Sunday October 21st

This morning we woke up in Chloride, New Mexico where we had stayed in the PYE CABIN, the oldest building in Chloride.  After breakfast, we decided to drive a couple of miles to Winston, New Mexico to explore.  In Winston, we found an active general store, and lots of abandoned buildings and businesses.

Then we drove back to Chloride and visited the PIONEER STORE AND MUSEUM, and the gift shop next door.  We checked out the entire town taking many pictures.  Then we headed towards the semi ghost town of Cuchillo.

In Cuchillo, we stopped at a small farm stand and purchased an item or two.  Then we drove back to the CUCHILLO BAR AND GENERAL STORE, which we thought was abandoned.   It sure does not look like anyone would be living here!

We were poking around, looking for a way to get in, when the owner came out.  After a few minutes of conversation, he offered to give us a tour for ten dollars each.  We accepted.  We really enjoyed the tour and the opportunity to take many pictures.  Here is a picture of the owner at the bar:

After that, we went to the semi ghost towns of Monticello and Placita.  In Monticello, I think the neatest thing we saw were the burned ruins of a huge old school.

By now, morning was over and we had a three hour drive to get back up to Route 66/40.   Mid afternoon we finally got back up to the area west of Albuquerque where we wanted to be.  We headed towards our lodging in Grants, New Mexico, stopping along the way to explore ghost areas including these
abandonments in Laguna and Parage (or Parage), New Mexico.  s
 
In  the town of San Fidel, we found a geocache. San Fidel really appears to be a ghosts town, but it still has a post office. It was getting dark by that time, so we headed to Grants and our lodging at THE SANDS HOTEL.  We had supper at a chinese buffet in Grants.