<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This time last year I was readying for a\nmove, south out of the northern Colorado Rockies where I live in the woods to\nwarmer climes and enchanting new places. Our state neighbor to the south was\nlittle known to me. They call it New Mexico. Might as well have been a foreign\ncountry, as many people think it is. Yes, there are many fine folks here in the\nUnited States of America who evidentially think New Mexico is part of (Old) Mexico,\nwhich is a completely different country. There\u2019s even a Facebook page called New Mexico Is Not Part\nof Mexico, You Dumb Ass! But they probably think New England is\npart of (Old) England too, whoever they are. Don\u2019t get me\nstarted …about them \u2013 whoever they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019d been to Taos and Santa Fe a few times,\nbecause they\u2019re two fine towns that are close to Colorado, just south of the\nSan Luis Valley on the Big River, the Rio Grande \u2013 Ree-O Grand-A.\nMy plan was to see it all, from stem to stern, all the way down to Mexico,\nliving in my little camper, Cochise. I gave it a shot. Best\nlaid plans…mice and men…often go…awry. But, that\u2019s another story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I did make it into New Mexico, pulling too\nbig of a trailer behind too small of a horse, too late in the season. My bad.\nMy good was that I had Storrie Lake State Park in Las Vegas, New Mexico, all to\nmyself. I felt as though I was an explorer. Hell, I was. I felt as though I was\nin a different country. But, I wasn\u2019t. I guess I\u2019m a bit of a dumb ass,\ntoo. Must be our educational system.\nWhatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I bought a non-resident annual state park\npass for $225 and planned to keep moving south. Elephant Butte Lake has a state\npark on New Mexico\u2019s biggest reservoir just outside of Truth or Consequences,\nwhich is the name of the town based on an old radio\/tv show and known locally\nas T or C. Lots of artists, meditation instructors\nand massage therapists, fancy hot spring spas…and some poverty. On the Big\nRiver, rolling down to separate Old Mexico from the New World. Going slow.\nBecause of drought. And heat. But it\u2019ll make it. Manana. Mahn-yah-nah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, the plan was to\nbust it down to Deming just north of the border and kick it in the state parks\naround there: City of Rocks, Rock Hound,\nand Poncho Villa. Hell yeah! Check me out, mi amigos. Orale! Well…mice…men…plans…awry.\nWhatever. Whut-ev-uh! (Fingers on forehead in the shape of a W,\nvacant look in the eyes.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nasty weather hit. My horse got scairt. And I\ngot stuck. A buck-twenty-five miles into New Mexico and hunkering down. Roll on\nBig River. I\u2019m staying here. In a town of 12,000 I\u2019d barely heard of, and that\nhad obviously seen some better times. Much better times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when I looked out my window over the snow-covered grass surrounding the lake and into the tailing descent of the Sangre de Christo Mountains I felt more alive than I had in an awfully long time. Long. Not awful. You know what I mean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also had electricity, although the water\nhad been shut off for the winter. No showers at the camp comfort station, but\nthere was a weather-proof spigot to fill my 5-gallon jugs. Good enough, for this\nexplorer. My dog Rambeaux was happy too. I prepared myself for the Golden\nYears. To hell with mice and men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I drove the several miles into town, past the\nwelcome billboard that proclaimed Las Vegas as the place where \u201cThe Mountains Meet\nthe Plains\u201d. And it was. It absolutely was. Looking right I\nsaw the tail end of the Rockies come to ground. Bam! Looking left I saw the\nendless nothing of the Llano Estacado, the \u201cstaked plains\u201d that extended into\nTexas and was part of what was once called Comancheria, traditional running land\nof the Comanche \u2013 the Lords of the Plains, and possibly the best horse-riding\nwarriors the Texas Rangers and US Cavalry ever had to face. Plenty of Apache\nthere too. Best at living off the unforgiving land and evading their enemies.\nAnd the Navajo. More interested in raising sheep than fighting, but damn good\nfighters when they had to fight. And they did. Made some mighty fine rugs too.\nLook for the spirit line. It\u2019s there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And there I was. Las Vegas, New Mexico. First\nthing I noticed was the license plates. They have beautiful license plates in\nNew Mexico. Yellow with red lettering. Black with yellow lettering. Aqua. More\nyellow. The sun symbol of the Zia (Puebloan) people, which is the state symbol.\nGreen chilies, which is the state claim to fame. Roadrunners. That bird that\ndogs Wile E. Coyote in those old cartoons. Great license plates. Worthy of\ntattoos. I want one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, I noticed the food. Going to the\ngrocery store was a trip into a different world. The chilies and peppers and\nspices and cans and jars with Spanish names made you think you were in Mexico.\nBut you aren\u2019t, (I almost said dumb ass). It\u2019s cheap there too, especially\ncompared to Colorado, which sometimes seems to think cheap is only for poor\npeople. That\u2019s stupid. Isn\u2019t it? I don\u2019t know… Whatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I can\u2019t cook well in my itty-bitty\ncamper, which is a little too big for the horse I had \u2013 a six-cylinder Nissan\nPathfinder with coil springs for suspension and not enough mass to handle a\ntandem axel vintage trailer with an all steel frame. Live and learn, I\nguess. So, I went exploring. First on\nGoogle. Then on foot. My feet found home at a place called Dicks Pub and\nRestaurant, so named \u2013 according to the locals \u2013 because it\u2019s mostly dudes that\ngo there. So, they hired beautiful bartendresses \u2013 and two good looking young\nguys in case any women did venture in, which they seldom did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had chicken enchiladas, which is my go-to\ndish. Maybe I was especially hungry, from too many convenience store road meals\non the trip down from Colorado. Maybe I just had low expectations, because the\nplace wasn\u2019t what you\u2019d call fancy. The enchiladas were beaucoup\nbomb tasty and the sauce was too, but what really blew me away were the simple\nside dishes: non-mashed pinto beans and something called posole \u2013 which is just\nwhole kernel white corn soaked and seasoned and slow cooked with magic and\nsecrets. I said, Damn! I asked the bartender what was in it\nand he kind of looked at me like I must have just fallen out of the sky, and\nwhen I pronounced it wrong a few times he chuckled and warmed up, realizing I\nwasn\u2019t from the area. Every time I try to speak Spanish I make people who\nactually do speak it laugh. I should move to Mexico and do comedy at clubs. All\nI\u2019d have to do is read a menu, or newspaper. Anything. Good to have a Plan B.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think of that meal now, and my own feeble\nattempt to recreate it in Cochise. I think of the cheap tacos – $1.50 each \u2013\nthey have on Taco Tuesday and the mango-jalapeno salsa. Cheap domestic bottles\nof beer. Those beautiful bartendresses. I had the nerve to try to flirt with\nthe only one near my age who happened to manage the bar, but Mama D shot me\ndown with a look that left powder burns. The youngers were kinder, and indulged\nme like a Catholic bishop. But, I\u2019m Lutheran and we\u2019re not into indulgences.\nWhatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think of them now. Not just those beautiful\nyoung bartendresses: Angela the Angel, Estrella the Star, Breanna the\ngirlfriend of Lupe and all the others. I think of the dude bartenders back\nthere too, the two youngbloods who treated me well and made me feel welcome,\nPhil and Chris. Thank you, brothers, for being the primary reason women would\ncome through the door. Even the crazy ones. Hell, especially the crazy ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And here\u2019s to the Las Vegas homeboys who\neventually let me in. Here\u2019s to you Bear and Goat, (Sirs!) Moose (even if\nyou\u2019re a Cowboys fan) and Horse. Que pasa, Caballo?\nAll the spirited animals working on the Castaneda Hotel renovation for Mr. J.\nGrimm, a homeboy of mine born in the same small-town hospital in Shawano,\nWisconsin. And to you Nich, who doesn\u2019t have an animal name but has his own\nspark \u2013 Nichasso! And Toby and Martin (Mar-teen) and Pete, Marty and Lee. Todos\nlos hombres. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think of the rustic, natural hot baths at\nMontezuma, and meeting Rico who came out of the rabbit hole after ten years of\nsearching to find himself in a world he was no longer a part of. His writing\ndiscipline and humor is an inspiration to me. My apartment welcomes you anytime,\nmy friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now I think of the young woman who stole\nmy heart without trying. The single mother of three who works her ass off to\ncare for them, as their fathers fail to do. The Navajo Princess with Spanish\nancestry who swears like a sailor and could kick my ass. I call her Ms. Lucero,\nthe Angel of Fire \u2013 Angelina Fuego! She tells me, \u201cDon\u2019t f*ckin call\nme Anhalena!\u201d She speaks fluent Spanish. And doesn\u2019t trust the\nApache. Some day I\u2019ll steal her away from Vegas, if she lets me. If Vegas lets\nme. Or I\u2019ll go back there, and bounce her baby Bella on my knee. Look into\nthose eyes and see a kindred fire to her mom\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico. Aptly\nnamed. I was fortunate to spend time there. But there were times when it scared\nme cold to my bones, knowing I had no connection, no protection, just a pinche\ngringo from Colorado. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now I think of that place and long to return.\nI only touched the tip of the iceberg, but icebergs are melting I hear. New\nMexico is often maligned, misunderstood by folks who haven\u2019t gone there, folks\nwho think it\u2019s a different country or lesser state. Folks who are wrong. It has\na history like no other place on this diminishing planet. They have a new\ngovernor who\u2019s a sharp, driven woman not afraid to change the good ol\u2019 boy oil\nand gas economy to one more sustainable and reaching, infinite wind and sun,\nnot finite fossils – and they have a lot of wind and sun in New Mexico. They\u2019ll\nprobably even have legal weed pretty soon, so they can fix the roads and pay\ntheir teachers more. But the land, and the food, and the people. That won\u2019t\nchange. It better not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I long to return to that haunting, enchanting\nland, stake my old bones out on the blistering, windswept plains, and throw\nmyself into the angel\u2019s fire. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This time last year I was readying for a move, south out of the northern Colorado Rockies where I live in the woods to warmer climes and enchanting new places. Our state neighbor to the south was little known to me. They call it New Mexico. Might as well have been a foreign country, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[141,139,143,140],"class_list":["post-1543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-las-vegas","tag-storrie-lake-state-park","tag-trailer-life"],"yoast_head":"\n