From Tim's to Santa Rosa, NM (Post # 52)

August 26

Leaving Tim's is hard this morning.  This road has become very familiar to us, whether we are driving it or walking it for exercise.  

 I don't think we've ever seen standing water in this part of the country, EVER.

We always like to stop in Hatch, NM, whether we buy anything or not.  It is such an interesting place.

Aren't these red, hot chili peppers just beautiful to look at!  And that's all I do with them, too.  Just look at them.  They are much too hot for my taste!

The Rio Grande

Paul did buy some roasted chili peppers in Hatch, though. They had to steam for an hour in the bag before they could be skinned. So, down the road in Truth or Consequences, NM (yes, that's a real place), we stopped at a Walmart that had covered parking places.  Many businesses and schools have those here because of the excessive heat.  It was a very welcomed spot of shade!  We parked near the far end of the lot away from most of the crowd, and Paul set up his work station.  He started skinning all those chili peppers while I went inside Walmart to get us some lunch from the deli.  At first, he was trying to make sure the skins got into the trash, but between the wind and the birds wanting to scoop them up, he decided to just let them go.

My purchase in Hatch was yard art--a metal Road Runner that moves in the wind.  I don't usually like that sort of thing, but Road Runners make me think of the West, so it was like bringing a little bit of it home with me.

This picture reminds me of the song, "Home, home on the range".

Lava fields near Carrizozo, New Mexico, and the Valley of Fires Recreation Area.

Such long, long roads and many, many miles yet to go.  

An interesting old building in Santa Rosa.

We haven't booked any RV parks for the trip home.  We're just driving until we decide to stop. After 586 miles today and twelve hours on the road (counting the time while stopped--10 actual hours of driving time) we'd finally had enough.  We pulled in to this RV Park and used their night registration to find a site for the night.  Such a quiet little town, the kind we like.  It has been a long day.