Texas/New Mexico, Oct. 2008

After breakfast on the westbound train it was a fairly uneventful trip through the ever changing landscape of West Texas, highlighted by the crossing of the Pecos River Canyon, a narrow but deep gorge cut into the bedrock over the eons.







Only difficulty along the way was a broken signal which kept us to a crawl until the Union Pacific guys were able to fix it. We were still able to get to our appointed stops on time, so when we pulled into El Paso I canceled my room for Lordsburg that night and let Raul know to be ready for a pickup.

Milling about outside of the train I came upon a vendor plying the passengers with burritos. I anxiously jumped into the queue, ordered two for $1.25 apiece, laid her a fiver and told her to keep the change. The green chile, ground beef and potato burrito was exactly what I expected it to be and reveled in my first taste of the region. The bean and cheese burrito was equally pleasing, an un-melted chunk of cheese betrayed it to be either Muenster or Chihuahua, likely the latter.

El Paso station.

On the rails again, I glued myself to my seat for the remaining portion of the trip, watching the land and the skies change colors as the sun set. By the time I got to Lordsburg it was dark and a small amount of confusion kept me and Raul from spotting each other until five or so minutes after the train departed.

We drove the short haul up to Casa Raul, situated in the foothills of the Burro Mountains. We hung out for awhile and quaffed a few beers in the conversion van I was going to sleep in for the next two nights.

Been up for an hour now in a converted van parked out on Raul's land, in the foothills of the Burro Mountains, halfway between Silver City and Lordsburg, New Mexico.

Altitude is around 6200 feet, the sky is clear and the moon is full, and it's cold. Not freezing but good enough for me to be huddled up this chilly morning. And sleepless to boot.

Christ-on-a-stick! It's two hours until sunrise, it's cold, my fingers are stiff, I can't sleep and now I've got morning wood. At least I don't have to stumble in the moonlight to go drop a load. I'm gonna try sleep again.

I awoke a few hours later and anxiously waited until it was light enough for me to negotiate the way to the outhouse and relieve my burden in the composting toilet. Afterwards I made introductions with my non-wiping hand and sat down to coffee and pastry with Jim and his mother and sister who happened to be down at the house for a spell. I also reacquainted myself with Rufus, a bulky, hairy terrier breed who licked me to no end, and got to meet the new addition, Sophie, a small lab mix. Sophie, too, was drawn to my presence, but was more genteel in comparison to the javelina-chasing force of nature that was Rufus.



Raul and I spent the day lounging about, punctuated by a couple of walks through the acres up from the house leading to the wilderness beyond. Lunch was a vegetable and ground turkey crock-pot soup and couple of slices of a local artisanal bread made in Silver City. The soup was hearty and the addition of ground red pepper gave it a most satisfying flavor.

Scenes from Casa Raul.

Raul grilled up burgers for supper and we all sat down to watch the playoffs on television, while I also fiddled around with photos and videos on the laptop. I retired in time to catch a bit of the local news, then bundled myself up for the long, cold night.