Last weekend I drove down to Albuquerque to help my daughter move into a new apartment. On the way back to Denver, I decided to detour through the New Mexico back country and check out the Taos area. A couple more hours of driving, but spectacular scenery.
During the drive, I spotted this collection work trucks was a few miles south of Espanola, a town on the road between Santa Fe and Taos.
As you can see, the lot contains Fords, Chevys, and Dodges, mostly from the fifties and sixties.
A few cars mixed in, all the vehicles display a patina consistent with the dry high desert climate of northern New Mexico, showing sun burned paint, but little rust.
Nice. I would love to take a walk through there.
I live close to very close to these trucks. The owner Orlando Rodriguez is a friend of mine. He owns OR communications
As I like to remind Midwesterners (and those from the Northeast US) – here in the Southwest, rust does not cleanse the landscape as it does there. 🙂
Think of the end credits of the original “Cars” where Mater finds his hood after 20 years and it still looks pretty solid.
And an IH.
My apologies. Since my grandfather owned a KB – 1, I should not have overlooked “the other pickup.”
Lots of nice ones. Loadstar, GMC E series and two V-6 pickups, medium duty Dodge, various Fords.
Dave – I’ve done that drive several times – from Santa Fe through Espanola, Taos, Questa, Fort Garland and then over La Veta Pass to Walsenberg and back on to I-25 again. That flat section on either side of the NM/CO border gets real cold in the winter, no stopping to look at anything last time I went through.
This trip I cut east out of Taos and drove through Angel Fire and Eagle Nest to Raton. Some very twisty, slow mountain roads, but the scenery was fantastic.
The weather was also cooperative this trip with temps in the sixties, but in June I encountered a late snow storm and some very slick driving north of Trinidad, so you never know.
Since I’m now living in Denver, I’ll explore the various roads down to Albuquerque over the next few years. Next time I plan to use US 64 up to Alamosa and check out the Rio Grande gorge bridge.
That’s my yard lol.. How crazy!!!
A beautiful reminder of Northern New Mexico…
There is a junkyard in between Espanola and Taos, although it has been so long since I have been up that way I do not recall exactly where. It has some beautifully preserved iron from the 60s and 70s, surrounded by fantastic views.
I last passed by this place a couple weeks ago on my way from Colorado back to Albuquerque. Like each time before, I wished I could take a couple hours for a slow stroll through the collection.
Dave, this time around I also took the route between Taos and Raton. There were still enough yellow leaves to emphasize the beauty through the mountains.