Main Street

I took this photo around noon today, waiting for the light on the main street at the center of what may actually be the downtown part of this little town.  "Downtown" is basically a scattering of restaurants surviving amidst old-school shopfronts, most of them boarded up.

The new growth is at the edge of town where the Walmart and Kmart are. Yes, there's McDonalds, Sonic, Subway, Wendy's, Walgreens, a couple of dollar stores, and a scattering of motels that cater to rock (and other types of) hunters There's the golf course and the movie theater, which I mentioned in earlier posts. (They're not completely uncivilized 'round these parts.)

This was once a railroad town so there is literally a "wrong side of the tracks" here, though I haven't been over there yet. I think they might have a Denny's.

It's only 33 or so miles to Mexico, so you see a lot of old-school Mennonites around town. (You thought I was going to say something else, didn't you?) Yes, they drive in to shop at Walmart, farmer-ish looking men and their quiet, plain wives in long, dark dresses and head coverings.  Also seen at Walmart, my favorite cashier, a very large blowsy transvestite--think John Lithgow in The World According to Garp. (They're not completely uncivilized 'round these parts, you know.)

The town has it's own newspaper, The Deming Headlight, published Monday through Friday. It's about eight pages, 1/3 news and weather, 1/3 comics and horoscopes, 1/3 obituaries and want ads--the perfect balance for a newspaper. The New York Times could learn something from The Deming Headlight.