On Sunday, Tim, Jenny, Nathan and I went to Lincoln, NM - Billy the Kid territory and the site of the Lincoln County Wars. I should really title this post, "My backyard tour of Lincoln, NM". Going with Jenny and Nathan we saw things we missed the first time or at least found them in areas the "normal" tourist would not journey to. We went behind buildings and into backyards where we saw the outhouses and wells. The outhouses really were interesting because each were built differently. I had no idea there were levels of outhouses...not that I really cared before but it was fun to see them! We saw the average one holer and the two holer but then we saw what had to be the ultimate outhouse during the late 1800s. It was a four holer with two private holes and then a two holer in the middle. Okay enough potty talk, let's move on to wells. We saw several wells but none being used anymore. Most were covered up with grass and rocks and some had wood covers over the openings. Each well was also built differently. We found the high wall one with the roof to a low walled one with a big opening. We also found what was the water source for Lincoln before the wells were built. It is a creek that runs north of Main street.
During our backyard adventures we did come across the graves of John Tunsall and Alex McSween. They were partners. along with John Chissom to compete against the Murphy-Dolan store (the real reason behind the Lincoln county war). Tunsall was also the reason the Billy the Kid became so well known. The graves were found behind the Tunsall store. The graves both have a plague but are simply marked with two wood crosses. Jenny saw them while wondering around the back of the store. Otherwise they are not noticable and not marked on the map you get of sites to visit. I still don't know the whole truth about Billy the Kid but with all the research I did I have decided that if you want to see a movie that depicted him pretty well watch "Young Guns". It is pretty close to the "historical truth" . "Young Guns Two" is close to some of the later facts about Billy the Kid but puts a twist in it. Both movies are worth watching if you are curious about the Lincoln County wars and Billy the Kid.
After we finished exploring Lincoln we drove to Ruidoso to have lunch. We ate at an Irish Pub that had just opened. It was a very fancy pub with the dark wood decorations and comfortable booths. An added bonus is that the Bears game was on so we watched the Bears game and enjoyed our lunch. We walked around Ruidoso for a little while. A lot of the shops close earlier during the late fall/early winter then they do in the summer. It was still nice to be there. There was snow on the ground a couple of weeks ago in Ruidoso but there was not any now. Ski Apache is busy making snow since they are opening Thanksgiving day. They got a little help yesterday from Mother Nature and recieved about 7 inches of snow. You can see it on the peaks from Alamogordo. Overall, we had a nice day with Jenny and Nathan and it was fun to revisit Lincoln and Ruidoso.
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