The Big World

(but there were 2 bighorn sheep)

This used to be a pedestrian bridge as well until last Monday. There is a trail next to it, but it is not like going over the bridge.

The river below is the rio grande. Yes, that rio grande.

And here are 2 big fellas just chillin . Well, a big fella and a big lady if you want to be correct about things.

Normally i am not a nut on old forts. Oh, sure, something like Fort McHenry is on the list but i will not generally go out of my way to visit one. Fort Union was on the way to somewhere else and the preview pics were intriguing. What you saw were adobe-esque structures that were dissolving away with time. Like they belonged to some neolithic culture from the year 1848 BCE.

Nope, it was simply some American soldiers from 1848 CE.

Fort Union was the center of the American cosmos when the west was opening up and built to protect the new assets of the new land from the people who already lived there. Built along the I-95 of its day, the Sante Fe Trail, It could keep and eye on things and also serve as a distribution point for other forts yet to be built.

As a fort, it had barracks, commerce, officer quarters, a work are for things that broke down and needed repair, and it even had a bakery. It also housed a hospital that was considered the best within a 500 mile radius which now looks like this (not to mention pretty un-hospital-y).

You walked along the campus which was quite large and it was too cool to worry much about rattlers.

In front of the visitor center stood a lone flag that looked out over the land just as it was back in its heyday. I had to scoot because a wall of rain was heading north.

The fort was decommissioned after those dang railroads made the Santa Fe Trail obsolete. And just like the cities of commerce that popped along it the trail to repair wheels, sell supplies, offer drink and rest, they faded back into obscurity when the trail was no longer necessary. So, too, was the fort abandoned. It would have fully returned to the earth as crumbled adobe but for the help of some freemasons who got the clay ball rolling, so to speak.

• The St. James Hotel has a storied past in what seems to be a wild place in the new Wild West
• The marker at the corner of the hotel verifies that.
• And what self respecting Wild West hotel would not have a stuffed buffalo head, I ask?
• My beer was a local stout which was black as ink. The bar staff was still talking about the prior night’s crowd which finished off 2 kegs and most of their bottled beer. This is not a college town.
• The list of prior patrons is pretty impressive
  

And I may have learned how to do pics and text in one fell swoop. Breakfast at Charlie’s Spic and Span. No need for mamacita when an auto tortilla maker takes care of things. The coffee is outstanding and it’s gonna be another 4,748 calorie breakfast bomb for me. What is the old saying? when in Rome…

• the donkey head in the hipster bar where I ordered my barbacoa bowl
• the old chevy with the scorpion on top was next to the table where I ate said barbacoa bowl
• and finally, the front desk of the old hotel all pumped-and-primed to sell you tchotchkes.
• some Las Vegas info

soldier on, kiddo, soldier on…

I knew the first day in i wanted to settle in both with the car and the terrain. That meant things started out by remembering how the heck to put the car in gear. That is done via a wee popsicle stick like appendage from the steering wheel.

From there it was due east own route 66 from ABQ and watching how the density of the city started to thin out. As it thinned out, you could see the Sandia mountains pop up out of nowhere. Perhaps replacing the urban density there were significant clumps of homeless folks attending to their business because even if homeless there are many, many things to attend to. Sprinkled along this stretch of road were restaurants and minimal businesses. I counted 7 dispensaries in 6 miles, and i bet there were many more nearby judging by the billboards.

Seeing the city start to end and a vast plain start to appear, i though some food would be a good idea. I passed a taco joint with lots of cars parked in front of it. This was my divine clue and i walked in and discovered that my polarized sunglasses completely zeeted out the LED menu display making it totally black. Fortunately there were backup menus and i ordered a number 38. I was asked if i wanted my enchilada to be green, red, or chris. I asked if chris meant ‘christmas’ which it did (see? i did my homework) and so i got a red and green enchilada. When i sat down, the lumbering person behind the counter who took my order prevented entry of a homeless person and his dog in what i bet was a daily dance of theirs and probably the reason why he was a lumbering counter person. My chris enchilada, beans, and rice were fantastic and off i went in search of the singing road. I think i am gonna like the next 10 days. I will be back to ABQ at the end of the trip and so left the city behind without any investigation.

the line is long and they are making requests about checking carryon luggage. Who knew ABQ was such a destination?

the geology of New Mexico sounds interesting.