left home today determined to take a look at the triangle house, a ramshackle little place about halfway down the steep hill we use to get groceries down in the valley. the hill is a mile down, though the whole ride is about twelve miles, from 9000 feet to about 3500 feet, and the road snakes down the mountainside taking narrow turns, some of which have no rails, and some of which occasionally give way causing great stress and tremulation. rocks fall on it. there is construction on it. it's heavily patrolled, with most of it being safety corridor (double fines) and some of it construction zone (double fines again). so the stakes are high, and i try to go the speed limit. more so, since it's occasionally frozen and slippery.

so today i'm careening down this hill and a guy flashes his lights at me on the way up. watch out for baker, i thought, as baker the patrolman is often on this hill. i slowed way down and prepared to turn into the triangle house, and there he was, tucked back in the bushes near the house, checking out speeders.

having pulled in, i couldn't very easily pull back out, so i got out of the car, and said to him (his window was open), i was hoping to poke around this house, if you don't mind. and i did. it had issues, but i didn't want to hang around, especially, him watching me and all, and also, my car blocking his easy access to some degree. so i said, it has some issues, and he agreed again, and i left, and went on my merry way down the hill.

he's often around, in one of many pullovers on the hill. i assume it's the legendary baker, who has hauled in more traffic fines than any patrolman in new mexico, from what i've heard. but in fact i don't know baker from anyone, so i'm not even sure about what i'm reporting here. i think that was the guy, though, as it looks like the same one i usually see. he was nice enough to me.

so one of the house's issues is that he uses it to pull over speeders. but we actually like it that he's there, because these people that fly up and down the hill are a hazard to all of us. we talk about trying to remain focused on the steep hill; i'm on it twice a day, it's hazardous, and it's hard to stay under the speed limit. it's hard even to stay between the lines. focus focus!

there are ancient caves on both sides of the road. there's a huge wide tularosa valley, at one point, where the sun lands on the organ mountains way out there, or the rising sun behind the sacramentos glows on them. it's hard not to at least look at some of the scenery, winding little roads up into the mountains, for example, or the caves off in the hills.

down in the valley, it's twenty degrees warmer than here. not much drama, in terms of the roads themselves. people hear you're from the mountains, and they're kind of in awe of it. they have fallen into the habit, alas, of not going up too often. it's just too crazy.