Part 2

But let me backtrack for a second. Because if you are a careful reader – and I’m sure you are- you will have been wondering why I am not with my friends in Silverton. How did I get only to Farmington and not up into the La Platas for the 4th of July Parade and rhubarb festival?

Well, sadly, and despite my triumph in Santa Fe, my car once again overheated in the parking lot of Nature’s Oasis in Durango, a 3 hour drive from Albuquerque. I had to rethink my plans. I could probably patch up the radiator with another bottle or two of goop from City Market (here at $3.75 a bottle), but I couldn’t be sure it would hold over the several high mountain passes between here and Silverton – 9000 feet in the sky.

Better to be stuck here in a parking lot within walking distance of food, shelter, and souvenir shops than to be stuck on the side of the road on the Million Dollar Highway. Actually- getting stuck on the side of that road wouldn’t even be the worst scenario. There being so few turn-offs on that highway, and the overheating coming on as quickly as it does, I might have just found myself in the middle of the lane with angry patriots with guns lined up behind me trying to get to the marching band performance.

No, it was a wiser move to bide my time in Durango and meet up with my friends tomorrow. The only thing I would really miss would be Carol wearing her big red white and blue “Old Glory” blouse- which nobody in New York believes really exists but which I saw at least two or three other times today in Durango.

No biggie. Walked around DRO for a couple of hours, drank some tea, had some fruit, downloaded a whole mess of music, and just caught the tail end of some sort of Bar-B-Q fair with some 15 different smokers all out hawking their hocks (excuse me). Since I stopped eating flesh foods some time ago, I have continued to take pleasure in watching others gorge themselves on that which I once loved. There wasn’t any way I could have gotten my brother to fly in in time to partake of the various BBQ samplings that afternoon (he lives in New York), but I spent at least 30 seconds trying to think if there might be some way. . .


Traveling has humbled me in many ways. I have become respectful of the differences between people and peoples, and at this point in my life I have stopped mocking small towns for their provincialism, ignorance, and general low standard of excellence. That leaves me with very little to say about the Independence Day parade that made its way down Main Ave. that evening from 5:00 - 7:00 pm. There were bagpipes, a rarity in these parts.

I stuck around until just after sunset to watch the fireworks and then took off for Farmington to spend my night. All it took was one more bottle of goop to get my car up and running. How do you like that?

550 to 516. Straight down Main, left on Scott, left on Broadway. Motel 6 is just up on the left at Bloomfield Road.