It’s Monday morning, May 5 (Happy Cinco de Mayo!) and I’m writing from “Javalina” Coffee House in Silver City, New Mexico. This town is a gem. I actually came here because I wanted to hike around in the nearby Gila National Forest, but a toe injury has put the kibosh on any activity that involves shoes or walking. It turned out to be a great place to come anyway. Using Kodi’s advice about avoiding major highways, yesterday I took a county road west of El Paso in Southern New Mexico that follows the border of Mexico, then turned north at a tiny border town called Christopher. It was only a couple hours to Silver City. I pulled in around 6pm looking for a room, and followed the signs to the visitor center. The visitor center was closed, but it was right next to the historic downtown, so I decided to drive around. That’s where I found the Palace Hotel, which appears to be an old west hotel with tiny rooms overlooking cute shops. It was easy to imagine staying in the room in the 1800s with horses tethered to hitching posts on the dirt streets below. The cherry on top was that the room rate was only $48 and that included continental breakfast!
Just around the corner was the Javalina Coffee House, with tables and couches filled with townfolk rolling cigarettes and Western New Mexico University students with laptops. I felt right at home, even though I am neither a cigarette roller nor a college student. Today I plan to take a scenic drive in the Gila National Forest before heading north along the New Mexico-Arizona border. I think I’ll be driving through Eagar, Arizona and Gallup, New Mexico before making it in to Durango, Colorado.
