I was surfing the news last night on the internet and as I got to the end of the page, right at the bottom was the very last news item and there it was the headline that jumped right at me : "Bill Clinton stumps in Las Cruces." I let out a big shout "Well well I know that place because I been there. Oh my good gracious!"
As soon as the headline registered in my head my heart fluttered a bit and quick smile appeared on my face. It was one of those moments that defines all those endless hours of driving that I had done in the far corners of our vast beautiful country, the parts most people simply ignore to explore because it was not a glamorous town or "there was nothing there" or just fly over on a plane to some place, a destination that is "cool" and "hip" perhaps a town like Tucson, Arizona. It was one of those moments all your travels suddenly converge into one single moment even if the euphoria lasted just a for a minute. If the town we are talking about is a well known town somewhere on the east coast it would not have evoked such an emotion in me. But this town is all the way down in New Mexico state some 2100 miles away from where I am right now in New York City and the town is so remote from rest of New Mexico that Mexican border may well be just 50 miles away.
I would not be exaggerating if I said 9 out of 10 Americans will never get a chance to visit Las Cruces. Many of them might fly in to Albuquerque about 200 miles up north from this town for a vacation and maybe spend a weekend at Santa Fe the darling town of all the tourists who visit New Mexico. On the other side down south there is El Paso that sits at the corner of Texas and New Mexico border; you might stop here if you were driving from Houston, Texas to San Diego, California to fill gas or to get something to eat - if you fail to stop here you will be hungry for a long long time. The town of El Paso is the biggest city you pass before you see the "water" on the pacific coast; this dusty outpost of a town in Texas has two contrasts, one on US side and the other on Mexico side that goes by the name Juarez which is about 50 miles south of Las Cruces where nobody stops. Almost no one.
How I ended up in Las Cruces back in June of 2011 would make a nice travel account on its own and I will save that for another day but looking back I am glad I stopped there. What I remember from spending an hour there was the "quiet". Yes the town was totally quiet, was devoid of many people. It was nice to read that President Bill Clinton stopped here this weekend in this charming town to meet with locals and campaign for his wife who will go head-to-head with her opponent on June 7th the last "Super Tuesday" of the primaries that includes California. No matter who wins in New Mexico the town of Las Cruces will win your heart if you take time to stop here. .
