objects of their heritage

The ride into Black Mesa State Park was beautiful  and interesting with two cows in the road, a few prong horn Antelopes and a Tarantula Spider scurrying across the road in front of me.  This is wide open ranch country with herds of cattle, huge scenic vistas and beautiful short grass covered Mesas.  We feel that we are really back in the west again.  We pass a sign indicating a crossing of the Santa Fe Trail a short distance from the State Park entrance.  I return in the evening to see a group of pronghorns, beautiful animals, that bound away at high speed when I approach.

These are real free range cattle

The Santa Fe Trail came through right here

The Pronghorns are the fastest land mammal in the 
Western Hemisphere 

The Black Mesa State Park has very nice campsites with electric and water situated along the Carrizo Creek.  The park is surrounded by vast expanses, from horizon to horizon, with rolling short grass prairie and flat topped mesas.  It is very arid here, but covered with many kinds of native grasses, chola and picky pear cactus, juniper and in low areas stands of cottonwoods.  There is a hiking trail, the Mesa View Trail, that climbs up onto the Mesa overlooking the campground and Lake Carl Etling.

The campground from the Mesa View Trail

Heading down the trail

Twinkles with a huge tumbleweed

Petrified wood at the park

A wide angle view from an overlook with Lake Carl Etling in the distance

A few miles away is a trail to Black Mesa which is the highest point in Oklahoma at 4,973 feet.  We do the hike, 8.4 miles total, which is the biggest hike we have done since leaving Tucson in the spring.  It was a beautiful hike in all regards and a good test of our fitness. At trails end is a monument with the four compass points giving the distance to New Mexico, Texas and Colorado and New York on the Oklahoma panel.  There is a place nearby where according to the map, the road ends and the corners of Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico actually meet.  This area has interesting geology, the Black in Black Mesa is from volcanic lava that has capped underlying layers of sandstone. The Sandstone often erodes into hodo formations on the edges of the Mesas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mesa_%28Oklahoma%29

On the way to Black Mesa we pass a huge building that
appears to now be deserted

Heading down the Black Mesa Trail

A bluebird posing on a yucca stalk

The Tarantula Spiders are out again

The trail spirals up the peak ahead

Approaching the top of the Mesa

The view on top of the the Mesa

The monument at the highest point in Oklahoma

The almost endless view as we start back down from the Mesa

 

Old General Store in nearby town of Kenton

We had a nasty issue to resolve when I found that our black tank was almost full although I had drained it in Dodge City two days ago.  Obviously the tank did not drain completely and is now plugged up.  Looking into the tank from the Toilet we saw that toilet paper was wadded up in there and had not dissolved like it should be.  Twinkles then came clean advising that she had recently bought cheaper toilet paper that says “septic safe” but not “RV” safe.  She then tells me how we just need to run a snake down the pipe in the toilet to clear the blockage and I am not understanding where this pipe is, I thought it was just a tank with a discharge pipe to the drain connection.  Twinkles then comes clean again, telling me how when I was away last winter it became plugged and she bought a snake and cleared the blockage herself.  She said the quilting girls at Desert Trails got quite a laugh about that.  I’m not liking these dark secrets that are now being exposed, but am pretty impressed that she did this.  Of course we don’t have this snake and its 25 miles to the town of Boise City.  We drive there to get a snake only to find no stores open, its Saturday, but as we drive past the plumbing supply store a woman in a pickup truck out front waves us down.  It turns out she is the store owner, they closed at noon, but she will open up to sell us a snake.  Back at the campground, we spend about a hour with the snake and then a water hose with a spray tip followed by several tank flushes to get the situation cleared.  The lesson learned, don’t be cheap on the toilet paper !

The town of Boise City is really depressed with many vacant buildings and stores, but after reading its history, I understand.  This town was founded in 1908 by developers Stanley Kline and W.T. Douglas who sold 3,000 building lots promoting it as elegant townsite with tree lined and paved streets, numerous businesses and railroad service.  The buyers arrived to find that none of it was true !  Stanley and Kline eventually were both convicted of mail fraud and sent to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary.  Boise City was also involved in the dust bowl days in the 1930’s and then there was the bombing incident.  In 1943 the town was mistakenly bombed by a US B-17 bomber during training flight when the crew became disoriented and mis took the town’s lights for the bombing target.  The Bomber crew was invited back for the 50th anniversary of this but declined to attend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boise_City,_Oklahoma

The Cimarron County Court House

A sign and empty bomb casing commemorating
the bombing

The bank is a fine looking building

   

The House of Cheers is not so cheerful looking

The Palace Hotel has seen better days

The Cimarron County Courthouse in the center of town with a roundabout around it.  I’m taking a photo of it when a man stops his pickup truck and said in a friendly way “You’re taking photos of the most run down town in Oklahoma” ?  He then told me his wife has a beauty salon nearby that they just remodeled, it’s the best looking shop in town.  I thanked him for doing something to help out as he drove off.  So, even though it actually may be the most depressing town in Oklahoma, I found two friendly people within an hour, there is hope !

Keep watching our friends on:  www.hitchupandgo.com

The next stop is one of our favorite New Mexico places, Las Vegas, New  Mexico,

Twinkles and Slick