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\n Welcome\nback, dear reader, it\u2019s nice to have you there \u2013 wherever that\nmay be. I\u2019m sorry for the delay since the last post of frazzled\ntravel to Thanksgiving in the paradise of Southern California. That\nwas quite a road trip, wasn\u2019t it? I needed a bit of a break after\nreliving all of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you may recall, after slipping off the mountain in northern Colorado, out of cold and snow and over roads of ice, then rolling down the barren plains, we came cresting and unrested into New Mexico, pulling a vintage 19\u2019 camper, Cochise<\/em>, behind a not-quite big enough Nissan Pathfinder, BroBo<\/em> \u2013 The Bronze Bomber. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Following\nthe frenzied trip on treacherous interstates we returned to the peace\nand quietude of Storrie Lake State Park in Las Vegas, New Mexico, for\nthe winter phase of life as a rubber tramp. From there our journey\ncontinues, but I feel the need to do a little backstory for this\nenchanting place, and I don\u2019t know where to start…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please bear with me as this might be a little more history than journaling, but I hope it will be helpful in understanding a state so frequently misunderstood and often overlooked. Plus, it\u2019ll help explain the pictures, which tell their own story. I\u2019ll put together a reference index in case you want to dig a little deeper. I hope you do. So…let\u2019s go. Vamonos!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n New\nMexico\u2019s history is deep and rich in so many ways, from the\ngeological ages of dinosaurs and Neanderthals through the Cro-Magnon\nand Paleo-Indian periods to ancient and modern tribes of indigenous\npeoples. Then came the damn European conquerors and settlers,\ngold-robbers, land-grabbers and exploiters, along with myriad other\nbandits, outlaws, renegades and vigilantes, right up to 20th<\/sup>\nCentury movie stars and aliens \u2013 \u201cillegal\u201d as well as\nterrestrial \u2013 to the present. No other state is quite so unique,\nwith the possible exceptions of Texas and California notwithstanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Northern\nNew Mexico is part of the ancestral home to the Pueblo people, along\nwith the Four Corners region where they lived in cliff dwellings that\nare still evident today. Mesa Verde, Colorado, is well known and\namazing, but equally amazing is Chaco Canyon, Bandelier and the Gila\nCliff Dwellings in New Mexico. Just don\u2019t call the people who lived\nthere Anasazi, because it\u2019s a Navajo word meaning \u201cAncient\nPeople\/Enemy\/Outsiders.\u201d The politically correct name is Ancient or\nAncestral Puebloans. That\u2019ll show that you\u2019re hip, or whatever\nthe politically correct word for hip is. Hard to keep up…<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Pueblo\nmeans \u201ctown\u201d or \u201cvillage\u201d in Spanish, and since they\nconquered most of the Southwestern US, they named many things. To the\nvictors go the spoils, as the saying goes. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n But\nthey weren\u2019t just on a naming mission. The Spaniards were primarily\nconcerned with conquering the natives via their horse-riding,\nmetal-armored, sword and Bible-wielding conquistadors whose principal\nobjective was ferreting out the gold and silver of the Inca, Aztec\nand Mayan civilizations before hacking their way north in search of\nthe fabled Seven Cities of Gold and stealing their plunder back to\nSpain \u2013 for the Empire established by King Ferdinand and Queen\nIsabella and given self-righteous holiness by the Inquisition. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Their\nsecondary mission was converting the \u201cpagans\u201d to Roman\nCatholicism and \u2013 if that didn\u2019t work \u2013annihilate them without\ndiscretion. Mostly, though, it was about absconding with the riches\nand hustling it back to throttle the Empire\u2019s global expansion and\nadorn the royal palaces and churches with more gilded opulence. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s face it, though, Ferdie and Lizzy and their ilk needed more gold and silver like Al Pacino\u2019s character (Tony Montana) needed more yayo <\/em>(cocaine) at the end of the movie Scarface. But, I digress…<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n The\nword pueblo refers to the adobe buildings prevalent then and now,\nwith the biggest existing example being the Taos Pueblo. That area is\na great place to start exploring this amazing part of our planet.\nDefinitely should be on your bucket list if you\u2019re interested in\nvisiting the Southwest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next group of indigenous peeps were the Athabaskans who came over the land bridge from Siberia during the Ice Age and kept going south \u2013 the original Snowbirds. They\u2019re now known as the Navajo and Apache and have been forced onto reservations after considerable confrontation with the US Cavalry following the Civil War, but that victors\/spoils thing comes into play again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Long Walk of the Navajo (and Apache) to Bosque Redondo in New Mexico was the southwest equivalent of the Trail of Tears (of the Cherokee, Muskogee, Seminole, etc.) from the southeast to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. The US government just called it Manifest Destiny. Very few white citizens really gave a damn. They wanted the land, too. But again, I digress…<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, let\u2019s focus on Las Vegas, as it is called now. Its history is equally rich, and equally violent. They\u2019re outlaw and proud of it \u2013 Badass to the bone, bro<\/em>! You got a problem with that? Ni modo!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was originally a Spanish, then Mexican land grant named Las Vegas Grandes en el Rio de las Gallinas <\/em>(The Great Meadows at the Gallinas River) in 1835, and became Nuestra Senora de los Delores de Las Vegas Grandes <\/em>(Out Lady of Sorrows of the Big Meadows) once the missionaries and priests became abundant. The locals just call it Vegas, and if you\u2019re not local \u2013 which makes you a \u201crandom\u201d \u2013 you probably don\u2019t know there is \u201canother\u201d Las Vegas, until you get there. But it wasn\u2019t always that way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Following\nthe Mexican War of Independence (with Spain, 1810-1821), when New\nSpain became the Republic of Mexico, the United States was already\nbursting westward. The new republic was much more interested in\ntrading with the gringos than the old empire had been, and the Santa\nFe Trail became the great avenue of commerce for southwestern\nexpansion, opening up trade with goods hitherto unseen on either end,\nfrom Mexico to Missouri. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Las Vegas became the wealthiest and most popular settlement in the area, because the verdant meadows were great ranch and farmland for sheep, cattle and produce. Furs, Navajo rugs and food goods, as well as Mexican silver crafts, were exchanged for manufactured goods from the east as the US entered the Industrial Revolution. The Western Boom Town was born. Orale!<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n \n The\nsettlement prospered and grew around a central plaza built in the\nSpanish Colonial style of development, combined with what was to\nbecome known as New Mexican Vernacular architecture, as acequias\n(irrigation canals) brought the surrounding land to life. Sheep herds\nflourished. Beans, squash, onions, potatoes and leafy vegetables all\ngrew well in the abundant sunlight and snowmelt from the Sangre de\nChristo Mountains. As soon as buildings surrounded the plaza there\nwas even fortification from the raiding Apache, which was nice. Las\nVegas experienced its brief utopia. And then came the gringos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n In\n1846 US General Stephen Kearny marched into Las Vegas with 2,500\ncavalry troops of the Army of the West, and announced that the\nTerritory was now part of the United States. He was a career army\nofficer just promoted to Brigadier General and tasked with taking the\nSouthwest in the recently orchestrated war on Mexico. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Polk was a workaholic champion of the Manifest Destiny myth, and was hellbent on laying the groundwork for increasing US territory. He certainly did that. Using a minor border skirmish as an excuse for invading Mexican land north of the Rio Grande, the US went on to take control of New Mexico, California and Texas, as well as other swaths of land in the area. Polk acquired the land of Oregon Territory through more diplomatic means, and western expansion went into full-tilt boogie mode. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \n The\nhordes of northern European immigrants overwhelming New York harbor\nfrom steamships which now made trans-Atlantic travel affordable, even\nfor the poor, sure didn\u2019t want to stay in the slums of eastern\ncities, and weren\u2019t afraid of a little hardship, so they went from\nimmigrants to pioneers and took to the wagon-train trails west. Many\nnever made it, but the army was deployed to provide what protection\nit could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To most of the residents of what was referred to as the New Mexico Territory, America\u2019s war with Mexico was news \u2013 and not necessarily welcome news. After the oppressive and harsh rule of the Spaniards they were relatively happy with their relationship with the Republic of Mexico, even though it was directed by Mexico City, which might as well have been on a different planet in terms of 19th<\/sup> century connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But who were these gringos and what did they want? This squeaky voiced little military man told the crowd in the plaza of Las Vegas, through an interpreter, that anyone who stood against his rule would be hanged. Then he and the troops went back to their camp on the edge of town, having scared off the smaller force of Mexican soldiers guarding the settlement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And there it was, after more than 200 years of repressive and often crushing Spanish Colonial rule, and a mere 25 years of being part of the Republic of Mexico, the weary residents of The Big Meadow were just informed that they are now citizens of the United States of America. Washington DC was more foreign to them than Mexico City ever could be. But here\u2019s that victor\/spoils reality, rearing its thorny brow once again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The gringos took New Mexico by force, unannounced and uninvited. New Mexicans don\u2019t seem to have forgotten that. I can\u2019t say that I blame them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, let\u2019s end this part of the story here, dear reader, as its been quite a bit of history that we\u2019ve covered, and we haven\u2019t even gotten to the badass years yet. I hope you have enough interest left to check out the reference index. It might be a bit more objective than I\u2019ve been at times, but I must maintain my membership in the Crotchety Old Pharts Club \u2013 I\u2019ve earned it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll hurry on to the next phase of our journey in Nuestra Senora de los Delores de Las Vegas Grandes. <\/em>There\u2019s a big change coming, a storm a-whooping up. Methinks I hear the whistle of the Iron Horse, rolling down the tracks…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adios, amigos! Hasta pronto!<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n For further reading, please check out these sites:<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Clovis_culture<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ancestral_Puebloans<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spanish_Inquisition<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pueblo_Revolt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mexican_War_of_Independence<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n