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My first experience in Arizona and New Mexico introduced me to the concept of desolation. Not in a negative way, but as a shock!!!!!!!
For someone like me from Illinois, my first experience was driving outside the Phoenix area in Arizona. Later on a trip to New Mexico , I experienced the same thing.
There is really nothing between towns and cities in either state. Here in Illinois no matter where you go there will be farms and small settlements between towns and cities. So at night there will always be lights in the distance at least to tell you that civilization is close at hand. So help on the way in case of emergency. Just use your cell these days.
But in the SW, it truly is different. I was spooked to say the least driving at night in the absolute darkness. No lights of a farm or whatever to signal that there were people out there in the wilderness. Just darkness.
So for me it was an adjustment to get used to this sort of thing. Someone from the eastern part of the country can experience real shock at the openness and yes desolation of the country.
But for me it is now something I look forward to. Am hoping to see these sights again soon. But I just wanted to share this experience with others who are thinking of moving to NM. You will feel OK in the cities or towns, but be prepared for the nothingness in between.
The stars and quiet are wonderful! We still come back to Illinois a few times of the year, and the noise from the highway a 1/2 mile away, trains and barge noise(we are near the Mississippi River) is loud. When we get back in Alamo its so quiet. And you can see for miles. Can't do that in Illinois.
The quiet and really dark skys are the principal reasons I want to retire, or at least snowbird, to central New Mexico. I am really tired of the traffic and the noise of suburbia. I would refer to the empty spaces as solitude not desolation.
I agree with all the above comments. Also that solitude may be a better word to use than desolation. While I was on safari in Kenya and Tanzania, I experienced the same type of feeling. In addition, in those countries one can drive for many miles and never see a fence or telephone pole along the road. Truly a different type of existence.
Jim
When I do eventually find a place to live in southern NM, one of my first actions will be to mount my telescope in a good place for some nightime viewing.
My first experience in Arizona and New Mexico introduced me to the concept of desolation. Not in a negative way, but as a shock!!!!!!!
For someone like me from Illinois, my first experience was driving outside the Phoenix area in Arizona. Later on a trip to New Mexico , I experienced the same thing.
There is really nothing between towns and cities in either state. Here in Illinois no matter where you go there will be farms and small settlements between towns and cities. So at night there will always be lights in the distance at least to tell you that civilization is close at hand. So help on the way in case of emergency. Just use your cell these days.
But in the SW, it truly is different. I was spooked to say the least driving at night in the absolute darkness. No lights of a farm or whatever to signal that there were people out there in the wilderness. Just darkness.
So for me it was an adjustment to get used to this sort of thing. Someone from the eastern part of the country can experience real shock at the openness and yes desolation of the country.
But for me it is now something I look forward to. Am hoping to see these sights again soon. But I just wanted to share this experience with others who are thinking of moving to NM. You will feel OK in the cities or towns, but be prepared for the nothingness in between.
Jim
Im willing to bet thats because they just cannot get water in most areas of the arid SW. I know what you mean though, I drive to AZ every year, and there are stretches of I-17 and I-10 where you'd swear mankind has never even walked. lol It is indeed scary in the middle of the night and the only light you see is from your headlights and when you look out the windows all you can see is the reflection from the interior lights, almost like someone draped a black sheet over the outside of the vehicle. What makes it worse is that my cell phone was out of range on several parts of the trip at night. The stretch between Gallup and Flagstaff in horrendously barren and boring. Every once in awhile you happen upon some shanty towns, but theyre not places Id ever want to stop.
I've read a lot of posts in the Tucson forum and have been
amazed at the number of people who think the Dark Sky ordinances
are a bunch of crap and wish that all the astronomers would pack
up and go away.
My first experience in Arizona and New Mexico introduced me to the concept of desolation. Not in a negative way, but as a shock!!!!!!!
For someone like me from Illinois, my first experience was driving outside the Phoenix area in Arizona. Later on a trip to New Mexico , I experienced the same thing.
There is really nothing between towns and cities in either state. Here in Illinois no matter where you go there will be farms and small settlements between towns and cities. So at night there will always be lights in the distance at least to tell you that civilization is close at hand. So help on the way in case of emergency. Just use your cell these days.
But in the SW, it truly is different. I was spooked to say the least driving at night in the absolute darkness. No lights of a farm or whatever to signal that there were people out there in the wilderness. Just darkness.
So for me it was an adjustment to get used to this sort of thing. Someone from the eastern part of the country can experience real shock at the openness and yes desolation of the country.
But for me it is now something I look forward to. Am hoping to see these sights again soon. But I just wanted to share this experience with others who are thinking of moving to NM. You will feel OK in the cities or towns, but be prepared for the nothingness in between.
Jim
I'm not surprised at all.....having grown up with that kind of isolation in West Texas, NM wasn't anything new in that regard.
But it has to be a culture/other shock in many ways for those coming from other parts of the country, LOL!!
As for cell reception, you will find dead pockets all over the southwest, even on the interstates. You cannot always count on getting reception, so keep that in mind. You WILL be able to in most places, though.
While you are out here in the Southwest, you might want to mosey on down to West Texas and give McDonald's Observatory a visit.
This is a great topic. I am from New Jersey,so the initial shock was quite memorable for me as well. I am used to it now and wouldn't want it any other way. However, when family/friends come to visit, they can't reconcile it, and we are in one of the more 'crowded' regions of the state (Las Cruces area).
First experience to NM desolation was out of El Paso, where I landed for the very first time. My wife and I had to drive up to Holloman AFB for a job interview I was on. We just couldn't get over Rt 54, after the Texas State line. One small ghost town, Orogrande, in 80 miles, and the population was 23. Of course, most of this land is owned by the federal government (Fort Bliss). That's what makes New Mexico different from many other states, percentage of land owned by the federal government, be it by military installations, BLM, National Park services, etc. Anyway, the ability to see out in any direction for dozens of miles, unblemished, was something I was not able to relate to during that initial trip. The process repeated the following day, taking rt 70 west to Las Cruces.
My second experience to the vast desolation occurred while driving up to Denver to see some relatives. We drove up 54, north of Alamogordo, through Carrizozo, then Corona. Made a left onto state highway 3, in another ghost town, Duran. We have two small children, and both of them had to go to the bathroom at this point. Rt 3 goes through a massive grassland area, it's about 15 miles from Duran to Encino, another speck of a town. Halfway on Rt 3 was where we stopped. There's no breakdown lane on Rt 3. It didn't matter. I was easily able to put the car in park, walk out with my wife, each taking a child to let them 'go'. We decided to rest a bit, as we had been driving for about 4 hours. We just wandered on the road for 15 minutes, and stared around in awe of the surroundings. You could see literally 50 miles in any direction, and the only site was a small ranch about 8 miles away and a few buildings that comprised Encino, about 6 miles north. Prairie grasslands and rolling hills surrounded us. There were no ambient sounds, nothing. Here is the location we were at, I will never forget how eerie it was: Google Maps
The third experience was last month. I visited an old high school friend in Bisbee Arizona. Las Cruces is 250 miles away, which here, is a very manageable drive. I said my goodbyes at around 9, and began driving back home. Anyone here familiar with rt 80, from Douglas AZ, to Lordsburg? I drove that stretch of road, 120 miles in the dead of night. I soon realized that should I ever lose control of the car, I would die right there in the desert. In the 120 miles (1.5 hours of driving) on this road, a total of 4 cars passed me in the opposite direction. No one was in front or back of me the entire time driving my way. Oh, and I saw 3 snakes. The cars beat the snakes, 4-3. The sense of isolation in Hidalgo County New Mexico ('the bootheel') might have no rival. Again, the road:
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The stretch between Gallup and Flagstaff in horrendously barren and boring. Every once in awhile you happen upon some shanty towns, but theyre not places Id ever want to stop.
