NEW MEXICO trip
Oct. 8-15 2021
PART 2
Just as we enter New Mexico on US 56/64/412. My earliest impressions of New Mexico were probably from a series of Sesame Street episodes that aired when I was too young to remember now.
A closer view of what I believe to be Rabbit Ear Mountain.
Entering Clayton, N.M. The Electric Company had a Clayton. And why is there a port of entry nowhere near an international border? Is New Mexico a separate land where constitutional liberties don't apply? (Yes.)
The route uses Main Street in Clayton.
As we bip northwest on US 64/87, the mountain is probably Sierra Grande.
US 64/87 again.
This is surely still US 64/87.
US 64/87 continues in Des Moines, N.M. The mountain is probably Capulin Mountain, but it looks pretty far.
This would be Capulin Mountain, the centerpiece of Capulin Volcano National Monument. The volcano last erupted 55,000 to 62,000 years earlier and is considered extinct. Had you excited for a moment, didn't I? The volcano's peak is said to offer views as distant as Kansas.
This has to be north from Capulin on NM 325.
Probably the road off NM 325 serving the national monument. While we were at Capulin Volcano, some woman brang her dogs on the trail, even though pets were prohibited.
I think this is the road that swirls around and around up Capulin Mountain.
We continue to swirl up the mountain.
A view from the once-volcanic mountain. I think this is looking north, and - in keeping with our road theme - NM 325 is the road we see.
This is probably looking west. I think the road for the national monument comes in from the left and meets NM 325 near the center.
Near the top of the mountain, you see a strenuous trail straight ahead.
The area near the bottom of this photo is the volcanic rock in the crater of the volcano.
NM 325 brings us back to US 64/87. They mistakenly use a NM 64 shield here.
Straight ahead is Commercial Avenue in Capulin, which is unpaved.
We resume our amazing US 64/87 trek.
We're not too far from Raton, a town where a smiling waitress served an overcooked steak in a restaurant full of big, tough cowboys. Most of Raton ruled and was full of smiling faces, but the motel was a disaster. Our room was full of bugs, and the inn made us sign a form saying we were there for essential travel - supposedly because of a local law, but there was no such law.
This is in Raton, and I think this is still US 64. Raton is pronounced "ruh-tohn" (long o).
I think this is I-25, which is about to split off US 64 again.
The plaque at right says this is Santa Fe Trail - a route established in 1822.
US 64 again.