My enhanced Enchanted Circle road trip began early in the morning from the Pendaries RV Resort. The narrow roads toward Mora are certainly navigable I would be hesitant to pull my fifth wheel along the State Road, although I did pull to the side for trucks larger than my rig.
In Mora I took two side trips. The first was to locate small apartment where my parents and I lived. My father was the foreman and the ‘powder monkey’ in a local mica mine. (The powder monkey set, then initiated the explosive charges.) My mother told me the story that it was so cold one winter the water froze in the toilet.
The second side trip was to try to find the grist mills that I remember fascinating me as a child. The mills were operational; the smell of the grains, the sound and the feel of the vibrations of the stones, gears and water were bewitching. Although I can’t be sure I think I found one of the old abandoned mills.
Driving north through the rural New Mexico mountains on State Road 434 I stopped in Guadalupita, a small rural community, for a few photographs.
These small communities in the Sangre de Cristo mountains are the part of the trinity of peoples that are soul of the New Mexico culture. Some of the local residents in hills and canyons can trace their heritage Spain’s expeditions and exploration in the 1500’s and 1600’s.
U.S. Post Office in Guadalupita, NM [Nikon D3X]
Our Lady of Guadalupe church. [Nikon D3X]