Silver City; The Bipolar State

October 23rd

I resumed my road walk along state highway 15. The lack of traffic was nice and the road actually went through some nice forests. Of course, being New Mexico, nice forests also includes beer cans and bottles every ten feet along the road.

‘Merica. Budweiser’s attempt to position their brand as America’s beer can backfire horribly. I don’t think littering this great country with cans and bottles is what America is all about.

I was able to walk through Pinos Altos, an old town where a Hearst family church was located. I believe they first made their money in mining before media. Otherwise, it was a long hot road walk down into Silver City.

The front of the opera house. No phantoms found.

The saloon was next door to the opera house, of course. I loved the door and it may have been the original.

Like other towns, it was facing some economic struggles. You could see the town was fighting back, trying to find uses for old abandoned buildings and touting their history. I liked the spirit of the town, but would not buy real estate there.

The Palace Hotel was where I stayed. It is an historic hotel the owners have resuscitated. They are giving it a good try, but some of the stuff was just not working out (like the shower) and they could not afford to retrofit air conditioning, so it must be a tough place to stay in the summer. Still it was cool to see how old hotels were laid out.

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The long road walk gave me time to think about New Mexico. I realize I am not yet done. Also, I have only been through certain sections of the state on this trip and the one last year. Still, I felt comfortable drawing some conclusions. The overarching theme is bipolar.

I don’t mean the clinical sense of rapid mood swings. But just a real different polarity in their actions or sentiments.

For example, the people are generally the friendliest. They almost always wave, are willing to stop and visit, and are quite welcoming. But they just can’t help but string barbed wire around their property and post No Trespassing signs.

It is such a beautiful state, too. Many roads providing easy access to gorgeous forests. But the response seems to be to enhance the natural beauty with the sparkle and flash of beer cans and bottles. There are places where there is a beer can or bottle every ten feet. Maybe that is why they wave when you see them… to keep their throwing arm in shape.

I have had a few conversations where the New Mexican tried to guide the conversation to how “those boys up in Oregon have a point” regarding a distrust of the government and fear it will take from the private residents. The Oregon boys are the Arizona guys who took over a wildlife refuge for a while. Nobody has been specific about what they fear the federal government will take. To me, an admittedly poor student of history, it strikes me as ironic that they are sitting on land the federal government took from Navajos and Mexicans and gave to US citizens a couple hundred years ago. So, on the one hand, the federal government has clearly seized land in the past. But on the other hand, today’s residents are benefiting from that taking.

Lastly, the volume of Trump supporters is loud in the sections I have toured. Without access to data, I am nevertheless pretty sure New Mexico must be one of those states where the federal government pumps in way more money than it extracts. There is the forest service, BLM, Border Patrol, military bases, Los Alamos Laboratory and then all the state institutions. I would imagine a traditional republican platform about less federal government might be bad news for these folks, but they sure seem to be in favor of Trump. To me, especially with the cattle ranchers, they might want to think more about Hillary. After all, early in her legal career she showed some remarkable skill trading cattle futures.

In summary, while I love New Mexico and almost all of the people I have met, it does have a few rough edges that make me want to be more likely a visitor than a resident.