Day 16 (D-45) Back into Colorado: Pagosa Springs...and time for a film and music!

Day 16  (D-45)  

After our visit to Georgia O'Keeffe's home and workshop we'll leave New Mexico and drive back into Colorado, to Pagosa Springs where we'll stop to have lunch. It will be about a two-hour drive to cover the 105 miles (170 km).  Our last look at the New Mexico landscape.

To say good-bye to New Mexico, how about an old Western film?  Do you know the 1952 film High Noon?  Of course you do!  Le Train Sifflera Trois Fois!  The story takes place in a fictitious small town in New Mexico Territory.... but it was mostly shot in California!  A town marshal (Gary Cooper) is torn between his sense of duty and love for his new bride (Grace Kelly) and must face a gang of killers alone.  You can get the feeling of being "out west" by looking at the end of this old-fashioned Classic Western movie.  But this could open the discussion to gun violence in the United States....😞

After this little break, we're on the road again.

You can see the google map here:
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Abiquiú,+Nouveau-Mexique+87510,+États-Unis/Pagosa+Springs,+Colorado+81147,+États-Unis/@36.7153331,-107.20307,9.13z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x8717f7a096ff0e55:0x885b065c9385782c!2m2!1d-106.3186397!2d36.207241!1m5!1m1!1s0x873ddb6e9b07b449:0x7b8616cc41f8157f!2m2!1d-107.0097617!2d37.26945!3e0

Pagosa Springs is a small town of 1940 people (estimated 2019 population) whose elevation is 7126 feet (2,172 m).  The town is named for the sulfur springs located there, including the world's deepest geothermal hot spring. Visitors come from all over the world to enjoy its hot baths.  Sorry, we won't have time for a hot bath, just lunch!

Much of the population now are second-home owners (2006 recorded that 60% of the town and surrounding area private properties are owned by non-residents.)

Today will be a day on the road to reach our next destination, Mesa Verde National Park.  So, after lunch, we head west.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Pagosa+Springs,+Colorado+81147,+États-Unis/Parc+national+de+Mesa+Verde,+Mesa+Verde,+CO,+États-Unis/@37.2765624,-108.8569575,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x873ddb6e9b07b449:0x7b8616cc41f8157f!2m2!1d-107.0097617!2d37.26945!1m5!1m1!1s0x873960bf2ed7711f:0x79f695a21bf61863!2m2!1d-108.4618335!2d37.2308729!3e0

We still have another 100 miles to go, enjoying the Colorado landscape...and listening to a little music today.

Here's Willie Nelson singing "On The Road Again."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v9-InvDwMw (with lyrics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mckg0  (live in 2000)
From biography.com -->

Born in Texas in 1933, country singer and songwriter Willie Nelson rose to prominence at the end of the 1960s and contributed to the "outlaw country" subgenre, which challenged the conservatism of Nashville. During his lengthy, award-winning career, he has written some of the most popular and memorable country songs of all time, many of which have been covered by a wide range of artists over the last half century. Now in his 80s, Nelson continues to record and tour, as well as devoting a considerable amount of time to various charitable and political causes.

Enjoy the film clip.  Enjoy the music.  Enjoy the hours "on the road."

My best,

Jane

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--fictitious =  imaginary, not real

--shot =  It sounds like cowboy and Western vocabulary, but in fact it means "tourner" or "filmer."  "They are shooting a movie in New Mexico."

--springs : here, a place where water naturally flows out from the ground; sulfur = soufre; sulfur springs = sources thermales

--on the road = traveling to different places

--lyrics =  the words of a song