jan 9, 2012

Somewhere in West Texas!

A cold, wet, rainy, grey day awakened us.  Reason?  No sun shining in on us while we slept.  We were up and out before the coffee timer reached one hour and headed east out of New Mexico.  For years I had thought Wisconsin was the dairy state, but I’m beginning to think New Mexico might be.   There are milk cattle ranches or holding places everywhere.   Even as we entered Texas about ½ hour after getting on the road, still more cows after we passed through El Paso.  Snow is beginning to show itself on the sides of the Rocky Mountains to our north.  Junnie was getting restless, so we stopped at the first rest area we saw.  We were not prepared for open air bathrooms and did not loiter!  Gives new meaning to the word “Outhouse”.

West Texas is rather bare with lots of cattle and horses munching on the stubble of reaped fields. And the sun keeps trying unsuccessfully to break through the clouds The temperature is at 48 degrees, that’s a 10 degree rise since we started driving.  Hum, the snow is beginning to accumulate on the eastern sides of the cacti and scrub bushes at our 4500+ foot elevation.    It’s our turn to be stopped by the border patrol again and to assure them we are citizens and have no one in the trailer behind us.  The police were decked out in knit caps, leather gloves, heavy down jackets, and boots and having German shepherd drug dogs.  Each of the border patrol workers spoke with Spanish accents.

Today I saw three hawks sitting atop cacti.  One had his head leaning on his shoulder, not quite under his wing.  Dan said the only reason I saw them was because their wings were iced over and there was no de-icer around for them to use.  He amazes me!  Visibility is lessening.

Roaming the open range are black angus.  Here a few, there a few.  How cold does it have to get before a cow freezes?  How do the ranchers round-up these cattle?  How do they know how many cattle they have?  We’ve only seen dry river beds and no watering troths.  Where do they get water?   Do they ever see the inside of a barn?  I suppose they sleep on the ground all huddled together at night.  So many questions; so few answers.

Snow is flying around us.  They’re tiny flakes, yet there is no water on the windshield or the side windows of the truck.  I guess we push enough air ahead of us to keep the tiny flakes away from us, but they’re sticking to all the vegetation, not just the cacti.

We have crossed into the central time zone so it was an hour later than we thought and understood why we were hungrier than we were a moment earlier.  We were coming to Van Horn, TX on I-10 and I spied a Mexican Restaurant that has been there since 1959, so it has to be good!  It was.  We had a delicious meal.  I love Mexican, so long as it’s not hot.  Dan’s gorditos were wonderful.  My stuffed chilis were HOT.  Dan likes hot; I do not, so we changed and both really enjoyed our meals.  Usually the stuffed chilis I have are only mildly warm, not hot.  I was thrilled Dan enjoyed his meal.  He usually does everything he can not to have to eat anything Mexican.

As we left Van Horn, we both saw a really big, sandy colored, four legged beast in the field.  It was eating a late lunch, too, but did not raise its head, so we have no idea what it was.  I wanted to tell you about it though.

We passed Rex Allen Drive yesterday and I got to wondering if Hopalong Cassidy really did hop? (This is one of those Franisms which our Sundayschool class will understand- Dan comment)  My favorite was Gene Autry because he sang all the time about friends being friends, longhorn cattle  feeding on lowly gypsum weed, and totin’his  ole’ 44.  My children are learning so much about their mother.  So is their father!    Snow covers everything now, and it’s still coming down.

We did descend about 2000 feet and the snow has lessened, but it’s still coming down.  We are stopped at least for tonight.  We have no idea what tomorrow will bring.  There’s 8-10 inches east of us, but we’re headed south east, so we should be OK.

Not only is today’s Kate Middleton  Mountbatten’s birthday, it’s our Cindy’s too.  Happy Birthday, Cindy.  Have lots and lots more.

Love to you and blessings,

Three chilled travelers