Mon, May 2, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 12:53AM Monday, May 02, 2011
One of my passions is landscape photography…but I have no desire to return to the land… I like to return to a motel room at the end of the day. – Donna Downey
We were up well before daylight and one of the first travelers at the continental breakfast this morning. Walking out to the car it was cool crisp and clear morning with just a hint of the sunrise appearing on the eastern horizon. It also felt a little like the movie Groundhog Day as we left Alpine again headed out Highway 90. We got a kick out of making the same comments about the scenery that we made the previous morning… obviously we find humor in very simple things.
Today would be a day full of vast landscapes and deserted or near deserted towns. We do enjoy wandering around the small places easily found in west Texas and the remote areas of the southwest.
Our first stop was an abandoned home sitting close to the highway yet seemingly alone on the high west Texas plain… its drooping porch roof just one sign of its obvious neglect. Just down the trail a ways was the small town of Valentine, TX so named for its founding date of February 14, 1882 by a railroad crew. It is the only incorporated town in Jeff Davis County, TX and its claim to fame is its postmark which causes an influx of visitors who want their valentine to arrive postmarked from Valentine. I’m seeing visions of that Goundhog Day movie again.
The drive thru El Paso was uneventful which is a good thing and the traffic was fairly light and soon we were headed up a short section of I-25N out of Las Cruces, NM to our next jumping off point where we would drive along the old road that parallels the Rio Grande river. The river is the lifeblood of farmers all along its winding trail and after all the parched landscapes we have been witness to over the past few days, it was great to drive thru miles of pecan groves, and deep green alfalfa fields.
After a delicious Mexican style Patty Melt in Hatch accompanied by highly seasoned pinto beans and amply seasoned fries we were ready for our desert of Tums!
From Hatch it was on to the remote ghost town of Lake Valley, NM. Lake Valley, a silver mining town, was home to the most fabulous loade of silver the world has ever known. Called the “Bridal Chamber” it was a hollow in the hillside with walls of solid horn silver and it produced silver so pure it was sent unsmelted to the mint. It was discovered in 1878 by a local blacksmith who had leased the claim from the mining company that owned it. The “Bridal Chamber” produced more than $2,775,000 worth of silver when silver was selling for just $1.11 an ounce. The 1893 silver panic wiped out the town that had grown to over 4,000 folks, 12 saloons, three churches, a school, stores, hotels, stamp mills and smelters. The post office closed in 1954 and the last residents left in 1994. A few old homes, a chapel, the school, and other old buildings remain as does the cemetery. With a beautiful sunny day and temperatures in the mid sixties we had a very enjoyable stop in Lake Valley.
From Lake Valley it was time to move on toward Silver City, NM via one of the curviest roads in New Mexico. It is almost 60 miles of a very tedious curvy road that climbs up and over and down and up and over and well you get my drift. When you finally arrive in Silver City you are ready for some easy driving which we got via Highway 180 which we took all the way to our destination of Eagar, AZ.
The landscape remained very arid today and many of the beautiful cool clear creeks we so often enjoy in this area were bone dry. So we pushed ourselves toward the end of the day to get a little farther north. Hopefully as we move into Utah and points farther north and west we will leave the drought conditions behind.
A nice end to a long day can make everything better in a hurry however and that was just the case when to our surprise we found a nice looking Best Western in Eagar (the only brand name motel in town). We opened the door to our room and found a quality room with a good arrangement, the usual coffee maker but the highlight was real coffee cups! It’s usually the unexpected small things that make life on the road special.
Tonight we are well (drinking out of my real coffee cup as I type) and hope that yall are too!
Peace, Hope & Love,
Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger
Reader Comments (1)
Ok, Mom and/or Dad. I think someone needs a tissue. Poor Dodger.