After a great Thanksgiving holiday with my sister, Paula, and her husband, Jim – not one picture taken, but, if you are interested, here are some shots from 2017 – we are back on the road. Albuquerque was cold, just like Cedar City and Tonopah; we Coastal Californians are such wusses. Besides having a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner with Jim’s daughter and husband’s, and eating lots of excellent New Mexican food, we saw Pieces of April as our stay-at-home Thanksgiving movie and Knives Out as our go-out movie. Pieces of April really is a Thanksgiving movie and Knives Out is a throwback to Agatha Christie movies and very enjoyable. I would recommend either one or both.
I am driving and Michele is taking pictures. We started this stint by driving south on the Freeway, US 24 – the 24? – listening to the last Formula 1 race of the season. We are not actually listening live, we are listening – I am listening and Michele is sometimes watching on her iPhone – to the recording on our TV at home while we are driving through a wide depression that is the Rio Grande Rift. The North American Plate is being pulled apart here and, as it does, the blocks of crust that are floating on the hot magma below tilt with one side sinking down and the other side lifting up. As the high side is lifted, it is exposed to more weather and it is eroded with the eroded material washing down into the valleys. The valleys, in turn, sink – because of the additional weight – tipping the high side higher. On US 24, we are driving on alluvial deposits that are about four and a half miles deep. We drive south for about 150 miles, then we turn right, into the Gila National Forest which – surprisingly – is the oldest dedicated Wilderness Area in the world. We are now driving across the grain towards Silver City.
As we drive west, into the dormant Mogollon-Datil Volcanic Field, we gain elevation, seeing more snow as we climb, until we run into a road closed – we don’t plow on weekends or at night – sign. We are tired and it is getting late, but we have no choice but to turn around, backtrack, and drive two hours out of our way to get to Silver City in the dark. This is the second time Google has lead us to a pass that was closed, the first time was Tioga Pass which was closed for the season and now, this unnamed pass in the Mogollon-Datil volcanic field.
