In Praise of our 47th

By CL Nemeth



Halfway between Vaught and Roswell, on a sunny June morning, I slowed and pulled the truck onto the roadside.  Stepping out I walked around the back of the truck and relieved myself.  What takes your mind the first time you stand in the desert, like I had, was the total lack of sound, no sound at all.  It is like looking at a painting.  Everything was still, no movement, and quiet, almost eerily quiet.  Then, as you kept looking into the distance, you began to see antelope grazing.  When driving you had to keep a sharp eye to see them, but now, standing by the truck they were not all that far away.  Several of them were staring at me, then they returned to grazing.



There isn’t much of this country I haven ‘t driven through; but nowhere, Wyoming, Montana, Kansas, no other place do you become so aware of the silence.  Only in New Mexico.  It is almost like being in a church waiting for the priest to start the liturgy.  But there, in the church, you hear breathing, movement of clothing.  In the desert, nothing, no sound, even my tinnitus seems quiet.  I am not, by nature, religious.  Yet out here, if a God exists, then this is as close as I have come to understanding man’s need for a higher being.



But the Land of Enchantment is like that.  No other place where I’ve been can match this land.  From the east, with those flat endless plains, the Llano Estaado, to the Pecos River, another unique feature of this state, to the Guadalupe, Maz Zao, Sandia, and Sangre de Christo mountains.  The remains of the Colorado landscape existing in northern New Mexico, to that famous river, the Rio Grande.  The Mogollon (Moe-goy-yon) of the southwestern part of the state the two lava beds, “Malpas” (mahl-pah-eze) the Navajo, Hope, Zuni and Apache reservations, just to nae a few.  New Mexico ranks 5th among the largest states.  Yet it more than holds claim to equal, if not exceed, a history so varied and of such interest that it just may be number one in that category.



You can go anywhere and find natural phenomenon, historic ruins, the selection is endless.  I could not begin to list all these wonderful places to visit.  Let me just give you a few, some well-known, others obscure except to we natives of this wonderful state.



White Sands National Monument, Carlsbad Caverns National Monument, Shiprock, Taos, Santa Fe.  Others, such as City of Rocks, Chaco Canyon, the Malpas, a large of expanse of lava from an ancient volcano.  Bandolier National Monument.  Trinity Site, where the first Atom bomb was detonated.  Historic Las Vegas, said to have more dedicated historic buildings than anywhere else.



Indian tribes more than one can count on fingers Acoma Pueblo, occupied since early time, much before the Spaniards first explored the Land of Enchantment.  Tribes now long gone, such as the Gallina People who built some 300 towers in the 12th and 13th centuries, then disappeared.  Some ruins of these towers remain.  Three Air Force facilities, two national laboratories (Los Alamos, Sandia).  And then there is the city of Albuquerque.  Growing at an almost frenetic rate, it is now the 39th largest in our nation.



And then there is our goodwill ambassador, the Chaparral/Cock, more commonly known as the Roadrunner.  A member of the Ani, Cuckoo, family its antics always bring laughter and hilarity to those who watch him run swiftly down the road, only to suddenly dart into a brush pact.  When you see him chances are he has a gecko, small snake, or scorpion, in his mouth.  He looks like he was assembled from spare parts, yet a more lovable wild bird I cannot bring to mind.



Let me conclude by returning to where I started, between Vaughn and Roswell.  The sunrise out there is almost beyond description.  The eastern sky begins to redden, deeper, brighter, then all colors began to decorate the edges.  The sun bursts into view, I turn my head and look west.  Some 30 miles away the mountain tops are bathed in red, slowly descending downward.



A few birds and a distant coyote breaks the silence, and the day begins just as it has done for the past who can tell, how many years it is for us to enjoy and consider ourselves blessed.  Oh yes, blessed to live in this wonderful land.