The Great SouthWest Passage aka Chronicles of Las Cruces - Episode 1: The Gamblers

The idea was more than a year in the planning, our exploratory to Las Cruces, New Mexico. One of the dominating concerns was the weather. No, not in LC, but rather can we get out of Massachusetts on an airplane, in the winter? As anyone from the northeast knows, weather dominates all travel decisions (see travel during Thanksgiving week or the Christmas holidays). However after all the planning is done, we wait for the weather report. We became close friends with all the forecasters on the Weather Channel. Our fingers automatically type www.accuweather.com every time we sit at a computer. We become weather Nazis. It all begins with the 10 Day Forecast and we count down the time from there, hoping that the weatherperson (PC meme)/ meteorologist (gender neutral, better) will be right this time or in our case wrong because a major storm is looming on the horizon for the northeast.

The Northeast has had a difficult F-month. Places like Washington DC, Philadelphia, NYC have all dealt with major snow problems (current temperature in Las Cruces 67 degrees, chance of snow? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!), and now a major weather attack is on for our vacation. We originally were leaving MA at 5am to drive to NYC for a 12:30 pm flight out of La Guardian airport. But the panic was on. First change of plans was to leave Tuesday evening so as not to have to drive in the snow. Second change was to book earlier flight – 6:30 am to beat the snow but the storm sensed our panic and moved its own timetable up. Snow in NYC by Tuesday night, MA by morning. Frantic cell calls got us a shot at a last flight out of LGA on Tuesday evening but we missed it by 10 minutes, cursing all the way as a few flakes began to laugh at us on their way down to the airport runway. We had a 6am flight, no sleep for the worrying and fingers cramped by lack of blood due to crossing.

Here is where our luck began to actually change. We awoke at 4am with only a light dusting and wet roads on the ground. A quick ride to the airport got us to the baggage check in by 5am and thru security (that is another story – look for “Pat Down Penguin” in another episode). Boarding went smoothly and we watched the snow increase in intensity and start to stick to things like the plane’s wings and the runway. There was a delay, then another delay and then they said they needed to de-ice the plane which only creates more anxiety for me, a reluctant flyer. Finally after 45 minutes they announce that departure was eminent and off we were thru the blowing, heavy and visibility altering snow, now officially in my mind the WORSE BLIZZARD OF THE CENTURY. Later we found out there were only a few more flights out of LGA and that other travelers were waiting 2 days to get out of the backlog of flights.

Dallas-Fort Worth airport was a breeze to get thru on our connecting flight except for the fact that you had to get a train and a taxi to make the 45 minute journey across it. OK, that is a bit of hyperbole but it did take quite a long handicap cart ride to get to the next departing gate. All the talk in DFW was about the impending snowstorm predicted, yes, snow in Dallas and the people were a bit on edge. They got 6 inches of the foreign white stuff beginning that night but by then we were safely ensconced in an El Paso hotel for the night. We were late due to the delay at LGA, missed the connecting flight but easily got on the next plane headed to El Paso. Of course our luggage decided to take a different route on a different plane to a different city. We don’t need another lost luggage story so suffice it to say the luggage got a taxi ride to our hotel about 4 hours after we had arrive. It was only thru impeccable travel planning that we had carry-on bags with toiletries, medications and the like with us so we were happy to await the clothing arrival. It also helped that we went to Mexican meal at an airport restaurant with a nice waiter, good tap beer and awesome nachos. Aaaa Mexican food, such a comfort!

That is the story of the first leg of our journey, with several episodes of the Chronicles to come. Lots happened, LOTS, and over the course of the next couple of weeks you will get to hear more about it. Aren’t you lucky. So, in the words of Las Crucians (is that a word? It is now…) – Mañana!