Tuesday, May 31, 2016

This Place is Still That Place (photo laden, fair warning!)

Out here in ghost town land, the present and the past are so very entwined. In the town of Chloride, a man has undertaken the task of basically buying the town and saving it for its historical value. Weirdly, the result, in my mind, looks sort of fake, even though it is real. Because surrounding it is the even more real, the unpretty real. Maybe it would be like going on the log flume ride at Disney if you were a real whitewater rider, the thrill is there but it is just not the same. Ok, that's what hit me after a two hour ghost town tour. Obviously I'm no expert.



What I am is curious. Especially after playing in the dirt yesterday, trimming some trees and bushes, and finding an old tool, the handle obviously hand forged, maybe a chisel? but under only the thinnest of coverings. Then finding out the road in front of the house was once part of the stagecoach route. Really. I can dig it. You are allowed to groan.

Some random views along 22 miles of New Mexico road. 



After being at Jack's Texas place a couple of times, while I respected the unusual desert (it ain't the Sahara, baby), the lack of much green and any water anywhere left me happy for Jack being happy but nothing motivating me to think, Hey! I could live here!. While I also couldn't live in New Mexico, I would sure willingly visit again for a while. There's water in this here place!




Lots of desert like vegetation but lots of green. Pecan trees are a big crop! 



I have never ever seen rain stopped in mid-air. There it was, coming down and then the lower cloud layer was the end of it. Jack says it was evaporating before it hits the ground. It was so strange, lightening, thunder, blue and gray skies and a half rain. 



The sign is about as big as the town. We saw a horse trailer and three cowboys and I wanted to take their photo sooooo much but this is a new place to me but Jack lives around here and they were looking right at us so I couldn't even do a stealth photo. Sorry!



There are a LOT of pristine and very cool old cars around,
tucked in with the plain and newer here and there

I think it's my fixer-upper

What is a fast dip like?



Some of the following are from the town of Chloride. You can read about it here. I like Chloride. I admire a guy like Mr. Edmund who singlehandedly is investing to save history. 



This cabin is from someplace else and moved here. It's pretty cool. I was taking photos through the window until Jack noticed the door was open...






The roof is amazing

This house is not fixed up yet. There are lots of places like this around,
adobe and old wood, tin roofs, some well over 100 years old.
Between the climate and wise construction, most wouldn't take
a bank robbery and a lifetime to rehab.


I like an entrepreneur with a sense of humor



We left Choride (named for the type of ore found there; again, more history than you can shake a stick at around here, and much of it easily found) and went back through Winston. And surrounding areas.



This little burro turned and posed for us, then turned away as if to say,
Show's over, go on now. So we did.

Some car choppin' going on

A great building AND two more donkeys



I don't know what the wood thing is, I was really looking at the construction.
Now I want to go back and see what the heck it is.

There is a log cabin company in Winston. This is part of the yard.

And this is one of their cabins. It's for rent.


Apparently we just missed the Annual Fiesta


Maybe an old bank? I know I've never seen adobe and wood
and a mansard style steel roof before 
 This building really intrigued me. Its false front, and the width of the boards (lots of really wide boards around here, walls, fences, floors)


No sign of what this was but who cares?

The facing boards of the false front cover even more amazing boards


This isn't on some tour, this is real life. I love it.

Jack said maybe we could get a drink at the bar. 

Contrary to the signage, he's never seen it open.
The screen door and window bars are fine.

What words are good enough? 

There are some very funky mail boxes around these parts. 
There's a road around Jack's that we couldn't quite figure out where it started and where it went, so on our way back we went down a couple of possibles. One road, called Muncie, led us to...the Muncie's. We turned around as Mr. Muncie was coming home with a horse trailer containing two saddled up horses, maybe from dude rides. 

The next road was probably the road we were looking for, but with a sign like this and no four wheel drive, we decided maybe another time would be better.

Some of the many fences that caught my eye.





Okay, I'll stop now! 

Have a telling Tuesday. Do something toe tappingly transforming.

11 comments:

  1. Oh Boy!! On The Road Again, you could be Willie or Jack. I love New Mexico, to me it's beautiful landscapes with wonderful art communities and it's way left of the state next door, if you're in Colorado looking down, hmmm, or, come to think of it, in Mexico looking up.
    That dry laid rock house is amazing, what craftsmanship it took to lay those rocks just so. I'm like you, I've never seen a mansard style roof like the one in your photo. Drive on, I'll try to sit quietly in the backseat.

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    1. Oh please don't sit too quietly! Yes, the sense of history here is palpable, you can feel it so strongly, wondering what it must have been like to be here 150 years ago. It's a very good thing.

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  2. Hey,
    Lived in Albuquerque eons ago after college. Had a Corvette and went as fast as my gonads would let me.
    The rain that goes halfway is called Virga.
    Thanks for the memories.
    Love you,
    Chap
    ps..there can never be too many pictures.

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    1. OH!!! Thank you for the name of the half rain! Jack said there must be a name for it, but I wouldn't have even been able to figure out how to google it.
      So glad to spur some memories. I lived here when I was 3 and once in awhile memories are coming back, so strange, our lives ;)
      Love you too and thanks for the 'never too many pictures' comment, because when I'm enamored I just can't stop.

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  3. A Fast Dip is one of shorter duration. Sometimes, they where a mullet haircut.

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  4. Lovely, Wow, Thank you. Love the fences. Remember when I first left Michigan it was the barns in Ohio that took my eye. Long time ago.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed them, Sharon. I love barns as well; no doubt a few will turn up here!

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  5. Great photos, enjoying the heck out of your trip already.

    I am almost positive that the "wooden thingy" is a hollowed out log used as water trough

    Happy Trails to You, William

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    1. Glad you're enjoying; so am I! Yes, I think that makes perfect sense. Wish I'd been paying more attention to it at the time to get a closer look.

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