Part two... Mansoon season in the southwest

As Kurt & I rolled along the last leg toward our destination, large drops of rain began spattering Monty creating a beautiful sheen of mud. But hey, what is a little rain? We see this all the time; we are from the Northwest after all. We continued on as I continued to whine incessantly for a decent cup of coffee. (Three hundred frigging miles from Albuquerque to Las Cruces and still not one damn coffee house?) Needing petrol and coffee (did I mention that?) we pulled into Truth or Consequence.

Being my birthday, Kurt was doing his best to try to accommodate me or perhaps he was just sick of my whining about the lack of good caffeine since we had left Oregon. We slowly drove down the main street of T or C, as the locals call it, when my wonderful husband spotted a tea & coffee house. “YEA” I screamed. Yes, it was like a drug addict being given the key to a pharmacy. I jumped out spotting this long haired Berkley type dude sweeping the front walk of the store while the aroma of coffee filled the air. “AHHHHH.” I sigh. COFFEE!!

But to my horror Berkley dude proclaims his shop won’t be open until Thursday.
What!!???
He smiles all friendly like knowing damn well I need coffee!! He even mentions our Washington plates. He must have seen the crazed look in my eyes as he even offered some from his personal stash. I eagerly, without any remorse, accepted. It was my birthday after all. But it was not to be, someone had turned off his coffee pot leaving it cold. Oh the agony of it all. Fortunately Berkley dude offered us a solution; again perhaps he feared the crazed look. He suggested we head over to the local Little Sprout store. They sold his coffee and usually have a pot already brewed. Well OK then.

The store was an adorable collection of organic foods, herbal remedies, and COFFEE!! GOOD COFFEE. We loaded up: Coffee, herbal remedies, hand made soaps, and various other crap we apparently could not live without.

Back on the road the heavens really began letting loose. It really was raining. Realizing in our quest for caffeine we had forgotten to feed Monty so we decided to stop in Hatch, a small village approx. 30 miles North of Las Cruces.

We passed over the Rio Grand which I am told is usually no bigger than a small Oregon creek. On this day it became an angry swirling torrent of brown determined water.

We chose the Pick Quick gas station to refuel; ok it was really our only choice. While Kurt fed Monty I called our daughter to let her know we were in Hatch and about thirty minutes out. Hanging up I was amazed at the amount of water beginning to collect in large pools every where. Noting to Kurt, “Wow, they sure have piss poor drainage around here.”

For the record I believe that was the understatement of the summer.

Bree, the daughter, called back and requested we hang out for a bit more as Felix, her husband, was going to meet us at the Pick Quick. We willingly acquiesce. Five minute….ten minutes…wow the water really isn’t draining. Bree calls back, “Ah…just go ahead and leave. Felix says the water is getting really high and his truck is stuck.” “His truck is stuck?” Is he OK?” I ask. “Sure, it’s probably nothing.” Probably nothing turned into one of the worst floods this village has seen in fifty years.

We arrived in Las Cruces to a frantic daughter exclaiming that Hatch had flooded and we needed to go and rescue her husband. Let me just state for the record, I personally have NEVER seen the destruction and devastation such as I have seen since being down here. It has given me a whole new take on the survivors of Katrina.

Returning to Hatch we waited at the high school while Bree searched and questioned people about the whereabouts of her husband. Kurt and I stayed in Monty with Ana & Bethany. National guards, helicopters and local officials swarmed the small village assisting the residents trying to ensure there were no deaths. All in all no one died but the property damage and economic devastation was horrendous. As of today, August 22, 2006, Hatch has not been declared a disaster site but the US Government. Many individuals lost their homes, their meager possessions and were impacted in ways those of us with means can not even understand. Few of these people had insurance and will not be able to replace vehicles, clothes and other items that were destroyed. It is a terrible tragedy.

I wish I could end there, but last night as we slept Hatch and other small villages in the area were hit again by heavy rains; the already saturated land, could not drain the water. With no where to go, the flood waters, once again, flooded homes, shops, and streets.

Mother Nature is angry.

Thus end part two…