Hoping the group will indulge me this off-topic ramble:

Auntie Em > wrote:

> Durango is becoming more like Telluride every day.

Ed(ward) Abbey wrote, in his book _The Journey Home_:

"What some of us liked so much about Telluride was not the skiing but
that quality of the town which Zoline and his developmental millions
must necessarily take away: its rundown, raunchy, redneck, backwoods
backwardness."

And: "Telluride. To hell you ride."

> You wouldn't
> believe the construction, etc. Kind of horrible, really.

Ya know, I *would* believe it. I've seen it all before. You can't
unbuild a town...I grew up in farm country, but I won't live long
enough to see agriculture return to that land that now sits under the
North American headquarters buildings of several Japanese corporations.
I knew before I finished high school that it was time for me to strike
out and find somewhere with less "progress".

Some day we'll collectively come to realize that burying arable land
under asphalt and concrete is not progress.

> Funny, we had been looking at New Mexico for a possible place to move
> to. But didn't really find anything that we liked. Where are you
> going in New Mexico?

We're looking at the southwestern corner. There are some spots down
that way that are desert on top, but with suitably reliable aquifers
just 20-40 feet down. It'll take some doing... but we did lots and lots
of homework, looking at a laundry list of factors that drove our
decision, and New Mexico topped the list handily. Once we settled on
the state, we started looking at growing season, availability of water,
raw land prices, etc.

We're comfortable with truly rural living, or we'd never even consider
such a move. We'll be moving down there in the Spring, and spend a lot
of time getting to know the area, in order to avoid buying someone
else's headaches. Rural land is a lot like used cars in that regard.

End of off-topic ramble, and my thanks for the patience of the group.

--
Art Sackett,
Patron Saint of Drunken Fornication