Yes, we are still moving across the country, or should I say blowing across! We finally departed Texas...........whew, that's a huge state! From the time we left Tioga, TX, and until we arrived in the mountains above the Phoenix area, we were fighting the winds. Our path took us up in the highlands of New Mexico, and parts of Arizona. At some points we were at elevations of seven and eight thousand plus feet.
The country side was full of huge cattle ranches, free roaming cattle and very small communities dotting the roadside along the way. One of our stops was to visit the burial site of "Billy the Kid", we got there, and the museum was closed, but we decided to spend the night, and see if they were open the next day. That area also had a lot of Indian history, as well. That evening, we were visited by a passing herd of deer on their way to feed in the nearby crop field. In the morning, the same herd came back by as we were enjoying our breakfast.
On another day, we ended our drive for the day, in a Texas state park. We chose to park in the part of the campground that was set up for "horse camping". We met a nice couple while there, and were awoken in the morning to the sound of the horses talking to each other, or maybe they were just telling their owners they wanted their breakfast..........either way, it was a very pleasant sound first thing in the day.
In what seemed like endless miles of open flat spaces, we stopped at a cute little diner for coffee, "Penny's Diner" in one town, then for some terrific apple pie in Pietown, NM. Besides the cattle, we were seeing antelope, and prairie dogs. One of our overnite stops was in Socorro, NM. My GPS told us there was a local brew pub just down the street from us, so we walked over to check it out. The brews were tasty, so we decided to have our dinner there that nite. Our bartender was a college student, working to pay his way.
The next day we visited a town called Magdalena as we started up into the highlands. We saw another cute little eatery, and stopped to grab a bite. As we walked in, a whole table of cowboys (all wearing hats) turned to see us enter. They probably met there every morning to discuss the days chores, and the weather. It was a friendly place and we learned a little about the town from the waitress.
Back on the road again, we visited one of the places we had wanted to see for some time, it was the NRAO VLA Telescope (National Radio Astronomy Observatory- Very Large Array) You would recognize it as the back drop for several movies over the years, one movie being "Contact", with Jodie Foster. The VLA is recognized, and utilized by scientists and astronomers from around the world. It was pretty awesome to see. And, as a point of interest, much of our route (Hwy 60) was the Hashknife Pony Express Route, from the early postal service.
We came off the road for a few days, and spent a much looked forward to visit with my brother Tom, and his wife, Sylvia. Unfortunatly, we don't get to see each other often, but when we do, we try make the most of it!
Our next leg will be taking us to Aunt Dot's house. Can't wait to spend time with her, too! I apologize for the long space between entries here on my blog, but so much of milage through west Texas, New Mexico and Arizona were rather isolated, and thus "signal-less". It's not easy to find wi-fi in some of those little communities.
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| Socorro Springs Brew Pub |
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| Clop, Clop, Clop...... |
Horse Camping
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| Dinner Time |
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| Billy the Kid burial site |
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| Smile |
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| Lone Prairie |
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| NRAO-VLA |
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| The Array |
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| Socorro Springs Brew Pub |
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| Cheers |
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| Lone Prairie |
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| Long lost relative? |
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| NRAO VLA |
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| Shhhh, I'm listening...... |
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| One of three arms of array.....total of 27 dishes. |
