Huge earth mover tires at Texas Canyon (I-10)
Yes, those were the parameters today as we moved from Las Cruces NM to Amarillo TX. Route US 70 almost all the way. The day stayed warm all day except for coming through the pass at St. Augustine where the temperature dipped to 59 up in the mountains over 7,000 feet. The climb up from Las Cruces was slow and that began to slow the day down somewhat. Jim had figured 8 hours in the car , but with the mountains and the wildfires and the views of the White Sands National Monument as well as a 20 minute wrong turn in Roswell (we missed the turn for US 70), we arrived in Amarillo after 7:00 PM. That was the latest day yet, and we won’t do that again. It makes the day very long.
The wind was a plus and a minus factor today. It was minus when stopping for lunch , the wind took the cover off the propane tanks (large white cover) and actually lifted it off the tanks and flung it across the large picnic area. Ruth was quick enough to slow it down and we recovered it. I had a can of V-8 I was drinking and had set it in the doorway of the trailer. In the excitement I locked the trailer when we moved ahead and forgot about it. Thirty miles later I remembered it and went back to “wipe up the mess” It was still standing on the carpet, intact! YES!
Yes, those were the parameters today as we moved from Las Cruces NM to Amarillo TX. Route US 70 almost all the way. The day stayed warm all day except for coming through the pass at St. Augustine where the temperature dipped to 59 up in the mountains over 7,000 feet. The climb up from Las Cruces was slow and that began to slow the day down somewhat. Jim had figured 8 hours in the car , but with the mountains and the wildfires and the views of the White Sands National Monument as well as a 20 minute wrong turn in Roswell (we missed the turn for US 70), we arrived in Amarillo after 7:00 PM. That was the latest day yet, and we won’t do that again. It makes the day very long.
The wind was a plus and a minus factor today. It was minus when stopping for lunch , the wind took the cover off the propane tanks (large white cover) and actually lifted it off the tanks and flung it across the large picnic area. Ruth was quick enough to slow it down and we recovered it. I had a can of V-8 I was drinking and had set it in the doorway of the trailer. In the excitement I locked the trailer when we moved ahead and forgot about it. Thirty miles later I remembered it and went back to “wipe up the mess” It was still standing on the carpet, intact! YES!
There was also a wildfire north of Roswell which was started by a car fire (completely demolished ) and was sweeping across the prairie with the 45 m[ph wind. The fire trucks were trying to stay ahead of it , but it looked to no avail.
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The plus side of the winds was the tailwind for the trailer. We actually got 14 mph with the trailer in tow with two tanks full. At one point I had driven 87 miles and the gauge didn’t come off of full!
Riodoso Downs is in Riodoso high in the mountains, and we passed the race track and huge facility there. It is the Quarter Horse capital opf North America. Everything there is geared to that racing facility. This is the "slow " season, but it gets going during Memorial Day weekend and finishes on Labor day. It is rigt across the street from "Billy The Kid" Casino. 
The view of Mescalero Valley from St.Augustine Pass
The view of Mescalero Valley from St.Augustine Pass
The town of Roswell (45,000) has many shops referring to the UFO’s and other alien activities. Right across from the Space Museum and UFO Center, there were; “Sidewalk Cover Up Café”, “Not of This World”, “UFO and Alien Stuff Shop”, “ The Landings” and others we didn’t see. The controversial landing/crash was in July of 1947. See this site for more onfo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident#The_Truth_about_the_UFO_Crash_at_Roswell_.281994.29 
Off to the west of Roswell in the White Sands area there are 100’s of wind generators in the distance There are five main sites in NE NM, the one at Clayton County being the largest Excel Energy runs some of them. Portales has a very large bio Energy plant and the smell is unique to those sources. Both cotton and peanuts are
irrigation. The large transport station at Clovis is one of the largest
White Sands National Monument
in the west. Many trains run to the feeder lots to bring in and pick up cattle by the 10,000’s. In a 20 mile stretch north of Clovis there were 5 trains loaded with both cattle and much miscellaneous materials for the SW. Hereford is known as (of course) the Hereford Cattle Capital of the World.
Sure we stopped at a DQ and Ruth had the usual. Remember what it is? Jim had a chocolate shake.
It was a terrific day with lots of variety in people, topography, roads, elevation and excitement. Hope yours was as good.—Love, Jim and Ruth
Sure we stopped at a DQ and Ruth had the usual. Remember what it is? Jim had a chocolate shake.
It was a terrific day with lots of variety in people, topography, roads, elevation and excitement. Hope yours was as good.—Love, Jim and Ruth
2 comments:
hi, so no space aliens or UFOs in Roswell, eh? Oh well.... The wildfires and the wind must be a nighmare for the fire fighters. Keep looking for UFOs -- they may have a new landing spot in the SW.... happy trails, pat and richard
The only way the fire fighters could get near the fire was to take rural roads and cattle roads in from the highway, By the time they got near it, it would have jumped another 1/2mile ahead.
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