Thoughts on the High Plains
US 64 Going West I have done a lot of blogs about the road to Raton. It is a lonely stretch of straight road shadows parts of the Santa Fe Trail. Wagon trains passed this way using the volcanic peaks as landmarks. I find it haunted not necessarily by ghosts of those who must have died between St. Joseph, Missouri and Santa Fe but haunted by the spirit of determination it took to load all their worldly goods and head into the unknown where few had passed, and even less had sent post cards to say they made it. There is no rush hour on this highway across the short grass prairie. But traffic on this particular day in the midst of the pandemic felt less than normal. Colfax county residents are finding other ways to deal with official business than go to the county seat in Raton. Raton is not in the center of the county by a long shot. But because it was at one time when such decisions were made the biggest population center. That is rapidly being challenged with the demise of mining....