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| Stone building, Highway 54, between Vaughn and Santa Rosa, New Mexico. June 2020. |
June 2020
Back here, I knew that my first stop after leaving Tucson would be in Las Cruces, New Mexico. But I didn't know where I'd head from there.
Then an important day for one of my descendants popped up, and that event determined my second destination: Central Missouri.
COVID-19 had an opinion about how I was to get there.
Should I take the route I yearned to take - Highway 54 through New Mexico? Revisit past scenic and cultural touchstones, perhaps for the last time, as I have no idea when I might - if ever - return to the Southwest? But knowing it would be a challenge to find a spot to overnight in Chez P because of state and national park closures, and the dearth of rest areas on this route (which weren't open, anyway)?
Or should I drop down to El Paso, then shoot east through laissez-faire Texas and up through Oklahoma, interstates all the way, hopeful of open rest areas and truck stops where I could overnight in Chez P instead of a motel?
Romantic nostalgia won out over clinical practicality. Highway 54 it was to be.
The first time I traveled on Highway 54 in New Mexico was in 8888. The last time was in 2013.
Things have changed. Some then and now photos below.
Carrizozo junction
The junction of Highways 54 and 380 in Carrizozo (near Valley of Fires), at my traditional pit stop, where I went to the bathroom and bought a banana.
In 2013, the c-store/gas station was an Allsup's. Next door sat an old building, C&A Stromberg Trading Post. That giant square of color against the New Mexican sky always cheered me.
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| Stromberg's at junction of Highways 54 and 380, Carrizozo, New Mexico. September 2013. |
In 2020, Stromberg's is gone. The refurbished c-store expanded into the space Stromberg's left behind.
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| Junction of Highways 54 and 380, Carrizozo, New Mexico. June 2020. |
Eyes of Duran
I saw the eyes for the first time in 2013.
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| Eyes of Duran, Highway 54, New Mexico. September 2013. |
Here's what they looked like in 2017.
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| Eyes of Duran, Highway 54, New Mexico. July 2017. |
And in June 2020.
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| Eyes of Duran, Highway 54, New Mexico. June 2020. |
You can read a tragic history of the people who used to own this building in this City of Dust story.
The stone building
This stone building breathed both desolation and life to me each time I met it on Highway 54, between Vaughn and Santa Rosa.
Here it is in 2013, like a painting.
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| Stone building, Highway 54, between Vaughn and Santa Rosa, New Mexico. September 2013. |
And in June 2020.
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| Stone building, Highway 54, between Vaughn and Santa Rosa, New Mexico. June 2020. |
Crows played about the building, as did the ubiquitous wind.
Related posts on Highway 54 in New Mexico
- August 2017: Missouri Flash Trip, Part 4: Come Ride With Me (in videos)
- August 2017: Missouri Flash Trip, Part 5: Duran Duran
- October 2013: New Mexico: Goodbye to Highway 54. (I took a video of that stone building then, too. Yellow flowers bloomed.)
- August 2013: Highway 54, New Mexico: Summer Party
- July 2013: The Ride Back Home: Raton to Alamogordo
- February 2013: Magic Between Two Mountain Ranges
- February 2013: Three Rivers Petroglyphs Site
- January 2013: New Mexico: The Freezing Fog
Here is a slideshow of Highway 54 across the years, 2007-present.
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