It's a good thing we weren't in a hurry to go anywhere early this morning because it would have taken us awhile to scrape the heavy frost & ice off the windshield. It was a cold night & it sure took it's time to warm up!! A high thin cloud cover rolled in early & remained for the rest of the day.A couple of miles east of us is the historic & still partially functioning Fort Bayard with the adjoining Fort Bayard National Cemetery. It was a territorial post dating back to 1863. "Buffalo Soldiers" protected miners & settlers against Apache raids. In later years it held German prisoners of war & became the center for the fight against tuberculosis. To-day it is a waning veteran's treatment center for geriatric & substance abuse patients. The facilities are old, crumbling & out dated now. The majority of buildings are dilapidated & empty. Only recently, 250 patients were moved out to another facility. Work is currently underway nearby to build a whole new living & hospital complex & we saw bulldozers & earthmovers at work preparing the ground work for the new facility. What will become of Fort Bayard itself is anybody's guess. Unless the Government steps in to restore & preserve it, the buildings will crumble to dust just as the old soldiers who were once the life blood of the old & nearly forgotten army post of the mid 1800's.
FORT BAYARDhttp://www.zianet.com/whisperingcanyon/fort_bayard.html
THE BUFFALO SOLDIERShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Soldiers
We first drove through the cemetery stopping in a few places for pictures. The Buffalo Soldiers graves are scattered amongst all the other stones marking America's veterans from all the wars & conflicts. They can be hard to find. It's a peaceful place ringed with far away hills & mountains. The very hills the Apache Indians came down from to do battle with the miners, townspeople, & soldiers. To-day, only the sound of a single raven could be heard as it circled & dipped amongst the tombstones. 
FORT BAYARD NATIONAL CEMETERYhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bayard,_New_Mexico
A grocery stop at Wal-Mart on our way back & that was about if for another day in the life & times of......... The Bayfield Bunch:))
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
