Photo Essay by RYSZARD WASILEWSKI
On Sunday, the sleepy village of Jemez Springs awoke to big city gridlock, as hundreds of vehicles streamed north on N.M. 4 in a giant car rally as the Racing Southwest’s annual Jemez Cruise arrived in town.
As if in sharp riposte to the previous day’s Earth Day celebrations, the air was filled with the roar of engines and plentiful clouds of greenhouse gasses rising to the murky sky.
The weather held briefly, but soon deteriorated, first with waves of hail and sleet, then settling into snow with strong gusts of cold wind. This added to the transformation of the unassuming village main street into an alien seeming, throbbing metropolis. The crowds emerging from their vehicles appeared unaffected, even invigorated by the conditions, as they thronged up and down the main drag.