![[Audrey]](s-audrey.jpg)
Audrey Wolflick
Professor McClard
English 3510
September 9, 2000
Middle of New Mexico
After reading about our assignment, and choosing to write mine on travel, I then had to figure out, "what about travel would I write about?" Sure I could write about my trip to England with my family, or my trip to Hawaii with my friends, or there’s the trip I just went on over spring break to Mexico, or I could even write about the 37 out of 50 states that I have been to. While trying to make a decision, my mom said to me, "Audrey, what about New Mexico?" Ahhh….New Mexico, Claunch, New Mexico to be exact….the middle of nowhere…..
I have been going to Claunch, New Mexico since before I was born. My parents have also been going there since before they were married. Claunch you say? Yep, Claunch. It’s about 45 minutes from Mountainair which is in the north, 45 minutes from Corona which is in the east, and about 45 minutes from Carrizozo which is to the south. The biggest town around is Ruidoso where they have the famous horse track, Ruidoso Downs, and that is even an hour and a half away. Claunch is a small town, population of 4, with a post office. While driving through it, you could blink and miss the whole town.
My grandmother Berlene, my mom’s mom, grew up there until she was about 16. She got married and moved away, and only went back to visit with us during the summer. She now moved back there and doubled the population to 4. Berlene’s father, my great-grandfather is still alive. Granddaddy will be 94 on the 10th of September. He lives in Ruidoso now, and has lived there ever since his wife died, but he always comes back to Claunch when we visit. He still gets around well, goes to the race track often, reads until four in the morning, and drives himself the hour and a half down to Claunch to see, "that family of your’s," as he would say to Berlene.
It’s a family affair every time we go down there. My mother’s brother Geoff and his wife Fiona from New York always come down, too. Imagine the change of being in Manhattan, NY one morning and being in the middle of nowhere the next. I can’t say there is much to do down there, but hang out with the family, play cards and pool, visit with the neighbor’s (most living 5 or more miles away), read, eat and drink a lot, and just plain hang out.
When I was younger I used to hate this particular trip. My family and I would go down just about every summer to see great granddad, or as we call him Granddaddy. Up until about a year ago, ever since my grandmother moved back to Claunch, we never had the day to day things we take for granted living in the city. We never had T.V., telephone, or running water. When we went, my grandmother would call a couple weeks in advance and have the electric company turn on the power for the week or two while we would be there.
We usually always go at the end of the summer, right before my brother and I go back to school. We pack lightly, and all hop into the car. Me with my pillow, my stuffed dog, and my brother with his pillow and his portable CD player. We wake up pretty early to go down there, sometimes before the sun gets up. It’s about an 8 hour drive, so my parents always liked to get an early start. We hop on I-25 and put the car in cruise. My brother and my mom usually sit in the back seat, only because I used to get extremely car sick, and my dad is usually the primary driver. My parents and I mostly listen to the same music, especially my dad and I. So, the speakers are always turned up in the front so my mom and brother can read or listen to the walkman in the back.
We drive through Colorado Springs, and I always like looking at the Air Force Academy church, only because it reminds me of this guy I used to date there. I would pay most attention to that one building in Colorado Springs, I would even crank my neck to see the very tips of it as we drove out of sight. We continue on down to Pueblo where we discovered this really, really excellent drive-thru Mexican restaurant. Except this year we remembered it being better the past two years that we had eaten there. We like to go to the nearby park to eat and get out so we can all unfold our legs and stretch our backs. We hop back in the car and drive for another two hours. Passing the green and white "You are now leaving Colorful Colorado" sign and head into the red and yellow "Welcome to New Mexico" sign.
On the way my dad and I try and pick a good CD. Sometimes it’s a toss up between Van Morrison and Dave Matthews, but we always seem to make the perfect choice. Even after we eat, we always snack on the way down. Pretzels, cookies, chips, and water, my parents are always drinking water. We stop for gas and a "potty break" as my dad would say. It’s always nice to just sit back and ride. I always enjoy listening to music and seeing the view. I have to try and take it all in for my dad and I, especially when he is driving. He is one of those people that gets distracted easily, and man does my mom get mad! "Robert," my mom usually starts off with, "keep your eyes on the road."
Our next stop after Pueblo is Springer, New Mexico. It is a small town right off of I-25 just south of the Colorado/New Mexico border. That place has the best shakes and malts in the world. It is run by the same three old ladies that we see there two times every trip, once on the way there and once on the way back. Sometime we just stop for ice cream, other times we stop for a hamburger and some greasy onion rings. After we finish up there we gas the car up, and switch drivers. This past trip it was me who drove, but only because my mom’s back was out. The stop at Springer is about half way to Claunch, so it is a perfect time to switch drivers and let my dad have a nap.
We don’t really stop much after Springer, only to gas the car up and take a "potty break." We drive almost the same way every time. Down through Las Vegas, to Highway 84, on to Interstate 40, then highway 41 to highway 60, from there our last turn is onto highway 55 which takes us all the way to Claunch. After driving this route every year for 21 years you think that I would get sick of it, but no I don’t, and it always looks different. Sometimes its really green, especially after they have gotten a lot of rain, other times its brown as dirt, and there isn’t much pretty scenery. After we pass the turn off for Gran Quivira we are about 15 minutes away from Claunch.
Everyone in the car starts to get excited, but how excited can you be after driving for 8 hours. We all put our shoes on, straighten ourselves up and wait until we come over the last rolling hill that will take us into Claunch. As soon as we are at the top of that hill all you can see is bare fields with mountains on both sides and a little patch of trees in the midst of it all.
As we come to that little patch of trees we pass over the cattle guard that is on each side of town. On the right hand side is the Claunch graveyard, surrounded by a rusty metal fence. Most of the graves have some sort of plastic flower or trinket to mark the old rancher’s resting places. On the right you also pass the Claunch Women’s Clubhouse, and the town church. Across the street from the church there is an old, rusty bean elevator. After you pass the church you come to a slow pace and you pass the empty school building on the right. Once you come to the post office, across the street is where you turn into the Tally Ranch.
There is now a big Tally Ranch sign and a cattle guard to stop the horses from getting off the land. You pull up to the front of the house which used to be the back of the house. Before my grandma lived there the paint was chipping off the house and the steps, and there wasn’t any order to the place. When we pulled up this year there was a white fence around the house. To the left of the house is the chicken coup and the horse stables. They have 21 chickens, 2 roosters, 2 horses, and 2 German shepards (Tango and Samba).
You get out of the car after driving to the back, and what do we see but a stone patio and a stone waterfall. This shocked the whole family, and probably everyone for miles and miles around. "A waterfall in Claunch," my dad says, "Man we must be high class now." Remember this is the place that didn’t have running water! After proceeding inside we’ve come to find that the addition onto the back of the house which was supposed to be the porch is now the T.V. room. "A what?," you say. A big T.V. and even a satellite hook up. The showers, all of the sinks, and even the toilet have water! Let me tell you, this is one of the most exciting things.
As I said earlier we used to not have running water in the house. We had to use the outhouse, which is still around the side of the house near the fence. Imagine using the bathroom in the middle of the night. It’s not your usual get up and stumble sleepily to the next room kind of trip. We had to put shoes on, and sometimes a jacket, get the industrial sized flashlight off of the top of the fridge, trudge outside and hope not to run into a skunk or a snake on the narrow red dirt path. The worst part was the breeze that kicks up not only the red dirt but the stench of a 60 year old outhouse as you crank open the old wooden door, and sit your butt down on a very cold toilet seat. Why you would choose to relive that experience, I do not know, but my mom and granddaddy still choose to use that old smelly thing.
Try to imagine our happiness when we found all these improvements done to the house. Other little things that my grandma did to fix up the house were, by the help of my parents and my brother, strip and refinish the hard wood floors, get new furniture, including replacing the 40 year old pool table that was lopsided, a new tool shed, paint the outside of the house, and a small garden consisting mostly of cacti.
The relief to walk into a house this nice was overwhelming. I didn’t feel like I was in Claunch anymore, but more like a desert paradise. When ever we get to Claunch, there is always warm hugs from family and old friends, good food, and cold beer. This is what I call a good vacation. You can just hang out and read, or shoot the shit with Granddaddy, who can barely hear and usually leaves his hearing aid in Ruidoso, but loves to talk anyway. It is nice to have all of the day to day things we take for granted down in Claunch, but we still didn’t watch the T.V., and I think I only checked my e-mail once.
Our usual day down there consists of doing daily chores, like feeding all of the animals, walking to the post office to catch up on the local news, playing a game or two of pool with my 93 year old granddaddy who still whoops my butt, listening to him also tell stories of when he came to New Mexico on horseback from Texas, and how he farmed and ranched the land up until he was about 85, the day all ending with a beautiful sunset and a chance to drive out about five minutes to the farthest part of my granddaddy’s property and sit and look at the stars with my brother.
I wouldn’t trade this family trip for a million other trips to far off places. Many people travel or go on vacation, but don’t know the real meaning of relaxation or a real vacation. Out in Claunch we may have all of the day to day things now, but you can’t pass up the stories from granddaddy, or the good old hospitality of everyone around the area, or even the sight of three old cowboys drinking a beer and talking about the old days. The old days when the town had close to 500 people in it, and where everybody knew everybody, and my grandma Berlene was running around with her little blond curls, and could barely walk or talk, but knew how to drive a tractor. Yep, there’s nothing like Claunch…..out in the middle of New Mexico.
Just a little page thrown together by Robert Brooks, robertb@dixie-chicks.com.
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Page Created: 12/22/2000
Last Update: 12/26/2000