The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-04-08

EDITORS NOIE-IhtS rowing reporter
for The Times goes where he pleases.
when he pleases, in search of odd stories
about this and that.
MONTEREY. Mexico, April g.
WI Most people who drive to
Mexico in future months and years
will be in hurry. Fortunately. I
am not So I came only as far as
Monterey on the first day toward
Mexico City.
Monterrey is only AS miles from
Texas, and the road is good. left
Nuevo Laredo at 9:10 a. m, drove
slowly, stopped an hour for lunch,
and was here at 2:20. Here's what
the trip was like:
You drive straight south through
Nuevo Lerado. You're out of town
in five minutes. You haven't gone
five miles before you pass a herd of.
goats.
A few miles farther the road
straightens out and streams away
over a scrubby desert for what they
say is the longest absolutely straight
miles without kink or bend.
You're conscious of being in a
foreign land, although physically it
differs little from southwest Texas.
The country is slightly rolling. the
ground is gray and rocky, and is
covered with rather thick growth
of bush, about shoulder high, as
tonishingly green.
YOU meet quite few cars,
i Mexican and American. On the
days drive you pass 20 or 80 gangs
of men working on the road-resur-
facing, or digging along the edges.
Many of the men wear no shirts,
for it's hot. Some have red bandanas
around their heads. They seem to
be working harder than American
road gangs.
A few miles out of Laredo strong
wind came up from the west.
After a while it brought the dust
Gradually the whole sky filled with
yellow-gray sand. BY noon the sun
began to fade, and by o'clock there
was no sun, only dust in the sky. 1t
was in your eyes, your hair, your
mouth. You could see only mile
or two.
The road to Monterrey is not new.
1t has been travelled for many years.
OF the las miles, half a dozen
stretches are being worked on. This
is covered with loose rock, and 20
miles an hour is all you can do.
These rough stretches total about 20
miles. ~
THREE new bridges are being
l. built, but you circle them in
80 seconds. The rest of the road is
smooth macadam, and you could
do 10 if you wanted to.
1t is level, all except five or ten
miles through Mamulique pass.
about 40 miles from Monterrey This
is twisty, but not steep, and closely
resembles the approach to the Sky
line Drive in Virginia You take it
in high, at } miles an hour. You
can easily make Monterrey on one
tank of gas.
drove all day in my shirt sleeves,
and was comfortable.
During the day we met four men
riding horses along the road. They
looked like the pictures of Mexican.
bandits. All their belongings we're
strapped to their saddles, and they.
led two other horses. They wore
hi 10 -&,rs,a Ie,f
their chins. They had long
mustaches.
They waved as they passed. There
are no bandits on this highway.
WE say two rattlesnakes lying
w in the road, freshly killed.
One as big as my arm, which isn't
very big for an arm, but mighty big
for rattlesnake.
We met a gracious little boy in
overalls on back street in Sabinas
Hildalgo, who showed us his school
books The town is just bunch
of gray stone and adobe square
houses, covered with dust. You
wouldn't imagine anybody there
could read or write The boys book
was beautifully bound and print
ed 1t was a volume on botany, in
Spanish.
We saw tractors and yokes of
oxen, blowing in the same field.
We saw burros near Monterrey,
stacked SO high and 60 wide with
stickwood that their spindly legs
seemed about to break under the
loan. But they dog-trotted along,
with their heads down, looking not
at all unhappy.
MONTEREY is large city, the
1Vx metropolis of northern Mexico.
1t has been resort haven of trav-
elers from the States for many
years. 1t is picturesque, and very
beautifully placed, too. with saddle
hack mountains on three sides YOu