Thoughts on Southern New Mexico

Some more background stuff...

I moved to El Paso in March 1986 to work for the El Paso Times as its New Mexico Editor. Back then, the Times had six reporters in NM – two in Las Cruces, one each in Alamogordo, Carlsbad and Santa Fe, and a nearly full-time “stringer” in Silver City.

For the first 2 ½ years I lived in El Paso, I spent each working day focused on New Mexico, editing the reporters’ stories and wire copy from the Associated Press’ NM bureaus to put out what was then the “New Mexico Edition” of the El Paso Times.

To familiarize myself with So. NM, I traveled as much as I could. One of my favorite trips was a camping trip near Reserve, visiting such sites as Frisco Hot Springs (ask me sometime about the two naked ladies) and the Catwalk. Memories of that trip (not including the naked ladies – no time to hike to the hot springs this time) inspired this version of Bikecapade.

I got back into cycling in 1987 for reasons related to my job. I wanted to do some reporting on the Rio Grande, so I decided to bicycle along the river from Elephant Butte to Fabens, in various stages one summer. To get ready, I started riding around the Upper Valley. By the summer of 1988 I did long rides in the Silver City and Ruidoso area, and came up with the idea of Bikecapade.

As it turned out, the 1988 Bikecapade was my swan song as New Mexico Editor. The Times had started cutting back on the NM staff and had reassigned me to work as a feature writer for a few months, before giving me a new position as the editor of the Times’ “Zone Editions.” I stayed in that job until 1993, when I left and started El Paso Scene.