How Did You End Up Here ?
This is a question that I’ve answered countless times over the past eighteen and a half years. I suspect that many of us have answered the same question when talking to visitors to Hillsboro. My answer is simply; ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’. The truth is somewhat more complicated of course and involves road trips, a misspent youth which stretched long past the age of majority, chance and happenstance.
The story begins in the cold winter nights of Winnipeg, Manitoba as Doreen and I whiled away our evenings listening to the Jets lose hockey games and planning our summer vacations. In 1994 it started with a map of the US, a pencil and a string.
Having committed to visit my brother in St. Joseph Missouri to celebrate the Fourth of July, we knew that we would have to include more real estate in the trip to take up the allotted time. So estimating that we could venture seven to eight hundred miles further and still make it back in time, we took the string and tied it to the pencil and scribed a seven hundred fifty mile radius around St. Jo’s to see if anything struck our fancy as a destination. We hit on New Mexico which Doreen had never visited.
Growing up in Central Texas, my family had vacationed in Ruidoso, New Mexico in the heat of the summer. Just another reason among many, I suppose that New Mexicans are leery and suspicious of Texicans. Putting that and subsequent trips I made during my misspent youth aside and with vague reassurances to Doreen; planning commenced.
In the pre-Internet days (children) travel planning consisted of trips to the local library and book store for resources, options and suggestions. On one such trip I snagged a thin book titled ‘Off the Beaten Path New Mexico’. It featured non Albuquerque and Santa Fe New Mexico destinations including fatefully, the Hillsboro General Store.
The subsequent trip was a great success. We came in through the NE corner of the state followed old Rte. 66 for a while and then barreled down the north south corridor that is I-25 finally arriving in Hillsboro for breakfast. The food was great; the service was reluctant and on we went to Silver City, Gallup, Chaco Canyon, Santa Fe and home to Winnipeg. Over the next two years, we gave no more thought to New Mexico, Hillsboro or the General Store.
In 1994 we were planning another trip into the Southwest combining touring, family visits and options for relocation. Tired of winter and our white collar sweat shop jobs we were looking for something new - something different. We had already started a small catering outfit featuring the barbecue favorites I had loved growing up in Central Texas. I was restless.
Heading south toward Houston, Doreen turned to me and fatefully asked: ‘Have you set up appointments with your contacts In Texas?’ I turned to her and fatefully asked: ‘Not yet, why don’t we do something really different like by the Hillsboro General Store and really change our lives?’ To which she responded: It’s not for sale. Set up the appointments.
After family time in Houston, several days in the Big Bend and a stop in Lincoln we were reorganizing ourselves in Las Cruces before a Labor Day visit to the Hatch Chile Festival before turning north for home. While Doreen did laundry I engaged in my favorite traveling pastime: reading the local classified ads. Buried among the garage sales was a cryptic ad suggesting that in Hillsboro a café in a historic adobe building was indeed for sale. Our fate was sealed.
That’s how we ended up here, but now we are ready to ease into retirement. If you want to add your story to the rich history of the Cafe please contact us for an information package. Included is the cafe business and historic adobe General Store, antiques and restaurant equipment, an immaculate 3 bedroom home and several outbuildings. You can email us at hillbro@windstream.net.
The story begins in the cold winter nights of Winnipeg, Manitoba as Doreen and I whiled away our evenings listening to the Jets lose hockey games and planning our summer vacations. In 1994 it started with a map of the US, a pencil and a string.
Having committed to visit my brother in St. Joseph Missouri to celebrate the Fourth of July, we knew that we would have to include more real estate in the trip to take up the allotted time. So estimating that we could venture seven to eight hundred miles further and still make it back in time, we took the string and tied it to the pencil and scribed a seven hundred fifty mile radius around St. Jo’s to see if anything struck our fancy as a destination. We hit on New Mexico which Doreen had never visited.
Growing up in Central Texas, my family had vacationed in Ruidoso, New Mexico in the heat of the summer. Just another reason among many, I suppose that New Mexicans are leery and suspicious of Texicans. Putting that and subsequent trips I made during my misspent youth aside and with vague reassurances to Doreen; planning commenced.
In the pre-Internet days (children) travel planning consisted of trips to the local library and book store for resources, options and suggestions. On one such trip I snagged a thin book titled ‘Off the Beaten Path New Mexico’. It featured non Albuquerque and Santa Fe New Mexico destinations including fatefully, the Hillsboro General Store.
The subsequent trip was a great success. We came in through the NE corner of the state followed old Rte. 66 for a while and then barreled down the north south corridor that is I-25 finally arriving in Hillsboro for breakfast. The food was great; the service was reluctant and on we went to Silver City, Gallup, Chaco Canyon, Santa Fe and home to Winnipeg. Over the next two years, we gave no more thought to New Mexico, Hillsboro or the General Store.
In 1994 we were planning another trip into the Southwest combining touring, family visits and options for relocation. Tired of winter and our white collar sweat shop jobs we were looking for something new - something different. We had already started a small catering outfit featuring the barbecue favorites I had loved growing up in Central Texas. I was restless.
Heading south toward Houston, Doreen turned to me and fatefully asked: ‘Have you set up appointments with your contacts In Texas?’ I turned to her and fatefully asked: ‘Not yet, why don’t we do something really different like by the Hillsboro General Store and really change our lives?’ To which she responded: It’s not for sale. Set up the appointments.
After family time in Houston, several days in the Big Bend and a stop in Lincoln we were reorganizing ourselves in Las Cruces before a Labor Day visit to the Hatch Chile Festival before turning north for home. While Doreen did laundry I engaged in my favorite traveling pastime: reading the local classified ads. Buried among the garage sales was a cryptic ad suggesting that in Hillsboro a café in a historic adobe building was indeed for sale. Our fate was sealed.
That’s how we ended up here, but now we are ready to ease into retirement. If you want to add your story to the rich history of the Cafe please contact us for an information package. Included is the cafe business and historic adobe General Store, antiques and restaurant equipment, an immaculate 3 bedroom home and several outbuildings. You can email us at hillbro@windstream.net.
