Tucumcari to Santa Fe

Tucumcari to Santa Fe, NM
Well it was another interesting and educational day on the road of life. First we went on I-40 to I-84 which was a two lane road up to Las Vegas, NM (that’s right and believe me it is a lot smaller than Las Vegas, NV). From there we took I-25 which followed the old Santa Fe Trail to Pecos, NM.
Crossing the Pecos River several times I was reminded of those old stories of Judge Roy Bean, the Law West of the Pecos and his unrequited love for Miss Lilly Lamtree the famous singer of her day. Ah well, so much for nostalgia.
At Pecos we stopped at the Pecos National Historic Park which is a compilation of an old Pecos Indian ruins as well as Spanish ruin. This area, the Pecos, was the a transition area between the high plains and the Rio Valley stretching into Texas. Consequently the Indians here developed a rather sophisticated culture with about 1200 living in this one pueblo which was two stories high and had also qivas rooms underground for ceremonial purposes. They traded with the Navahos of the Plains as well as growing corn and squash and also trading with the Indian populations of Mexico.
After the coming of the Conquistadors from Spain there was a large church built on this site and quite a mission with a fortress for the soldiers was here also. Nuevo Mexico as this was known for 200 years had many problems with the Comanche Indian raiding parties and much of the money for this area was spent in defending the ranchos from raiding parties. There was a short period of time about 12 years when the native Indians rebelled against Spanish oppression and drove them out of New Mexico but they later returned with greater forces to put down this rebellion.
Next came the Americans and then the Spanish-American War where a party of soldiers was sent from Kansas to secure New Mexico for the United States. The Mexican governor on hearing how large the army was that was being sent here did not even fight but took his soldiers south to Mexico.
Lastly part of the Civil War was fought in this area with a group of Confederate soldiers being sent form Texas and fighting Union forces from farther north. The Confederates won a two day battle fought at Pecos and Glorieta, NM but lost eventually because Union forces had gone around the battle itself and attacked their supply wagons and they were forced to retreat to Texas and never did return to New Mexico.
:Later in the day we arrived in Santa Fe with its pueblo adobe style charm and all of the artists studios that abound here.
Bev spent two hours in the Museum of one of her favorite artists while I toured the central plaza area of the city. Like all Spanish towns or cities it was built around a plaza in the center of the town with the church on one side and the government buildings on the other sides.
Santa Fe has maintained the look of the Pueblo Adobe style even today with its earth tone buildings and low structured homes that seem to blend into the mountainsides.
Tonight we are in the Santa Fe National Park just above the town and let me tell you this is one steep and winding road. Tomorrow we will tour some more of the museums in town (there are probably 15 of them I think and then we will move on the next day I think to either Bandolier north of here or go to Carlsbad Caverns.
1 Landscape
2 Quiva
3-4 Mission Ruins
5 Santa Fe Trail