New Eyes

            You’ve probably heard far too often that the journey IS the destination. Kim and I gave that cliché a new twist on our recent journey to New Mexico, where every “road” presented a problem, and dealing with the problems, or seeing them with "new eyes," became a recurrent theme and source of enjoyment.

Ann Arbor to Albuquerque

            The train ride from Ann Arbor to Albuquerque featured a compartment with a soaking wet floor and enough mold that we knew breathing would be uncomfortable. Still, we appreciated the beauty of our country afforded by rail, the countryside away from the Interstate. And when we complained to Amtrak, they offered us a $400 voucher as compensation.

 

Albuquerque to the Fite Ranch

            We gave Megan and Miguel, our hosts in Albuquerque, a break from our company to drive down to the Fite Ranch Bed and Breakfast in San Antonio, where we discovered a few more roads to nowhere. A guest at the B&B suggested we take some back roads past the ranch to some abandoned coal mines, but each of these roads led to locked gates.

Wire Across the Road

Appears to Go Forever but Doesn't

Still, we enjoyed the colors of the landscape and the junk that was left behind.

View from behind our bunkhouse. Note coal in foreground.

Fite Ranch Bunkhouse

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

In fact, we enjoyed the junk so much that we chose to explore the junkscape surrounding our b&b on foot.

Perhaps used to coil rope, cable or wire for the mine?

Any guesses what this was used for?

Cart to haul coal from mine.

Why did the cow ram into the wagon wheel?

A bucket we almost kicked on the Road to Nowhere. We brought it home.

And the wildlife . . .

Blacktail Jackrabbit

Desert Cottontail

Bullsnake - helps control rodent and rattlesnake populations.

Bosque del Apache

            A trip to Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge to photograph birds was one of our primary goals. This journey was, again, not what we expected, as the birds were almost entirely missing. This field will be filled with water in time for the November migration of Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese, and photographers.

Ghost Town

We took a beautiful road to see a ghost town, Kelly, an old silver, lead and zinc mining town that we had read about in Socorro. As it turned out, Kelly was a ghost of a ghost town – there used to be a ghost town there, but not any more. We photographed what we could before heading back.

What's left of the Holiday Inn

Mine and Something Else

            On the way back to Socorro we were surprised by a herd of pronghorns.

Later that night we were surprised again to learn that pronghorns are not antelopes.

The Road to Nowhere           

            The waiter at a restaurant in Socorro suggested a back road between San Antonio, where we were staying, to Socorro. This was another road to nowhere – almost our last. Details of this expedition can be found at www.dhstringer.com. Here are a few more photos related to that misadventure.

The Good Part of the Road

Probably driven by idiot tourists who got stuck in the sand.

In fact, when Kim later asked me what was the highlight of our trip, my immediate response was seeing the cowboy’s big truck.

Albuquerque to Santa Fe

            We followed up these mis-adventures by a road trip from Albuquerque to Santa Fe via “The Turquoise Trail.” Everything went well here, especially when we did not run out of gas. We especially enjoyed the small artist-towns of Madrid (accent on first syllable) and Cerrillos, which featured a combination museum and petting farm that were, at the end of another road to nowhere, closed. Still, there were some photo-ops.

The main street of Cerrillos. More than a dozen movies and television shows have been shot here, including "Young Guns," "Longmere" and "Outrageous Fortune."

Cool door in Cerrillos

Santa Fe

            An exception to our Roads to Nowhere theme was on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. The road led us past beautiful doors and enticing galleries to our breakfast destination, The Teahouse.

Our hosts, Miguel and Megan, being serious in Santa Fe

This was in a floor. Ideas about its use?

            Back in Albuquerque, we opted not to take the road to Sandia Mountain to photograph birds, opting instead to stay home and drink wine. Since Megan was expecting in 5 weeks, we had to drink hers as well.

Albuquerque to Michigan

            Our trip by rail back from Albuquerque featured some spectacular landscapes and skies, shot through the windows of our moving train.

We loved the red soil in Apache Pass in northeastern New Mexico

       A rainstorm, which stopped the train from time to time, made us four hours late to Chicago, so we missed our connection to Ann Arbor. But it did allow Kim to take some shots through the window of the train.

       The final leg of our trip was not by rail but by bus and then a taxi from the Amtrak station in Ann Arbor. We arrived home, tired but happy, at about 3 a.m.

       Upon reflection, this wisdom from some stairs in Santa Fe is what helped us turn our journey, despite its troubles, into our destination. (Read from the bottom up.)