On the road to Hachita

Well alright. Team Southern Terminus is intact and on the road from Lordsburg to Hachita to meet our shuttle to the border. But first, a quick recap of the first leg of travel for this trip.

Jim, Jimmy, Brian and I had a great home-style Mexican dinner at El Charro and watched the freight trains roll by. (By the way, try the fried chile relleño; probably the best I’ve ever tasted, with a perfect cheese to chile consistency). Outside, it was a crisp night, and a Cheshire-smile shaped moon hung on an indigo tapestry of stars tossed into the high desert air.

Then, the four of us spent the night in Jim’s Winnebago in the north parking lot of Short Park on the west end of Lordsburg. At around 10 p.m., the lot outside the Lordsburg Event Center (happenin’ place, let me tell you) started filling up with cars. Turns out there was a quinceria party or something going on, and we were parked in the middle of the festivities. They were rocking to Tejano until I don’t know when. I was just trying to get some sleep before we started out our hike through the Chihuahua Desert.

Unbeknownst to us, Dave and Judy were sleeping in the south side of the park. Since they didn’t have a cell phone, we weren’t sure how to meet up with them. In the morning, we took off for I-10 to Hachita and stopped for breakfast at the Kranberry Restaurant just off the road. Then, we spotted a red, California-plated Saturn sedan we’d been told to look for, and figured we’d check inside. Lo and behold, there were Dave and Judy. Sweet serendipity. This group is off to a fortuitous start. We pored over maps and coffee, and then pushed off for the end of the line in the lower Bootheel, with a quick photo op where I-10 crossed the Continental Divide—one of only two times we’ll even touch the watershed line on this trip.

Andrew Matranga, Assistant Map Editor