Day-flowering Cereus - Today 

Yesterday 

Cat naps while Hippo keeps watch. 

Very cool fish in the outdoor gallery - Shidoni, New Mexico

New Mexico - Part One - Tucson AZ to Socorro NM

It's a mostly boring drive to Socorro. 389 miles, mostly interstate except for a shortcut between Deming, NM and Hatch, NM. Features of interest on the way are highway rest areas, 'The Thing'. This is desert territory for the most part - Yuccas, Chollas, Mesquites and other desert plants in flat to rolling terrain.

Starting many miles away there are large yellow billboards for 'The Thing'; advertised as the Mystery of the Desert. It's still a mystery to us and we skipped the One Dollar admission fee and instead went to the Dairy Queen located next door.

Socorro was our destination this first day as it enabled us to be at Pie Town for lunch on day two.

New Mexico - Part Two - Socorro To the Very Large Array

50 miles from our Holiday Inn Express in Socorro was the Very Large Array. 27 humoungous Radio Telescopes. They are movable on railroad tracks to whatever configuration is desired.

This was a very pleasant surprise. I'll let the following pictures provide the 1000 words required.

Use the link for more Very Large Array information

The antennas are quite large. That speck is Flora 

This is the 'train' used to move the VLA dish. Note the wildlife in foreground. 

MINI / MAXI 

onward to the Pie

From the VLA we went on to Pie Town, roughly 30 miles west of the VLA on Hwy 60 heading toward Arizona.

We'd read about Pie Town in Smithsonian magazine and thought we would try some pie. There were two cafes open - the Daily Pie and the Pie-O-Neer.

We had pie from each, both were delish.

Go there and see - and try - for yourself.


use the Link to read the Smithsonian article

Hippo at Shidoni

Pie Town to Santa Fe

After our pie we proceeded on to Santa Fe. That's about 130 miles or so from our stop.

Very scenic - black lava fields and a very large natural bridge stand out.

What doesn't are the Indian casinos along I-40 leading into Albuquerque.

After a nights rest we proceeded to eat several great meals in Santa Fe and a very enjoyable visit to Shidoni, located just outside Santa Fe.

Shidoni is a bronze foundry and indoor/outdoor gallery.

Pictures follow, but you can also follow the Link to learn about Shidoni

I'd love to see the complete figure

is this our warrior's horse? If so, the complete statue has got to be very impressive.

part of the warrior's horse?

two stiffs

inside the foundry

To the Aliens and the Bat Cave

After 4 nights in Santa Fe we motored through rolling hills in dry surroundings featuring the occasional herd of cattle.

193 miles later we arrived in Roswell. This was a surprise treat. We knew about the supposed Alien landing which took place in the 40's but had not great expectations for anything else to be there. The town had a very nice art and history museum with an exhibit honoring rocket pioneer Robert Goddard. We had espresso and chocolate cake at an alien themed espresso bar, drove by but did not patronize the Alien museum

On for another 80 miles to Carlsbad. Carlsbad turned out to be a smaller town than Roswell. After an overnight we drove the 25 miles to the Caverns. We opted to take the elevator down (750 feet) to the Big Room and spent the 1 1/2 hours on the mile trail. Very Worthwhile!

The highlight was watching the Bats fly at dusk. For at least 30 minutes they poured out of their cave - we could hear their wings, feel the breeze the wings created and smell their b.o. All I can say is that you must see them fly if you are at the Caverns. You will not be disappointed.

The Final Stop

Lastly, we motored on to Silver City NM. 320 miles from Carlsbad.

This is a small town, just under 6000 feet elevation. The seasons are gentle and the air is clean.

Like many small towns they are trying to reinvent themselves as an arts, retirement and outdoor recreation Mecca.

We walked about looking at galleries and resting our tired butts before the final leg of 215 miles to Tucson.

New Mexico!

1815 miles with a trip average 34.8 mpg for spirited driving in our MINI.

We're summer guardians of this BRG MINI Cabrio.  

Book Report - Absolute Friends

I completed reading Absolute Friends by John LeCarre.

This was written shortly after W's victory in Iraq. LeCarre is quite obviously not believing the justification for the war was which was provided by W and TB. The novel's copyright is 2003.

To this reader, his anger made the book less than a compelling read as his plot is an expression of anger and distrust of the US. Just as the reasons for the Iraq war were false, so are components of LeCarre's plot and structure. That said though, any novel by LeCarre is a good way to spend some hours but this isn't one of my favorites.

My grade - B- with the added note that the story may enrage fans of GWB.

Tehran Report - 1967

"Arriving in Tehran May 4th we went directly to the Afghan embassy for an entry visa. After four days of bus travel with no chance of washing we looked too scruffy and were told to obtain letters from the US consulate indicating that we had sufficient funds. Really, this was just a delaying tactic as one doesn't need much for Afghanistan daily needs.

Going over to the consulate I was advised by a vice-consul that I needed to get cleaned up (clothes and body!) and there would be no problem. I returned two days later and, indeed, it was no problem.

Tehran is a city of open sewers and tree lined streets. The prices seemed high and the food unimpressive although this could be the result of our attempting to live as cheaply as possible.

Anyway, we got our Afghan visas and were ready to leave when one our loose traveling party came down with a hernia. If was frightening as it was so sudden. We were sitting around the boy-scout dormitory drinking our evening pot of tea when George felt an intense pain in his gut. It got worse and worse and he had to be rushed to the UK embassy doctor and then to a hospital for an immediate operation. Luckily this was a state hospital and thus the treatment for the hernia was at no cost. Peter, a German, and I stayed a few days more to make sure George was okay before leaving Tehran on May 9th."

Number 4 All-Over!

I was a hair stylist's dream. I'd walk in to Great Clips, Supercuts, etc and request a #4 all-over cut. This meant putting a #4 comb on the clipper and running it over, around and through my hair - leaving it evenly 1/2 inch long and me $10 or so lighter. Pretty good money for ten minutes work.

So, we went to Target (French pronunciation please) and bought a home haircut kit for around twenty dollars. For this we got an electric clipper and various combs and attachments.

Now every few months I sit outside and get shorn.

Keep the change!

Desert flowers 

beautiful, aren't they? 

Before the heat hits the cacti are in flower. These are from our neighbor's yard. 

Baghdad, 1967

"Baghdad was pretty terrible. It's the first city where I've really had the opinion that everyone was a crook and/or stupid. Our hotel was cheap and dirty - but it did have an overhead fan to provide a cooling breeze on a hot night. We spent the next day walking around seeing nothing of note. We slept and the bus station and caught the 0500 departure for Tehran. $4.50 for the fairly decent bus."

Left Baghdad May 3rd, arrived Tehran the 4th. Baghdad to Tehran - 431 miles

A quiet day in the desert.