girls gone west: day 7

The drive from Dallas to Santa Fe was the longest leg of the trip so Libby and I got an early start on Friday. We spent a lot of time on I-40 West – the flat, dry landscape offered little to distract us from the long drive.

 

Then Cuervo happened. We saw this sign and naturally, thought “Jose.” I Googled Cuervo, New Mexico expecting it to find some fabulous Jose Cuervo distillery, complete with tours and tequila tastings. 

 

 

Not quite. Cuervo is a legitimate ghost town – the more we read about it, the more we needed to see it for ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cuervo is certainly a ghost town. Once a small cattle ranching town destroyed by the construction of I-40, today Cuervo is eerily quiet. Once functioning pickup trucks are now just a pile of rust. The homes have deteriorated into nothing more than piles of rotting wood, broken bricks and shattered glass. It’s rumored that a few people still live in Cuervo – on the North side of town, but we didn’t run into anyone which was probably for the best. Cuervo was definitely the highlight of our 11+ hour drive to Santa Fe!