Frank Kovalchek/Flickr Creative Commons
Billy the Kid just might be the most famous personality of the Old West. Sure you got your Wyatt Earps, your Geronimos, your Buffalo Bills and the like…but all those folks lived long enough to survive the Old West. They were also much photographed, documented, and interviewed where Billy the Kid has one verified surviving photograph and other than court transcripts from the Lincoln County War he appears rarely in any kind of official record. But let’s not have a scarcity of facts or primary sources cloud what is a beautiful drive full of breathtaking scenery and Old West history.
The Billy The Kid National Scenic Byway is an 84 mile loop drive that covers everything from the sites of some of Billy the Kid’s more famous gun battles, to an old cavalry fort, to the birthplace of Smokey the Bear. We’ll start our drive in Ruidoso, NM.
Ruidoso, NM is reached by taking Hwy 70 northeast from Las Cruces (near the junction of I-10 and I-25) and following 70 through Alamogordo, through the Mescalero Apache Reservation and on into Ruidoso. Ruidoso is famous for their art shows, and horse races at nearby Ruidoso Downs.
To continue on the Scenic Byway, keep going on 70 to Glencoe where Fox Cave was once a hideout for Billy the Kid. Hwy 70 continues to the east through San Patricio, where Billy had a few girlfriends and used to attend dances and hide out from the folks in Lincoln, and on to Hondo. Hondo is the easternmost point of the Scenic Byway where you turn left onto 380 and head into Lincoln, or make a brief side trip further down 70 a couple miles to Tinnie to get some lunch at The Silver Dollar.
Lincoln, NM is of course the home of the entire Billy the Kid legend as it is the site of the Murphy-Dolan as well as the Tunstall-McSween stores. The Murphy-Dolan store became the Lincoln County Courthouse from which Billy the Kid escaped twice killing Bob Ollinger and James Bell.
From Lincoln you can continue west on 380 into Capitan, the home of Smokey the Bear and a great place to eat called El Paisano, then head on back into Ruidoso, or you can turn left onto 220 and go through some beautiful country back through Ft Stanton to Ruidoso. If you go through Ft Stanton, you’ll see something that appears very out of place: a maritime cemetery. Ft Stanton was used as a tuberculosis hospital for members of the merchant marine during WWII, and also is home of several German U-Boat sailors who were in a nearby POW camp during the war.
This is a very interesting and beautiful drive, and I recommend hitting the pavement in this part of the world in late May or early June. I also recommend you visit PPL Motorhomes.com prior to departure for all your parts and accessories!