Monday November 25, San Antonio, NM….yes we are back on the road!

After sitting around for a few days, we have had a great day today with lots of variety on the road, but more later.

Yesterday afternoon we decided to drive into town and have a look around, it was amazing to see cars out and about still with snow packed on them…and we certainly did as well. The roads had been ploughed so they were pretty good, but it still was only a few degrees above freezing.

Woke this morning to a very grey day and then a little bit more snow, but by mid morning it had cleared and there were patches of blue sky so decided it was good to go. Ian emptied the tank, but had a few issues with the grey water (shower water) tank, it had frozen and wouldn’t come out. So got out with the hair dryer and little heater and after about 5 minutes the pipe had thawed enough to empty.

Then at the first fuel station we went to they were having issues with the cold and we couldn’t pump gas, but the next one was okay, so finally we headed west to San Antonio.

There were some wonderful cloud formations this morning.

The first half of the drive along 70  was a double laner through some really nice ranch country with quite a few cattle around. We turned off on 380 and soon passed through the small town of Lincoln, made famous as the town where Billie the Kid shot two of his guards, escaped from jail then was killed in a shoot out. There were quite a number of the original buildings still standing, quite intriguing.

The mountains all around were looking pretty special with their new coats of snow.

Arrived into the next small town of Capitan, and decided to go into the local restaurant for a hot lunch, there were plenty of cars and trucks parked outside so guessed it was good. As we walked past a truck, noticed a dead mountain lion tied on the back, surprised how big they were. Turns out it was caught by a govt registered culler and he and his mates were in having lunch, and by the number of people checking it out, seemed it wasn’t and everyday happening. It was really busy inside, a real down to earth local eating house and the food was really good.

Didn't expect to see this outside the restaurant.

The "in" place to eat in Capitan!

Then it was over the pass and everywhere was white, there had been snow earlier in the day and the trees were sprinkled with it. Stopped at the Valley of Fire for a walk through the lave flows, and yes Vicki, found cacti in the snow!

Had seen there was an RV park at San Antonio, didn’t realise it was next to the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, and they had just had their “Festival of the Crane”. This is the peak time for the Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese as well as many other birds. So after booking in we drove through the park (Ian not impressed with the muddy roads after the snow!), what an amazing sight late in the afternoon, there were birds everywhere…..and bird photographers, my “big” lens looking very small in comparison. Enjoyed  myself, the cranes are such graceful birds, but they do make a lot of noise. The sky is very clear tonight, think we will be in for quite a frost.

Just for you Vicki..snow in the desert!

A field full of snow geese.

Sand cranes