We left Las Cruces at about ten knowing that a storm was coming into Cloudcroft, and that we'd have to make it over the hill, the two hours or so back to our home in Sixteen Springs. It took us about half an hour to get through Alsamo, needing a few things and getting delayed a little. As we got into Cloudcroft, around noon, it was already snowing though the roads weren't dangerous yet really.
But a wild thing was happening: we read about a bomb threat on the community (facebook) site, and through personal communication picked up rumors of actual detonation. We could hardly imagine. But when we got up to Cloudcroft, and the intersection of 130 there at the old ski motel, we could see that the police had blocked off the whole western side of Burro.
We'd be the first to say that these were rumors - that attached the bomb threat to the Western, that they had only closed that half of Burro, and god forbid, something had detonated. There was a media lockdown: people were asked not even to ask about it on the community site, and the village promised to tell the public whatever they knew as soon as possible. Now in a small town like this everyone is going to be asking, as most of us are just sitting around in the vacation week between the holidays. But these "asking" posts were being deleted. Someone pointed out, this afternoon (it is now almost 4 30) that the highway was closed, but this appears to be because of the weather. In other words, there's a convergence of actual news and weather news.
Now having the highway closed due to fast-falling snow is not especially unusual, as it happens sometimes several times in a single year. The plows and salt-trucks run as fast as they can, and still can't keep up with it, and cliffs are steep on both sides of the road, and in general it's better to be safe when cars are literally sliding all over the place.
But a bomb threat, that's another story. If it was associated with the Western, we immediately picture a disgruntled customer making a surly comment. But actually detonating it? That kind of moves it to another level. Maybe he was actually spurned by a waitress, or had food that not only didn't taste good, but also made him sick. And hey, I'm assuming he's a man, but maybe not. Maybe he/she was the waitress herself.
So speculation is rampant, needless to say. After all, there are only about a thousand of us, so the first question is, who would do such a thing? But then, most of us know at least half a dozen who could fit the bill. And then, as to the high level of secrecy, and the actual suppression of inquiries about it, one can only say, must be something big, or they wouldn't bother.
Some people compare it to Sunspot. As in, they had a secret operation up there to bring in a helicopter and arrest some guy who was messing with a computer. Truth is, what's rampant is distrust of secret operations that they don't tell anyone about until they are all over. But, if you think of it, there are a lot of good reasons they might not want everyone to know what they're up to, until they're done.
I have a volunteer fire radio that I could turn on, if I were really curious about all the details. I've been leaving it off, not only because it's not fire season, but also, because I've become too busy shuttling people around, in bad weather, on bad roads, in bad cars. When I got home from Cruces, I just wanted to relax, and I sat back and watched the snow for a while, and didn't even turn the radio on. Sure, I could know more than I do. But I'm not really that curious. Something like this bomb deal, I'll find out more than I need to know, soon enough. What else is there to do? "In a small town, there isn't much to see, but what you hear makes up for it." My reading of that is, because there are so few of us, everyone will have a unique spin on it, and know about it from some angle that makes a good story. I just saw it from the edge, going through town. We made it up 82 before the road closed; we saw them blocking off the center of town; we made it home before the snow started. That's already more excitement than I really need for a day.
