My good friend Cheryl who doubles as an additional research assistant and fact checker for my blog (I need to increase her salary) came up with some new information about the infamous “Motel Boulevard” that I mentioned in one of my blogs last week.
It turns out that a short section of that road south of Interstate 10 is actually designated as a New Mexico Highway 292. That’s the part where the Coachlight Inn is located, so it’s really not on Motel Boulevard at all.
And even more confusing is that when State Road 292 enters the northern Mesilla Town Limits at Glass Road, the street becomes “Calle de El Paso,” which is odd because it really doesn’t head towards El Paso, which is way south of Mesilla.
Apparently when the street was named during construction of Interstate 10, it was hoped that many Motel 6s, Holiday Inns, Comfort Suites, Hampton Inns, etc., would build along that street.
Now, as my good friend Mike points out, the name of the street must be really confusing for travelers along Interstate 10 who take the exit in hopes of finding a plethora of motels.
So imagine someone traveling on Interstate 10, coming across a street named “Pat Garrett Boulevard. They might think: “Oh, that’s cool. I heard of Pat Garrett and how he killed notorious outlaw Billy the Kid. I’ll bet the town has some interesting things to tell us about its history. Let’s stop and check it out and spend money staying there and finding out what a great place it is.”
Instead, travelers get off I-10, thinking they will find a good motel on “Motel Boulevard.”
After traveling on the street, they probably think: “Well how dumb is this town? It lured me onto a street suggesting there would be motels, but the only thing I saw were some giant truck stops and the stench of a nearby sewer plant. Guess they really don’t want us to stop. I’ll just keep going until I come to Deming (or El Paso).”
And by the way, Cheryl points out that boulevards are typically streets lined with trees with a divider in the middle.
This is from the internet:
Boulevard (Blvd.): A very wide city street that has trees and vegetation on both sides of it. There’s also usually a median in the middle of boulevards.
For our Motel “Boulevard,” the occasional yucca, mesquite or creosote bush — complete with a with a Wal-Mart bag stuck on it and flapping in the wind — only makes us look even more like we’re trying to dupe traveling guests.
aero-cordero.com 