Roadtrip to Nowhere

On a previous post I said I was going on a road trip. I am now back to Houston. I thought, I will have plenty of time to write a post or two over the last 3 weeks, but like many things I have misjudged! But better late than never. What a trip it was! Without any detours (there were plenty, in fact today, I will mostly talk about one), as per google maps, it was 4077 KM one way. Round trip, as per my car, I have driven about 7500 miles or 12,000 kilometers in 3 weeks! I am no stranger to long roadtrips by car, but something of this magnitude I have never done in my life! Well, now I have. Next, drive to Alaska from Houston (someday).

Just to keep 12,000 km in perspective. Earth's diameter is 12,756 KM! Earth's circumference at equator is 40,075 KM. So I have driven nearly as much as the diameter of the Earth and nearly 3/10 of the equatorial circumference of the planet! For the record, I am fine. So is my Bronco. Both my 12 year old daughther and I are sane, and we didn't kill each other! We did finish 6 full length audio-books! The full 6 book series by Michael Scott The Alchemyst and 5 follow up books https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17402605-the-alchemyst. And most importantly, I have been able to show my daughter a segment of the United States from the ground level.

Why Nowhere?

One of the part I enjoy about roadtrips is making small detours. I always find minor interesting things along the way, that I wouldn't have visited individually or ever, but those memories often stays. One such place is Des Moines, wait for it, not Iowa, but New Mexico. Unless you have driven highway 87 between Clayton, NM and Raton, NM (both places, as non-descriptive as it gets, unless you are familiar), there is no reason for anyone to know Des Moines, NM exists. Even if people who took the diagonal direct route between Amarillo, TX and I-25, on the way to Denver, CO; can overlook Des Moines, NM as a random hamlet where you have to just slow your cruising speed of 85 miles/hr to 55 miles/hr, and you do that loads of times on a long drive.

This is abandoned. New Mexico has many ghost towns, Des Moines is not one of them, people actually live in this town. But this building is abandoned. Sorry @slobberchops I didn't get in!

Freedom Schools were alternative middle and high schools where African American college students taught during the Civil Rights movement. There were reportedly 41 Freedom Schools, part of an effort to achieve social, political, and economic equality for African Americans in the 1960's.

I know this because I am from the south. Most Freedom Schools were in the southern part of United States. I had no idea who one ended up this far north, and especially in a town like this, current population of 117 (yes, it is probably even less now, that census is 2020).

Near Capulin Volcano, people still stop for a gas refill at this town, or maybe a quick refill of coffee at the gas station. But that is about it. There is a tourist infomation center, but permanently closed.

There is Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, just opposite of the Phillips Gas Station, looks like active from the outside. But then I ran into this, due north of the gas station I stopped, the Des Moines Cemetery, perched on the low hill and very visible from the highway. From a distance, it is quite attractive. Did I mentioned ever, that I love cemeteries?

It is up the little dirt road going to nowhere (or maybe somewhere, who knows?!). I drove up to it and stopped the car ourside and walked in. It is a beautifully clean wide open space under the big New Mexico sky.

I do not know them, but I paid my respect to the Hamilton family. What a beautiful final resting place! Someday, I will go down, as the next person, I wish I get a place like this when my kids can visit if they want!

This is where they have fallen asleep. Under the watchful eyes of Sierra Grande, a relatively recent strato-volcano, about 2.5 to 3.5 Million years old, Pliocene. I sat here for about half an hour, not doing much, thinking this and that. My daughter wasn't much interested obviously, after a few minutes, she went back to the car, trying to finish the legend of zelda: breath of the wild, on her Switch! Such is life!