Checking out the Flea Market and some T-Dubing.

 Clear skies today, but a high of only 61°F (16°C) and gusty winds.  It was definitely a long pants and fleece jacket kind of day.

Sunrise:

Drove into Las Cruces to check out the Flea Market, searching for a replacement handle for the scissor jack that came with the Sammy.  Found out it was very helpful for me to know Spanish when asking a vendor of tools and stuff like that for this item.  In spite of being understood, no one had one on hand, they'd all left theirs at home, darn it.

The rest of the stuff for sale was of no interest for me except for displays of Hot Wheels cars.  I was seeking a Suzuki Samurai you see but no luck there either.

I stopped at Lowe's Hardware and picked up a 12" long piano hinge and a small band saw, thinking that I only needed 10" of the hinge, I would end up using it all.

On the way back to camp, I cross over the Rio Grande, which is not even a shadow of what it must have been back in the day before things got dammed up further upstream:

Rio Grande, present day

Got back to camp and used the hinge to repair the glove compartment's lid, which had separated where it mated to the compartment's lower edge.

After that task, lunch and some miscellaneous tasks trying to fix the left zipper on the back window of the sammy's soft top, it was time for some T-Dubing.

I decided to pose her at the ridge nearby:

Then it was time to check out Box Canyon Road, perhaps do a recon/recce of it perhaps to try it with Mariko, the Sammy.

First, I came to a sign that pointed to the Box Canyon Dam.  Dam?  Curious, I followed the sandy trail and this is what I found:

Returning to the main "road", it was a lot of negotiating sandy portions, loose rocks, and patches of firm dirt.  Nothing Yagi couldn't handle for the most part; and she's certainly less bumpy than the Sammy's ride!

The back side of Picacho Peak

I finally came upon a portion that I think would have caused me to turn back had I been driving Mariko.  Can't go on the right, and the left had some pretty deep holes among the slick rock.  The middle gap was too narrow for a four-wheeled vehicle,  so you'd have to have a spotter guiding you past the rocks on one side of the other!

Less than a half mile further on, I found a drop off spot where I stopped and decided to turn around.  I did find a spot where I could squeeze Yagi down a narrow channel but the spot failed the second criteria I use to judge further progress:  Can I make it back if things get worse further on?  I had my doubts about climbing the narrow steep slot and so turned around.

The furthest point along Box Canyon Road.

So I retraced my way back to the campsite, with no issues but noticeable fatigue dealing with the deep sand spots as I found myself dabbing more often than on the outbound leg of the ride!

The plan is to displace tomorrow morning and cross the border into Arizona.