Seeing New Mexico

We got a late start today, but it was by design. We knew we would gain an hour by crossing the time zone from central to mountain  time. And, since we planned to stay in Albuqerque, NM tonight, it was any easy, 400 mile or so day.

We followed Highway 64 across the panhandle of Oklahoma, all the way to Springer, NM. The road was well tended, had no shoulders at all in places, and was sparsely traveled . (In two hundred miles one car passed us, and we went around one car, two trucks and a camper.) The average time between meeting one car until the next appeared was about 3 minutes.

We got lost in Las Vegas, NM trying to find a place to eat. We just wanted "fast food", but once again, with me at the wheel there was nothing fast about it. Paul said that traveling with me is always an adventure, and since he still feels pretty good (I am both delighted and surprised about that, he had a lousy winter) he said it without a trace of sarcasm.

We have had some pretty interesting trips. I once chose to take East Cesar Chavez through downtown Los Angeles to the 710. We were pretty much in awe of the bars and gates protecting all the businesses, etc. That was exciting.

Once we almost got stuck in a very muddy dirt road somewhere in the middle of Kansas. It was us and the cows, and we were far enough afield I don't think anyone would have stumbled across us any time soon. That was the only time I can remember washing the car twice in one day. We have  followed Route 66 (as best we could) from Springfield, MO to Gallup, NM, and driven the backroads of West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and Ohio. I do love the west, though. Whenever I see those wide open fields I long to get on a horse and find out what is over that next hill.

New Mexico is probably beautiful to those who have grown up here, or chosen to make this their home, but it's scruffy baroness does not call out to my soul. The featured colors are reddish brown, brown, and spots of dark green (lots of blue sky, though). Some of the hillsides reminded me a little of sausage pizza, with the tan base dotted here and there with dark, round bushes.  I'm not a fan of sausage pizza., and the desert colors do not resonate with me either. New Mexico is an interesting place to pass through, but I'm ready to move on.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring? I'm looking forward to it already.

Katherine