Continuing on with our holiday trip, we stayed in Fort Garland, Colorado for the night and headed for Taos, New Mexico the next morning.
Taos, New Mexico
Final resting place of Dennis Hopper
Our first stop was the Jesus Nazareno Cemetery in Taos, the final resting place of renowned actor and counterculture rebel Dennis Hopper. Probably most famously known for his role as “Billy” in the 1960’s cult classic movie “Easy Rider”, Hopper had a home in the town for many years and still has family there. Taos is a beautiful ski area that incorporates a lot of Pueblo style housing and buildings. Hopper’s grave was as unique and eccentric as you’d expect. There were also many other colorful graves and memorials there and the whole scene was again breathtaking again with the gorgeous Sangre De Cristo mountains as a backdrop. Our EMF meter also briefly went off at a couple of different places in this cemetery, but not at Hopper’s grave.
Dawson Cemetery
Dawson is known as one of the most haunted cemeteries in New Mexico.
After our morning in Taos, we headed out to rural New Mexico near Cimarron, to one of our most anticipated stops on our trip, the remote and hallowed ground of Dawson Cemetery. Dawson, New Mexico is a former mining town that suffered a series of terrible mining tragedies. One of the worst mining explosions in the United States occurred in this town, which resulted in the loss of at least 263 lives. The almost 400 total victims of those various tragedies are buried in the old Dawson Cemetery, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Their graves are marked by white crosses. Many other old graves are also located there, some being unmarked. The cemetery is located about 5 miles back into the mountains on a potholed dirt road. Because the cemetery is on the National Register, it is now well-cared for after falling into a state of disrepair for years. The EMF meter was randomly going crazy at this place, out in the middle of nowhere away from any sort of electricity.
Las Vegas, New Mexico
Calumet, Colorado in the movie Red Dawn
We spent quite a bit of time at Dawson, as we had planned to do. After leaving Dawson, we headed to Las Vegas, New Mexico, which doubled as the fictional Calumet, Colorado in the 1984 movie “Red Dawn” starring Patrick Swayze, a very young Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey and C. Thomas Howell. We were there to see the Calumet sign but were unable to find it easily or any other landmarks from the movie in the bustling town. We did however drive by the Carnegie Library which was featured in the opening scene of the movie.
After Las Vegas, we arrived in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, home of the final resting place of Billy the Kid, depending on which legend you believe. This would be our stop for the evening before continuing on.
Billy the Kid
Old Fort Sumner Cemetery
The next day, we headed out early to go to Billy the Kid’s grave. Originally we were going to go to the museum as well but again, since we had the dogs with, we didn’t want to make them wait in the car. We will come back at some point to visit the museum.
At first, we ended up at the newer Fort Sumner Cemetery, which isn’t where Billy’s grave is located. It was a beautiful cemetery though and we ended up talking to a gravedigger there who kindly gave us directions.
Worthy to note that there was also an open grave at this cemetery . . . two open graves in three days! Always good when it’s not your own . . .
Billy the Kid’s grave is located at Old Fort Sumner Museum and Cemetery. The museum was closed since it was two days before Christmas. We were the only ones at the museum and cemetery on that beautiful morning and it was a great thing to experience without any crowds. We always treasure our alone time on the road. Billy’s grave is behind bars and encased in iron, as the tombstone has been stolen on more than one occasion. His friends Charlie Beaudry and Tom O’Folliard are also buried there, with a big tombstone with the inscription “Pals”. In addition, there are several Fort Sumner notables in the graveyard and even a person purportedly murdered by Billy the Kid.
Roswell, New Mexico
For our next stop, we headed to Roswell, New Mexico, site of the famous weather balloon or UFO crash in the 1940’s, depending on what you believe. We always err on the side of the aliens. Anyways, we were very hungry at that point and it was pure luck that our next stop happened to be the McDonald’s in Roswell, which definitely had an otherwordly appeal.
Roswell is a busy town with a lot of really cool alien theming. Even the Dunkin Donuts has an alien mascot! We stopped briefly at the UFO Museum but again, as we had pups with, we decided to just take a few pics and head out to our next spooky spot which had everything to do with UFO’s.
Corona, New Mexico
Using some info from Roadtrippers and Reddit and combining the two together, we decided to try to find the approximate site of the crash near Corona, New Mexico. There used to a be a guided tour of the area but as ownership changed hands, it’s now been closed off to the public. We got to an approximate location which was surrounded by private land and cattle and called it good.
We then made our way to our motel in Corona, New Mexico. The motel is worth an entry in and of itself. The Corona Motel and RV Park is run by a nice woman named Rhonda that was very kind and had a wealth of information about the area.
In addition to the motel, Rhonda also has an RV Park which we are already planning to come back to in warmer months with our camper. If you haven’t guessed, we’ve already fallen in love with New Mexico by this point too. In addition, there is even a train caboose you can stay in. The dogs really liked this area as well because Corona is a beautiful small town next to railroad tracks with lots of trails off of the beaten path. This was by far our favorite motel during the entire trip – major kudos to Rhonda for a great experience.
The rooms in the motel are all themed: A Jungle Room, A Biker Room, A 50’s Room, A Hollywood Room, A Cabin Room, A Cowboy Room and yes, an Alien Room. We of course were fortunate enough to stay in the Alien Room. Not one thing was missed in this room- the decor and attention to detail were incredible and it even came with an alien costume to wear! It was also extremely clean, comfortable, safe and extremely affordable!
White Sands National Park
When we awoke in the morning, we were almost disappointed to leave, but we bid farewell to Corona and headed to our next destination and the next National Park on the trip, White Sands National Park near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Our good friend Debbi E. recommended this one to us and it certainly did not disappoint. We were so close to the Christmas holiday anyways and it really felt like we were in a winter wonderland, except without the blustery cold weather. This is also one of the few dog friendly National Parks and the dogs absolutely loved it here. Much like Great Sand Dunes National Park, the scenery was stunning and because it was so close to the holidays, there were relatively few people there.
Masonic Cemetery
After leaving the beautiful snow white wonderland of White Sands National Park, we traveled to Las Cruces, New Mexico to visit the graves of Pat Garrett and William Webb “Bill” Cox at the Masonic Cemetery. The first thing we noticed about this cemetery was the symphony of birds that greeted you once you exited your vehicle. They were so loud that they drowned out traffic but it was actually a really cool experience Far better to be immersed in the sounds of nature than in the sounds of machinery.
Pat Garrett was an old West lawman that is most famously known for killing Billy the Kid. Although there are conflicting legends, the one that has him shooting Billy in Fort Sumner, New Mexico is the most enduring. Pat Garrett himself was murdered over a land dispute. The gunman was believed to be Wayne Brazel but at least 4 men were implicated as being involved directly or indirectly in the murder, including William Webb “Bill” Cox, a Western figure and a prominent rancher in the area. Cox was never charged with the crime and died of natural causes. He is also buried in the same cemetery.
Also worthy to note, there has been the sighting of a “little girl ghost” on CCTV at this very cemetery. This little girl was buried in 2018 here and her family believes her spirit was captured here at her final resting place.
After visiting the final resting place of Pat Garrett and others, we made our way across the New Mexico border into Southern Arizona. Along the way we passed by Texas Canyon which could pass for a Flintstones movie backdrop. We were also very close to the Mexico/Arizona border (some 30 miles or so) and also drove by some border patrol stops on the way to Tombstone. The Tombstone motel would be our final destination for the night and our one night basecamp for our visit to the infamous outlaw town.
Stay tuned for Part III starting with a nearly empty old town Tombstone on a rainy Christmas Eve morning . . .