Pie Town and Socorro

The next morning I left Springerville, AZ and headed back to New Mexico and my home near Rio Rancho. By noon I needed a break. I had always heard the stories of Pie Town, NM. A hundred years or so when it took many days to make the trip I was making in about 5 hours a resident of this little village decided to bake pies and offer them to the tired travelers that stopped here in their old Ford trucks and cars. So the tiny community became known as Pie Town. I'm not sure what else there is in this town but 4 eatery's that sell pies among other things and the people that own and run these places. I decided to stop at one of the oldest ones The Pie-o-neer which has been featured on several TV shows. It was open but someone hadn't know which was the brake and which was the gas earlier in the morning and had driven up the steps and almost into the building. The people that owned the place said their first though had been an earthquake. But they had gone on baking pies and selling them. If you go here remember this place only sells pies, although some of the other cafes do sell other kinds of foods. I had a really delicious piece of cherry pie and good conversation with owners and other people eating pie.

After leaving Pie Town I made it to Socorro, NM and took a wrong turn to get to the freeway. But that was alright as I found an old Spanish Catholic Mission Church and stopped for a few minutes. The church didn't look that old as it has been repaired many times. There was no one around so I didn't go in. As you can see by the signs below that they celebrated the 400th aniveresy of the church in 2015 and that it was actually founded in 1598.

This old adobe house was across the street from the church and is actually for sale. But to close to the street to suit me.

Fort Bayard, New Mexico

Fort Bayard, New Mexico is the remains of an old military fort that was used for a long time, and for many different things. It was used by the Buffalo Solders (the first group of black solders back in the late 1800's) and as an interment camp for the Japanese in this area during WW1. When my grandparents moved here in the 1930's it was used as a military hospital for veterans with the buildings being used by the workers. My granddad spent a lot of time here after WW1 where he was 'gassed' in France. My mom and her sisters played here. I guess all of the buildings are abandoned now. It is such a shame. It looks like they could be used as housing for someone even if they aren't up to all the fancy codes and don't have electric or plumbing in all of them.

 What a nice old fire truck and the date on it is 1912 which is when New Mexico became a state. I don't know if it runs or not but someone should fix it up if it doesn't. The tires looked good so maybe it does run and is used in parades or such.

 Entrance to Fort Bayard National Cemetery. (orange things we think are to keep people off of what was the water metors that we don't think are being used any more.)

My dad and moms grave stone. His name is on one side, hers on the other. They burry couples on top of each other with one stone to save space.

My sister, Sarah.

Me.

Hills seen behind the cemetery. As cemeteries go it is a nice one as it isn't in a big busy town. Deer, elk and other birds and critters come through here all the time. I believe it might be forest service land or Land Management by the government of some sort around Fort Bayard and hopefully will never be developed.

 When going out the exit gate there is a great view of the Kneeling Nun at the copper mine. And not any of the mine that can be seen from here. What a wonderful view for a cemetery. My mom would be pleased as she always liked the kneeling nun.

 Near Fort Bayard was another veterans memorial. This one for was special for the Bataan Death March. I didn't realize so many men from New Mexico were in that. Sadly there was vandal damage to several places in the memorial. I can't understand why people have to do damage to memorials for our war heros.

This old helicopter looks like it is tangled in a power like but it won't ever fly again as it is part of the memorial.

Copper Mine

I have always known this mine as the Santa Rita Open Pit
Copper Mine. But it has changed names and owners many times over the years. The Native American Indians were working this mine when the Spanish Conquestors first came. Philps-Dodge were the owners when I was living in Silver City. No one in my family ever worked at this mine but my brother-in-law worked at the copper smelter near Playas, NM down in the far bootheel of New Mexico for a number of years until it closed. That smelter is now long gone and I don't know where the copper, gold, and other ores are hauled to for processing. I won't try to say more about the history as these signs came out good enough to read.

 This is the first thing you notice coming in from the east toward the mine and Silver City. I think these are some of the tailings or the part they can't use.

You can see the roads in the pit mine with the what look like small trucks. Those trucks are actually huge. At the overlook where you can look down into the big pit they have one of the large tires that are used on the trucks. My sister is in one photo, me in another and then Sis is inside of the tire. The mine is behind the tire.

Personally I don't think this chunk of rock looks like a kneeling nun in front of an alter but then I am not a Spanish catholic that had just crossed the ocean and then traveled thousands of miles across a unexplored country. You can see tailing underneath the lava rocks. At one time the mine wanted to dig out the lava for the copper that was under it but there was such a fuss that it wasn't done. I figure someday they will dig around it to the point it falls down. And that will be a shame. To me it's not a 'knelling nun' but it is a fantastic geologic formation that should be preserved.