March 21st-April 4th
Before heading out of Dallas, TX Shadow and I stopped at an REI to “look around”. Recently I had been so busy at work that I hadn’t had the urge to head back to the trail. That all changed when I hit the door of the best outdoor store in the World. We split ways scouting the aisles for new and improved products. I was standing near the water purifiers when I overheard a employee totally miss guiding a shopper about what to buy. I couldn’t help myself, so I stepped in. During my lecture the sales person said “I think I’ll take my lunch break.” It was then and there that the romance of the trail hit me like a ton of bricks. I missed the escape, the journey, the freedom. The yearning was what Shadow had been feeling all along.
During my 15-day rotation of work, Shadow and the gang (Judy, Beulah, and the Toad) headed for Ruidoso, NM. 3 hours outside of Dallas he stopped for a few days in Abilene, TX a place were he transitioned from an Air Force air traffic controller to an FAA controller. Driving by his old house, visiting some extended relatives, and searching for the good brisket bbq from Harold’s which was now closed.
After an all day drive they arrived in Ruidoso to the Rainbow Lake RV park just outside of town. The site backs up the the Lincoln Wilderness area full of hiking trails that lead to the Grindstone lake and the Apache Indian reservation. During one of his training runs for the San Fran. marathon, Shadow got a huge surprise. A white stallion stood on the trail in front of him. The horse huffed and ran down the trail with a black mare following. Neither of us thought there would be wild horses in the area, but that was the first of many wild animals we would see during our stay. The high country invited Shadow with what the locals call desert lung or valley fever which usually subsides within a few days.
I arrived into Albuquerque, NM from work and we made the 3 hour drive of which 2 hours were on the long and desolate roads passing old windmill water pumps, one gas station, and the Trinity Site on the North side of the White Sands Missile Range.
We are officially in high desert country. The air is thin, the sky is clear, and you can feel the closeness of the Sun.
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| on the range |
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| another remodel project |
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| Merchant Marine Cemetery |
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| little snow on Ski Apache |
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| deer out our back window |
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| Toad on the road |
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| Bad luck |
Country Mouse and Shadow
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