October 11 2013
Got out of Springerville at six this morning. 19 degrees out! Yikes. Beautiful early morning drive until I caught the sun right between the eyes at about Quemado. Got to Pie Town for breakfast and everything was closed up tighter than a gnat's ass stretched over a rain barrel. Drove on to Datil. Not a big fan of the cafe there, but I was too hungry to care. Got inside and found one poor waitress covering two dining rooms, doing her own busing, but the customers were cozy enough:
From Datil, I pushed on across the San Augustine Plains and into Magdalena. As I expected I hit the downtown right at the morning commute:
Gridlock at the main intersection in downtown Magdalena, New Mexico at 8:05 a.m.
Cruised in to Soccorro and stopped at my fave coffee shop, got gas and launched into the final leg of the trip, cruising through San Antonio, Nogal until I finally landed at The Ruidoso Downs for the 24th Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium at 12:30. Worked the booth, then noticed someone was utilizing the wall I utilized last year to take photos of cowboys and cowgirls who walked by. I approached the woman and asked her why she was doing this and she said, "Why? Are you from True West?"
"Why, yes I am," I told her. Her name is Greta Pratt and she is an Assistant Professor of Art Old Dominion in Virginia and she admitted her brother sent her a link to my photos on the Ruidoso website and it inspired her to come out and do the same thing.
I was actually flattered. She admitted also, she wasn't aware of True West magazine until then and now she is a reader, so, really, how mad could I be at that? Ultimately, that's why I did it.
"Good nature is worth more than knowledge, more than money, more than honor, to the persons who possess it."
—Henry Ward Beecher