Doubling Up on the Llano Estacado

Bobs & blues on New Mexixo's Staked Plains

    When Cormac McCarthy wrote about riding across the Llano Estacado, or Staked Plains, he wrote about thirst, dust, the blazing sun, blood, horses and death. The prevailing theme was a lack of water and how far one had to go to find it. He failed to mention one of the few good reasons to venture onto the Staked Plains: quail. Blue quail and bobwhite quail and lots of them. Then again, guide Bob King wasn’t making water for quail coveys in the old days.
    You don’t travel down to Portales, New Mexico, unless you have a reason—a really good reason. It’s not like Santa Fe, with its old Spanish charm, or Taos, with its high peaks, bugling elk and great skiing. Portales is a long way from anything, and the flat sandy fields push cotton out of the ground and hide peanuts beneath them. The town itself is functional, spread out like a lot of Western farm towns where there’s plenty of land to waste, and it’s home to a new Holiday Inn Express; but it certainly is not read more »

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