In 1950 the town of Hot Springs won a contest to rename itself after the popular game show Truth or Consequences. Crazy stunt, yes, but the town seems predisposed to such oddities. Sixty years later they won the right to host the Spaceport Visitors Center and today I went looking for it.
Neither the TorC Visitors Center nor the TorC Chamber knew much about it. Only the sign pictured above gave any hit that something was in the works. I wanted to visit the Spaceport so I contacted the headquarters in Las Cruces. Several conversations later I found myself talking with the Director of the program who was flummoxed. We agreed, they weren’t doing a very good job of providing an experience for those making a pilgrimage to Spaceport. He apologized. Not quite what I had come looking for!
My day had started with more pueblo visits. These pueblos were different from others I’d visited because these were still occupied when the Spanish arrived with the Franciscan monks. While conquistadores left after finding no gold, the monks stayed to convert and this is the fact of disctinction for the Salinas Pueblos. From the 1620s to the 1660s the monks converted local people, built huge missions, and localized Catholicism. Remains of the great churches still exist.
Did you know there was more than one Camino Real? I visited “El Camino Real International Heritage Center” today and why not? With such an audacious name it had to be good, right? 
Well, this route had nothing to do with the Camino Real that I expected. This one was “De Tierra Adentro” which was plainly stated after you had paid your entrance fee. This Camino Real went from Vera Cruz to Mexico City and north to Santa Fe. The museum was quite informative but was located in the middle of nowhere … BLM gave it to them for free and it’s easy to see why.
I finished my day with an evening visit to White Sands National Monument. There was just enough light to get a few shots before closing. Good night …
by 
