Our last U.S. home

Nearly six months after determining that Silver City, New Mexico was the one place in the U.S. where we had a real chance to create a long-term U.S. home we are finally here!

Silver is a remote and quirky place with great natural beauty and some amazing people. It's in the mountains in SW New Mexico, nestled right at the foot of the 3.3 million acre Gila National Forest. Culturally and politically it's kind of a mini Santa Fe, with art galleries and strong progressive political and spiritual communities against a background of more conservative ranching and mining cultures.

The weather is about as good as it gets in the lower 48, assuming you can't afford Santa Barbara or San Louis Obispo (places we can't even afford to visit). "Four gentle seasons" says the Chamber of Commerce, and it's true: the forested hills and nearly 6000 foot altitude mean dry summer highs in the 80's and 90's with 50's and 60's at night and mild winters with less than a foot of snow and January highs in the 50's. The hiking and biking are unbelievably good,  putting even Boulder, Colorado, where we've lived most of our married lives, totally to shame.

I have a very good chance to open a small scale coffee roasting business here, Erin will certainly find her niche doing massage, and there are lots of local activities we're eager to jump into, from supporting the wonderful local food co-op (established 1974) to the vibrant Mimbres Arts Council, the Tour of the Gila bike race and the yoga and dharma communities, which are strong and incredibly diverse for a town of less than 10,000.

Here are some photos of our house and town taken today:

view northwest from our house

our late model mobile on its own land. we aspire to be "high class trailer trash"

the zocalo or town square, complete with tortilleria and bakery

the food co-op and Nancy's, one of a half dozen places serving the local staples 
of green and red chile

window display at Guadalupe's. The Dipa Ma book (the most inspiring bio you'll ever read) greeting us on our arrival confirmed "we are home"

our used '07 Toyota Yaris. We've looked for this bumper sticker for years. 

I said "last U.S. home" in the caption for a several reasons. One is, we've been haunted by this place since we lived here in '05 and always wanted to come back. Another is that we are so, so done with moving - beyond weary, and really want to put down roots and just be. Lastly, there's a definite element of hedging our bets because we are all-too-aware that further economic implosion and/or health care and insurance costs could very well drive us back to full-time life in Mexico at some point, and when and if it does there'll be no coming back. That's not a prospect that exactly scares us - we love Mexico and our friends there - but we so want to make a go of it here if we possibly can. 

Silver's remoteness is part of its charm, but also makes getting here quite a challenge. We're three hours from Tucson and the same from El Paso. There are a couple of daily puddle jumper flights from Silver to Albuquerque (a half hour flight vs. a 5 hour drive). On the other hand, once you're here the place is quite self-sufficient (though one of our local friends, in light of the many Trader Joe's and Costco runs that occur, sums things up by saying "everything you need is in Silver, but everything you want is in Tucson"). We have a guest/shrine room with a comfy bed and welcome visitors!