Csy Mon

I am retired, not commuting anymore, but wife wants to move there because her sister and family, etc.
I would be traveling, maybe on passes and understand El Paso is the nearest airport?
ABQ airport?
How is living in Las Cruces?
The good, the bad, the ugly?
Nice Restaurants, friendly people, things to do?
(I have a boat, looks like I will be selling it.)
Still in the planing stages, but sometimes we move fast.

Excargodog

There are nice areas in Las Cruces. The restaurants are great, if you like barbecue, traditional Mexican, or Tex-Mex. Otherwise…meh. It’s a fair distance to Albuquerque, but you can do 85 mph most of the way(85 KNOTS for much of it, unless you hit a critter*). Elephant Butte reservoir will float a boat but it sure ain’t pristine. If you are a jogger, watch out for the rattlesnakes.



The water park in nearby Anthony TX will give the kids or grandkids a good time.

NMSU has a decent engineering program:

https://nmsu.edu/academics/colleges.html

*A male oryx can mass up to about 600# although 450# is more common and they are too dumb to avoid you, you have to avoid them. Yeah, I know, they ought to be in the Kalahari but New Mexico now has them running free.

Csy Mon

Nice, thanks.
Not as pretty as the Bahamas, but didn't expect that.
Are there marinas on the lake?
(I don't have a truck or a trailer, would prefer to not go that route)
Ok, well good food and restaurants is start

I started my flying career in Bethel, Alaska and can do pretty much everything after that as far as living and eating..
A bit afraid of being bored in Las Cruces, but I do like cars and motorcycles, don't need a lake or
a marina for those. Or small planes, a little C-180 would be great for the soul.
Is it somewhat safe to ride a bike out there? In Florida it is not)
Thanks for any local knowledge.

Excargodog

Safe..? Well, the tarantulas look scary but they are fairly harmless, the scorpions will sting you if you step on them in sandals but it probably won’t kill you, the drug mules tend to avoid you. You are actually more at risk from the bears if you go camping in the mountains - especially around the Gila River - although there’s pretty much nothing really evil that will hunt you. A 1911 on your hip or in a shoulder holster away from the towns is never a bad idea though,

The geology is interesting, and if you are into solar power it’s probably as good a place as any in the US and far better than most. I believe there was one marina, but not sure it survived the drought. Allegedly good fishing in Elephant Butte - not my thing though so no first hand experience. I was serious about not hitting a oryx though - especially at high speed.
Nice camping not too far away. The big city of course is El Paso or if you are sufficiently crazy Juarez (Don’t take the 1911 into Juarez - even by accident - although smuggling it back was more worrisome than difficult - don’t ask).


https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/new...n/4184135001/#

Csy Mon

Ha, my "Safe" question was more about riding a big bike without being mowed down by drunks, druggies or blind little old ladies in 2 ton Buicks.
All of the above have killed friends and fellow pilots in Florida doing their late mid-life crises with Harley's and Goldwing's.
Maybe rural New Mexico would be more biker friendly?

tnkrdrvr

My experience with Las Cruces is over 20 years old, so take it with a bag of salt. The town is small! There are some decent restaurants, but not that many. It’s a haul to anywhere worth visiting, but would probably be an ideal spot if you’re into GA and like to fly your wife to dinner dates. I didn’t go boating so know nothing about it. There is a lot of natural beauty, but it’s of the harsh desert that will kill you, if you are foolish, variety. Big picture, if you have friends to grill out with at your house and a light plane to visit the “big city” you can probably enjoy life there.

edit: I was a motorcyclist at the time but didn’t ride in the Las Cruces area. I’d say it’s probably great riding during the day with the greatest risk being your throttle management.

ZapBrannigan

Sandpiper Air

https://youtu.be/ED0vhknRXSo

Excargodog

I would guess you’ve not spent much time in New Mexico. It’s pretty much ALL rural except for Albuquerque. OK, Las Cruces has over100,000 people, but that’s a fifth the population of Albuquerque and Las Cruces is the second biggest city in New Mexico. The whole damn state only has about two million people and it has individual counties larger than New England states. The state is huge and largely empty. The first nuclear bomb ever exploded was in New Mexico at Trinity Site, and pretty much nobody noticed. And it was an above ground blast.

If you look in the dictionary under ‘wide open spaces’ it’ll show you a picture from Interstate 25 north of Las Cruces.

Csy Mon

Bingo.
Never flew big planes to NM, but stopped once in 1985 for gas, ferry flying a Piper Aztec from San Luis Obisbo to St. Thomas. (Virgin Air)
Next time was a short vacation with wifey 4 years ago in January, Las Cruces and it was cold, but that is ok, I was made in Norway, born and raised on icecubes.
You are right, almost never been there. Spent much more time in Jeddah and Bombay as an Ex Cargo Dog

Nice, music to my ears.​​​​​​​

Csy Mon

Thanks. ​​​​​​​