Memories and Hwy 84

I was sleeping the sleep of the dead when Max decided to wake me at seven this morning. After a few preemptory scratches behind his ear, I immediately turned over for another couple of hours of sleep. So it was close to nine-thirty when we finally rolled out of Walon Jennings Park in Littlefield, Texas.

We pointed the FJ toward Clovis, New Mexico where I would have to decide upon the next leg of our route. My choices were to head north from Clovis and strike a wonderfully little traveled road between Tucumcari and Las Vegas, or stick with 84 through Billy The Kid's old stomping ground, Ft. Sumner. I decided to stick with 84, partially because it would save some time, but really because of the memories of traveling that route with my friend, Vic Williams back when I first began to explore New Mexico and Colorado in the seventies.

My friend, Vic Williams

Vic had encyclopedic knowledge and kept up a running travelogue as we would progress in his VW bus from Austin to wherever we were heading. He would tell me of everything from the Spaniards first discovery the Llano Estaciado, to the last Indian uprising in New Mexico during the AIM movement. So the choice of Route 84 was more a choice of traveling with the memory of an old friend than anything else.

So, from Clovis west to Ft. Sumner, then north to Santa Rosa. A short jog west on IH40, and then north again to Las Vegas.  It is this last northward stretch of 84 that I find enticing. The topography begins to change as you leave IH40. You steadily climb from the grassland and chola cactus into, at first, just a hint of the foothills ahead. The vegetation egos to be dominated by juniper and pinion. The road begins to deviate from the long arrow-straight stretches and soon changes to curves between the foothills. We begin to pass small communities and Adobe churches that seem to be an integral part of the land itself. The trees are taller. Soon we reach the intersection with IH25 and can see for the first time the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range hanging in the distant sky.

Vic and I would go west on IH25., either to Pecos, where we turn north and follow the river to Irongate or Jack's Creek trail heads, or we we continue on through Santa Fe and Espanola to Creede and the Weminuche Wilderness.

After we had hiked around the wilderness for four or five days we would head back to the trailhead where we would retrieve the six pack of Cours beer that we had carefully hidden in a nearby mountain stream. While we enjoyed the Cours, Vic would cook up a batch of  his signature "buffalo balls" on the Coleman stove. To this day I Can't think of a more memorable meal than Vic's buffalo balls and a mountain stream cold Cours!

On the way home, we always managed a stop in Santa Fe. We would browse around, wander up the "Alley, and, with Vic's gift of gab, usually end up with an invitation to some party or other. Great times and wonderful memories of Highway 84!

P.S.  Vic's Buffalo Balls

1 lb hamburger

1 potato

1 onion

1 can mushroom soup

1 cup of minute rice

Salt and pepper

Chop the onion

Chop the potato

Mix the onion, potato, rice, and hamburger then roll into meatballs.

Put it into an iron skillet, pour the can of mushroom soup over the top.

Put it on the Coleman stove and simmer till you can't wait any longer. Open another Coors and feast!

By the way, The photo of Vic is from The Texas Bandmaster's Hall Of Fame. Vic dressed considerably different when we were hiking in the Pecos and Weminuche wildernesses!

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