I took that as a good omen as I set out to achieve something akin to a childhood dream or one might even call it a pilgrimage. My first destination of the day was Fort Sumner and the grave of William H. Bonney. I traveled not on horseback with a six shooter but in the Jersey Cruiser with my Kindle playing the audio book To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West by Mark Lee Gardner. The book opens with these lines:
You can feel the ghosts as you speed down the long, lonely roads of eastern New Mexico. The land is little changed, except for endless strands of wire fence and an occasional traffic sign. Out in the distance, they are there: Billy the Kid and the Regulators, Charlie Bowdre, Tom Folliard, and Pat Garrett. The days may be gone when blood flowed freely along the Pecos and Rio Bonito, but the music of the fandango, and Billy’s dancing, and the lovers’ kisses – all difficult to conjure – are still there. They are in the wind, the moonlight, in the cacophony of coyotes, and in the silence before the first rays of sunlight spill over the horizon.
After about 3 hours at the end of a two lane road cutting between inconspicuous farms and ranches you finally come to it.
I was pleased to learn and to see that the legend and the Hollywood ending are (somewhat) true. Do you know the meaning of the word pals? Young Guns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX0MiXBrL84
Today was also a pilgrimage of sorts. I passed through Fort Smith, AR which is also featured in quite a few Hollywood movies, notably the 2010 re-make of True Grit. But the thing I wanted to see was the wayside sign pictured below for the simple reason that it has a QR code on it (bottom right) that links to an orientation video about the park. I wrote about this in my thesis as a way parks can improve non-personal interpretive services where staffing is low and/or operating hours are limited and cell phone reception is good. So, there it is! Another dream fulfilled.
great post~ I could feel the NM breeze in my hair. I will send you the profile on Billy so you can see why my professor thinks he had a syndrome. If it made him dance and steal kisses, it must be a decent syndrome! I hope you are blowing that whistle, even with strangers around!
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ReplyDeleteSteph, according to the book I read he had buck teeth, the front two sticking out but what really made him a criminal was his shifty eyes, always darting about...there was a 'science' at the time that said you could explain criminal behavior by physical characteristics...not the same as what you're saying I know but also interesting.
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