To all who read this , I figured to back up a week or two and recount a trip I did down to Cloverdale NM . There isn't much there now just a couple of old buildings from way back when . However the ride there and the history of the area is worth recounting . Back in the 1870's and 1890's the area was a hotbed of activity , with all the thing you would associate with the wild west . Rustlers , smugglers , mining and huge ranches . The Cloverdale road happens to coincide with Geronimo's trail , needless to say it has been there a while ! It runs all the way from the Sierra Madres in old Mexico to Lordsburg now , and more than likely went a lot further , but civilization and modern roads have more or less erased any sign . But from Texas John Slaughter's ranch on the Mexican border in Douglas AZ to Cloverdale NM is nothing but wild country , from Cloverdale ruins to Animas is a two lane track that no one but the border patrol, a few ranchers and crazies like me use . I started the ride to see if I could find the outlaw cemetery down by Cloverdale , that's supposedly where Ike Clanton's daddie is buried along with several other notorious outlaws from the Tombstone / Wyatt Earp days .The infamous feud of the Earps and Clantons spread across southern Arizona and the bootheel of New Mexico for several years after the OK corral fiasco . If you read some of the history of this era it's not surprising that politics and quite a bit of what was then the media played a big part in making the bad / good guys of this time into larger than life characters . None the less they were surely some hearty folks and just living in this part of the country was a challenge .
High desert landscape is sometimes odd , for all the deep browns and grays , green is abundant , see some cottonwoods and there likely is some water or at least some moisture near the surface .
While I never found the cemetery , I found a landscape that if you aren't careful lulls you into a state of not quite paying attention , your mind wanders , the vast empty spaces , drain your mind till you snap back to attention as your wheels go grinding over rough sided roads.
Cattle and horses wander freely , this is open range , dirt tracks lead left and right off the main track , might be a ranch or water tank , no telling . Some ranch houses appear now and then usually several miles apart . Occasionally a vehicle is seen , they always wave a desert tradition , they aren't your buddy , just acknowledging your existence . These folks live out here by choice , if they wanted company , they would live in some crowded rabbit warren of a city , not likely though , privacy is treasured to them , they like it the way it is.
For me it was a journey down an historic highway , for the rancher another day at work , the border patrol while always respectful and civil , wary eyes on the move always watching , there are still bad guys out here .
Stay tuned ....
