We drove out through the back roads, through idyllic mountain valleys, the kind that leave you wondering how many people it would be necessary to kill to own the place. My Subaru came through admirably, as always (Cars like flattery! And rugged outings!), in the thick patches of rain-sodden mud. We passed the sufi center and popped out at Torreon in another driving rainstorm. The precipitation in Central New Mexico that weekend was off the charts. We saw numerous arroyos flooding on the drive back to Magdalena, always a cheering sight. (Although Utah really received the brunt of the flooding: hundred-year records! Here also!) As we came back down Abo Pass, well, I'll let a better writer choose the words:
On the way back we drove into the heart of a thunderstorm, backlit by the sunset; descending the steep western slope was like flying into it in a plane. We drove through and looked back to see what we all agreed was the most perfect rainbow we had ever seen, a complete arc backed by the nearly- black thunderhead but rooted in the golden plain.
In Central New Mexico, you don't get a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, you get piles of tires and meth shacks! Thank God it's been a rainy year: New Mexico's squalor receives just as much rain and beautiful atmosphere as its opulence!
