I flew to El Paso, Texas on American Airlines on Friday evening. The only interesting thing about the flight was the change over. My airplane continued on to El Paso at Dallas, and I was the only one to stay on the plane. When the new flight crew got on, I welcomed them to my plane. Arriving a bit after 7PM, I picking up the rental car and with only a bit of wandering, found my way to Interstate 10. The first stop was about an hour later, in Mesilla, New Mexico. The original town square with an adobe, 1855 Church, is only about a half mile west of the freeway. The square is also the location of the Double Eagle, a restaurant which was highly recommended online. The atmosphere is pretty nice at the Double Eagle. Portions of the building date to the 1840s, the center of the building is a glass roofed courtyard. I had a table by the fountain in the center. Service was fairly good and a mariachi band worked through the dinning rooms. The management at the DOuble Eagle restuarant boasts that they have the only dedicated Beef Aging Room in New Mexico, so I tried a 28 to 35 day old ribeye. It was tender, but I've had better steaks a couple of times in the past month. Overall the food didn't stand out, and it was fairly expensive. A margarita was $8. After taking a couple of pictures of the San Albino Church, I headed across Mesilla to I-25 and continued north. About 30 miles later, I was surprised to find the freeway closed off and north bound traffic forced to go through a permanent Border Patrol check point. I would pass a number of these over the next few days. Then on to the Comfort Inn in Truth or Consequences, getting in about 11PM local time (midnight for me) and more than ready for bed. The motel is handy to the freeway, new, and a good value. Saturday morning, I was up early and on the road about 7AM. This section of I-25 is one of the most beautiful stretches of Interstate in the country. It was overcast, or I would have been taking lots of pictures. The few here, were a little later in the morning.
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