Hi, the name is Fred. I live in California now, but check this forum nearly daily. I lived in New Mexico from 1978 to 1981 in Magdalena. It doesn't seem that long ago to me as my next assignments with the U.S. Forest Service were in Bridgeport and Mammoth Lakes, both in Mono County in California's eastern Sierra region. It is hard for me to believe that it has been nearly 30 years (late October 1981) that I drove the big Ryder truck rental westbound on U.S. 60 to move to California. We had moved to Magdalena from Flagstaff, Arizona where I graduated from college and began my Forest Service career.
Although Magdalena would not seem a desirable place to live for many, I loved the isolation and the small town atmosphere. Our home was in the ranger station housing - warehouse - horse corral area west of down State Highway 107 a mile or so south of U.S. 60. It allowed us to live outside of the town, which was very run down at the time, a benefit that I enjoyed for many reasons. There were only 4 homes in the compound, all of whom were in the same stages of their careers and we all became good friends.I would prefer to live outside of towns and had wanted to live at a ranger station far from any town, like my friend who lived at the Beaverhead Ranger Station, the district office of the Black Range Ranger District of the Gila NF. They have move the district office to T or C so that the non-field people can further remove themselves from the field and lose their field smarts. Although I will admit having school aged children at Beaverhead was difficult as the K-8 kids had a 90 mile round trip to school each day and the 9-12 had to live in T or C during the week.
As for Magdalena culture, it was 85% Latino, 10% Navajo, and 5% Anglo, but half of the Anglos were Oakies so the true white population of town was 2.5%! My best non-USFS friend and family was from Oklahoma so I say this out of affection. I think Caucasian people, especially those who grew up in metro areas, should move to places in very small towns for at least a couple of years where they find themselves as a small minority of the population and immerse themselves in a entirely different culture. It opens your eyes to the value of different cultures and reduces the tendency of the "us and them" attitude that is so counterproductive. I had signed up for the Peace Corps to accomplish this, but logistical and career considerations did not allow my wife and I to do so at the time. I count my time in Magdalena as being as close to a Peace Corps experience as I've had in my life.
The area southwest of Magdalena was very remote at the time and might still be. My wife and I once took several trips down to the Gila National Forest and stayed on dirt roads from the intersection of State Highway 52/U.S. 60 to U.S. 180 near Glenwood. We hiked from trailheads near Mogollon and took camping trips down to areas near Gila Hot Springs where the road ends at a ranger station and Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. The ranger station, at the time, was the district office of the Wilderness Ranger District of the Gila NF. It is now in Mimbres, a less remote area. The state used to have a dirt road State Highway that left the pavement on NM 35 east of Mimbres and was signed as a 4WD high clearance road. It was NM 61 and is now county 150. It eventually hooked up with State Highway 59 (if I'm remembering my numbers correctly) which got us back on NM 52. The adventure of the backpacking trips into the Gila Wilderness was complimented by the great drives to and from. The only people you would see driving on those roads were the ranchers who lived at remote locations (some 15 or more miles off the dirt State Highway), UPS trucks and Sears repairmen.
I had wanted to live in New Mexico since the age of 12 and feel very rewarded that I did. We traveled all over the state, with the exception of the east central, northeast (Raton), and some locations in the remote portions of the northwest area between U.S. 491 (666 at the time) and U.S. 550 and was not able to visit Chaco Canyon. When I used to travel for meetings and training in the Grants/Gallup area, rather than drive down to Intestate 25 and up to Interstate 40, I would find dirt roads that would take me there directly from Magdalena or over west of Quemado. I've driven NM's 55, 117, 36 and 603 between I-40 and U.S. 60 in that area, which is a great remote area as well. We backpacked and white water rafted locations in the northern portion of the state. I found the state to be incredible and the Sangre de Cristo effect on the sunsets is something I haven't seen anywhere since. Yes, we had this effect on the Magdalena Mountains and I used to sit on the back wall of our ranger station house for up to an hour just watching it. The sunsets to the west over the San Augistine Plains were incredible as well. We could see the flash from lightning strikes near Grants and just east of there. The island in the sky topography of the state made peak climbing very special.
There was much we weren't able to see and now that we are in California, which is incredibly diverse and contains some great remoteness, mostly in the northern portion, as well as the remote sections of Nevada, we have not been able to see everything we would like to see here. So a trip back to New Mexico hasn't been possible. So many roads, trails, canyons, rivers, peaks and little remote towns and only one lifetime. My Forest Service career, once I moved to California, was stressful due to high workloads and time off, especially mid April to the end of September where I can count that on one hand with fingers left over, was hard to accomplish. Now, with forced early retirements (mine due to a major illness and my wife's due to a budget cut of the Town of Mammoth Lakes) finds us with not enough money to travel very far. Most of my travels have been courtesy of my Uncle Sam, the majority of which I call "my all expenses paid, self guided tours of the U.S.", my euphemism for wildland fire assignments. I've had special assignments in North Carolina, Utah and 3-4 locations in California as well.
So much for my New Mexico and following experiences. My dad helped me built a crystal AM HF receiver when I was 12 and bought me a cheapy HF receiver when I turned 17. A Regency crystal scanner followed a couple years later. College and a career found me too busy to get my ham license, which I obtained after retirement. I bought my first programmable scanner (BC-210) while in New Mexico, as well as a Yaesu FRG-7700 HF receiver, and started experimenting with antennas and masts at the ranger station house. I find radio to be a great hobby when living and traveling in remote areas. I still enjoy following the New Mexico forum because of my special experience there.
I'm not able to post much at all these days, due to care taking two elderly people, and find myself lurking most of the time, but am still able to get on RR about once or twice per week or less.