December 6
Details
I foraged green chile stew and
a bottle of Mexican beer at the Alamo Pub - how could I resist? A real local hangout. Someone had an extremely cool motorcycle outside. Would have taken a picture but it was
dark. Pool table, dark, lots of big fat
guys hanging out. My first instinct was
to walk back out the door. This seems to be quite a shallow breeding pool. Anyway, interesting and darn it all just
remembered that there was a photo in there that I was going to look at. I'll have to go back.
Would you believe that I wore
myself out today? Went to the dunes and
took off on a hike through the dunes to the edge of the park area. Should be around 5 miles but with all my
photographic detours it took longer. I
have a fast pace so wasn't worried about the time since I started around
tennish. When the shadows became long
and the sun was approaching the mountains and I still had a third of the
distance to go, I decided to walk more and shoot less.
Started out on a different
trail earlier in the day with real abstract, sort of micro views on things and
then in the afternoon was swept into the sensuality of the curves of the dunes.
It is so incredibly beautiful. It can take my breath away.
Weirdness.... Am going to have to file a complaint with
the Air Force. They kept flying this
huge #(*&%)ing plane over my head all day long. It was so low that I could make out all of the shadows and
details on the fuselage, though I am clueless about what kind of plane it was.
Simply enormous. I had my wide-angle
lens on so it took @&##$* very long
time to get out of my picture each time.
Blast.
Also, at
the beginning of this hike you sign in so that they know who precisely they
will have to come looking for in case of dust storms. They also tell you that the planes from the missile testing
ground are flying overhead in "shared" air space and if you happen to
find any metal debris that it might be dangerous so just leave it alone and get
a ranger. That is usually my course of
action when I find bombs and other undetonated explosives on the ground.
But, I did
manage to stagger back to my car at something less than an hour until
sunset. What did I see on my drive out
but a ranger leading a sunset walk. So,
I stopped and caught up and had a chance to do some of my new jokes on finding
undetonated bombs on the ground and the airplanes in my way. I guess that there are just some things that
are just better with an audience.
Oh, and I did notice after I
got back from the pub (redneck pub) that I had left a white trail of gypsum
leading from my car door to the door of my room. I made sure to park my car in another spot lest someone think
that I am such a slob. Of course the
floor of my room is also guesting a number of personalized footprints and I
suppose it might not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the person
leaving the tracks is in fact residing within Room 21. Of course there is probably a surplus of
rocket scientists in this town so any way that you look at it, I am essentially
sunk.
Parallel circumspection, dunes, electronic leashes and a day of small
frights
I was up around 5:30ish to
make the sunrise at the dunes. A
fabulous experience. Would you believe that I actually carried that #(*&%)ing
phone (hereafter know simply as ff) with me this morning? I detest electronic
leashes but sometimes find them a necessary evil that must be utilized to keep
in contact with the part of the world that goes on around me. I long for the days of carrier pigeons and
the art of disappearing from the face of the earth, the part that so called
civilized man inhabits.
Now, yesterday was sort of a
yin/yang kind of day. I began it at the
dunes and ended over at Al's. Took some
time out for lunch and ate -- guess what?????
more tortillas and cheese. A
very easy thing in the microwave. I may
actually be turning into a tortilla.
But, today was a little
different. I did the dunes and then
took off after the light blew out for my purposes. I headed back up the mountain to look for the old mining trestle
that I saw on the way down a few days ago.
Now, I don't know what it is
about this trestle that is so interesting.
It spans a canyon, is basically falling apart and has notices posted all
over the place to keep off of it for your own good. Not being totally insane, I heed their advice. The lighting basically sucks. It is mostly backlit, which makes it
tough. I take a couple of shots just
because I have slid all the way down the mountain to get there with my camera for once just on me instead
of safely in a backpack. As I am
heading off, a cloud obscures the sun and answers my problem to some
degree. I put another roll of film in,
rate it differently and wait for more clouds to pass by. Something may come of it, but all things
considered I may have another run at it some other time later in the day. It goes without saying that climbing up a
slippery no footholds kind of a hill is always much easier than going down
it. I arrived at the car without any
disasters.
At this point I am once again
looking for something new. I decide to
head up north to some Indian and Spanish Mission ruins. I haven't had a watch on for days and what
is time but some strange foreign concept anyway, so off I head with only a mere
reckoning about distance and space and all of those good things.
I pass through the towns of
Tularosa, Obscuro (home to the Obscuro Missile Range, "Welcome"), my
own favorite Carrizozo which is the home of an old haunt of mine, the
Crossroads Motel, Claunch and on into the descending black arms what turns out
to be a mother snow storm. I see the
squall line as I am leaving Alamogordo.
It is whipping up the gypsum dunes into a haze of white dust and hanging
on the western ridges of the mountains before spilling over. Somehow, I evade the darkly menacing arms of
the storm and end up in the grey/white snow making clouds. A calculated risk here. A big storm coming through. Can I survive should I get stuck? How much food do I have with me? Some sausage, sunflower seeds, dried mango
and a pack of ginger gum. I chew all of
the gum and eat half of the sunflower seeds thinking about my supplies. Too bad I didn't bring some of that cheese
too. This could be interesting,
exciting and an adventure.
Just past Tularosa they were
doing some roadwork and had the traffic reduced to alternating one-way
traffic. I arrive in time to sit and
wait for my turn. I am the second car
back. I watch as semi's come barreling
down this stretch and am becoming nervous.
They must be going close to forty or fifty right past the bumper of the
car in front of me. I had stopped
maybe three car lengths back from him and was in the process of turning my
wheels to the right to get off of the road some more when an out of control
semi barrels past the guy with his horn blaring and mere inches between their
bumpers. Glad to be out of the
way.
Oh well. Back to the scenery. There are some beautiful cloud formations
and as usual, I am stopping along the road.
It is so cold that I cannot be outside without my gloves. And this is with three layers of clothes,
hat, scarf, etc., all on.
I pull into the ruins and am
the only person there. Just when I
park, the snow flurries begin. It is
absolutely a treat for me. The snowflakes
are landing on me and I am enjoying trying to catch them and eat them as I
wander around. The clouds continue on
past me and I am at the top of the mountain looking at storms that surround me
while I stand in the clear.
They tell me at the ranger
station that it is snowing at the next ruin up the road about thirty or forty
miles. I figure that I am all the way
up there and may as well head on up and so I do. Plus, I love the idea of more snow. Never mind the fact that these roads are not very well traveled
and I have been told that a couple of hills can get icy. On I go.
The next ruin is at this
little town just past Mountainair. The
whole town actually seems to be a ruin.
Many very old buildings built of cut red sandstone blocks that people
are still trying to live in. The
mission ruin is spectacular. Red
sandstone maybe four or five stories tall, many walls collapsed, no roof, but
you certainly have the impression of a European cathedral. Not something that I always get from these
missions. Beautiful clouds and colder
than hell. My feet feel as though they
are totally naked. Never mind the warm
socks and boots. I wander around the
paths and look at some of the outlying sites and see the sunset through some
beautiful stands of huge and very fallow trees. And so, I must drive back.
I finally must look at the
time and consider what will be left of my day, since I am RETURNING. I have ruled out the longer -- more traveled
route, because it is longer. So I head
back down the road that goes through nowhere and hope for no ice.
Every single curve is well marked
by arrows, crosses for the dead and signs that tell you "do not
pass." I heed all warnings. I am driving in the complete darkness, fine. I am completely alone, fine. But, I am thinking that I would really like
to stop and eat at this restaurant that I always pass by in Carrizozo. I am
hungry. So, food is a goal at this
point.
Finally, I get to Carrizozo, I
couldn't tell you how much later, but awhile later anyway. I stop and get just a little more gas to
make sure that I'll have plenty should I get stranded. Though it is not snowing right now, that is
all one of the cashiers is talking about – well almost. She also says things like she would rather
take clothes off than put them on.
Something like that. Just then her
husband/boyfriend comes in with her small daughter cuddled in his fleece lined
denim jacket. "There's your mama,”
he tells this child with a dirty face.
Every car in the town but mine
seems to be covered with inches of snow.
Some small amount of good sense is lurking somewhere in my jeans (back pocket) told me that this
is not the evening to try the local greasy spoon. I got a cup of coffee and a candy bar and headed on down the
road.
Things
were going just fine and I was telling myself that maybe I wimped out when
suddenly there were some splutterings of snow.
A couple of semi's passed me and before your could say Alamogordo three
times we had passed into a flurry of horizontal snow. You know, I broke one of my sort of not rules, but basic premises
about not driving at night across vast expanses that are unfamiliar. Another survival strategy that I do use is
to hang with the truckers, some distance back.
They are big and easy to watch, plus I figure if anyone is going to have
the scoop on things, it will be them.
So I kept up.
For the most part, it was
constant. Every once in a while it
would ease up and then sometimes as cars would pass the other direction I could
see the road turning gray from the snow accumulation. This did not thrill me. I
am no fan of ice. There were a couple
of pile-ups as we got closer to town and I ran a very red light because I
didn't trust the road for stopping.
I gave up
on dinner but went to the store and bought a couple of things and am now safely
inside and watching it sleet/snow. End
of this adventure.
Oh, no. I just took my shoes off and left more white
sand on the floor. Some days I leave
grass all over the floor, other days white powder. The housekeepers must love me.
I'm not sure where my mind is
these days. Wandering around alone I
suppose. It prefers to be unleashed and
I am trained accordingly. I keep making
things into words that aren't. Seeing
snow pillows instead of snowplows and on and on and on. I like it that way. Things work.
P. S. My
appointment with the archeologist got put off until Friday. Willkeepyouposted. German word. As of today,
Chaco is clear. Who knows?
