Day 4 – Saturday, June 6, 2015

At 9:00 we headed to Fort Bayard. This Fort, whose landmarks were the “Kneeling Nun” and “Twin Sisters” rock formations, was begun in 1866. It was primarily a Buffalo Soldier fort for fighting the Indian Wars.  Many of the soldiers came from Louisiana as freed slaves to join the 125^th Infantry, Company B. Officers were freed House servants who could read and write. After the Spanish American War, many soldiers came back from Cuba with tuberculosis. Due to its excellent climate, Fort Bayard became an Army Hospital, not just for tuberculosis. After going through many changes of management, the Fort was handed over to the State Medical Dept., who closed it in November 2010. In 1976 the old Fort Cemetery became a National Cemetery for the burial of veterans.  The Commander’s quarters are now the headquarters for the “Save Fort Bayard Historical Society”. In July 2015, the city of Centre will take over the management of the old fort. After the tour was over, we headed back to Silver City for an afternoon of visiting the shops and restaurants.

Fort Bayard

The ladies on the Palace staircase before heading to Ft. Bayard: Laura, Robbi, Marilyn, Patti, Sharon, Lorna, Betty, Fran, Susan On the road again! Willan, Mac Gugan, Duncan cars at Ft. Bayard Commander’s House – now a museum Peterson’s 1927 Touring, Larry’s 1921 Speedster, Duncan’s 1920 Touring, Schroeder’s 1925 Touring and Ross’ 1926 Roadster parked in front of Museum/Commander’s Unit Parlor in the Museum Dining room in the museum Officers’ quarters two units per house Museum gift shop Uniform worn by Buffalo Soldiers Lorna, Laura, Larry, Pat, Tony, Fran, Sharon, Patti, Dave F, Betty, Susan, Bob, Vern W, Dave M, Marilyn, Kirk, Ann, Mark D, Tom Mac, Paul, Michael, Robbi

At 5:30 PM most of the group walked the two blocks to Vicki’s for our banquet.  Even though we had been wearing vintage clothes for a couple of days, we were still surprised by some of the vintage costumes at the banquet! The party was delightful and the food was great! Larry Azevedo announced that Michael Housholder receives not one but two “reverse chicken awards” for getting both his and his mom’s cars (she lost low band) back to town. He then announced that Dave Merewether was the proud recipient of this year’s Rubber Chicken Award, and Dave is going to teach us how not to back a car off a trailer!

All Dressed up for the Banquet

Dave Ferro and Laura Kammerer Larry and Lorna Azevedo Dave and Ann Merewether Paul and Marilyn Duncan Tom and Cathy Miles Kirk and Susan Peterson Sharon and Mark Dominguez Vern and Pat Willan On their way back from Mexico, Stan and Janice Gauna stopped to attend the banquet with us Michael and Betty Housholder Bob and Robbi Ross Tom Mac Gugan Fran Gurule Tom M, Mark D, Vern W, Paul, Michael, Stan, Kirk, Tom Mac, Larry, Bob, Dave M

Day 5 – Sunday, June 7, 2015

Alas, the tour was over and we had to leave Silver City, remembering the great fun we had being with our Tin Lizzie Family. After many miles of rolling hills and steep downgrades, we were back in modern cars and ready to hit the super slab of I-25 via US180. We all enjoyed ourselves and our tour participants expressed their appreciation at the wonderful planning by our senior club members: Larry and Lorna Azevedo and Kirk and Susan Peterson.

Photographers were: Larry Azevedo, Fran Gurule, Ann Merewether, Bob Ross, Sharon Dominguez, Story by Robbi Ross, and Edited by Mark Wing.

Click on the links (below) for the other days of the Silver City Tour

Day 1 – Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Day 2 – Thursday, June 4, 2015
Day 3  – Friday, June 5, 2015
Day 4 & 5  – Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7, 2015