Day 9, March 11. 2023, Saturday. Las Cruces, NM

Today we visited the Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument which is 10 miles east of Las Cruces. In the morning we hiked the La Cueva Trail to view the cave under the mountains and to the Fillmore Trail to the Fillmore Falls. The elevation gain was 400 feet over the 4.2 miles of trails. The cave was used beginning around 5,000 B.C.  The falls were little more than a trickle but it was a nice place to eat our lunch which we brought with us. The mountains were beautiful and got their name because the formations looked like organ pipes. In the afternoon we hiked the Dripping Springs Trail to the Crawford Trail with an elevation gain of 500 feet to a total elevation of 6,150 over the outward bound 1.5 miles which was entirely up hill. At the end of the trail are the ruins of Colonel Eugene Van Patten’s late 1800's mountain camp which included a hotel. A cistern was built under the dripping springs. The springs today were barely dripping. Fortunately, the 1.5 miles trail back was all downhill and along the way we spotted about 8-10 deer high up on a mountain.  We had over 20,000 steps over the 7.2 miles of hiking today all while suffering tropical storm force winds. Not bad for a couple of old farts!  I expect to sleep well tonight.

Day 8, March 10, 2023, Friday.  Las Cruces, NM (350 miles)

Travel day from Midland, TX. Entered Mountain time zone and checked into the Sunny Acres RV Park (FHU) about 4:00, in time to do laundry and grocery shopping.  Good wifi!

 Day 6, March 8, 2023, Wednesday. Dallas, TX

In the morning we drove to the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District.  This was once the largest livestock market in the Southwest.  At 11:30 there is a cattle drive down Exchange Street. The “drive” consisted of 13 longhorn cattle guided by several horsemen.  One longhorn’s horns appeared to be upside down and the poor animal seemed to struggle to keep its head up. We walked around the site and all the shops were pretty much selling the same stuff, any and everything cowboy.  My opinion is this is a tourist trap and not worth the visit.  We then headed to Dallas to visit the Sixth Floor Museum. This museum is well done and is a must see.  In the corner of the sixth floor is where Oswald took his shots behind boxes of books and is recreated by the museum. You can also view the Presidential route from the window and each shot is marked by an “X” on the road below.  There is also an interesting quote by JFK (see photo) made on that fateful day. I also took a photo of the pedestal on the grassy knoll were Abraham Zapruder took his video with the fatal “X” on the road.  Dinner at BCD Tofu, Korean cuisine with my first cousin once removed, Dale, whom I had not seen in almost 50 years. Met his wife of 33 years, Alison, for the first time. A great visit which felt like a family reunion.

Day 7, March 9, 2023, Thursday.  Midland, TX (338 miles)

Departed Dallas and stopped at Feedstore BBQ in Southlake, a suburb of Dallas. Cousin Dale says its BBQ is better than Salt Lick in Austin. Salt Lick is the best BBQ I have ever had.  So we got a pound of brisket and a rack of ribs to go. When we stopped for lunch we had some of both. The brisket was excellent and the ribs were delicious but not quite up to Salt Lick.  We arrived at the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, a Harvest Host, in Midland just after 6:00 and the museum was already closed. We had a large parking lot to ourselves for an overnight.