Nothing but blue skies do I see

We made a good call heading south. The Santa Fe area had snow with several inches in the mountains. It is warm and sunny in Elephant Butte Lake State Park where we're camping the next few days. I was excited to see my first road runner and a flock of Gambel's Quail in the brush next to our camper. During a moonlight walk we heard cayotes barking on the hill behind us. Tigger had a moment when a Jack Rabbit ran by the window. The New Mexico campgrounds are very nice.

Sante Fe area

Sandwiched between the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, Jemez and San Miguel Ranges is Santa Fe, a host of archeological sites and several tribes of the native Pueblo people. We enjoyed a beautiful day to hike the trails of Bandelier National Monument, exploring the Cliff Dwellings, petroglyphs and local Abert (Tassel-eared Squirrels). The Alcove house, one of over 300 homes to the Pueblo people, sits in a large moon shaped cavern high in the cliffs. This cave dwelling housed many families and was accessible after a 140 foot climb using 4 ladders. The nearby Tyuonyi village, on the surface in front of the cliffs, contained over 600 rooms with a pen for wild Turkeys.

On our way back to Santa Fe we stopped at an overlook of the Rio Grande, beautiful! And that photo of a spider is a tarantula.

After our journey back in time we returned to todays commercial world in the Plaza center of Santa Fe with it's boutique shops and art galleries. Very touristy but a great place to wind down the day.

We will spend another day in the area before heading out of the mountains to avoid the snow, forecast for Sunday.

Bird check list

Just the birds we do not have or see every day back home.

Mountain Blue Birds
Gila Woodpecker
Cactus and Canyon Wren
Le Conte's and Sage Thrasher
Pyrrhuloxia
Phaniopepla
European Widgeon (rare find)
Gadwall
Oregon and Slate-colored Juncos
Black billed Magpie
Prairie Falcon
Gambels Quail
Stellers Jay
Road Runner
Black-Crowned Night Heron
American Avocet
Black-necked Stilt
Semipalmated Plover

Sangre De Cristo Mountains (Blood of Christ Mountains)

Talk about good luck, our venture across the panhandle of Texas and into New Mexico gave us October weather in November. Sunny and warm during the day and incredible starlit nights. We forget how dark it is at night living in the city. At the higher elevations it is coal black and the stars blanket the heavens.

Our first stay in northern NM was near Clayton, at the state park of the same name, just across the border. As we drove through the Kiow National Grasslands the soft sandstone gave way. Chiseled out by wind and water that witnessed the demise of the Dinosaurs, Clayton State park was a great surprise. The well stocked resevour has a spillway with the tracks of over 500 Dinosaur footprints from eight different species living 100 million years ago. The dam and it's spillway were built in 1955, in 1985 the Dinosaur footprints were uncovered during heavy rain in the spillway area of the dam. The park has several nice hiking trails with interesting rock formations and several herds of mule deer and wild turkeys. In the morning I watched a flock of Mountain Bluebirds outside our camper as the deer walked to the upper levels of the park. We had the entire place to ourselves, again.

We are taking a chance with our travels in this area as the temps dip to the upper 30's at night. Any lower and our pipes could freeze. Tomorrow we drive to Santa Fe and I hope our luck holds out a few more days so I can see some cliff dwellings.

The mother road

We're on the mother road, Route 66. We found a little gem in Elk City OK. Along with the Route 66 museum we found a nice RV site with electric, for free. The park is just outside the city on Lake Elk. Tomorrow we head west into Texas.