Posted: 8/8/2025 12:38:53 AM EDT
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So for the first time since 1993, I saw my beloved Portales yesterday and was shocked at how run down and neglected the town looked. An aspiring auto salvage yard south of town. Junk strewn everywhere on plots of land. My old apartment was brand new in 1989 and we took care of it up until we left four years later. It and the area around it (by the old Furr’s grocery store) looked absolutely trashed. The blinds in the windows were broken and hanging askew and the exterior paint old and stained. A slum. My landlord was Randy Davis, and he must be rolling in his grave. The amount of neglect in the old neighborhood and around town was shocking to me. Businesses and restaurants (not all) closed, what looked like homeless drug users near the ENMU campus, yards overgrown, weed shops everywhere… I guess the loss of small ranches and farms, and lower ENMU enrollment (?) is killing the town. Clovis wasn’t *as* bad but the old neighborhood off 21st and Norris could have been better maintained, and some houses nearby looked like absolute dog shit; yards overgrown and full of weeds. Ate dinner at the Texas Outhouse on Llano Estacado on the way out of town and it was good, but Clovis looked like it was struggling. I guess CAFB practically shut down when the 27th TFW was deactivated. The 27th SOW is probably too small of a footprint to keep the town thriving. We arrived back in the north valley of Albuquerque early this morning after a long day touring parts of the state from my youth and despite the homeless tweekers everywhere, it felt good to see something other than abject poverty. I’ve had dreams where I returned to Portales and they must have been more like a vision because the town really looked as bad as I dreamed it to be. Depressing :( Spent the day in Moriarty and Estancia today and they look downright upscale in comparison. |
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Albuquerque is a shithole related to vagrants and loitering and crime being out of control due to the lack of ICE cooperation by the local cunts and their lack of law enforcement literally. But that said I was there several times recently and Didn't have any issues. I just spent two weeks in Santa Fe in July and it was pretty well kept, most likely due to the high earners residing there. Nice town with tourist areas and it was mostly policed pretty well but there were lots of street vagrants trying to sell shit to stopped motorists, which, is illegal in Texas, and probably NM as well. A gang of kids beat up someone in an Arbys during the time I was there, after one of them was waiving his pecker around and a patron told him to stop it. I believe both husband and wife were hospitalized and threatened with handguns. I would have shot all three of them and probably -still- arrested by SFPD. From what I've read and heard third party, SF county is not a pro gun place. I was very careful when I was there, and the alcoholic beverage carrying laws are fucking asinine. I have to call a restaurant prior to going and ask if they serve margaritas first to avoid a bogus felony charge, but beer and wine is ok by default? FFS. How is someone supposed to know prior to entering the establishment? I was also very uncomfortable around all the Pueblos, which are gun-free-zones. Essentially another country which outlaws carrying as a general rule if you step out of your car for any reason. I didnt even like driving down the interstate, passing through them, as stopping anywhere was out of the question. I dont see anywhere in their laws that exempts anyone while driving their car through a Pueblo, so as far as I'm concerned its illegal, and I go around Pueblos at all costs. I couple of times I was a passenger, in a Pueblo and I was not real happy about it. Though we didn't stop. I liked Albuquerque as it was easy to navigate with the streets being all perfectly straight =D And things were half the cost of SantaFe. I went several times, and made it to Barella's cafe. What a great example of SouthWest Food! |