Truth or Consequences

Before we left the park to go explore the town, we asked the park ranger for his recommendation on a good Mexican restaurant, and he told us about a small place in town that all the local folks go to. We headed out north from the park for the town, called Truth or Consequences. It was a sleepy little town, and we drove through twice before we found the little town museum. There was a design competition going on to construct a gateway type marker for the area, and the models were in the museum for the locals to vote on. There were a few fifties kind of exhibits on the Wild West and Indian notable people of the area. There was a large room dedicated to some guy named Edwards, which vaguely sounded familiar. It turns out this man had been the host of the most widely watched game show of the fifties and early sixties, called “Truth or Consequences”. Several years into the fifteen year run of the show, there was a search for a town that would change its name to Truth or Consequences, and this little town in New Mexico took up the challenge. Every year since that day Edwards came back to the town for a birthday party. He would bring the press and some Hollywood types, and this went on until the show went off the air. The town went back to being a sleepy little stop along the interstate.
We went back to the rig to get cleaned up for dinner and grab some beers, then went back to town for our Mexican dinner. The ranger was right about this restaurant, it was a friendly little place that had the best Mexican food. The salsa was freshly made by the waitresses, who took turns every day. Everything was wonderful, and in typical small town style, the restaurant closed at eight o’clock.