Wildfires, Ghost Towns, and Guest House Residents

Back in Santa Fe, we experienced the largest wildfire in the state’s history at that time. The Las Conchas Fire began in the Santa Fe National Forest, burning over 150,000 acres and threatening the town of Los Alamos.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is where the atomic bomb was created in the 1940s and has been involved in nuclear fusion since. Not the best place to catch fire. There was a mandatory evacuation. But only one acre of the lab’s property was burnt. No essential buildings were harmed. Exhale.

I wish that was a sunset.

Because I’m a history nerd, I became a ghost town hunter in New Mexico. The best preserved is the mostly deserted Cuervo. The town was settled in 1901, mainly to serve the cattle ranches in the area. Then it became a stop on Route 66. Until I-40 literally cut the town into two sections, leading to the death of Cuervo.

My home had a small guesthouse, which my daughter and her (then) fiancé moved into for nine months as they settled into Santa Fe, having moved from Cincinnati.

Once again, I found myself driving across the country. They loaded up their car with a dog and a cat. I followed in the U-Haul, which had a speedometer lock at 55 MPH. It was an endless drive… Flashbacks of Rolling Chaos…

You can tell from this photo that it was a brutal drive.

Where am I now? You can find me on Blue Sky.