oruacat2
08-22-2008, 01:51 PM
Alright, I'm going out on a limb here with this one, but what the hell. I tell my friends this story, and often times I don't think they believe it, or they think I was drunk and delirious, or whatever....
The first year that I roadtripped Out West was 1994 or 1995, I forget exactly, but I've always argued that as frought with inconveniences as it is, driving is the way to go because the journey is often far more exciting than the destination itself. Never did that adage prove more true than on that first trip.
Somewhere around Sante Fe - I think we were heading north towards Taos, we began to encounter a series of handmade signs placed at great intervals alongside the road (much like the oldschool Burma Shave signs). The further we drove, the more frequent the signs. They were all cryptic in nature, but the one that really stood-out simply extolled travelers to "come get a bone of yer' own!" lol Anyhow, eventually we stumbled upon this place called, simply-but-accurately, Big Pile O' Bones. I'm crappin' you negative, it was literally a junkyard for dead, rotting animal carcasses, with a macabre arts-and-crafts business on the side.
The whole operation was divided into thirds: on one side was a field littered with carcasses all in various stages of decay: some still bloody with flies buzzing about, others just sun-bleached bones, and every step in-between. It was disgusting. Buzzards, maggots, wild and tame dogs - you name it - all working their decomposing magic. What a stench.
The center of the property was essentially a workshop where local craftsman/artists used those animal parts to fashion products-for-sale. Native American shields and weapons made of animal hides, horns, teeth and claws. A shaman rattle made of turtle shell. Real sinew-and-bone bows and feather-fletched arrows - even cheesy "tourist trap" crap like walking-canes made of bull penis, etc. You could actually mingle amongst the craftsmen and watch them work - morbid, but pretty cool. Oh, and still, underneath it all, that stench.
The final piece of the property was the store where all these finished products were sold.
This is where my pot-smoking buddy bought that peace pipe that I've mentioned in other threads over the years - the one with the coyote skull grinning back from the business-end. While the process itself was nauseating, the final products were mostly pretty cool.
Anyhow, other than my two buddies who were with me, I can't find anyone who remembers this place. So help me out, all you Sante Fe fans and fellow travelers - was it all just a horrible dream? A macabre nightmare? A figment of our imagination?
KD
The first year that I roadtripped Out West was 1994 or 1995, I forget exactly, but I've always argued that as frought with inconveniences as it is, driving is the way to go because the journey is often far more exciting than the destination itself. Never did that adage prove more true than on that first trip.
Somewhere around Sante Fe - I think we were heading north towards Taos, we began to encounter a series of handmade signs placed at great intervals alongside the road (much like the oldschool Burma Shave signs). The further we drove, the more frequent the signs. They were all cryptic in nature, but the one that really stood-out simply extolled travelers to "come get a bone of yer' own!" lol Anyhow, eventually we stumbled upon this place called, simply-but-accurately, Big Pile O' Bones. I'm crappin' you negative, it was literally a junkyard for dead, rotting animal carcasses, with a macabre arts-and-crafts business on the side.
The whole operation was divided into thirds: on one side was a field littered with carcasses all in various stages of decay: some still bloody with flies buzzing about, others just sun-bleached bones, and every step in-between. It was disgusting. Buzzards, maggots, wild and tame dogs - you name it - all working their decomposing magic. What a stench.
The center of the property was essentially a workshop where local craftsman/artists used those animal parts to fashion products-for-sale. Native American shields and weapons made of animal hides, horns, teeth and claws. A shaman rattle made of turtle shell. Real sinew-and-bone bows and feather-fletched arrows - even cheesy "tourist trap" crap like walking-canes made of bull penis, etc. You could actually mingle amongst the craftsmen and watch them work - morbid, but pretty cool. Oh, and still, underneath it all, that stench.
The final piece of the property was the store where all these finished products were sold.
This is where my pot-smoking buddy bought that peace pipe that I've mentioned in other threads over the years - the one with the coyote skull grinning back from the business-end. While the process itself was nauseating, the final products were mostly pretty cool.
Anyhow, other than my two buddies who were with me, I can't find anyone who remembers this place. So help me out, all you Sante Fe fans and fellow travelers - was it all just a horrible dream? A macabre nightmare? A figment of our imagination?
KD
