After a night of rain, the skies cleared and we packed out and headed south. Rather than endure freeway traffic through Albuquerque, we headed first northbound on I-25, then south on NM 285 to NM 60, and eventually to NM 54, down through Corona, where the Roswell incident began (the purported “flying disc” crash in 1947 took place at ranch near Corona, but the nearest military base then was at Roswell). We stopped for lunch at Carrizozo, talked to a couple running a shop selling local artists work, and then went for dessert and coffee to a small shop on a side street.
Topping off the fuel at Alamogordo, we headed across White Sands Missile Range and past the White Sands National Monument, a sea of gypsum dunes, the remains of untold millions of sea creatures washed down out of the mountains into the Tularosa Basin, which then evaporated, leaving a dry desert of shifting water-soluble granules of not-sand.
Our destination was north of Las Cruces, between the villages of Dona Ana and Radium Springs. The heavy rain the day before left the long driveway to our B&B a quagmire of sandy loam, suitable only for 4-wheel drive. But, after unloading and a trip into town for supplies and a visit with one of our daughters who has high-speed Internet access, we noted that the mud had dried considerably, though still soft.
Our casita is cozy and spacious, but without Internet or TV reception, only a DVD player and a small selection of movies. We did bring our radio from our cabin in Montana, and lots of books, and are enjoying the dark night far from the city and the smells of a working farm, with horses, goats, and chickens nearby and a bowl of fresh-laid eggs in the refrigerator. The silence is broken by an occasional train passing by, the tracks about 500 meters to the east.
