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Saturday, April 4, 2026 at 7:10 AM

Captain’s Log – Helen Mirren Makes Her Way to Sante Fe

Captain’s Log – Helen Mirren Makes Her Way to Sante Fe
Image created by Ernest Rand.

I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name. Funny how songs get stuck in your head, and they’re situational. There’s a song for every scene in life, isn’t there?

Actually, the horse has a name – it’s Helen, like the actress Helen Mirren, but she’s really a Ford pickup, and we crossed Arizona and New Mexico yesterday. What beautiful country. We live in an amazing land. 

It’s been really fun this summer to see the rural parts of New York, the valleys and rivers of Pennsylvania, and the rural parts of West Virginia, all green and lush and rich. And then the stark, vast stretches of southern Nevada, the mountains of Northern Arizona, and that enchanted wasteland that just takes your breath away across New Mexico. 

I prefer the desert. 

I think as I cross it what would it be like to find a spot in the middle of nowhere and stay there for a couple of days in the silence. What the sky would look like at night?

No matter where I am, the thought always comes of what it must have looked like 300 or 1,000 years before we got here. Naked and peopleless. The coasts of California always bring this thought – wouldn’t that have been something to see? 

Today I will be stuck in a conference room in a hotel in Sante Fe, with all that beauty outside tempting me. But, Friday I head back with no work to worry about, and the cell phones will be in the back seat. Or maybe out the window. There will be detours and stops at tacky tourist traps and undivided attention to my return adventure. 

So while I head downstairs to federal government training, flip charts and all, we’ll still be right here…

…Keeping you Posted.

Rach

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Comment author: BonnieComment text: Good Luck to all of you. I mean this sincerely. My family fought the Navy for years. My parents owned Horse Creek (Pat and Linda Dempsey). They strung them along for years until they had no financial choice but to accept and get out. My Dad even hauled water for the Snow ranch trying to stay afloat. May God bless you all. I truly pray it works out for you.Comment publication date: 3/28/26, 9:22 PMComment source: Local Rancher Says Navy Land Expansion is Devastating His Family RanchComment author: Lynn JohnsonComment text: I remember your mother well; she was a lovely and kind woman. I loved hanging out at your home on Sheckler Road where she was always warm and welcoming.Comment publication date: 3/27/26, 7:12 PMComment source: June Irene Manhire (Pendarvis), née DriggsComment author: EvaComment text: Grandpa, I find myself wondering about you every so often. I see glimpses of your face in the years worn onto my dad. It makes me feel more connected to you in some way. I remember the familiar kindness from you that I know in my dad. I would’ve really liked to have a good conversation. I only have a handful of memories with you, but you were loving, and you were kind. I wish I was able to say more. If I am someone to you, I hope I make you proud. Thank you Aunt for this sweet post.Comment publication date: 3/27/26, 12:11 AMComment source: Obituary -- Randolph Floris Banovich C Comment author: RBCComment text: The Navy should reimburse the market cost of replacing the grazing land they are taking. Period.Comment publication date: 3/26/26, 10:38 AMComment source: Local Rancher Says Navy Land Expansion is Devastating His Family Ranch
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