Thank you Colorado for being breath taking. Thank for having a million different vistas. Thank you for inspiring the song, "America The Beautiful". Thank you for clean air and blue skies. I have never seen you more beautifully dressed than in your fall foliage. It was actual shock and awe, in a good way. Around every bend was a brighter yellow, an unexpected red, a clear stream, nature in all Her glory. Colorado is what we should all see every single day. God's work is so evident in the mountains. Of course it is there in the plains as well. I think maybe He just got tired. I feel renewed and full of spirit. I also made some observations along the way.
PEOPLE ARE STRANGE. Indeed. It was my experience that in person, face to face, people were lovely and friendly or schizophrenic. In their cars and on the phone, they were rude, and mean. Just sayin'.
AMERICA IS IN DEEP TROUBLE. Worse than I thought. The poverty is some areas reminded me of back roads Kentucky, circa 1950.
THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO HAS NO IDEA HOW TO DO ROAD CONSTRUCTION. Really. Not my first experience with "detours" in New Mexico.
THE WORLD IS LOSING IT'S COLLECTIVE MIND. So many corroborating stories here.
Let me start with:
PEOPLE ARE STRANGE. This includes me. I hate every cell phone on earth but mine and I hate my own from time to time. People talk on their phones anytime, anywhere for any reason. Remember when you couldn't do that? Remember when you had to FIND a phone to talk to anyone? It was frustrating, rarely, but so much more peaceful. You cannot take a peaceful walk through anywhere without someone on their phone talking about.....nothing. People saying FUCK really loud. OK, that was me, but still, I was cursing at my phone. Ringing, chiming, OR not working when I wanted it to, signal, no signal. Grrrrr. We were a much less aggressive society prior to all this connectivity.
Barreling through Amarillo a little blond was so concerned about her texting that driving became a non issue to her. Oops, wrong lane, oops, slowing down, oops going real fast now, oops, cannot find the : and the ) to make a smiling face....HEY BLONDIE, DRIVE or get out off the way.
RV drivers are the most clueless, selfish people on the road. They are driving a house, pulling a car and sometimes a trailer full of ATVs or dirt bikes or the rest of the children. How nice for you that you are seeing the mountains at 2 miles per hour and stopping before every curve.....that's every few feet. The rest of us are tired of riding our brakes. MOVE OVER anytime you have the chance and let us car and SUV people get in front of you. I saw beauty to the right of me, beauty to the left of me and PACE ARROW in my face for miles and miles.
Not that I am selfish, OK, yes, I am. When it comes to the rare vacation I get to take I want the view, not the window of an RV and the exhaust. The professional truck drivers were very polite, moved over and gave the lookie loos a chance to do just that. Thank you transportation industry.
In person, especially if you are spending money, people are friendly and want to know where you are from, how your trip is so far, welcome to our little town. When you don't want to drop a thousand dollars on a lovely piece of art, jewelry, clothing, or trinket they act you have little taste or class. A dude tried very hard to sell me a knee length sheepskin coat. It was beautiful, soft leather, fleece lined and hotter than hell. "I live in Texas", I explained as he offered to get me a different size and ship it, no sales tax. "Thank you, but I couldn't wear this in Texas, I need to be this warm like a need another chin". I believed he actually harrumphed at me.
AMERICA IS IN DEEP TROUBLE. I knew that the economy was bad but I really had no idea until I saw poverty like I don't remember since being a child. The trip to Kentucky in my childhood was full of tiny, dying towns. West Texas and eastern New Mexico are dying. There are boarded up businesses everywhere. They are also Wal-Marts and Family Dollar stores every few towns that are packed. The Liquor Business along with Tattooing and XXX rated everything seem to be thriving. I saw cars duct taped and bungee corded together following million dollar RVs. I saw some dilapidated homes FULL of people with cars in the driveway with Bush/Cheney bumper stickers. Wonder how they feel now? I saw more homeless people hitch hiking since the 1970s when it was hip to hitch across America. These people didn't look hip. They looked sick and dying.
The drought is unbelievable. I know earth gets dry and cracked but I certainly know now why my pool looks like a sand pit some days. Nothing to hold the earth. No deeply rooted plants. Hello, dust bowl. I saw farmers plowing red dry dust. I saw trailers full of skinny cows being taken somewhere. Either to market or to another spot to graze.
I overhead a conversation between a girl, around 9 or 10, and her daddy at a diner. Small town, everybody knew everybody kind of place. I could see the dad from where I sat and the girls face in a mirror. They talked to the waitress. All smiles and cheerful. They made careful selections from the menu. The waitress brought their lunch and asked the dad if he's had any luck. "No", he replied. "Daddy's home everyday", said the little girl like she was thrilled. The dad looked like he might cry. It broke my heart. He spent lunch telling his little girl to say, "please and thank you to the waitress". He asked her about school. They talked about mommy working. He asked her to brush her hair out of her face and take her elbows off the table while they ate. The little girl wanted ice cream and then go get a lollipop at the store next door. "No, honey, one or the other". "Ice cream", she wisely decided. Such a good dad unable to support his child financially. I could see in his face how much he wanted to support his child, unlike so many who do not care, and was unable to find work. Welcome to the New America.
THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO CANNOT BUILD HIGHWAYS. I have learned this lesson before. A long time a go I was riding through New Mexico on a state highway when we saw the "DETOUR" sign. No biggie. We followed the 4,000 signs through the detour, gravel roads, dirt roads, empty farm fields for what seemed like an hour and finally got back to the state highway. We were approximately 2 miles from where we started the detour.
Heading to Chama from Aztec, Current and I were on a state highway. Suddenly there were signs, "One Lane Road Ahead". Uh oh, I had a flashback of the never ending detour. We were stopped by a highway worker. The line of cars grew like a snake behind us. We waited forever. People got out of their cars, strolled up and down the shoulder, walked their dogs, talked to the person holding the "STOP" sign. No traffic moving either direction. This is NUTS! was all I could think. If there is one lane why isn't the traffic moving in the opposite direction? Finally after 30 minutes or so the traffic started passing, very slowly. Sixty cars maybe. The people looked livid and relieved alternately. The traffic stopped passing and everyone climbed back in their cars and started their engines. Nothing. No movement. Sitting. Finally a white pick up comes to the front of the line of cars to lead us through the construction. At twenty miles an hour. One lane. That was the good part. I see the sign, "Pavement Ends". Say what? The last 1,000 feet of the construction was on chewed up asphalt. Both sides of the road. NO LANES. Great planning. We finally got through the mess and got to the T in the road, Chama, right. Pagosa Springs, left. "Colorado", I said, "I won't survive another New Mexico construction project". We made a left into a small town. There was one of those yellow diamond signs that have deer, elk, bear, horseback riders, etc., on them to alert you as to what might appear in your path. This sign was a person walking with "SLOW" written under the figure. "No shit", bye bye New Mexico.
THE WORLD IS LOSING IT'S COLLECTIVE MIND. I am not sure where to begin here. Guess I will hop across the pond to Jolly Ole England. Saw a news story about a cage fighting club somewhere in England. Very popular place, sold out at $40.00 a person. Tarty, half dressed ring girls. Drooling, drinking crowd. The competitors? Eight year old boys. Eight. Cage fighting. It's legal. Yay! The reporter interviewed one of the boy's mother. "Oh, 'e likes it. 'e's good at it so I don't really mind". The child is eight years old! He would like to drive a fire truck too, or fly a plane, or kill puppies. Good grief.
The news out of Albuquerque was all about ATM robberies. A young man had a gun held to his head for $60.00. Two women attacked an 80 year old lady at a walk up ATM with a knife. They threatened to, "ruin your face, lady" if she didn't hand over her money, purse, and ATM card. The police spokesperson advice to the public: do not go to an ATM alone, do not go to a walk up ATM, do not go to an ATM at night, if your only option is a walk up ATM, leave your purse and valuables in the car. How about if we make it harder for the criminals and take the onus off the victims for a while?
The common thread? Hoodies, sunglasses and hats pulled down low. How about we make those illegal in public? Show your face, smile at all the cameras and make crime harder to commit. That would infringe on people's rights. NO, that would infringe on criminal's rights. The public pays the price for everything. Let's start making the criminals sweat. Guns are out of control BUT we can control other things. I can't smoke in public, you can't hide your face. Welcome to the New America.
I also learned that America will be giving used Humvees and other all terrain vehicles to the states to patrol the border. The southern states of course. We don't fear Canada. Also, a federally mandated, unfunded requirement of the states is; common street signs, all caps, all the same color. New Mexico cannot afford this. What is their state house doing? Redistricting, of course. Citizens and their needs don't matter, silly federal mandates, not important. Getting re-elected and having control is all that matters.
In every small town I stopped in I saw notices posted for benefits. Benefits for sick people, homeless families, people who lost everything in a fire, or lost homes due to default on loans. Small town people helping their neighbors. That gave me hope. That's America.
There is nothing like getting out of your environment to open your mind. Look around and see how fortunate some people are and how sad and heartbreaking others appear. Take in an entire new horizon. Love every minute of what you see. Marvel at the beauty of nature and, of course, how nice some hotels are. The strange thing that always happens, no matter where you go, no matter what you see and experience, there IS no place like home. Home, where you are comfortable all the time, where you know where everything is, where you are surrounded by your own taste and style. Your own bed. Ahhhhhh.
Yours in peace and relaxation,
LBB
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