It was at Caballo Lake that I discovered my boot was coming apart. The nearest cobbler was Las Cruces, a metropolis notable for being the home of the Southwest Environmental Center, but I was westheaded. In Silver City I found Silver Shoe Repair at 806 N. Bullard...next door to The Curiosity Shop (see below). David Wait tried to charge me $5.00 for a $20.00 job, but I was too sharp for him. He bought the business a year and a half ago and is, I think, still thinking of dark ages wages. Hopefully, if he tries to price his work at 1940s prices, you too will insist on proper compensation. And an excellent job it was!
I owe it all to Karen in the Visitor Center who, on 3/31/14 *thought* there was a bookstore on Bullard Street, but cautioned that, "It may have closed."
It hadn't and as of 3/12/15 still hadn't.
By the time I neared (I walked!!) the end of N. Bullard (back in 2014) I was about ready to accept her surmisal, but something pulled me on. And there, almost exactly, get that, ALMOST exactly fifty feet from the corner of College Avenue is The Curiosity Shop (808 N Bullard). Karen hadn't given a name but being a direct descendant of Rudyard's elephant, I right away expected great things.
She wore a hyacinth-purple sweatshirt and a smile to brighten even a day in Cleveland (Ohio). And though the store is advertised as a gift shop, the collection of used books (and other stuff) is phenomenal. Prices are consistent...between $2.00 and $3.00.
While I browsed, a goateed strolled in and mentioned how difficult his partner was to get along with. The proprietress suggested maybe it was *he* who was difficult. He acknowledged that could be, but that her anger was often an indication of the pain she was in. I returned to my perusaling, but their conversation was more intimate than I've encountered elsewhere. It reminded me of a line attributed to Maya Angelou: I like to foster intimacy, not familiarity.
Even at the low prices I stopped myself at seven. As I stood paying, another man came in, handed her a bag of freshly-cleaned trout, and without a word, went back out. She said he throws most of them back, but brings her some every week.
Obviously, a Hub of the Universe.
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| Eggbert, micro RV extraordinaire |
That's it behind the lampost. Silver Shoe Repair is the blue door on the right.
The shadows were lengthening so I 'cided I'd best be movin' on.
But luck had other ideas. As I was walking back to the car a child descending some steps with an orangefully bright plop in a cup directed me to notice the overwhelmingly mega window text: Alotta Gelato.
I asked for spumoni and was told that most cities had a maker who supplied the vendors. He'd seen one recipe that included 28 ingredients and decided one had to draw lines somewhere. With that color still Clamoring In My Mind (John Denver?), I splurged for a medium-sized mango. The quantity was MORE than adequate and carried me into the evening.
When I asked where it came from he replied, "Any idiot can sell it! We make it."
Here's his blog....
blogsilvercity.blogspot.com
Here's the store's website....
www.alottagelato.com
They're both worth the trip. And STILL the myriad galleries!
10 miles South of town there's dispersed camping at The Continental Divide Trail on highway 90 a few miles past Tyrone. Local yokels like to come through and pop off a few shots and there's cow shit and flies all over the place but it's free.
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