Wed, Jun 8, 2011

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Traveling the high plains deserts of southeast New Mexico and southwest Texas… well the road can be a bit monotonous.  As navigator I try to keep Charles informed.  For instance today I said, “Honey, we are going to have a curve; well in about 30 miles anyway.” – Donna Downey

The La Quinta in Hobbs was very nice and I had a few work related things to do so we were in no hurry to get started today.  Coffee in the room, got my work done, posted the prior day’s journal and photos and then headed downstairs in shifts to partake of the hot breakfast they offered.  Because we were back in the heat we didn’t want to leave the dogs in the Jeep for any length of time and we never leave them in the room without one of us. 

Once we got downstairs to the Jeep we found it was perfectly comfortable because it was in the shade of the motel.  Oh, well better safe than sorry with our two children.

Our only outing for the day would come just outside the small community of JAL, New Mexico. “The Trail Ahead” is a sculpture project conceived by a local artist named Brian Norwood to honor the ranching heritage of the area.  The town was named after a cattle brand used on the nearby Cowden Ranch.  The Cowden ranch started in 1882 when three brothers purchased 100 cattle with the JAL brand.  The ranch operated for twenty-five years and at its peak was running 40,000 head of cattle on over 300 sections of land.  The sculptures consist of seventeen metal silhouettes situated on a ridge outside JAL.  There are four mounted cowboys and thirteen cattle constructed out of ¼  inch steel with frames that extend six feet into the ground.  The tallest mounted cowboy is over 20 feet tall and 21 feet long.  The entire sculpture stretches more than 400 feet.  It was built with donations from the community and was dedicated in 2000.  It was a neat stop but I wish it had been a better time of day for photography as I could not really do the sculptures justice in the harsh bright light of midday.

Today would be a bit tedious and primarily a driving day.  This part of New Mexico and Texas can be very hot and the roads straight for long distances.  The heat would require us to ride with the windows up which we seldom enjoy.  The dogs like for the windows to be down as well and several times when we slowed a little Dodger would whine to let us know he wanted the windows down.  We put his window down and he got a big dose of the heat very quickly and laid down so the window went back up.  Nobody was happy with the heat.

Our only option for lunch was under the shed at the Sonic in Kermit, Texas.   The temperature had climbed steadily all morning and as we pulled into the Sonic it was 105 degrees.  Dry heat is more tolerable especially if you can get under a tree or in our case a shed roof.  Add a breeze and we were quite comfortable.

Then it got really hot!  As we drove deeper into Texas the temperature climbed steadily and the high for the afternoon was… drum roll… 111 degrees!  So it was windows up, air on, and very quick puppy stops for the rest of the day.  As we began to move into the west end of the hill country the temperature slowly began to decrease and at our destination of Brady, Texas it was a balmy 97 degrees. Hey, after 111, 97 is pretty mild. 

We got a very nice room at the Best Western in Brady and after unloading and feeding the dogs we were ready for supper.  Charles went just up the road to Hard Eight BBQ where we have eaten many times and picked up ribs and all the trimmings.  Since it had been too hot to have our daily picnic outside we settled for a picnic in the room.  We think the Hard Eight ribs are the best we have ever had so it was a wonderful ending to a long day.

We are full and well tonight and hope that y’all are too!

Peace, Hope  & Love,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger