Dave,

I do agree with you about the Southwest. Born and raised in Phx. Father's family moved there in 1927 from Kansas to be a HS teacher at Glendale HS (also where mother and father started teaching). Mother's father came to the US through Ellis Island in 1904 from what was then Austria (now Montenegro) and worked in the copper mines in Bisbee and then Globe.

We ended up in Las Cruces because I was assigned to White Sands Missile Range. When I retired from the Army we decided to stay in the area. Lived outside Albuquerque for a bit (job driven) and then came back (longer story). Wife's sisters also live here.

One reason I like it here is the range complex the city built and maintains. Bunch of 50 and 100yd shooting 'bays', 30 station silhouette range, 300 and 1000yd rifle ranges. Trap, skeet and sporting clays ranges (Wed, Sat and Sun only, fee required). No range officers, just go out and shoot any time during daylight hrs.