I'd never heard of Abo, Gran Quivira or Quarai when we visited New Mexico during a recent blustery May, and I wasn't inclined to make that lonesome detour up the 55 to Estancia Basin that lies east and southish of the Manzano Mountains.
Dark green and low on the horizon, the Manzanos form a welcome barrier separating broad grassy plains the color of sand, and juniper-studded mesas, from Albuquerque's urban dysfunction.
Leaving Billy the Kid's Lincoln County in the side-view mirror, we barreled north toward those mountains and the Turquoise Trail, but as things go in this life of mine, I succumbed to a bad case of curiosity that flares up now and then like that itchy red rash I picked up off a toilet seat at the Lonesome Steer Grill and Swill outside Truth or Consequentials.