Thur, June 9, 2011

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Yesterday the temperature in west Texas climbed to 111 degrees.  The only saving grace was the extremely low humidity.  You are still apt to die from the heat but you will not be sweaty. – Donna Downey

We actually had a bit of a plan for today’s journey.  We planned to eat lunch at Cooper’s BBQ in Mason.  The route we would take to get there was not mapped out so we left Brady headed in the general direction of Llano (to get a room for tonight).  That lasted about ten minutes, when we saw a dirt road we like to take.  We called Llano, got our usual room and headed down the Blackjack road.  We took several diversions on a couple of short roads and actually found one we had never traveled. 

It was there we took the first photo of the morning.  It was a snake crossing the road.  He was, as you can see in the photo, a light tan and upon closer look (out of my Jeep window) he was non-poisonous.  He stopped long enough for me to take two quick shots and then he took off thru the grass… very quickly.  He was the fastest snake I have ever seen.  I looked him up when we got to the room and he seems to be a coachwhip which is a very fast moving snake that eats primarily lizards, crickets and other small bugs. 

At the end of this short crossroad we turned onto the Old Katemcy Mason Road and we passed one of our favorite ranches.  It is the Circle T Cutting Horse Ranch and besides selling cutting horses they also sell Bermuda horse hay.  We have been in horrible drought areas since we left Colorado so to see their beautiful irrigated green hay fields was a real treat!  We stopped by a pasture where they had about ten yearling fillies turned out, watched them for a while before taking a few photos and moving on down the road.

By the time our wayward route reached Mason it was time for lunch at Coopers.  Besides the great mesquite smoked meats we almost always find some nice Texans to visit with while we eat.  Today, we had a large smoked pork chop, a nice piece of brisket and jalapeno sausage!  We also met three nice older people from Midland, Texas. 

After a very filling lunch we headed out down Farm Road 1871 toward the Llano River for the pups to have their first swim in several days.  Due to the severe drought, everything is very dry and brown so the crystal clear waters of the Llano are like an oasis in the desert.  We would end up making up for the missed days by having two more swim sessions… another one in the Llano River and then one in the James River. 

Except for a couple of short periods we were still able to ride with the windows down most of the day.  By late afternoon we had made it to our room in Llano and decided to just crash, take a nap, do a little reading and cool for the rest of the day. 

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

Peace, Hope & Love,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger



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



Tue, Jun 7, 2011

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

After hearing from friends about the high temperatures and humidity at home I began sending short daily video clips of the beautiful cool creeks and rivers where we have rested and picnicked. After leaving the mountains today I reminded Charles I had not done our “cool water video today”.  Charles looked at me in total seriousness and said, “I think we are going to have to get a hose and some ice”.  Love that man! – Donna Downey

After a really good hot breakfast in the motel we were ready to hit the road this morning to continue our meandering toward Mississippi.  All four of us were a little “down in the mouth” as none of us were looking forward to a day of driving with the windows up due to the heat.  The high deserts of New Mexico are at least very pleasant in the early morning hours with somewhat comfortable temperatures and very little humidity we were able to drive for a while with the windows down.  We enjoyed the warm dry air knowing that as the day wore on it would necessitate windows up and air conditioning on. 

We picked a very convoluted route thru the mountains around Ruidoso, NM and it was there that we found our only extended stop for the day.  We first came across the hospital cemetery for Fort Stanton.  It was located on top of a high hill with a wonderful view of the mountains and each grave was marked with a white wooden cross.  The Fort itself is located just down from this hill and has a long history which I won’t include here but in 1899 it was established as a Marine Hospital exclusively for the treatment of tuberculosis.  The climate here in the dry mountains of New Mexico was considered excellent for these patients.  With the availability of drugs to treat tuberculosis in 1953 the hospital was transferred to the state of New Mexico where it continued in use until 1966 with the decline of tuberculosis patients.   Still the records show that more than 10,000 Marine patients from all over the US were treated there.  The hospital continued to serve mentally disadvantaged patients until 1995.

Fort Stanton was originally built in 1855 to protect settlers in the area from native American invasions.  It also served as the home of the renowned unit of the black soldiers of the 8^th Calvary, nicknamed the “Buffalo Soldiers”.  I believe I remember these soldiers were at least partially responsible for the capture of Geronimo. There are a number of buildings remaining at the Fort, however the museum was closed today so we had to settle for driving around.

Back at Capitan, a small town nearby we found a grove of huge cottonwoods where we could park the jeep and leave the dogs long enough to have lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant.  With the beginnings of a very breezy afternoon the Jeep was quite comfortable and we found it cooler than the restaurant when we returned.

After lunch it was pretty much driving for the rest of the afternoon.  The temperatures while we were in the mountains and still in the high desert plains were tolerable and in the eighties, however as we began to descend from the 7,000 and above elevations we had enjoyed to more about the 3,500 foot level the temperatures began to climb and the highest we noticed on our car thermometer was 104! Nobody in our Jeep was excited to see that.

We knew New Mexico has been suffering from an extreme drought and it was visibly obvious as we drove the entire day thru numerous fire danger warning signs, and all of the national forest areas were closed completely.  There was no sign of moisture to be found anywhere and we were very careful not to pull off in any grassy areas for puppy stops. 

Just outside of Hobbs, NM we picked out several places we might stay if we decided to drive further than Hobbs but they were small towns in Texas with limited facilities and when we finally arrived in Hobbs we decided to stop.  We were very lucky to get a room!  While Charles was at the front desk, there were two cancellations and we got one of those rooms.  The desk clerk said as far as she knew they were the last rooms in town (where you would want to stay she did add).  Hobbs is a bustling oil field town and she said most of the motels now stay fully booked seven days a week with all of the drilling going on along with putting a number of older wells back in production.

The only cool water we found was at a beautiful rock pool in front of the motel!  As I sat in the Jeep waiting the water looked very refreshing.  Then two Common Grackles came in for a cool invigorating bath.  They were quite entertaining and not at all intimidated by my close proximity so I took the opportunity to photograph their fun.

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

Peace, Hope & Love,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger



Mon, Jun 6, 2011

Monday, June 06, 2011

We have some friends who thought the way we traveled sounded exciting… no plan, all spontaneity, so they tried it.  They headed out for a four-day weekend… lasted two days then they headed home.  Unplanned vacations are not for the faint of heart. – Donna Downey

We were up early because we knew we would be leaving the cooler temperatures as we left the high altitudes of northern New Mexico.  But we did have a few more miles of wonderfully curvy roads thru the mountains south of Taos. We made two nice stops along the Pueblo River giving the pups another opportunity to play in a cold rocky stream.  This may be their last chance.  It ended up probably being our last cool weather of our trip. ;-(

As we descended from the mountains the temperature began to climb but we found a nice place to stop in La Cueva, NM.  It was the Salman Ranch Gardens.  The Ranch’s main product is raspberries and they have an old ranch store where they sell a number of their products.  Beside the old store is their flower garden.  We have stopped there a couple of times but never when the flowers were blooming.  Since most of the garden is under old cottonwood trees it was quite shady and comfortable and we spent a good deal of time looking at all the flowers.

We spent most of the rest of the day putting some more miles behind us.  We decided to head toward Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, NM.  We arrived in Socorro about 4:30, got a room and then headed out to the refuge.  The temperatures had climbed into the upper nineties earlier in the day but it is a dry heat and does make a major difference.  Also as the sun slipped behind some of the smoke filled skies (from the huge wildfire in eastern Arizona) we had kind of a filter which made it quite tolerable and it only got better as the sun set behind the nearby mountains west of Socorro. 

The Refuge covers more than 57,300 acres in the Rio Grande River Valley and is a winter gathering place for many migratory birds but this time of year is home primarily to local wildlife.  Still it is a beautiful place and we knew we would find a beautiful landscape and plenty of wildlife.  We were not disappointed as we quickly saw deer, quail, doves, coyote, a variety of birds, egrets, ducks, a very large frog, and a beaver.  After a supper picnic in the refuge we headed to our room.

We are well tonight, although the dogs are not very excited about leaving the cooler temperatures.  We hope that y’all are well too.

Peace, Hope & Love,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger



Sun, Jun 5, 2011

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Need a great ending to a good day on the road?  Just add a vibrant sunset. – Donna Downey

Staying in a cabin brings a sense of home that a motel room can’t touch so it was good to wake up to the sound of birds singing and that early morning light streaming in thru the blinds.  After breakfast it was hard to leave our cabin.  Checking the weather for the day made it even harder since the highs were estimated to be about 75.  Checking the weather for the day at home in Meridian (100 degrees with would feel like 105) made it difficult to even think about heading home!

Before we would begin our drive kinda, sorta toward home we made a trip over to Mesa Verde National Park just east of Cortez, CO.  We arrived at the park about mid morning to very hazy conditions.  The huge wildfires in Arizona were producing a lot of, if not all of this problem.  After making the climb up to the top of Mesa Verde the temperature had climbed to almost ninety.  The higher temperatures meant we would not be able to leave the dogs in the car for any length of time and therefore would not be able to walk down to any of the cliff dwellings.  After listening to the ranger’s lecture to a tour group waiting to make the walk, I’m not sure I could have made it anyway.  The biggest part of the lecture was on all the dangers of the tour, the temperatures, the climbs, the effect of the very high altitudes… it didn’t sound good to us flatlanders! 

We did fine just walking out to the overlooks and reading the information available there.  Maybe on a return trip with cooler temperatures we’ll do the walk-downs.  The cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans (formerly called Anasazi by archeologists) built in sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls are amazing.  And it is equally amazing that they have been able to save so many of these elaborate ruins.  It was a very interesting day and the haze didn’t affect the views in the canyons. 

On the drive into and out of the cliff dwelling areas and along the top of the mesa we saw a nice buck in his velvet antlers.  Judging by the size of the base of the antlers he was going to have quite a rack by fall!  And we were lucky to see one of the small herds of wild horses that have moved into the park from the nearby Ute Indian Reservation.  There was one small foal, several mares and at least three studs in this group. 

Just before making the descent from the Mesa we stopped at an overlook of the huge valley below and had our late lunch picnic.  We were already beginning to talk about how we are going to miss these wonderful cool days perfect for naps in the car and picnics.  But all too soon it was time to hit the road and head south.

It was about 4:00 pm when we made it to the highway outside the park but the weather was so nice and perfect for riding so we drove all the way to Taos, NM with just a few stops for the pups to stretch their legs and to do a little hunting.  We were also privy to experience a really nice sunset just outside of Taos.

We have a very nice room here in Taos and have sort of mapped out our route for tomorrow.  If you are still trying to read my long-winded journals and view my endless photos you will perhaps be glad to know the journals will be shorter and surely fewer photos since we will be spending most of our time driving back toward Mississippi.  Try not to smile too big when you read this.  We don’t plan to drive straight back at a breakneck pace but will not have the luxury of the slow pace that we have been on for these many weeks. 

We are well tonight and hope that y’all are too.

Peace, Hope & Love,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger