The cheerful and friendly gentleman at the counter when we picked up our rental car suggested that on the way to Santa Fe we might want to stop in Madrid, once a small coal mining town, now reborn as a strip of galleries and funky eateries. GPS leading us we headed out through a landscape of brush studded hills.
Nearing Madrid one can see remnants of it's past. Piles of coal dot the hills. Where the mines broke through the sand colored epidermal layer of earth brilliant colors have been revealed evidencing millions of years of geological history.
The town features a single road of venerable repurposed structures populated with a mix of bikers, aging hippies and young hipsters. Behind the bar and restaurant, where we ate outside in the desert sunshine, is a small stage where various bands play against a backdrop of an antique locomotive and coal car, which harkens back to the town's past. An ancient pick up truck bears a hand painted sign which directs locals and visitors alike to the town's CBD establishment. We assumed that, looking at the people that lived there, it must do a brisk business.
After lunch we continued to our hotel just outside the city and our balcony room that overlooked it. Travel weary we collapsed to sleep off our wanderlust dust in preparation for the start of our New Mexico adventure the next day.
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