I swear New Mexico has more art galleries per capita than anywhere. About half the retail space in Silver City is art. It's nice to see a downtown that is not all boarded up, even if there is not much happening at night.
I spent the day walking around in the howling wind. I walked up and down the "big ditch", which is a gorge with a small stream at the bottom of it. It seems this gorge is newer than the town, and it consumed all of Main Street in floods during the 1890s.
I walked across town to the library at Western New Mexico University, where they let me connect my laptop to the Internet. I updated the web site, and checked out the horrors of the weather forecast. Lows in the low 20's tomorrow night. Time to put Shannon's sleeping bag to the test.
I read my book, tuned up my bike, and ate. Breakfast was the free continental deal at the hotel. Lunch was at one of the numerous cafes in town, Diane's, and it was fettucine alfredo with green chilis. For dinner, my stomach made it clear not to have any more green chilis, so I went to the Pinon Cafe and had gnocci and a glass of (lousy) New Mexico chardonnay.
All in all, it was a very uneventful day. There are a couple used bookstores in town, and I was hopeful that I could find a good book, but I was out of luck.
I have finished two books, one given to me by the manager of the motel in El Paso, and one of the two I bought at Wal-Mart.
The Motel Manager book was called "Mortal Allies", by the son of General Haig, who is also retired military. It is a legal military suspense thriller. It was moderately engaging, but it basically stank. I am not entertained by the story of how some paternalistic macho jerk comes to terms with gays in the military. The plot was absurd, at the level of a bad action film. I hid it at the Black Range Lodge last night.
The second book, from Wal-Mart, was an historical fiction called "Gone for Soldiers", by Jeff Shaara. It is about the Mexican War, and describes the activities of junior officers in that conflict who went on to be generals in the Civil War. Much of it focuses on Robert E. Lee. I had hopes that this would be good for travelling through the southwest. Unfortunately, this Shaara guy is not a good writer at all. His style is tedious and unengaging. I think this book is mostly of interest to guys to get into Civil War reenactments.
I have one more book to get me to the next good bookstore, which I think is a few days away.
The bike never moved today, so there is no map.
