I knew Bryan's Cross of Gold speech would come in handy some day

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

After a Styrofoam coffee breakfast made up of heavily plastic wrapped bland pastries filled with imitation cheese and high fructose corn syrup jelly provided by the motel, we got into the car and headed west on our good friend Route 10 again. It’s pouring rain, the visibility is miserable, and it’s rush hour, so we’re inching along. Neil Young’s songs seemed appropriately fitted to our environment next to the Rio Grande.

We finally left I-10 and headed west on 26 West. Then we turned on to Interstate 25 North. We passed by a town called Radium Springs, which we later found out was home to a 1865 fort that was the start of what was known as the journada del muerto (Journey of Death). In the later 19th century, Americans were creeping (to put it nicely) into Apache territory, and Fort Seldon was an attempt to defend this vulnerable desert area where the area’s longest highway curved away from the Rio Grande. The African American “buffalo soldiers” helped protect this site up until the early 1900s. So, we continued following the Journey of Death trail (26 West).


A very different view of the Rio Grande

Hunger overtook us, and we stopped in a town called Hatch that is famous for its Chili peppers. We passed store upon store with Chili peppers hanging from the roof.

If you ever go to Hatch, there is this wonderfully eclectic shop that I didn’t document the name of, but you’d know it instantly because it’s just covered in random stuff. We stopped there because we saw a sign that said restaurant, but we were deceived. It’s really only an old sign for sale. But despite its lack of food, go there anyway because the owner is friendly (and does want to open a restaurant “In Hatch it’s just Mexican food, Mexican food, Mexican food. You can’t get a good steak here. I’d sell steak.”), and you could get lost in the wonderfully random nick-knacks here.

But first, the RV man...! Note the sign

Alex wanted to buy these cow horns. By the look on his face, you can see the answer we gave him.

Lunch in Hatch. Yes, that's our Diva, Eleni.

So everything seemed peaceful and calm in Hatch, but we were mistaken. Just next to the restaurant we had lunch at, the Pepper Pot, there was an armed robbery complete with guns and everything. Jim’s supermarket was held up last Thursday at 6AM! In the Hatch Citizen, they detailed the robbery along with news that a second MAN-KILLING Mountain Lion was just captured near a town nearby.

We got back on I-25, and then we detoured again and followed Geronimo Trail.

We did see plenty on these – ranches or slaughterhouses?

We saw this image, and since it was not labeled on the signpost, we guessed at what it might be. Could it be an old railroad track? No…where is the rest of it? Later we would find the answer to that question, but for the moment we just followed the trail next to it. The only other helpful information we were given on that signpost was the fact that there were several mines along the way.

This slow windy road led us to an archeological site called Lake Valley. Lake Valley, it turns out, is a ghost town. We could read that much on the marker, but the site was closed from Wednesday to Monday. This did not deter our musician...

We watched some red fire ants (one later bit Neil), found some rattlesnake holes, and saw a coyote, some roadrunners, a rabbit, and a red spider mite.

So, we looked around and found artifacts (Don’t worry, I only photographed them. We’re at an archeological site, after all). We were just about to leave when…

A couple on a motorcycle pulled up and set about unlocking the gate to the site. We soon found out that their names were Bruce and Cathy. After they retired, they started traveling the country, and they found a temporary job here, as the custodians of the site. Even though it was their day off, they pointed out some of the old buildings to us, and Bruce was very helpful in making sense of this ghost town (and he confirmed that we had seen the remains of a railroad that delivered the silver out of here). He explained how this silver mine was one quite a booming town until Grover Cleveland changed our monetary standard in favor of gold over silver. All of a sudden, this quickly rushed through and/or sometimes even ignored period in my American history classes, save the connection and inspiration for the Wizard of Oz, became very real for us. Lake Valley’s importance plunged along with the demand for silver. While, just down the road, Hillsboro survived because its mines were full of gold.

Lake Valley in the late 1880s
The same scene today

Bruce and Cathy invited us to see their home and the museum even (on their day off!). But, in the course of our discussion they also said two magic words that got us on our way quickly. Flash floods. The forecast was for torrential rain, and our path had many dips and potential flood areas.

So, we headed out and Eleni fell asleep just as we entered Gila National Forest. We were racing the rain and with the windows down we could smell the sage, rosemary and thyme. A beautiful drive marred by the fear of floods and a desire to get to some safer ground. As we left the forest, the sign said “Gila National Forest – Land of Many Uses.”

On route to Silver City and with dark clouds before and behind us, but not on us yet, we stopped at this copper mine. 

So, it’s pouring in Silver City. One whole section of Main Street was so flooded that we had to cross three other streets to get where we wanted to go. But, everyone in Silver City was thrilled, “We needed this rain.” And, all of this rain meant that Alex and Eleni loved our walk to Nancy’s Silver Café. Aside from the flood on Main Street, they never missed a puddle.

Laundry day, or night, rather. It’s around 7 PM and the laundry mat in Silver City is just buzzing with people. It’s the place to be, really. I have no spicy conversations to report, but I did talk with several people about the weather (more rain and more rain) and the best spots in Silver City for internet access, and the problem of locking your key in cars (The owner of the laundry mat did this while I was there. I could sympathize completely, as I’ve done this too many times, so I wear my key on a lanyard around my neck now). Some children ran around the laundry machines and had a cartwheel competition, most people read magazines, and one woman, with her hands cradling her head, stared into space for at least 10 minutes straight. But, I’m fondest of the man who stared at his laundry going round so much that his head started to go along with it.

After finishing the laundry, I moved on to my next job, which was posting yesterday’s entry. The Internet café around the corner from our hotel was packed at 8 PM and, despite the falling rain, there were people huddled under store awnings just talking and hanging. People are very friendly in this town; they all smiled at me and said hello.

It was still raining as I walked back to our hotel around 9PM. Our home for the evening is called the Palace Hotel, and it was built in the late 1800s. We are staying in a three-room suite this evening, so when I arrived Eleni was almost asleep in one room, and Alex was learning how to play Sequence in another. Good for Neil, Alex won.