WE'RE IN NEW MEXICO

Annie tried to get a picture of the Welcome to New Mexico sign, but it flashed by too fast. This is just a few hundred yards into NM heading down from the top of Raton Pass. We left Castle Rock this morning after getting a tire patched. (footnote: If you ever get a chance to hear a singer/songwriter named Chuck Pyle, do it. He has a song called Castle Rock, which is why I mention it.) Colorado was so green, compared to Montana and Wyoming, it almost seemed surreal. We drove past mile after mile of GRASS!!! no sagebrush, no rocks, just beautiful grazing land, with cattle packed together instead of spread all over hell looking for a bite to eat. As soon as we topped Raton Pass and got to New Mexico, it was back to dry, sere landscapes as far as the eye could see, punctuated by buttes and mesas rising out of the flats. I was compelled to buy a new hat yesterday at a farm and ranch supply store where we stopped for gas and an espresso. Annie has inherited my ratty old hat I bought in Chacala, Mexico last year. As we pushed along South on Interstate 25 at 75 miles an hour in temperatures that I had believed would make me melt, the tire I had patched back in Pinedale blew. It was in the middle of a vast expanse of desert. I changed the tire, and never even broke a sweat. That "dry heat" stuff is really true. No humidity and a stiff breeze and 96 degrees isn't so bad. Our air conditioning unit in the van doesn't work at all. I've been told that 5 years of not using the AC lets the seals dry out and the freon leaks out. Therefore, we have been driving with the windows wide open. The speed along with the wind makes listening to music or conversing difficult. We need some of those headsets with mics that we've seen motorcyclists using. We stopped at a rest area that had a neat little serascape garden with cactus etc. From the smile on Annies face, you can see that she's enjoying the heat. I know Annie has been planning to post a bunch of wildflower photos, but we've been putting in long days and she hasn't found the time. I'm going to steal her thunder with this photo of cactus flowers. We got to Las Vegas, NM around 6pm. It's at the base of some hills and is a very old Spanish town. We had great New Mexican food a Johnny's Kitchen, (posole, beans fahitas, carnitas... yum) and asked the waitress if any of the old hotels in town might be wheelchair friendly. We stayed in a Hampton Suites last night, and it was fine, but we wanted a change. She called the Plaza Hotel and said they had a room for us. It's on a town square with a bandstand in the middle. Teenagers were dancing to Spanish Music when we drove by. It's a great old hotel: 12 foot ceilings, antique furniture, very friendly staff. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow. Having a drink in the hotel bar, we met a guy who's family has been here for generations. He talked about how most of the spanish speaking people in the area didn't come here from Mexico. They were here when this was Mexico. This area was settled by the Spanish long before the Mayflower landed. There's great history here. We're really entranced by Las Vegas. It's got everything we're looking for (including hot springs) but is a little more expensive than T or C. It also has a little more winter, but is a little cooler in the summer. We'll push on to Truth or Consequences tomorrow, because that has been the plan since the beginning, but don't be surprised if we eventually end up here in Las Vegas, at least for part of the year.