Osso and Pacco move to New Mexico

Oh, my images of Mesa are very unmixed. Mainly southern Baptist and Mormon--and it shows. Well, maybe a little mixed: I'll give them credit for attempting to develop their Main Street with a degree of aesthetic taste.

Osso--

I'm glad you've reached a hospitable jumping-off point.

Hold your dominion.

Ah, I see osso and Pacco made it. Glad to hear that everything
went well, and you're at Dys' and Diane's house now.
I've driven that route myself a couple of times and it is
actually a nice drive through Arizona to New Mexico.

CJ, you're right about that drive. It is stunning in most places.

Pacco and Sally are real buds now. Sally rolls over on her back and Pacco licks her ears. Then Sally gets going in usual Sally fashion and Pacco justs looks at her like she's nuts, which, of course, is true. She gets hyper and likes to jump. Pacco, the sweetie, is game and tries to jump, but Corgis just aren't built for jumping. I am now thoroughly in love with him and Jo knows that we will be happy to dog sit whenever she needs it. I wouldn't house sit for most dogs but Pacco is a gentleman and absolutely loveable.

Things are getting done slowly. We want Jo to take her time in getting all the last minute details out of the way. That drive was exhausting and there isn't any rush now, so she is relaxing and just enjoying being in Albuquerque.

I will have to wait until I am more sober to describe my drive from Tucson to Albuquerque. Diane and I scouted out neighborhoods in Abq today. Two houses I'd liked on Realtor.com turned out to be dumps, but I saw another one that was intrigueing (sp?).

We'll see.

Anyway, after an afternoon of zipping about here and there and there and there and, then, there, we got home, talked a blue streak, and I, speaking only for myself, poured a nice one. So.... I'll wait a tad to describe the colors of New Mexico.

Hic.


Well done.

Hic, haec, hoc.

huius, huius, huius.....

Woof, checking in (after 29 freakin' pages, oy), good luck re the move and pats to young Mr. Pacco the pup.

I left Tuscon shortly after first light and drove southeast. I passed a sign for the road to Patagonia and smiled. I've heard of the beauty there from Dys and Diane; I think Wolf Hole is in the vicinity as well.....

I stopped in Benson for breakfast at an old fashioned cafe, Reb's. I picked that instead of Wendy's because of all the trucks outside. Sad to say, the food wasn't that great, but I heard on the radio as I was leaving town that they were advertising for a cook. Anyway, I liked the cafe despite the food challenge; real homey, nice waitress.

I stopped at a rest stop and took a photo, can't remember if it was before or after another small town, Willcox. I'll try to eventually post the photos here.

In time, I got to the New Mexico border, highlighted by a great big happy sign; I think it was a sun graphic. I was of course speeding, and only thought of trying to get a photo when I was about a mile past it, and I didn't go back.

Almost immediately on entering New Mexico I noticed the land changing.
The soil looked to be mostly sand, and there weren't many plants. Almost immediately I noticed more colors in the formations I was driving past.
The sand and the caution signs about possible zero visibility stopped and the soil changed again, though I drove through other patches of sand land some miles later.

I needed to turn northeast at a town called Demming in order to save the time it would take to drive to and from Los Cruces. Stopped at a gas station at Demming to find the road to Hatch and people gathered around to tell me which direction to go to catch highway 26. Got on the two lane road to Hatch and found myself behind a car going about 55 mph. Grrrrrrrrr! I didn't feel like passing her (I am guessing 'her', but it could have been a short man..), because the visibility of cars coming in the other direction was tricky. So I settled down and dealt with it and she eventually got up to about seventy miles an hour. Then a big van caught up to us. He couldn't pass the both of us, and probably would have had trouble with just passing her. I could visualize the steam coming out of the driver's ears. Finally we finished the Los Cruces bypass in Hatch - home of Hatch chili peppers - and I managed to get lost, hard to do in a tiny town. Ah, well, I caught myself before I toddled off to Mexico.

I caught the I-25 north, and had a neat drive up to Albuquerque. The average speed was high, I'd say 85 mph. I caught myself climbing hills at 93 and had to monitor myself to keep from flying.

The road itself was a beauty, nice asphalt blacktop, clear white lines, beautiful land on either side of it, the formations - Dys tells me many are of volcanic origin - each more beautiful than the last. There was at some point concrete barriers to the left and right of the highway, and they were bright peach colored - almost as if Luis Barragan designed them.

I stopped at Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, to call Dys and Diane. That's when I learned my cell phone doesn't work in New Mexico. Geez, Louise, I'm glad I didn't know it didn't work through all those miles of land with "no services". By then I was racing the clock, and my high speed was necessary re my making it to Abq before dark.

As I got closer I started watchng for the Sandia mountains. To the left I saw a formation that I can only think of as a grey multilayer cake that the layers were slipping off of. Dys later told me it was called the Mesa.

The Sandias showed up on my right, the peach and lavender and greys and browns and greens all of a piece.

I pulled into Albuquerque about four-thirty, just in the nick of time. As it was I had trouble with the near blinding setting sun from the west, figuring out where I was going on Central Avenue. Turns out the construction I'd figured would be over by now on the west side of the river was still in full disarray. Yikes. Well, with a little help from my friends I made it. I got to the grocery store parking lot about ten blocks from their house, and they came over and led me through the maze with their car.

Albuquerque is still beautiful; I am finding much delight this week as we scoot around town. Girl is happy.

Oh, poor osso. Lots of trucks at a cafe tell you more about the waitress than the food.

Ha! You are probably right!

Osso
Osso, I've lived in Albuquerque for three years, yet I'm still find areas close to home that I've never visited. I discovered a beautiful area where my son has just bought a new home in the Enchanted Hills area in the Northern Albuquerque area. I even found the famous Jackalope pottery store that I know Osso will love.

BBB

Mmmmm, pottery...
I do have an interest in ceramics.
I'll be interested in visiting various pueblos.

Osso


Call me if you, Dys and Diane want to visit Jackalope. I was unable to tour it because of the gravel surface outside because I couldn't wear my right shoe due to the treatment to save my right leg. The store is in an area near my son's new home.

http://www.jackalopebernalillo.com/index2.html

BBB

I think I can hold off on that for quite a while, BBB.

Thank you for the lovely description of the last leg of your trip, osso. I'm impressed that you were up and posting so early despite the tipsiness last night!

T'was but a momentary tipple-brain phenomenon, Mac... combined with sleepiness. I've been getting up really early lately, thus wearying earlier in the evening than has been my usual timing.

Osso stays up late with the lady diane and arises early with the Dys. It's a dilemma.

It's true I stay up later than Dys...

Everyone stays up later than Dys, even George Bush.

BBB