I am drawn to this formidable steel wall only a hundred yards away that separates us from Mexico.
Can you see it stretching into the distance---a 14 foot barrier that no one could accidently stray across.
It is here in Douglas that long drug smuggling tunnels have been dug. You can see the broad cleared area on the US side to discourage such tunnels.
The entire length of the wall is dragged often by an apparatus to create this smooth dusty surface that will show the footprints of anyone crossing it. Can you see the tracks I made?
Leaving town, I cross the flat plain that the US paid Mexico 10 million dollars for. (The Gadsden Purchase) We needed it to facilitate an east/west railroad. read about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_Purchase
(thanks Diana for the info)
I travel this long and lonely road---meeting no cars--Then far out in the desert I see this border patrol truck perched on a hillside. I park my rig just beneath him off the highway, to eat lunch, hoping he will come down to investigate. He (or she) didn't.
Further on I pause at this significant spot. Right out there, at the base of those mountains---Geronimo surrendered. A brave Lieutenant did the negotiating.
Look up this spot on a map and you will see that it is a lonely patch of New Mexico. A tiny town, Rodeo, is just ahead.
I pass through it and down more lonesome highway. Ahead are two ghost towns---Steins and Shakespeare---but I've already reported on them in a previous blog.
I call it a night at a familiar spot from last year in Lordsberg.---after a brief $100 pause at the DMV to renew my truck tags for 2 years. (a bargain)
Next day, headed for Deming, NM, a fierce and scary dust storm buffeted me. I quickly got off the Interstate, waiting it out in a field.
When I got to Deming, it resumed---in fact it blustered all night. I humkered close against a Kmart wall and slept well.
Then went here for a few days--hiking and coordinating various aspects of the QUEST-FOR-COMMUNITY CARAVAN.
RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES ABOUT DRIFTING: Few ever experience the ecstasy of pure drifting. One must have his INCOMPLETES stabilized----his roadway clear of debris---fears under control---living gear adequate---senses alert.
Here's the drifter in mythoogy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces
Here is a summary of a real-life drifter---perhaps the greatest the world has ever seen: Ibn Battuta --from Morocco. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Battuta
QUEST FOR COMMUNITY CARAVAN UPDATE. We are off to a terrific start---Our scout and pathfinder Boonie located a cool and perfect spot atop a 6,500 ft mountain with 360 degree view----AND good cellphone and internet reception. We meet once or twice a day to hike and discuss. Will brief you on our consensus in a future blog.
5 comments:
The Gadsden Purchase was a interesting read, I'd never heard of the Confederate Territory of Arizona before.
Hello again Randy. Your 'drifting' philosophy is the same as mine. 'course I'm only taking 6 weeks off this spring/summer. Will take the Stealth RV (I would have bought yours, if mine weren't already serving me so well, thanks again for the inspiration).
I'll head out end of May to meet friends in the Eureka, CA/Lost Coast area, then wander for a couple weeks until meeting up with old friends at their family reunion in Sequoia, then more wandering until July with only the vaguest notion, like Baja and the SW, of where I'll go until July. Life is good, but I'm keeping my day job for now. =o)
Michael Anne lived in Deming as a kid. We visited there (and Silver City) during our 1979 trip.
Hello Andy: It always warms my heart to hear from you. My readers may remember that we lived communally in New Orleans some 40 years ago. You have always been bolder than I---and have broadened my world in so many ways. (Not least when we three traveled together while loving the same woman)
I looks to me like the vacant lot that you selected in Douglas was the Safeway grocery store that closed. No other business has reopened it yet it appears.
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