People ask why anybody would want to go to southern New Mexico in June. Actually, I find the warm, OK sometimes rather hot, dry air of New Mexico quite pleasant, especially in the evening. Not all desert country is the same. New Mexico's Chihuahua Desert is at a higher elevation than Arizona's Sonora Desert, and not nearly as scorching hot.
Tom and I had hit the Mesilla Valley of the Rio Grande during some unusually low temperatures for early June, as "non-hot" as I can remember for June over the 11 years I had lived there in an earlier life. After an excellent Mexican dinner at Chopes in the village of La Mesa, another great place on roads less traveled, old pal Willie drives us through the pecan groves back to Las Cruces. The desert night air is cool and comfortable.
It is time to return to the Midwest. Most travelers would take I-25 north to Denver, then I-70 over to Kansas City, and so on. But that's an uninteresting choice when there are so many interesting places on roads less traveled.
We head east on U.S. 70 from the Mesilla Valley of the Rio Grande. Then up the west side of the Organ Mountains and over San Augustine Pass. Going down the long stretch on the east side of the Organs, the headquarters of White Sands Missile Range is visible in the distance to the south.
At the foot of the mountains, it's a long stretch across the broad Tularosa Valley. North of U.S. 70, the white sands of the national park of the same name glimmer in the sunlight. Who needs the interstate when you have pleasant roads across the desert sands?
We pass by Holloman Air Force Base and Alamogordo, take U.S. 54 to the village of Tularosa, and another peaceful stretch across the sands of the Tularosa Valley to Carrizozo. As always, when passing through Carrizozo, I lament the passing of Roy's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor and the Outpost Bar and Grill, two outstanding establishments gone forever on roads less traveled.
U.S. 54 then ascends to higher rolling range country, to the village of Corona, then to an abandoned crossroads town, Duran, once the site of a railroad repair yard and a ranch supply post. A few abandoned buildings remind travelers of a more prosperous past. The construction of I-25 as the main New Mexico north-south route spelled its doom. A few residents remain there; I have no idea what they do. It would be interesting to find out.
With another 20 miles, we pass through Vaughn, then north again to Pastura, another settlement that time forgot. Instead of continuing on U.S. 54, the usual route to Santa Rosa and Tucumcari, we take a remote cutoff to I-25 that leads us up to Las Vegas - New Mexico, not Nevada, to be clear.
We stay on I-25 only from Las Vegas, over the Raton Pass, to Trinidad (Spanish for trinity), Colorado. We are back-tracking the old Santa Fe Trail that went from La Junta, Colorado, across rolling prairie, to what is now Trinidad, then across the Raton Pass down to Las Vegas and to Santa Fe. So from Trinidad, we take U.S. 350 northeast across the rolling prairie to La Junta and the Arkansas River. It's hard to imagine that this sparsely traveled highway was once the major route from the Midwest to Santa Fe. On that 80-mile stretch we meet only a few local pickups. As we stop to stretch our legs a local rancher pulls up to see if we are in trouble. We're not, and he cordially waves and drives off.
At La Junta, instead of following the Arkansas River to Granada and the High Plains Highway, we take another route, U.S. 287 north. Surprisingly, the traffic here is heavier than on the High Plains Highway. So when we reach the town of Kit Carson, we take the 25-mile stretch east to Cheyenne Wells and the High Plains Highway.
Then, north to Burlington, cross I-70 and continue to Holyoke, in the northeast corner of Colorado where we stop for the night. Evening on the High Plains in June is pleasant with its cool, dry air.
Next morning, its northeast across the line to Nebraska, a 34-mile drive to the city of Grant (population 1,165), county seat of Perkins County (population 3,057).
It's always a kick to find interesting places in these small towns that are totally off the beaten, touristy track. When traveling through Grant a year ago, we stumbled onto DJ's Bar and Grill for breakfast, enjoying the great biscuits and gravy served up by Angela, the friendly waitress. On the way through here a week ago, it was too late for meal time.
But this time, it's time for breakfast and we would see if it was open. We go in and grab a table. Sure enough, there is Angela, the perky, cheerful waitress, dashing around serving the customers.
As she approaches our table we ask her if she recognizes us from a year ago. She acknowledges that we look familiar. That's good enough. She returns with coffee and as we order breakfast she recalls that last year I was saying something about Wisconsin cheese.
Angela brings our food and I ask her how she would like to see her name in print. She gasps in shock, as if this would be something terrible.
I assure her it would be favorable - she is a model waitress, a great role model, and could, and should, be a trainer. With that, she is OK with it, but doesn't quite believe it. She will when she receives a copy of this column.
Great people and places - there are a lot of them across the country. You can find them when you take roads less traveled.
- John Waelti of Monroe can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Fridays in The Monroe Times.
Tom and I had hit the Mesilla Valley of the Rio Grande during some unusually low temperatures for early June, as "non-hot" as I can remember for June over the 11 years I had lived there in an earlier life. After an excellent Mexican dinner at Chopes in the village of La Mesa, another great place on roads less traveled, old pal Willie drives us through the pecan groves back to Las Cruces. The desert night air is cool and comfortable.
It is time to return to the Midwest. Most travelers would take I-25 north to Denver, then I-70 over to Kansas City, and so on. But that's an uninteresting choice when there are so many interesting places on roads less traveled.
We head east on U.S. 70 from the Mesilla Valley of the Rio Grande. Then up the west side of the Organ Mountains and over San Augustine Pass. Going down the long stretch on the east side of the Organs, the headquarters of White Sands Missile Range is visible in the distance to the south.
At the foot of the mountains, it's a long stretch across the broad Tularosa Valley. North of U.S. 70, the white sands of the national park of the same name glimmer in the sunlight. Who needs the interstate when you have pleasant roads across the desert sands?
We pass by Holloman Air Force Base and Alamogordo, take U.S. 54 to the village of Tularosa, and another peaceful stretch across the sands of the Tularosa Valley to Carrizozo. As always, when passing through Carrizozo, I lament the passing of Roy's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor and the Outpost Bar and Grill, two outstanding establishments gone forever on roads less traveled.
U.S. 54 then ascends to higher rolling range country, to the village of Corona, then to an abandoned crossroads town, Duran, once the site of a railroad repair yard and a ranch supply post. A few abandoned buildings remind travelers of a more prosperous past. The construction of I-25 as the main New Mexico north-south route spelled its doom. A few residents remain there; I have no idea what they do. It would be interesting to find out.
With another 20 miles, we pass through Vaughn, then north again to Pastura, another settlement that time forgot. Instead of continuing on U.S. 54, the usual route to Santa Rosa and Tucumcari, we take a remote cutoff to I-25 that leads us up to Las Vegas - New Mexico, not Nevada, to be clear.
We stay on I-25 only from Las Vegas, over the Raton Pass, to Trinidad (Spanish for trinity), Colorado. We are back-tracking the old Santa Fe Trail that went from La Junta, Colorado, across rolling prairie, to what is now Trinidad, then across the Raton Pass down to Las Vegas and to Santa Fe. So from Trinidad, we take U.S. 350 northeast across the rolling prairie to La Junta and the Arkansas River. It's hard to imagine that this sparsely traveled highway was once the major route from the Midwest to Santa Fe. On that 80-mile stretch we meet only a few local pickups. As we stop to stretch our legs a local rancher pulls up to see if we are in trouble. We're not, and he cordially waves and drives off.
At La Junta, instead of following the Arkansas River to Granada and the High Plains Highway, we take another route, U.S. 287 north. Surprisingly, the traffic here is heavier than on the High Plains Highway. So when we reach the town of Kit Carson, we take the 25-mile stretch east to Cheyenne Wells and the High Plains Highway.
Then, north to Burlington, cross I-70 and continue to Holyoke, in the northeast corner of Colorado where we stop for the night. Evening on the High Plains in June is pleasant with its cool, dry air.
Next morning, its northeast across the line to Nebraska, a 34-mile drive to the city of Grant (population 1,165), county seat of Perkins County (population 3,057).
It's always a kick to find interesting places in these small towns that are totally off the beaten, touristy track. When traveling through Grant a year ago, we stumbled onto DJ's Bar and Grill for breakfast, enjoying the great biscuits and gravy served up by Angela, the friendly waitress. On the way through here a week ago, it was too late for meal time.
But this time, it's time for breakfast and we would see if it was open. We go in and grab a table. Sure enough, there is Angela, the perky, cheerful waitress, dashing around serving the customers.
As she approaches our table we ask her if she recognizes us from a year ago. She acknowledges that we look familiar. That's good enough. She returns with coffee and as we order breakfast she recalls that last year I was saying something about Wisconsin cheese.
Angela brings our food and I ask her how she would like to see her name in print. She gasps in shock, as if this would be something terrible.
I assure her it would be favorable - she is a model waitress, a great role model, and could, and should, be a trainer. With that, she is OK with it, but doesn't quite believe it. She will when she receives a copy of this column.
Great people and places - there are a lot of them across the country. You can find them when you take roads less traveled.
- John Waelti of Monroe can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Fridays in The Monroe Times.
