At 6:30am I was no longer a Texan as I crossed the Rio Grande for the last time and got on New Mexican roads. It was 22F outside, the coldest yet on this trip.
NM9 is a busy stretch for the USBP. I counted over 14 vehicles along the 180-mile road, most were east of Columbus. At night there are many more vehicles in the brush. I made sure the agents had no reason to pull me over. This road isn't used much and most vehicles I see are USBP vehicles.
NM9 is a busy stretch for the USBP. I counted over 14 vehicles along the 180-mile road, most were east of Columbus. At night there are many more vehicles in the brush. I made sure the agents had no reason to pull me over. This road isn't used much and most vehicles I see are USBP vehicles.
It was already sunny enough for the desert hares, that normally run across this road at sunrise and sunset, to take a break. Hawks, harriers and ravens, even a lone coyote, pranced across the street. The dog was eating on some roadkill fast-food.
I stopped in Columbus to stretch my legs and opted for a quick walk into the bordertown of Loma Palomas. I knew there wasn't anything there but a stone catholic church and a stature of Pancho Villa. He and his gun-slinging troops entered the US through this valley and burned down Columbus, making a retaliatory raid by US forces with Gen Blackjack Pershing. I don't think buildings on either side of the border had seen any upkeep since those days in 1916.
Mexican school children were crossing into the US and getting on US school buses at 7:30am. A Border Patrol van and a sheriffs car watched. The kids weren't even chcked for documents as mothers walked their elementary kids to the two waiting buses.
My Spanish is getting bolder as words are slowly coming back to me. I asked a cowboyhat-wearing rancher "Donde esta la iglesia?" and he gave me coherent directions. The alleged statue of Pancho was next to the church and more men were sweeping the streets as stray dogs watched or loitered.
This was a run-down town with more bars on either side of main street than any other business. I stopped to eat chicken flautas for breakfast at Gomez. My coffee was Nescafe Instant which I had to mix myself. The young man served me ten bowls of various salsa with my flautas, which were quite tasty with the cheese sauce and mango salsa on top.
A Mexican yoga instructor in tight pants was stretching for the morning audience on TV, looking a bit like the blonde Texan Michael McCoughaney. If I had someone like that man to exercise with every morning I may actually get up every day to stretch...
Then a Spanish-Mexican version of the Today Show was on the TV, "Hoy" talked about various telenovias and a Mexican singer, Pablo Moredo, sang. I gathered he sings the tune for the Spanish serious "Fuego en la sangre" where all the men wear dark mustaches and hats and all the women cry through their heavy make-up. There seemed to be little to no real news for the announcers to talk about, although my SatRadio kept talking about today's primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island.
My meal was very good and I thanked the server, who waved and smiled at me as I left. If only people in the US were this friendly in the morning.
More people swept their sidewalks. An elderly US couple walked passed me looking for an open pharmacy.
And I had no trouble getting back to the US side. "Did you purchase anything?" asked the agent. No. "How long were you in Mexico?" A little over an hour.
The short walk around town did me good as I felt fatigued. It got into the 60s as I continued my straight-away on NM9, going through cowtowns like Hachita, Hermanas, Animas and finally Rodeo where I crossed into--YAY!--Arizona at 11:15am. A pile of tires lay strewn along the shoulder on both sides. The Chiricahuas to my immediate west stood firm, welcoming me back to all their splendor. Creosote brush gave way to more Ocotillo the further west I got.
I stopped again in Douglas an hour later, just for the sake of stalling my arrival home. Douglas is another border town with the famed Gadsen Hotel, where Pancho Villa allegedly stomped up the marble stairs with his horse and chipped one of the stones. The two chips are visible as one goes up to the second floor.
Bisbee, 22 miles closer to home and 1500' higher than Douglas, came next. It was here, at the Bisbee Coffee Company in Old Bisbee, that I stopped for a sweet and powerful shot of cappuccino. People around me sat sipping their javas as they worked on their laptops. Hippies outside in their tie-die and raggamuffin hair sat in the shade staring at the tourists walking by. There were many tourists out in their best attire.
I stopped in Columbus to stretch my legs and opted for a quick walk into the bordertown of Loma Palomas. I knew there wasn't anything there but a stone catholic church and a stature of Pancho Villa. He and his gun-slinging troops entered the US through this valley and burned down Columbus, making a retaliatory raid by US forces with Gen Blackjack Pershing. I don't think buildings on either side of the border had seen any upkeep since those days in 1916.
Mexican school children were crossing into the US and getting on US school buses at 7:30am. A Border Patrol van and a sheriffs car watched. The kids weren't even chcked for documents as mothers walked their elementary kids to the two waiting buses.
My Spanish is getting bolder as words are slowly coming back to me. I asked a cowboyhat-wearing rancher "Donde esta la iglesia?" and he gave me coherent directions. The alleged statue of Pancho was next to the church and more men were sweeping the streets as stray dogs watched or loitered.
This was a run-down town with more bars on either side of main street than any other business. I stopped to eat chicken flautas for breakfast at Gomez. My coffee was Nescafe Instant which I had to mix myself. The young man served me ten bowls of various salsa with my flautas, which were quite tasty with the cheese sauce and mango salsa on top.
A Mexican yoga instructor in tight pants was stretching for the morning audience on TV, looking a bit like the blonde Texan Michael McCoughaney. If I had someone like that man to exercise with every morning I may actually get up every day to stretch...
Then a Spanish-Mexican version of the Today Show was on the TV, "Hoy" talked about various telenovias and a Mexican singer, Pablo Moredo, sang. I gathered he sings the tune for the Spanish serious "Fuego en la sangre" where all the men wear dark mustaches and hats and all the women cry through their heavy make-up. There seemed to be little to no real news for the announcers to talk about, although my SatRadio kept talking about today's primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island.
My meal was very good and I thanked the server, who waved and smiled at me as I left. If only people in the US were this friendly in the morning.
More people swept their sidewalks. An elderly US couple walked passed me looking for an open pharmacy.
And I had no trouble getting back to the US side. "Did you purchase anything?" asked the agent. No. "How long were you in Mexico?" A little over an hour.
The short walk around town did me good as I felt fatigued. It got into the 60s as I continued my straight-away on NM9, going through cowtowns like Hachita, Hermanas, Animas and finally Rodeo where I crossed into--YAY!--Arizona at 11:15am. A pile of tires lay strewn along the shoulder on both sides. The Chiricahuas to my immediate west stood firm, welcoming me back to all their splendor. Creosote brush gave way to more Ocotillo the further west I got.
I stopped again in Douglas an hour later, just for the sake of stalling my arrival home. Douglas is another border town with the famed Gadsen Hotel, where Pancho Villa allegedly stomped up the marble stairs with his horse and chipped one of the stones. The two chips are visible as one goes up to the second floor.
Bisbee, 22 miles closer to home and 1500' higher than Douglas, came next. It was here, at the Bisbee Coffee Company in Old Bisbee, that I stopped for a sweet and powerful shot of cappuccino. People around me sat sipping their javas as they worked on their laptops. Hippies outside in their tie-die and raggamuffin hair sat in the shade staring at the tourists walking by. There were many tourists out in their best attire.
Bisbee is definitely worth a visit and one of my favorite towns in Cochise County. There's more to see and do in Bisbee than in any other town within 40 miles. It's situated in a small saddle surrounded by the Mule mountains, making this town a cool retreat in the summer heat. But there are a few too many Left-wing Liberals to my liking. Some of the older ones look like they haven't showered since the Nixon era. Still, when mixed with the neo-rich and the right-wingers from Fort Huachuca and Sierra Vista, the eclectic mix gives Bisbee its rebellious charm. It's also the first clean town I've seen in a while...
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