Land of Enchantment

Ah, alas when I last left off we were still on the long and winding road to Colorado. We've now left Texas and have ventured into the Land of Enchantment - the state of New Mexico. I only took one picture in New Mexico. This was taken at a roadside rest area. Kinda gets your attention. I took this picture for Lee of Synchro32. I imagine the snakes they are referring to would be none other than the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. Funny, now that I think about it, we stopped at a rest area in Texas on our way home - a really nice new one - and they had signs all over the place about watching out for snakes. Evening / night time is the time you really have to watch out for them as they are on the move. Fortunately, they will generally give you a "rattle" before you make the mistake of treading on them. Although a snake bite is rarely fatal, I do understand from a friend who was bit by one that they are very painful and expensive. He was in his west Texas garden in sandles when one nipped him on the foot. Ouch!

A couple of interesting things about New Mexico, they have this "Safety Corridor" of about 30 miles between Texas and Colorado with signs posted everywhere about speeding fines being doubled (watch out Richy). The speed limit is set at 65mph and the road is generally long, wide, and straight. There were quite a few state troopers patrolling around the area and needless to say we had the cruise control locked on 65mph. I think it is more of a speed trap to catch Texans more than anything.

One thing about a long epic journey such as this - one just does not have a lot of extra time for sight seeing. Two weeks is really needed for a trip of this distance and magnitude - so that one can stop in partake in the local roadside attractions. Perhaps next summer I'll take two weeks for Colorado. I'm going to become a summer Texan in Colorado. I'd like to stop in and see the New Mexico Capulin Volcano. http://www.nps.gov/cavo/index.htm

See you on down the road...