NMCA Cruises To Mountainair
Another beautiful morning for a Sunday cruise. The group met at Smiths on Tramway and
headed down old Route 66. Then on to 337 South with Hugh and Larry in the lead. Somewhere
around Chilili we hear Steve and Cindy Hopkins relay a message on the radio that we have
picked up a County Sheriff…no problem we were driving nice...and we continued to drive nice...
mile after mile..after mile..not only was he following us, he started "passing the Vettes"...
guess doing the speed limit was too slow for him. He was seen talking on his radio...probably
calling all his sheriff associates telling them..."you guys have got to see this...I have a
whole line of Vettes driving slow...heck I'm even passing them"...he followed us all the way
to Mountainair…talk about a police escort! I'm sure we will be the talk at the station for weeks.
Arrived at the Shaffer Hotel and met up with David and Jeanne Shorter and friends who drove up
from Ruidoso. The hotel had our tables ready and we were hungry. Again, excellent service and
food. After lunch Dorothy Cole, who was born and raised in Mountainair, gave us the history of
Pop Shaffer, the hotel and town. After a tour around town we headed for home, stopping at the
Quarai ruins to view the Salinas church. As we had been keeping our eyes on the Trigo Fire all
day long, we cut our visit short as it was very apparent that this fire was moving and growing
rapidly. We passed numerous rescue vehicles, hot shot crews and fire trucks. You could actually
see the trees exploding in flames. About two hours after we got home I heard on the news that
they were evacuating the town of Manzano. Our prays go out to all the people affected by this fire.
Thankfully everyone got home safe...with another venture under our belts and anticipating where
the next one will take us.
Editor note: More photos of this event may be viewed in the photo album section.