We head out this morning south on 25. Our destination is Las Cruces. Leigh studies the Triple A book and says, “Truth or Consequences has a museum and usually the small town museums are really good for a couple of hours.” I have my doubts about visiting a town whose residents would rename it for a game show. What were they thinking? The museum turns out to be a fascinating place. It’s a series of little buildings, each added as the museum grew. There is the ubiquitous room of prehistoric pottery, beads and arrowheads. I’ve looked at more pottery than any 21st century white man should. I move on to an old log cabin furnished with bed, table, tools and weapons. It’s exotic and depressing. There’s much here about Geronimo, one of history’s best guerilla fighters. He killed a lot of American and Mexican soldiers before he was captured and turned into a pet. And of course there’s a room devoted to Ralph Edwards and his show, Truth or Consequences. The museum just kept going from added building to added building. I finish the tour before Leigh because I don’t spend the same amount of time reading, absorbing. I flit. Skim. So I go out to the bookstore, looking for a book about Mildred Cusey, a New Mexico prostitute in the early 20th century who became a very powerful political figure (behind the scenes) and charitable person who helped a lot of people less fortunate. (Nothing melts my heart faster than a successful, good-hearted prostitute. And while I say this lightly, read the book to see the abuse she was subjected to, and how she rose above it, becoming financially successful, keeping a sense of humor and helping others along the way. Your profession doesn’t matter. The kind of person you are does matter). I find the book, then go back looking for Leigh. I return to the Geronimo room and that’s when I see it: a small photograph on a corner wall. I had missed it before because I was too busy focusing on Geronimo. It’s a group photo of some captured Apaches in front of a train. There’s a blow-up of a woman. She is stunningly beautiful, high cheek bones, a thick mane of hair, a look of pride, dignity and fearlessness on her face. She is captivating and I find myself almost hypnotized, transported back the hot, dusty days when both the U.S. Army and Mexican army hunted down the fearless Apaches. She was the sister of Victorio, who fought against both the U. S. and Mexico who were determined to exterminate the Apaches. Lozen finally surrendered to the U.S. Army and died in a Florida prison camp at the age of 50 of tuberculosis. To discover a picture and biography of this woman in a dusty little museum in the area where she lived and fought means so much more than just reading an account in a book. You’re breathing the air, feeling the same dry hot wind, and the same dust that she did. Lozen. Expert rider, warrior, psychic and healer. Good with a gun. I can’t get her off my mind. So many discoveries. I learn here also about the Apache Kid who I’d never heard of and read about him last night. An Apache who’d been captured by another band of Indians, then adopted by a white general, joined the army and was considered a top scout. Good looking and graceful, he was popular with the women. Then after a mistake on his part and some lies from the whites, he became one of the most feared and sought after outlaws of the time. Came to a violent end, being ambushed, shot in the throat and chest, then beheaded. The man who killed him boiled his head until only the skull was left and collected the reward. Listening to the news these days, nothing much has changed.
The rest of the trip is 75 mph highway with plains and majestic mountains shrouded in blue mist that give them an unearthly quality in which gods still live. We make it to Las Cruces about 4 p.m. Check into the mostel and drive to a natural history museum in a mall. It turns out to be nothing. But we do find a great restaurant overlooking the city, with the best food we’ve on the whole trip. The motel is quiet and pleasant. We check our emails on the computer in the lobby. The rooms are adobe style with a lot of space and light. We take it easy, read, nap, and talk about our upcoming last two days. Or what I think are our last couple days. The surprises never end. * * * Skip to a specific chapter below:
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