At first glance, Marfa Texas is like most other towns around here. It contains an elaborate beaux arts courthouse surrounded by a small business district, and then dry plains stretching to the horizon. Spend some time here, and the arty vibe other communities lack becomes apparent. That surreal building from last night, for example, was created as a piece of installation art, Prada Marfa. The scene is all due to minimalist sculptor Donald Judd, who founded a museum here called the Chinati Foundation in 1979. His ambition was to display his work and those of artists he liked on an unprecedented scale. The foundation is far from any large city, and has url=http://www.chinati.org/visit/visiting.ph... read more

I left Artesia this morning heading south across the Llano Estacado: flat, featureless, and profoundly empty. I could be back in the rangeland of northern Wyoming (seeJuly 5th) (except that Wyoming has snow by now) with the same sapping effect on my sanity. I drove into this seemingly empty void for the same reason everyone does, to experience one of the most compelling natural features in the United States. Good thing it exists, because there’s almost nothing else for hours in all directions. Old signs started appearing along the road. They are a historic sight of a sort, because they have been there for over fifty years. They look it too. In glorious 1950s style graphics, the signs talk about various tourist facilities like food, motels, and gift shops. All of them end with the same ... read more

All drives through national forests, and I have been doing quite a bit on this trip, pass wooden signs of a bear wearing a forest service ranger hat and levis, holding a shovel (see August 27th) . The signs state the fire risk in the forest. Statues of this bear also appear outside many forest service ranger stations. The bear, of course, is Smokey Bear, the forest service mascot. (FYI, his middle name is NOT ‘The’, no matter how many tourists state otherwise.) People of a certain age remember that Smokey was once an actual bear. I drove to Smokey Bear State Park in Capitan to learn his story. In the years after World War II, the forest service had a huge problem. Large numbers of people starting campin... read more

I spent most of today doing nothing but relaxing, doing laundry, and catching up on paperwork. I did have to visit the local UPS outlet, which heavily promotes their skill in shipping breakable art objects :). Santa Fe’s reputation as the perfect place to unwind is grounded in truth; I was able to chill out here even more than Torrey (see Oct 17th). I suspect staying in an apartment over a hotel room was part of it. I felt more like a recently arrived local than a visitor passing through. I now understand why people choose to live here. Tomorrow, the road goes on once again.... read more

Today, I plunged into the culture of Santa Fe. Most travelers view the city as a zone of ancient, somewhat exotic, cultures existing in a modern world; but one where all the nasty parts have somehow been eliminated. This romantic image attracts wealthy travelers in particular, who can’t get enough of the place. After all, how many cities can one experience something truly different while still having all the creature comforts of home, without needing a passport? In reality, this image is mostly manufactured, but it’s a thoroughly done manufactured, which makes this city fun to visit. Santa Fe’s reputation attracts many artists, art lovers, and gallery owners. The city has one of the highest densities of art professionals in the United States. Many of the... read more