Albuquerque, NM - Truth or Consequences, NM - Tucson, AZ

Albuquerque, NM - Truth or Consequences - Tucson, AZ

August 27 - I get on I-25 south before the traffic gets too crazy, but leave the highway to take a back road that leads me into the Isleta Pueblo and its ancient old historic church.  There is a rules sign indicating “No photos” and several people are working out front,  so I behaved.  This Pueblo is authentic, practically unchanged for centuries.    

I find my way out of the Pueblo and get onto original route 66 that is heading south traveling through old hispanic towns along the Rio Grande River.  I then get on route 47 where I was hoping to find many old interesting towns, but had no luck until I came upon the town of Tome, New Mexico.  There was a road sign identifying it as being established as a Mexican Land Grant.  I took a side street and found the Immaculate Conception Church and central park area, several historic signs, the old jail, the town hall and a windmill and some farm equipment.  

Tome has a rich history becoming a Spanish Land Grant in 1659 that was abandoned after the Pueblo revolt in 1680 and then in 1739 several settlers returned to take over the vacant land.  Tome was also a notable waypoint on the Camino Real.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tome,_New_Mexico

I continued for miles through farm country and was beginning to wonder if I was on the correct road when I saw a sign for I-25.  I then took I-25 until I came to the exit for the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.  After several miles I come to a trailhead and a railroad crossing for the Canyon Trail which is a 2.2 mile loop trail into a scenic canyon.  The trail is challenging as it constantly goes uphill in loose sandy soil and it's very sunny and hot day.  The trail circled around in a canyon but due to the brightness of the sun and the heat, the rock didn’t have much color and wasn't as scenic as I had hoped for, but still a good hike. 

The green of the river valley was calling

The start of the trail 

Had to climb up onto the rails

Long sandy stretch heading to the canyon

This porous rock wall was strange

I then drive to a nearby overlook point with interpretive signs on early Spanish explorers and the dangerous travel through this 90 mile rugged, uninhabited, dry, hot area that became known as the Jornada del Muerto or "Dead man's journey".

View from the lookout point

Okay, enough exploring, I get back on I-25 heading for my destination of Truth or Consequences, NM.  I’ve been here several times and can notice that they have made considerable improvements to the downtown streets and sidewalks.  The downtown seems to have become a haven for the art community.  The big attraction however, remains the hot springs, the whole town seems to sitting over, maybe a volcano ?  There are about 10 or 20 hotels, motels or related businesses that have hot spring showers, saunas and hot tubs available by the hour, day, week ,etc. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences,_New_Mexico

Three dimensional mural is a eye catcher

This is also an eye catcher

They have added a center parking lane ?

If actually a real Gallup, NM fire vehicle I might be interested ?

Junkology has quite a display

Love this door painting

Spanish architecture and murals

The ducks were just hanging out

I stopped at the Truth or Consequences Brewery which is a comfortable space with a good selection of beer, but nothing else, I’m here at 8 PM on a Thursday evening and it’s dead, the bartender, one other customer and me.  It’s my last night on the road and I’m sitting here in this dead beat bar and then I will go spend the night in a Walmart, how sad !  

August 28 - I leave Truth or Consequences traveling on route 187 through several small towns, instead of the faster route I-25.  This route is running parallel to the Rio Grande River, but for the most part it’s out of sight.  The area is fairly poor and rough looking, even trashy in places and I sort of ride straight through with no stops.  I continue past the Caballo Lake State Park and the Percha Dam State Park and then eventually through many miles of irrigated farm lands, home of the famous Hatch Chile.

My last mountain view taken as I leaveTruth or Consequences

  I make a quick stop in Hatch, NM to buy some fresh corn and then take route 26 to Deming, NM where I blow through town and get onto I-10 west.  Once on 1-10, I feel like I’m on the last lap of this trip.  The rest of the trip is a pretty boring route to the semi ghost town of Lordsburg, NM where I make a stop for fuel and a some lousy truck stop food. The last stop is a quick leg stretch on I-10 at the amazing Texas Canyon rest stop and then back to Tucson.

Lots of passing freight trains along I-10

Texas Canyon rest area view

This has been another crazy road trip of 5,692 miles according to my trip odometer !  I’ve seen a lot of cool stuff, learned some things along the way, exercised my aging brain and survived it all again.  This Van has a performed great, but at 144,000 miles she needs some front suspension work before attempting another mega trip.  

It will be a short one week rest for me as Sue has a trip planned for us to fly to Portland, Oregon to visit an old friend.                         

              

Trinidad, Colorado - Raton and Albuquerque, New Mexico

Trinidad, CO - Raton, NM - Albuquerque, NM

August 24 - I drive south on route 25 up the long Raton Pass into New Mexico and stop in Raton, NM to explore.  Raton is a very nice town and I'm impressed as I watch a person hustling around on a Sunday morning watering the town flower pots.  

I also noticed that the old historic "Golden Rule" store that had been vacant for decades has been demolished.  It’s now a vacant lot, that disturbs me somewhat, but I understand that it had collapsed and was beyond restoration.  

There also seems to be some turmoil taking place on Main Street at the El Raton Theater, as the movie marque displays “blame the town manager” on one side while the opposite side says “Closed forever”.  

On second street I notice a shop with an interesting political note, but I'm not clear which side they are on ? 

Nice architecture on 1st Street

Appears to be closed now, it had recently been completely renovated

The big cheese lays down the law

Great sign and Gallery

Beautiful corner building

The Raton Depot served by Amtrak

Very nice look

Everyone loves a steam train 

The El Raton Theater

Many nice flower pots around town

I am able to get internet sitting in front of the library, so I do a little blog editing.  It's then back onto route 25 south making a stop in historic Spinger, New Mexico where I find several interesting photo subjects.  

Jerry's Garage

25 cent cigarettes back in the day

The Cactus Club looked very fine

 

Driving on route 25 heading towards the town of Wagon Mound, I see the iconic view that was a wagon train period wayside point to stop and rest. 

My next stop is the historic mining town of Madrid, New Mexico and I'm quite surprised by the huge crowds in town, it's difficult to find a parking spot. It's Sunday and most of the shops are open and I hear music from the Mine Shaft area. 

I don't see or hear anything that special about the band, but the outside restaurant and bar area are filled.  The band is playing mostly hispanic dance music and there are a couple of interesting dancers.

I mostly wander around taking a few photos as the place has a good collection of weird stuff.

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/nm-madrid/

A place to pose for pictures

The Mineshaft Tavern entrance

Old car on display

New old Coal Town Museum and gift shop

The Mad Reffer dispensary

An outside dining area in front of the old steam engine

As I order food at the Mineshaft tavern, a woman sits down next to me and starts a conversation.  I ask her what is happening in the town, what's with the huge crowd today ?

She's a local and tells me that the long time former owner of the Mineshaft has sold the business and the new owner is doing more promotion, improving the mine museum, has opened a dispensary, is expanding the restaurant area and is very proactive. She thinks it's all good, but I'm wondering if all the locals are so happy with this, as the drawing card here has aways been the hippie vibe, which sort of clashes with a money making business venture.     

The woman also told me that overnight parking is allowed at a open lot going out of town just before the highway.  I drove there and found a large open field with a couple of  beat up RV’s and cars there that didn’t look very road worthy.  It was very dark and somewhat spooky but no problems.   

I’ll be leaving in the morning for Albuquerque, New Mexico.

August 25 - I leave Madrid taking route 15 up a winding uphill road through beautiful open country, but mostly fenced with private property signs and many expensive looking houses.  It's beautiful country, rolling hills covered with Pinion Pine and  Juniper Trees with distant mountain views.  

I make a rest stop along the highway I-25 where I take a photo of a Soaptree Yucca in full bloom and then stop a mile down the road for another photo of huge cloud formation in the distance.

Soaptree Yucca

Crazy cloud formation

The road eventually goes steeply downhill to the old town of Tijeras, NM where I exit to explore.  There are a few old adobe structures in bad condition, but the majority of the current town seems all upscale development tracts.  I take one photo of an old adobe house, there were others but no place to put over.

Looks really old

Nearby was an old windmill that looks operational

I am approaching Albuquerque when I turn onto a road, original route 66, heading uphill into a forested area. In a few miles I come upon a hiking trailhead and pull in. This is the Tijeras National Forest and it's a trailhead for the Tunnel Canyon Trail.  It looks interesting, so off I go. It’s mostly uphill, but not especially steep and it is also a popular biking trail.  It eventually reaches a high elevation with a clear view across the valley to the distant mountains.  I don't do the entire trail and never did see the tunnel but it was a nice healthy diversion which I needed to clear the cobwebs.

That's the view

My next target is finding a laundry, so I turn around, heading back towards Albuquerque, I stop to do a search and find a very nice, clean Laundromat within a few miles to my surprise.  It’s now about 3 PM and I stop at a McDonald’s to work on photos and the blog for an hour.  

I then drive to the Nob Hill section in Albuquerque, one of my favorite areas where I make a short visit to a favorite place, Tractor Brewing.  Afterwards, I walk around the area, stop for dinner nearby and enjoy the sights.

I've always wanted to look here, but its always been closed 

Breathe, whatever that means ?

My overnight stop looks like Cracker Barrel tonight.  It’s a bit of a crazy drive to get there through a rough looking part of the city.  I especially note lots and lots of Massage Parlors all along the road in poor looking buildings, I’m thinking that these can’t all be legit ? I do a search on line to find that the number of parlors in Albuquerque is extremely high and somewhat out of control.   

August 26 - I have breakfast at Cracker Barrel, it’s the right thing to do since they allow you to stay overnight, but I’m getting a little tired of the same ole country drawl music with every meal, time to give it a break maybe ?  

I then find my way across town to the National Hispanic Cultural Center which has an impressive group of buildings and activities and an art museum. The current exhibition is of a group of New Mexico artists who were among the earliest generation of Chicana and Chicano activists in the state. They were students at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM in the early 1970’s when Chicano scholar Pedro Rodriguez was the director of Chicano Studies. Much of this art was politically motivated at the time and is still valid today. There were some very interesting art works displayed.

This mural covers the entire ceiling of the room with a skylight

The campus is very nice

How this came to be

A sliver of Cadillac as art

Next stop is in downtown Albuquerque for some real street art on the side of a building.

I then drive to the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park and walk  a loop trail partway through the Bosque (forest) to the Rio Grande River.  Unfortunately, The Rio Grande river is mostly dry with only a very small stream still flowing.  The Bosque is also looking poor, it doesn’t look like they have had much rain here. The Cottonwood Trees that once covered this area are mostly gone now due to the lack of water.  In earlier times, the river would periodically flood and the trees would prosper.  This no longer occurs with enough regularity to sustain the trees.

Mostly dry river bed from this vantage point

A small flow remains

Dry cracked river bed but life still finds a way

Near the visitors center a pond attracts birds, fish and wild life

  

I spend the night at Cracker Barrel again, but will skip the usual breakfast in the morning.  It’s real close to I-25 which will enable an early start towards Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.