3:00 p.m. New Mexico - almost feels like being on another planet. "God's sandbox" is another term that comes to mind... lots of random brush and spaced-out buttes that look like ten-story mud pies. "Wide open, barren ranches" is the best term to describe what little habitation there is. Isolated houses sit with a lonely windmill or solar panel amidst dozens of dry acres, with no other trace of civilization nearby.
Where do they get their supplies? With whom do they socialize other than the stray horse or two running freely about the property bounded by slipshod stick-and-wire fences?
The most impressive landmarks are the telephone poles that seem to rappel down the craggy, wooded hillside - another feat of engineering - hard to imagine the whole crew surviving such a treacherous installation project.
Where communities do exist they resemble trailer parks, with rusted appliances and compost scattered about what passes for a lawn.
If this is New Mexico, I wonder what old Mexico looks like?
3:55 Albequerque - a half-hour stop at a relatively modern city, where the station is dotted with vendors of handmade arts and crafts. The 85 degree, late afternoon heat would feel even better if it had been less than 33 hours since I'd last showered.
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