First Week-end Loop

This past week-end R and I decided to "get out of town". Of course we are already out of town, but you get the idea. Here is what I wrote on the morning of day two.

First Trip

It’s Sunday morning, March 14, 2010. I’m sitting on the bed of the cabin we occupied last night. We are in the village of Glenwood, NM which is located on Hwy 180 in western New Mexico. Yesterday I got up on attended the weekly staff meeting at the monument while R got ready. Steve, superintendent uses it to keep everyone, employees and volunteers like, informed on what has happened and scheduled to happen in the National Monument. It’s a chance to share ideas and Steve’s latest baked good. Yesterday it was both banana and zucchini breads. Yumm. During the meeting, it was announced that part of the Catwalk was going to be closed for a month due to bridge repair. We had heard visitors talking about it so we wanted to see it. So mentally our route for this weekend had been decided.

After the meeting, we drove back to the trailer and we loaded the girls and our luggage and headed for town. An hour and a half later we were in town and talking to my sister on the cell. She does not have email so has not heard from us for two weeks. When we said goodbye, we headed for Billy Casper (see previous blog) for an hour in the pool. Then it was time spent at a table in front of a deli in downtown Silver ( that’s what locals call it).

So it was 1:30 ish when we headed out of town northwesterly on Hwy 180. I think that it may be the route we use when we leave here. Originally, I had planned to retrace our route on 10 back to Tuscan and then to Phoenix, to Q to LV, etc. 180 will get us to 191 to I-40. Anyway, back to yesterday, the trip was generally unremarkable. This area is semi-arid ranching with almost no settlements and snow covered mountains to the east. Coming down the hill, there’s a sign that says, “Glenwood, a town you’ll never forget.” I must say that despite the smallness and “averageness” of it, we have had a nice stop.

Day two dawned with mostly blue skies and so we headed north on 180. The topography and scenery gets a lot more interesting from Glenwood north. Mountains and trees abound. Turning east away from 180 and heading for the county seat of Catron county, Reserve, NM. Catron County is one of the larger counties (6800 sq mi.) in NM and the least populated (3800+). So to drive through it, means a lot miles but not a lot of towns.

Driving northeast you move from trees to brush to scarce vegetation. You encounter the Plains of San Augustin. It is a huge flat area surrounded by mountains. The town of Datil is an oasis in the middle of it. R and I stopped for lunch and a nice spot named Mary Mac's. It is a small cafe in a shady spot just off the highway. Parker and Ann Fillion run the restaurant with good food and pleasant conversation. I asked Parker about the name of the town Datil (pronounced DAT {like fat} ul) DAT ul . He said that some people found trees that they thought were dates in the area so they named the town Datil. Hmmmmm...

After lunch it was 15 miles down the road to the VLA. Remember the Jodie Foster movie "Contact"? It was filmed there. VLA (Very Large Array) consists of 27 very large dish antennae that send out radio waves into the skies. The data they recieve back are converted into pictures of our universe. The pictures coming back are totally different from those of visual telescopes. The dishes can be all bunched together to get a high precise picture or moved out on railroad tracks on any of three directions in a "Y" pattern. Each arm of the "Y" is 13 miles long allowing the formation of an antenna the size of Washington DC. It was pretty amazing. From VLA it 20 more miles on Hwy60 to I-25 to Socorro , groceries at Truth or Consequences, and a long curvy drive via 152 to 35 to 15 home.