Tag Archives: New Mexico

The Legend of the Shadow Horse Gang

14 May

For the past several years, I have joined a team of professors on a field trip course to New Mexico. Heck, I have been going for so long that I do not even know how many times I have been. This year, I have other duties at work that are preventing me from going, and it feels weird. It is as if going to New Mexico every May has been programmed into my DNA.

Tonight feels especially strange because they are leaving in the morning. I should be finishing up with packing around this time, but I am typing a blog post instead. Well, I will not have to get up at 5:00 in the morning. That is one positive thing. Another positive thing is that I will not be away from my family for 12 days.

However, I will still miss the experience of the trip. Four professors and a group of students build a community of experiential learning that cannot be matched in the classroom. I have said many times that there is nothing like teaching history at the place where history happened. Hopefully, there is nothing like learning history in the same way.

The group will head out in the morning filled with anticipation. Some people will not know each other, but they will by the time they reach Sallisaw, Oklahoma for the first night of rest. The students think that the first days of riding are just a way to get to New Mexico. However, they are wrong. The learning and the experience begin as soon as they leave campus.

Over the next couple of weeks, the group will do all kinds of cool stuff, but it all adds up to one thing – an experience that they would not have if not for Dr. Heifner, the man who puts it all together. It is also an experience that can never be repeated. We have had students go more than once, but each trip is its own entity.

After last year’s trip, I wrote about the Shadow Horse Gang, the name I gave to the group of teachers that go on this trip.BB-New Mexico 105

The ride of the Shadow Horse Gang is changing. A couple of them have retired. One feels like his time is coming to a close. I am sitting this ride out.

Dr. Heifner would like for me to take over the trip, and that is something that I would like. However, I will need to recruit new members to the gang. Our dean is taking my place on this run. Maybe he will like it enough to join. We have other teachers who would be great additions.

The trip is legendary around our campus, and I hope the Shadow Horse Gang is just as legendary. I have no idea what the future of the gang will be, but the legend will continue.

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Listeria – Cattle Towns, Mining Camps and Other Assorted Outposts

14 Feb

True West magazine came out with their list of the “Top 10 True Western Towns of the Year”, and I had to see what they came up with. As it turns out, other lists were included – “True West Towns to Know” and “True West Towns to Watch”. A quick counting brought the total number of towns mentioned to 30.

I decided to weed that list down to those that I have visited. I have no idea what criteria the people at True West used to compile the list, but here is a little information about the places that I know about.

1. Dodge City, Kansas is, in my opinion, the most famous of all the cattle towns. It was the epicenter of a huge industry and the home of real life lawman Wyatt Earp and fictional lawman Matt Dillon. Dodge City is still a player in the cattle industry, but I do not see it as a tourist mecca. Obviously, any lover of the Old West must go there, but they will be disappointed with the fake western town that sits on the main drag. However, the trolley tour is cool.

Inside a fake saloon on a fake streetfront.

Inside a fake saloon on a fake streetfront.

2. Durango, Colorado is a cool western town that has held on to its past. Historic buildings, such as the Strater Hotel, line the streets. The famous train from Durango to Silverton starts its journey at one end of town. There are restaurants, bars and a bookstore with all of the great western historians.

A couple of cars on the Durango and Silverton Line

A couple of cars on the Durango and Silverton Line

8. Lincoln, New Mexico is a state monument that looks almost like it did when Billy the Kid was roaming around. There are all kinds of buildings and museums, but the best is the old building from which he made his famous jailbreak. Billy the Kid is the most famous of those who participated in the Lincoln County War, but I find myself more interested in John Chisum and some of the others.

9. Tombstone, Arizona which its economic peak during the 1880s and had its growth stunted when the minerals ran out. That circumstance makes it still have that feel of a frontier town. Of course, that could also be because they ripped up the concrete sidewalks and put down wooden ones. The OK Corral is cool. The Birdcage Theater is cool. However, the coolest thing is talking to Ben Traywick, the town historian.

If this building could talk, then it would have some real stories to tell.

If this building could talk, then it would have some real stories to tell.

10. Lewiston, Idaho is a place that I have never been. However, I must mention it because the Cumberland University baseball team has won two national championships in Lewiston. It is a western town, but it is also a baseball mecca.

There is half of the Top 10, but some interesting towns are on the other lists, as well.

Prescott, Arizona is listed as one of the “True West Towns to Know” and, on the surface, looks like any other regular old town. However, a walk around its square gives you an idea of what it used to be like. The square is huge and is bustling with activity, as people venture into the historic buildings.

This statue stands in front of the county courthouse.

This statue stands in front of the county courthouse.

“True West Towns to Watch” lists several places that I have visited.

Juneau, Alaska is the state capital and can only be entered by plane or boat. It is a small place that has a frontier and isolated quality. One of my great memories of Alaska is having a drink with my brother in one of Juneau’s saloons.

Cody, Wyoming is another good western town. The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is one of my favorite places to visit. A few years ago they had a traveling exhibit in Nashville, and I was able to take my students.

Checotah, Oklahoma sits on Interstate 40, and, frankly, I have never been in the downtown area. We have only stopped a few times for gas. Most people probably know it as the hometown of Carrie Underwood.

Custer, South Dakota is one of the less famous mining camps in the Black Hills and is overshadowed by Deadwood and Sturgis. However, it is a good place to stop and look around. Also, it is named in honor of George Armstrong Custer, the man who led the gold-finding expedition into the Black Hills.

Bisbee, Arizona sits several miles down the road from Tombstone and is a place that I like better. Its economic boom lasted into the 20th Century, which means it has a more modern look than other mining camps. It also has a great mining museum operated by the Smithsonian Institute.

Those are the places listed by True West that I have visited. It would be interesting to read if any of you have been to these places. What are your thoughts and stories? What other towns have you visited that you think may be or should be on the lists?

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Picture This – Cuervo

28 Jun

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Have you ever heard of a ghost town with its own interstate exit? Cuervo, New Mexico has one, which makes it unique among ghost towns in the American West. While some abandoned villages are conveniently located, most of them sit in the middle of nowhere. To see them, you really have to make an effort. Cuervo is different because you can see it from Interstate 40.

That’s how I saw it the first time I taught the New Mexico field trip class that my university offers. We had pulled out of Tucumcari and were heading into Albuquerque. As we flew by, I noticed a bunch of abandoned buildings on the left. This was in the days before smart phones, so I had to wait until we got to the hotel to find out what I saw. I also took a mental note that we needed to stop in Cuervo the next year.

We have stopped at Cuervo ever since. Well, there were a few years when we dipped down into Clovis, New Mexico, but most of the time we have spent a few minutes in Cuervo.

While there, I tell the students about the economics of the West and how ghost towns have come to dot the landscape. We talk about the “boom and bust” nature of the West and how towns developed around resources rather than around places where towns would sensibly exist.

There is really nothing like teaching history where that history took place. It’s as close to a spiritual feeling as I have ever experienced. I have been lucky to do it on the New Mexico trip and other places, as well. I have talked about the Scopes Monkey Trial in the courtroom where it began. I have talked about the Battle of Little Bighorn on Last Stand Hill.

Those were big events. Cuervo is just a little town that didn’t make it. It’s not a story of heroes or villains. It is a story of ordinary people who tried to make it in a tough land and discovered that they couldn’t. When I am in Cuervo, I wonder about them. I wonder when they realized that things were going bad. I wonder what business was the first to close and which resident was the first to abandon a house. It has to be tough to leave a building that no one else wants.

If you are ever driving down Interstate 40 in New Mexico then pull over in Cuervo. There is a story there.

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Meeting Max Evans

9 Jun

Recently, I returned from our annual field trip to New Mexico, and, as always, it brought some great experiences and memories. We operate on a strict schedule, but something unexpected always happens. One year, we met the tribal judge of the Nambe Pueblo at IHOP, and she invited us to visit her courtroom. Another year, we stumbled into a Mother’s Day celebration at the San Ildephonso Pueblo and were invited to stick around.

A couple of trips ago, I bought a statue of Billy the Kid at the Shidoni Gallery. It turned out to be the last one, which meant the artist had to approve the sale. The next year, we were exploring Ghost Ranch and started talking some people. As it turns out, one of them was the artist who made my sculpture, and he was very interested to meet the person who had bought the last one.

This year, we arrived in Santa Fe on Friday and headed to the plaza to take advantage of free admission to the museums. The New Mexico History Museum is one of the best I have seen, and we wanted the students to go through it before we went on our daily tours. Usually, they walk around, and I hang around to answer questions. However, I wanted to do some of my own exploring. Upstairs, they had a special exhibit on cowboys, both real and imagined.

In the lobby, I saw an elderly couple, and the man was dressed to the hilt as a cowboy. I figured they were there for the exhibit and really thought that when I heard the woman say she was wondering if they would see anyone they knew.

A student and I went into the exhibit, and it was great. There were artifacts and photographs that offered a sense of what true cowboys did. As the exhibit continued, it ventured into the realm of the cowboy myth with tales of wild west shows, rodeos, dime novels and movies.

I looked at all of these things, but I also watched the elderly couple being escorted through the exhibit by a museum employee. That’s when I began to think that maybe this man was depicted in the exhibit or had donated some of the artifacts.

Toward the end of the display, there were movie posters and clips from some classic westerns. My eye was immediately drawn to Chisum, and I told the student that she had to watch that clip. Before she could pick up the headphones to listen, the museum employee spoke to us.

“I would like to introduce you to someone.”

He motioned to the elderly man in the cowboy hat.

“This is Max Evans. He wrote that.”

As the man said this, he pointed to the movie poster of The Hi-Lo Country. We were standing in the presence of a great western writer. Honestly, Mr. Evans didn’t seem interested in talking to us, as he began to mosey away. That’s alright because I was still happy to meet him.

A few minutes later, we found out that they were screening The Hi-Lo Country that night, and he was going to answer questions about his work. We went to the theater, and I took a very dark picture.

Max Evans is in the white hat.

Max Evans is in the white hat.

I wish we could have stayed around for the screening, but, as I said, we operate on a strict schedule. I have never seen The Hi-Lo Country, but I will now.

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Family Time in New Mexico

30 May

When my nephew travels, he takes thousands of pictures. He takes pictures of everything imaginable, but he doesn’t take any pictures of himself. This drives my parents crazy because they think family vacations should have pictures of family. I understand this, but he doesn’t. Why does he want pictures of people that he sees all the time? He wants scenery and cool stuff.

He went on the trip to New Mexico with me, and I promised them that I would get plenty of pictures of us both. He didn’t want to waste his camera space, so we used mine. These are some of the results.

The first picture was taken at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. It is a somber place, and I felt funny taking a touristy picture there.BB-New Mexico 069

Next, we stopped at the big cross in Groom, Texas and sat in on a famous meal.BB-New Mexico 078

After spending the night in Tucumcari, New Mexico, we took a walk around the ghost town of Cuervo, New Mexico. That’s not Jose lurking in the shadows. It’s Trader Dave.BB-New Mexico 085

Later, we went to the shores of the Rio Grande at Coronado State Park.BB-New Mexico 087

We didn’t cross the river. Instead, we climbed to Nambe Falls and found a big rock to sit on.BB-New Mexico 092

Then, we went to the church at Chimayo where there are stories of dirt that heals all wounds.BB-New Mexico 096

The next day was rough for my nephew. He was sick and had to stay behind as we went to Chaco Canyon. However, he bounced back and was able to visit Acoma. We took one picture in front of a kiva.BB-New Mexico 122

We took another picture with Enchanted Mesa behind us. According to the sign, I couldn’t throw my nephew over the edge.BB-New Mexico 123

After Acoma, we drove west to El Morro and had our photo taken on top of that. I kept thinking that the box canyon below would be a great place for a hideout.BB-New Mexico 128

We hiked up the Tent Rocks trail and had another picture made. I’m not sure what the man in the background is doing. He has on a Skipper shirt and a Gilligan hat. That’s all I know.BB-New Mexico 133

The next one did not involve a climb. It involved making our way to the church ruins at Pecos National Monument.BB-New Mexico 141

Finally, we drove to the overlook at White Rock.BB-New Mexico 147

That’s it. That is family time in New Mexico

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Picture This – The Shadow Horse Gang

28 May
A rare photo of the Shadow Horse Gang. From left: Trader Dave, The Kid, Doc Pete and Shadow Horse

A rare photo of the Shadow Horse Gang. From left: Trader Dave, The Kid, Doc Pete and Shadow Horse

For several years, a band of outlaws has roamed the northern New Mexico territory. Their range has been from as far east as Tucumcari to as far west as El Morro. They have been south to Socorro and north to Ghost Ranch. These are hard men who hideout most of the year and do most of their riding in the spring. Undoubtedly, they are destined to find their way into the annals of New Mexico’s history.

Shadow Horse – The leader of the gang. Some say he came from Louisiana, and others say he used to be a preacher. None of that is certain, but everyone knows that he is part Indian. He is most comfortable on the trails of the back country and moves like the wind over terrain that would kill most men. Tent Rocks is his favorite haunt. His native blood offers the gang safe entry into the surrounding pueblos and reservations. Without Shadow Horse, the gang would have never gained its notoriety.

Doc Pete – Born near the goldfields of California, he has roamed from Canada to the former Confederacy and made a name for himself as a medicine man. The gang survives in the wild lands of New Mexico because of his knowledge of his surroundings. Once, he survived a near disastrous trek at Bandelier. He knows the plants that will kill and the plants that will heal. An expert on the trails, Doc Pete could disappear into the wilderness and never return.

The Kid – As a wily old veteran, his name seems to be a mistake, but he is the youngest member of the gang. His career began in Tennessee at a young age, but, unlike the other famous Kid of outlawry, he had the luck and skill to stay alive. He is comfortable in the back country and serves as lookout when the gang is holed up in Chaco Canyon. Despite that, the Kid is happiest sitting at a Faro table with a saloon girl sitting on his lap.

Trader Dave – Raised in the industrial region of northern Indiana, he followed the Santa Fe Trail into New Mexico. At times, he can be spotted around Pecos buying and selling goods with the local inhabitants. Dollars. Pesos. It doesn’t matter what currency. He can make a deal for any and all goods. Still effective on the trail with many years behind him, Trader Dave is at his best with frijoles and tortillas on a plate and whiskey in a glass.

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Musical Journey

14 May

In a few days, we will be leaving on our annual field trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I will return with stories from the Wild West, but, until then, I will be out-of-pocket for a while.

The trip to Santa Fe is an adventurous one. Four teachers and ten students jump into a couple of vans and journey from one end of the continent to the other. It’s a long way, but the directions are easy. My town sits on Interstate 40. That means we stay on one road through Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and part of New Mexico. Like Bugs Bunny, we take a right at Albuquerque.

Or maybe it was left.

Or maybe it was left.

The stretch of Interstate 40 between Nashville and Memphis has been dubbed the “Music Highway”, but the entire road to pretty musical. It seems that a lot of the places we pass have songs written about them.

Nashville has a bunch of songs written about it, but one of my favorites is “Nashville Cats” by The Lovin’ Spoonful.

Not long after Nashville, we go through Jackson. Now, I don’t know if June and Johnny Cash were singing about the Jackson in Tennessee or the Jackson in Mississippi. However, this is my blog, so it’s going to be Tennessee.

Next, we go through Memphis, a city of Blues and Rock n’ Roll. Like Nashville, there are a lot of songs about Memphis, but one of the best was by Johnny Rivers.

I guess Little Rock has some songs about it, but we don’t really go through that town. This means that Oklahoma is the next musical place we hit. Obviously, there is a musical about this state, but Three Dog Night recorded my favorite Oklahoma song. It’s a weird tune that talks about Spain and the Beatles.

We stop in Oklahoma City, but I can’t think of a good Oklahoma City song. However, Carrie Underwood has a song about her hometown of Checotah.

From Oklahoma, we venture into the panhandle of Texas. There’s not much in the panhandle of Texas but the city of Amarillo. George Strait has a great song about Amarillo.

That’s about it for Texas, but there is one more song. When we get close to Albuquerque, I always think about a song that is about a guy driving on Interstate 40. However, he is traveling the opposite direction. Instead of going west, he is going east through all of the towns that we have passed. He is leaving a bad woman, and “by the time I make Albuquerque she’ll be workin’“.

So, that’s the musical journey I will be making this week.

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Lights in the Sky

11 Feb

The other night my girlfriend and I were in Walgreen’s buying toiletries and such, and we made our way to the magazine rack. She bought a magazine about the lifestyles of the rich and famous, while I bought Open Minds, a publication about UFOs. I haven’t opened it up yet, so it was probably a waste of money. Actually, it was definitely a waste of money. It doesn’t matter because I wanted it at the time. The definition of impulse buying I suppose.

Like a lot of people, I have always been fascinated with UFOs. When in a bookstore, I will usually end up in the UFOs/Ghosts/Vampires aisle looking a books by Erich von Daniken and Richard Hoagland. Heck, I even made a pilgrimage to Roswell, New Mexico and the International UFO Museum and Research Center. While there, I saw this realistic display of an alien autopsy.West 2010 524

And this replication of Mayan art that is supposed to show an astronaut.West 2010 521

Is it real? I don’t know. But, it’s cool to think about. Last night, my girlfriend and I saw Zero Dark Thirty, and it was the first time I have seen Area 51 in a movie that did not involve aliens. That has nothing to do with this post, but that’s pretty cool, too.

As a UFO buff, I must admit that I have had a UFO experience. It wasn’t an encounter of the third or fourth kind, but it was an encounter. During my high school days, my buddy and I were out on the town doing things that high school kids do. The action was winding down, so I drove him home before heading to my house. As we went down the road, we noticed a light in the sky. I said something along the lines of, “What’s that?” Enlightening, I know.

“It’s probably a radio tower.”

“There’s never been a radio tower there before. Besides, they have red lights, and that one keeps changing colors.”

We watched it until we pulled into his driveway. That’s when we just stood in his front yard and stared at it.

“Maybe it’s an airplane.”

“It’s not moving.”

“Maybe it’s a helicopter.”

“Maybe, but it’s not making noise.”

At some point, we realized that we were not going to figure it out, so he went inside to get his dad. You need to understand that his dad was a prominent politician and held one of the most powerful offices in the state. This was no flunky that we were pulling out of bed to look at a UFO.

He came out bleary eyed and stared at it with us. Suddenly, a bright ray of light shot out of it toward the ground and stopped just as suddenly. It wasn’t a spotlight. It was like a laser beam. His dad never said a word. He just went to bed. After a while, my buddy went inside, too.

I drove home with the light still hovering in the distance and stood outside to watch until I couldn’t stay awake anymore. The next day, I called my friend to talk about it, but he didn’t want to talk.

“I’m not talking about it.”

“Why not?”

“Because people will think we are crazy.”

“I know what I saw, and it was a UFO.”

“No it wasn’t. There’s no such thing as aliens.”

“Who said anything about aliens? It was an object flying in the air, and we couldn’t identify it. That’s what a UFO is.”

“Whatever, I didn’t see anything.”

Three people saw an Unidentified Flying Object. One (his dad) never mentioned it again. Another (my buddy) denied seeing it. The other (me) buys a UFO magazine and hangs out in the UFO aisle at the bookstore.

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Picture This – The Shidoni Gallery

25 Jan

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Santa Fe is full of artisans and art galleries. This has made the city a destination for art lovers all over the world. A walk around the plaza is a walk from one impressive gallery to another. Paintings. Sculptures, Jewelry. Pottery. Everything can be found in downtown Santa Fe.

However, my favorite, the Shidoni Gallery, sits on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Anyone who likes metallic art has to turn onto the dirt drive of the gallery and explore the grounds. They will see art and art in the making.

The display room is filled with smaller pieces and serves as an entrance to the pouring room. That’s where everyone can watch liquid metal being poured into molds. Eventually, this metal will cool and turn into something cooler, like the giant skull in the photograph.

The skull sits in the sculpture garden that covers the complex. People can walk through the garden and examine the sculptures up close. They vary from the realistic to the abstract and everything in between. Although there is activity all around, it’s as if you have stepped into another world – a world where nature and art collides to create an unusual combination of beauty.

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Picture This – The International UFO Museum and Research Center

15 Sep

A couple of years ago, I ventured into Roswell, New Mexico and visited the International UFO Museum and Research Center. As you may know, Roswell is the home to one of the most famous UFO encounters. Apparently, there was a crash and a quick cover up by the military. This museum is dedicated to telling the story of that event and others like it.

The museum was what I expected. There were a lot of photographs, videos and eye-witness accounts. The research center had shelves filled with anything you would want to know about UFO’s. I found the register most interesting because it contained the names of people who I have seen on UFO documentaries through the years.

However, I came out of the museum with one surprise. It seems that Big Foot is an alien. I would have never guessed that.

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