Optional Tours April 12, 2022  (Sorry the tour is now full)

The missile range has informed us that they now require certain information to do a background clearance before they will let us on missile range.  Scarlett Ayres has sent out email requesting the information from all persons registered for the bus.  Please send her the required information so the missile range can do a background check.  You can call her at 575-382-9613, 575-621-0171.

There will be an optional tour on Tuesday, April 12 to White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) and historic Od Mesilla. This tour is only open to US citizens.   You can sign up for this tour on the registration page.  WSMR will not allow foreign nationals on post.  At the missile range we will visit Missile Park.  The missile range is the birthplace of the nation’s missile and space activity.  You will see many historic missiles though the museum is closed.  WSMR was also one of the key locations of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb during World War II. The testing of the first atomic bomb took place in 1945 at the Trinity site on WSMR, 65 miles north of White Sands National Monument.  This site is open to the public on April 2.  After World War II, WSMR became home of some of the German scientists, including Werner Von Braun, who were instrumental in the conception and development of the V-2 rocket. Managed by the U.S. Army, WSMR has supported and continues to support essential defense and space exploration programs for all branches of the military services and NASA, as well as other forms of scientific research.  After we visit the missiles and other equipment at the missile park, we will be joined on the tour bus by a WSMR official, and we will be taken to historic Launch Complex 33.  This launch complex is the birthplace of America’s missile and space activity.   He will give us a running commentary while on the bus and discuss Indian pueblos found on the range as well as the range’s history.  Note, there is a possibility that the tour may be canceled by the missile range.  This is a testing range, and they test missiles that need a large area to go splat.  When this happens, US-70 may be closed at the San Augustine Pass and a good part of the missile range may be evacuated.  Chances are real good that in won’t happen, but it can happen.  If this happens, at best we can slip in and see the missile park but not Launch Complex 33.  Plus, the General or his superiors may limit visitors because of pandemic concerns.  The War Eagles Museum in Santa Teresa is a backup.

Visitors to Las Cruces won’t want to miss exploring historic Mesilla.  Mesilla (“Little Tableland”) is the best-known and most visited historical community in Southern New Mexico. Today, many of Mesilla’s population of nearly 2,200 residents are direct descendants of Mesilla’s early settlers.  Mesilla has a rich and diverse heritage with the integration of Indian, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American cultures.  Shopping on the plaza in buildings dating to the 1880s makes a fun day all by itself, but there is so much more to Mesilla.  The town is centered on the plaza with Basilica de San Albino forming one side.   The plaza looks much like it did when Billy the Kid, Roy Bean and Pat Garrett strolled the plaza.  In fact, Billy the Kid was sentenced to death by hanging in Old Mesilla, but he escaped!  Old Mesilla remained part of Mexico after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo at the end of the Mexican American War in 1848.  Since 1848, Old Mesilla has had a major influence on the Mesilla Valley.  From the Gadsden Purchase, at which time Mesilla became part of the United States (signed in Old Mesilla in 1854), to the Civil War, to the trial of Billy the Kid, Mesilla has been a prominent part of the rich history of the Southwest.    The Butterfield Stage Line ran through Old Mesilla and presently the restaurant La Posta occupies the original building and stables.  If you take the optional tour on Tuesday April 12, you will spend time in Old Mesilla and there will be time for shopping and exploring.  Mary De Varse has written a great little publication that provides the reader with a wonderful and informative self-paced tour through Old Mesilla. A copy of this publication can be purchased at Bowlin’s Mesilla Book Center on the Plaza (or Amazon), and you can tour Old Mesilla at your own pace.  We also plan on having a trained history teacher give a one-hour tour around the plaza.  She will talk about brothels, bordellos, and scary stories.  It will be up to you to tour with the teacher, explore on your own or shop till you drop at the many unique shops on the plaza.  Shop for jewelry, southwestern décor, books, unique clothing, and other handmade items.  Restaurants are on your own.  There are several great ones in or near the plaza.  This is the area for Mexican food and be sure you know the answer to the state question:  Red or green?  So come and explore Old Mesilla, the city that has been a prominent part of the rich history of the Southwest.