Two RV Gypsies in Las Cruces, New Mexico

Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers
(and Professional Travelers)

Las Cruces

Below you will find photos of Sunny Acres RV Park, the Organ Mountains, beautiful scenery, New Mexico's state flag, state bird, state flower; a giant road runner; Veteran's Memorial, three crosses, houses, plants, and the historic Village of Mesilla. At the bottom of this page is a sub-menu to see photos of White Sands and the Space Mural - not to be missed.

BRIEF HISTORY: Las Cruces was previously inhabited by the Manso people, and the Mescalero Apache lived nearby. The area was colonized by Juan de Oñate in 1598, and he became its first governor. Las Cruces was founded in 1849 when the US Army laid out the new town after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had ceded the land to the United States in 1848.

Doña Ana was on the US side of the Rio Grande, and the nearby village of Mesilla was founded in 1848 by settlers from Doña Ana who wished to stay in Mexican territory. The Mesilla region was incorporated into the United States with the Gadsden Purchase.

Las Cruces is a city in Doña Ana County, the Southwest portion of New Mexico, United States. The population was 89,722 as of the 2007 census estimate making it the second largest city in the state. Las Cruces is the center of an agricultural region irrigated by the Rio Grande, which flows just west of the city and provides much needed irrigation to support the state's prized chile crop. . There are many mountains; the Organ Mountains that are to the east of the city, the Las Cruces area is also in close proximity to the Doña Ana mountains, the Robledo mountains, and Picacho peak.

Las Cruces is in the Mesilla Valley, which has thousands of acres of farmland irrigated by the Rio Grande River. Sixty miles east is White Sands National Monument, an area of surrealistic beauty. Photos of White Sands are included on this website.

Origin of state's name: Named by the Spanish for lands north of the Rio Grande River Capital City: Santa Fe Motto: Crescit eundo - It grows as it goes Song: O, Fair New Mexico Poem: "A Nuevo Mexico" by Luis Tafoya
New Mexico State Flag	The yellow field and red symbol colors are the colors of Spain. First brought to New Mexico by Spanish explorers in 1540. On New Mexico's flag we see a red sun with rays stretching out from it. There are four groups of rays with four rays in each group. This is an ancient sun symbol of a Native American people called the Zia. The Zia believed that the giver of all good gave them gifts in groups of four. These gifts are: * The four directions - north, east, south and west. * The four seasons - spring, summer, fall and winter. * The day - sunrise, noon, evening and night. * Life itself - childhood, youth, middle years and old age. All of these are bound by a circle of life and love, without a beginning or end
New Mexico State Flower: The yucca was adopted as the State Flower on March 14, 1927. The yucca is a member of the lily family and a symbol of sturdiness as well as beauty. In the early summer, pale ivory flowers bloom at the tips of its long, fibrous stalks. At the base of the plant are broad, sharp edged leaves that look like stilettos. The yucca sometimes grows to the height of a small tree.
	The origin of the city's name is unknown. In Spanish "Las Cruces" means "the crosses". Crosses have a symbolic meaning for many people in the area. The three crosses has been a symbol of the Las Cruces area since before Mesilla's founding in 1848, and was recently challenged in court.
	Bataan Memorial Monument

The Veterans Wall, located in the Las Cruces Veterans Park at 2651 Roadrunner Parkway, was dedicated on November 11, 2005 to all who served their country honorably, regardless of home of record or period of service. All veterans are represented by 7,065 names of veterans who entered the armed services of the United States from Doña Ana County and who served during a major conflict from the Civil War through the Persian Gulf War.

	Lee Duquette and his friends, Jerry & Carole, who live in Las Cruces and were kind enough to act as travel guides for the two RV Gypsies.
Las Cruces Water Tank; The Conquistadors are represented as one of the First travelers up the Rio Grande from Spain, but the Native Americans were already here.


	Lee & AWO - the two RV Gypsies' new yard - Sunny Acres RV Park in Las Cruces, New Mexico is a nice RV park with friendly workers. It is also within walking distance of a Mexican restaurant, dollar store and other stores.
Beautifully painted bridges

beautiful scenery

The beautiful Organ Mountains are located east of Las Cruces, New Mexico. They were named by Spanish explorers who felt that the jagged peaks looked like the pipes of a pipe organ.



Plants & Cacti in Jerry's yard




style of many houses, yards in Las Cruces



Las Cruces' giant roadrunner sculpture celebrates its fifth anniversary along I-10. But the only "Beep! Beep!" you'll hear will be from passing cars.

Lee Duquette and the giant road runner. This big bird is twenty (20) feet tall and forty (40) feet long

The giant roadrunner is made with all kinds of stuff—tennis shoes, old computer keyboards, bicycle tires, broken hair dryers, plastic plates, paint brushes, and lots of other "trash". The body of the bird is composed of wire fencing and sturdy material found at the city's sanitary landfill, which was its original nesting area after its creation in 1992. Much like the plight of its flesh-and-feathers counterpart, however, the roadrunner's habitat, in fact its very life, was threatened by "progress." The city closed the landfill area on the east mesa to allow housing to be developed. The big bird now sits off I-10 on the outskirts of Las Cruces.

ABOVE & BELOW: The stuff the big road runner is made of

Thank you for viewing the photos of the two RV Gypsies in Las Cruces. Please continue to explore the 3 other photo sections in the menu below.
White Sands	The Space Mural
Las Cruces, NM	Mesilla, NM

AFTER you have viewed all 4 of the above photo sections, please continue on for photos in Arizona.