I will never wait 24 hours to read the Taos News again.
I had the radio on coming home from the grocery stores, on KXMT, the local Spanish station, and I heard a remote broadcast from Zeke’s Auto Supply, where they were having a “customer appreciation day.” I MISSED A FREE DRAWING FOR CARS AND TOOLS! I can’t believe it. While I was listening, they gave away a 2004 Camry (I kid you not) and my favorite, a ’55 Chevy Nomad! Plus a bunch of tools, geez. The DJs were funny. One of them knew the guy who won the Camry and joked about how this would be quite a change from driving a souped-up ’70 (?) Dodge Charger. The other DJ knew that the ’55 Chevy had belonged to a friend of his in Questa. It was won by somebody who lives just down the road from me in Ranchos de Taos. Jesus. I can tune a ’55 Chevy with my eyes closed. I’d have loved to be tooling that baby around town.
The car stuff makes me smile, though. That’s one thing I really like about male Hispanic culture, the car craziness: hot rods, lowriders, classic cars, and so on. Oh, and the Harleys! (Sign me up, bro’…) One of my neighbors, a man a little younger than I am, died recently. He used to drive a mildly customized late ’60s model GMC pickup with dark blue metallic paint and the sweetest sounding dual glasspacks you’ve ever heard. I never spoke to him directly, but I’d always wave when we passed on the road, and he would too. He had long hair tied in a pony tail, just like mine, and I always figured he understood how much I liked his wheels. Ironically, word is that what killed him was some kind of organ failure from breathing paint fumes from all the custom car work he did in his garage. I don’t know if that’s true, but he went to the hospital in Albuquerque to have something else checked out, but they found this other thing, and in less than a week, he was dead.
Whew. Get it while you can, eh?
There are other hot rodders and customizers in my neighborhood. One of them drives a wonderful red Model-T coupe to work. The car has a huge chromed V-8 and big drag slicks, and just seeing it rumbling down the road makes my day, every time. I think this kind of thing flourishes here because it hasn’t been legislated out of existence. In Maryland, where I lived before, you can’t even get a regular license plate for a vehicle that’s over 30 years old (or maybe less than that). Pass that kind of law here, and grown men will get drunk, cry, and shoot themselves…
Or the legislators!
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
John: Thanks sooo much for this, today. Getting close to visiting the Taos area and so ready for those little things that push one’s anticipation, one’s excitement over the edge. To the point from ‘mild preparation, deciding which T-shirts and number of extra socks to pack, to barely containable expectations of things to come in the land of Pope, Kit and Mable.
Last time there, Ed Sandoval had his 50′s 5 window Chevy pick-up outside his gallery for sale. I suppose those great wheels that appeared in so many of his paintings is long gone now. Guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Oh, BTW, would you mind if I inquired of one of your favorite pueblos mentioned a few weeks back that I was unable to locate by searching?
I didn’t know Ed’s 5-window Chevy had been for sale. I just thought it was a prop, or something to paint.
Haven’t walked down Quesnel St. in a while, so I don’t know if it’s there or not.
The land of Pope (that’s “po-pay” to foreigners), Kit (Carson), and Mable (Dodge Luhan) is awfully dry right now. There’s a rumor out that the Forest Service will close Kit Carson National Forest next week. That would mean severely restricted hiking, so be forewarned. There’s a Web site to check on this, but I don’t have the URL right now.
Unsure as to the “one of your favorite pueblos” reference. Meaning unclear! Just ask what you want, and I’ll try to answer.
John: No problem “not remembering” that pueblo. Maybe I assigned more significance to it than it holds for you. I just remember reading what you’d written and thinking since we’d never been there, maybe that’d be a nice little day trip. But truthfully, John, any excuse to NOT leave Taos is more than I need to content myself with just kicking back instead.
And while I’m getting ramped up for the trip, I just want to share with you how much I appreciated your comments from several years ago written about Taos from the Caffe Tazza, just dripping with ‘girl power’. I don’t remember how many times I shared that passage with others, but I became a big fan the first time I read that. It was just a couple of months ago I stumbled across your blogsite(s).
During the 90′s, I worked hard at infiltrating the inner circle of the outer fringes of Taos society such that today, it has become a kind of home away from home. But even more exciting than our impending trip there soon, is our trip there in August when we plan to meet Cindy Shehan out at Rumsfeld’s place.
Good Lord, you must know LOTS more people and places than I do! Not that that would be so hard, considering my habits. (You’ve actually been trying, too.) This isn’t an easy place to infiltrate, however, what with everyone all holed up in their own little niches. It’s like the Catacombs of the (Mostly Living) Creatives. But then you know that.
Been looking around your blog. Very classy. Good looks, snark AND grace. One could learn a lot. Great paintings!
I’m still missing the pueblo reference. Fixed sign, mind moves like a pile of rocks. Gimme a hint, por favor.
John: What can I say re a “pueblo” reference you made? You don’t remember and my searching your blogs high and low for the reference return nothing, leaving me to wonder: “Did I make this up?!”
Well, maybe not. Maybe you made a reference to one of those pueblo’s names like Pojoaque, Picuris, or something. I know it wasn’t Nambe because that’s a road we’ve been down before (although I remember you mentioning that one in conjunction with the High Road).
Sorry I can’t give you anything to go on here. Maybe it was a figment that flew into my dream catcher. It’s late June and the figments are ripe it seems.
Oh, and thanks for dropping by the blog and your kind words.
Maybe it will occur to me. Anything is possible!
Time is short. Remember fast! (Just kidding….no pressure from this end.) Just checking prognostications for weather upcoming this week and it looks like we’ve timed this little excursion nicely. Cooler, but warm enough to still drink those deliciously warm 10,000 Foot Stouts on the patio of Eske’s.