365 miles at 33 mpg and gas at $3.90/gal. = 1 day of fun

I'm on vacation this week, and yesterday I went on a roadtrip to Las Vegas, Watrous, Wagon Mound, and points west. I took the frontage roads off I-25 whenever I could and stopped to take pictures, mostly of old buildings and doorways.

Rock outcropping on US 84, south of Las Vegas. Mind your head.

For the first time since I can remember, I stopped in Tecolote. I was admiring the church, and an old gentleman hove up in his pickup and said proudly, "It was built in 1840!"

Tecolote, New Mexico; church built in 1840

In Las Vegas I poked around Old Town, visited one of my favorite independent bookstores, Tome on the Range, and ate at Estella's Cafe. Estella's and I started our lives in the same year. Up the street on the Plaza is JB's, "your chicharrone headquarters."

I went up to Watrous and took a side trip to Valmora. I didn't see anything of the sanatorium there; a lot of buildings all looking pretty much the same were there, and I figured it was a housing development or I was trespassing on somebody's property.

I went to Wagon Mound, which, despite the optimistic tone of the article from Wikipedia, seems to be dying a slow death. Many buildings are boarded up and overgrown, and the school seems to be the only thriving concern. The Wagon Mound Mercantile, a supply store for blacksmiths, moved to Solano years ago. The village has two service stations right off the highway, but if you need groceries, you have to go to Las Vegas, 40 miles south, or Springer, 25 miles north.

Wagon Mound, north toward Springer

Here are some more pictures of Wagon Mound.

Closed cafe on the main street.

Green door

Yellow doorway

Unlocked

I headed west toward Ocate. Back in the 1970's some men robbed the bank in Wagon Mound. They were apprehended a short time later when they were setting 'em up for all the boys in the bar at Ocate. The drive is beautiful: high plains grasslands and the mountains beyond. I saw antelope, and somebody is raising buffalo.

I turned left at Ocate and headed south to La Cueva, where I hoped to lay in a supply of raspberry jam from the Salman Ranch. The store is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Too bad for them. I was prepared to spend big bucks.

I debated briefly about whether I should head home through Mora or go back to Las Vegas. I decided to take a desultory trip back to Las Vegas, so I turned east at Buena Vista and passed through Golondrinas, which, true to its name, is full of swallows. I also saw a big! honkin'! bullsnake in the middle of the road. I drove carefully around it and hoped that he made it safely across. The traffic (me) was pretty light. I saw a lot of raptors along the way, including a huge red-tailed hawk.

At Watrous I got on the interstate and headed home.