Gallup, NM - Welcome to the High Desert, Nancy

When did I realize that we had crossed into the desert?

Was it when I noticed that my nose was stuffed and I couldn’t clear it?

Was it when I realized that I had used a whole bottle of skin lotion?

Was it when the socks came out of the dryer in a bundle with undies wrapped around them?

Was it when we saw the mile-long trains, two at once crossing paths off in the distance, with a third steaming along behind?

Was it when we had the AC on during the day and the heat on at night?

Was it when we heard the coyote howl at dusk?

Or was it when we saw the red rocks, the long cliff lines, the canyons and the arroyos?

Have I missed this? You bet. I never knew how much I loved the beauty of the desert Southwest until we got to the western side of Albuquerque. Ah, this is gorgeous. And, to think, some people have these views every day. I had forgotten the beauty of the desert.

In the picture below the black stuff is volcanic ash and rock. Lots around this area.

We had a long straight journey today from Tucumcari to Gallup, right across New Mexico from one side to the other. Not many stops in the middle. The temperatures hit 87 during the day but, you know the old saying, it’s dry heat. 87 in Iowa means sweat dripping down my face, 87 out here is much nicer. In Iowa I even sweat in the shade at 87. Out here the shade is quite pleasant. But, the temperatures were supposed to get down to 41 over night so we got out our little space heater and I had the electric blanket controls at the ready.

We pulled into the campground about 4:00 set up for 3 days, had dinner and then thought we’d take a short hike. We were in shorts still, had no water and it was getting late. Hmm - how smart are these two? (But we weren’t going far.) The sun had not quite set behind the hills and it was still quite light out. We headed out and were traipsing along the trail when we met someone coming down. We chatted and decided to head on back down with him. It was getting too late for hiking but we had more than enough light to get back to the RV.

Tomorrow, we sit - in the morning at least. We’ve been traveling for 4 days and it’s time to sit.

Wait a minute. Our neighbor in the campground has a sticker on his truck which reads: ‘Balloon Chase Team.’ And, he was working on the basket in the bed of the truck. Hey, maybe he’s going up tomorrow and we can see him launch. Sure, enough, he was going up in the morning right over there in the next parking lot and, if we wanted to come to see it, come on down - at 7:00. Oh, shucks. Well, hey, we can relax after that. But, we sure wouldn’t want to miss it. Set that alarm for 6:30.