Page 13 - Ninety Miles From Nowhere

The Long Way Back - Chapter 3
Magdalena
My father offered his car for my two middle brothers, Red and Van, to bring me back — such a simple solution compared to the way I originally came — but being an inveterate worrier, he changed his mind. His final decision was helped along by comments from the neighbors: “A young woman all alone in that big wilderness!” Also, I’m sure he felt withdrawal of his support would put an end to the whole matter. He didn’t know me very well!
Determined, I drove to Altus, a larger town twelve miles north of Elmer, our village, to see the bank president. I explained to him about the promise of a school and my father’s worry and refusal to cooperate, and asked to borrow one hundred dollars to enable me to make the return trip by train. I’ve never really understood why he unhesitatingly let me have the money, for he had never seen me before, I was only twenty-four years old, I was leaving the state to accept an uncertain job, and most important of all, I had absolutely no security — unless it was an honest face.
That return trip to New Mexico was a complete saga in itself. I left home on a Saturday and arrived at the Moore’s ranch the following Wednesday night. It took five days to travel less than six hundred miles. Fast cars and improved highways of today mean that same trip can be made in one day.
Dad relented enough to let Red and Van take me in his car across the state line to Quanah, Texas, to catch a train that did not go through Althus. I rode overnight to Amarillo, Texas, where I had to change to the Santa Fe line (Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe). I arrived Sunday morning and my next train left that night. That was a long, uncomfortable, boring day in Amarillo with no place to rest. I partially solved the problem by attending several movies which at least gave me a place to sit and cost only ten or fifteen cents. I was fiercely hoarding my precious hundred dollars. The Texas Blue Law was in effect then, a law which prohibited non-essential businesses from opening on Sunday, but the movie theaters were in full swing. The owners just paid the fines and went ahead with business as usual.
Late Sunday evening I boarded a Santa Fe train and arrived in Belen, New Mexico the following day. From there I took a short line Santa Fe train (which ran from Albuquerque to El Paso) from Belen to Socorro, a distance of forty miles, where I spent Monday night. The following day I rode the twenty-six miles to Magdalena on a spur line of the Santa Fe which went only from Socorro to Magdalena and back again. It was a mixed train with all freight cars