4 posts tagged “new mexico 09”

The rest of Saturday was hauling ass to Marfa via Carlsbad and Van Horn.  Pretty scenery but I wouldn't recommend the route to anyone in a hurry, especially Rt. 54 if it's just rained.  I hit one of the low-water crossings too fast to see it was flooded and if there had been more than 6 inches I might still be in the rental car somewhere downstream.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Van Horn to Marfa was just plain dreary except for this particular oddity visible from 10 miles away:

Air Force blimp, Rt. 90

Got into town too late and exhausted to partake of any Saturday night activities.  In fact this time my Marfa experience was limited to a motel room with a non-functioning TV remote and an early-Sunday hour in the laundromat.  At least they try and make doing laundry a little interesting there by giving the machines names.

Tumbleweed laundromat, Marfa

Laundry done, I blew town and was back in Austin by late afternoon.  I regret not getting into the Paisano again this time, but in fact it would have been a waste of a good room, so wasted I was from driving through desert storms much of the day.

Hotel Paisano

Downtown Marfa early on a Sunday

The rain broke Friday night so Saturday I packed up early and hit the road, looking for a good trail somewhere in the National Forest.  Drove from Ruidoso to Cloudcroft via the Mescalero reservation, which was all kinds of pretty.  So was the Lincoln Forest once I got off the main roads.

Lincoln Nat'l Forest, FS Road 04

A little bit in Road 04 I found a trail marked 251 leading up into the Lucas Canyon and got out for a stroll.  Which was all kinds of pretty in itself.

Lucas Canyon trailhead

Lower down in Lucas Canyon

Trail further up

I would have liked to go farther if time (and my lungs) had permitted it.  Looks like I was getting to the best part when I had to turn around.

Into the birch in upper Lucas Canyon

It did indeed rain like hell the next day.  Before the worst of it rolled in I got out for a quick look at the Skyline campground, where I've stayed every other time I've been in Ruidoso.

Skyline Rec. Area, Lincoln Nat'l Forest

Skyline is 9k-something feet up, which I now recall made sleeping a little problematical the last time I was there in 2001.  Breath comes hard that high.  Nevertheless, I poked around in the mist long enough to gather some pine deadfall for the fire I knew I'd be building back in the cabin as soon as the rain started in earnest.

Storybook Cabins, Ruidoso

This was my lodging at Storybook Cabins in the upper canyon.  Really nice little place, spacious and well-furnished.  I only wish I'd gotten to spend more time there, especially on the front porch.

Storybook Cabins front porch

As it was the rain drove me inside and I spent most of Friday in one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace, watching Deadwood DVDs.  Which didn't exactly suck either, not once I got the fire roaring.

Storybook cabins interior

Made it to Ruidoso without incident, unless you want to count the knot in my back from driving all day.  Next time I'm taking the direct route for sure - hadn't realized there's fuck-all to see between Brady and Roswell.

I'm staying at one of the cabin-resorts in the upper canyon, in what is almost certainly the nicest, most well-apppointed lodging I've had in a long time if not ever.  Pictures tomorrow if there's enough light - it's supposed to rain for the first time in months.  This evening though I'm out on the porch enjoying the smell of the woods, the chill-ish air (6400 ft.), the total absence of mosquitoes, and the hummingbirds using the feeder 8 feet away.

Some pics from today's drive:

At work outside of San Angelo

Remarkable only in that I can never remember seeing two cherry-pickers on the same project before.

Windmills near Big Spring

Birds over the Pecos River, Roswell

Downtown Roswell

Hondo Valley