 Western New Mexico. This contemporary...  Western New Mexico. This contemporary church could pass for a well-preserved prehistoric pueblo structure. | 
Western New Mexico. |  A little off the beaten track...  A little off the beaten track near Winslow, AZ. |
Southeast Colorado is wholly indistinguishable from southwest Kansas. Highway 50 roughly parallels the Arkansas River, the old border demarking Mexico and U.S. territory nearly two centuries ago, as well as the mountain route of the old Santa Fe Trail. This region, along the Arkansas River and the Santa Fe Trail, is steeped in history. There's Lamar and the "Big Timbers" (a dense cottonwood grove on the banks of the Arkansas that provided all-seasons shelter to both the native tribes and later immigrants traveling the Santa Fe Trail. Farther along is the Fort Lyon National Cemetery, where the Old West fort once was. And about 8 miles east of La Junta is the Bent's Old Fort National Historical Site. We nearly drove by the turnoff for the site, which is on SR 194, just west of where the Purgatoire (French for purgatory) River feeds into the Arkansas.
Friday * September 26
Bent's Old Fort was built around 1833 on the north bank of the Arkansas River by fur-trading brothers Charles and William Bent and their partner Ceran St.Vrain. The location was on the American side of the river, near where it was forded by the Santa Fe Trail. For nearly two decades, the Old Fort (there was later a Bent's New Fort, 40 or so miles east of the Old Fort's site, which never achieved the importance of the original) was THE center of trade for the entire region and was an oasis for traders and travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. Charles went on to become the first provisional governor of New Mexico before being killed in Santa Fe during an uprising in 1846. St.Vrain ran the Bent, St.Vrain & Co. operations in Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and William Bent directed trade with the Indian tribes and fur-trappers trade out of the Fort on the Arkansas River. William married a Cheyenne woman. One of their sons, George, is renowned as a premier historian of the Cheyenne and other plains tribes during the 19th century, and William remained one off the more influential men in the territory up to his death in 1869. This was a must-see for us history buffs!
SR 194 is more of a narrow and winding country lane than a highway, at least by urban Southern California standards, and a lot more fun to drive! But, when we got to the Bent's Old Fort site, we began thinking that there was some sort of curse on the Wallaces, at least when it came to seeing historical forts. Unlike Fort Larned, we could see Bent's Old Fort, an imposing adobe fortress maybe 3/8ths of a mile off the highway, beyond a locked gate. Damn "winter" hours; it closed at 4:00 p.m. We looked at one another and almost in unison said something to the effect of, "Let's stay in La Junta tonight instead of going on to Pueblo and come back to see this place tomorrow morning."
After finding clean and comfortable lodging for the night, we retraced our steps to the Hog's Breath Saloon, a funky steakhouse/roadhouse bar that we'd passed coming into La Junta, for dinner.
 Interstate 40, between Winslow...  Interstate 40, between Winslow and Flagstaff, AZ. | 
Flagstaff, AZ. | 
Bellemont, AZ. |