Wednesday, March 30, 2010

7:53 A.M. we are leaving Dodge City, Kansas. The land is very flat and just goes for miles and miles with hay or wheat or uncultivated places full of lavendar. They say the winters here are brutal- -23 degrees at night. We are going to be driving in 4 states today- Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. We just passed the Dalton Gang Hideout and Museum!
10:01 Oklahoma state line and the sign is smaller than the speed limit sign. We almost missed it! This area is full of trucks hauling cattle to slaughter, car junkyards, grain silos. On one side of the highway is a RR track and the other side is literally dirt roads which means when the wind blows, you get dust in your eyes.
12:30 still in Oklahoma, but the landscape is changing to pastures with tumbleweeds and cattle, no waving fields of grain. 12:35 into Texline, Texas.
12:40 crossed the line to New Mexico, 72 degrees and windy. The highway is extremely bumpy! There is a historical marker - when the pioneers saw the Rabbit Mountain in the distance they knew they only had 200 miles left to Sante Fe. The road has improved to a 4 lane highway still with the RR to our right and lots and lots of beige colored rocks. 1:30- We can see the snow on the mountains off in the distance. There is a sign for a town named Sofia 23 miles to the left! The land is so flat it looks like a huge sandbox. The Colorado Mountains are to our right and the farms are now called Ranches!
2:15- the speed limit is 75 mph. As if we could do that with our weight! Now we are completely surrounded by mountains. We are ahead of schedule so we won't stop at Clayton, NM for the night. In Cimarron, NM we stopped for diesel and propane for heat tonight. All day we needed the A/C, now we need heat. The next town is Eagle's Nest and it was 4 degrees last night. The road is an 8% grade- pretty steep and very winding- kind of winding like around Cherokee. Check out the pictures of the snow which fell a few days ago. They make snowmobile trails right alongside of the main road here.
2:30 MT- at Philmont Scout Camp that Jimmy came to when he was 15 years old. There is a distinguishing mountain here called the Tooth of Time. It actually looks like a tooth sticking up out of the mountain. This ranch has buffalo, cattle, deer, elk,horses and mules just roaming around freely, unafraid.
Now we have to climb the Cimarron Canyon Mountain for the next 50 miles to reach Taos for the night. Check out the snow pictures and the one of the Palisades Sill. This is awesome! The Eagle's Nest Lake is frozen with snow just laying on top. It has a ski lodge and so does Angel's Fire and both are open! This is the Carson National Forest and the upper watershed of the Rio Grande and has several elk crossings on the road.
6;30- we finally pulled into the Taos Valley RV park. All of the connections seem to be on the wrong side of our RV. We rode around the park several times to choose the best site- #49-Shoshone. The drive through downtown Taos was just like all other ski towns; not like the other historical towns we've been. When we pulled into the Taos Mountain Casino we noticed the parking lot was all dirt! We wondered what we were getting into; walked in and walked out. Finally found a Mexican restaurant called Ogelives- pretty good.
Taos is a high-desert ski town at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains- the southern end of the Rockies. The architecture is adobe looking, definitely southwest with no extra bric-brac on the buildings. This wind would blow it away. Even the BBQ grills at the RV park are cemented into the ground. We went to a local movie theatre- called Trans-Lux- definitely a privately owned one. It waas not lit up and we passed it 2 times trying to find it. It cost $20.00 just to see the movie without the popcorn and drink! When we got back to the RV park we realized we were parked in the section that is closed for the winter. It's after 11 PM- we're not moving. We'll do without the water and sewage for the night. Tomorrow we will sleep in and leave at lunch for Sante Fe.