The Great South West Passage aka Chronicles of Las Cruces - Part 4: “Ah, isn’t the border like 100 miles from here? …”

On this recent visit to LCNM, we actually stayed in Ruidoso, about 138 miles away and commutated about 5 of the 8 days we were there. The reason for this is that Ruidoso was the closest timeshare we could trade our Cape Cod week for.


It was a really nice, calming drive unless you were mrsfabp white-knuckling it through the mountain passes. Best of all, a significant part of the ride has posted speeds of 70 and 75 miles an hour which is all the invitation I need to put that sporty little rental into overdrive.

Temperature ranges were wild as we left the mountains of Ruidoso and went through mountain passes, to the desert. It was not uncommon for it to be 21 – 28 degrees as we left our condo and 22 minutes later on the floor of the desert seeing the thermometer registering 55 –60 degrees.

The White Sands Range Run is what I called the approximate 40 mile drive from the White Sands Monument Park to the White Sands Missile Range. It was a 4 lane divided highway with 75 mile per hour signs except when passing the air force base or other military installation. I made this trip each time, each way in under 12 parsecs (Star Wars meme) which meant the 40 miles in under 30 minutes – about 82 MPH I’d guess. But like the stormtroopers guarding the galaxy, there was a bit of an oddity out there in the wide open desert spaces. Plopped down in the middle of the run was a border patrol stop on the east side of the run. This meant each night returning to Ruidoso, we made a stop at the border patrol building, to chat with our local public servant.

Now be mindful that we are at least 100 miles from the nearest border unless you mean Texas. The degree of interrogation varied but always included one question – “Are you US citizens?” after which we were sent on our way. One time there was a “illegal alien” sniffing dog that gave the car the once over, but that was about it for the stop. One time we saw several border patrol offices pull a bunch of people out of a truck and give it the twice over but we weren’t sticking around to see what happened after that.

My first thought was – is this racial profiling? We were not asked for any identification, were not questioned beyond if we were US citizens and except for the dog and a cursory look into our car a couple of times, let pass quickly. If I looked Mexican, would I have been asked for more? I think I already know that answer…