New Mexico and back home

I didn't enter New Mexico until 6:30pm last night, entering the small town of Texico on the border, a dark and cold cowtown that had shut down for the night. I headed toward Clovis ten miles west, where I discovered there's an Air Force Base I could try to get a room at again. But I had no such luck at Cannon AFB, where all rooms were reserved for incoming transfers. Cannon, I learned, was created as part of the Air Force's Special Operations Command during the Iranian hostage crisis under President Carter. Although I was there in the dark, I could tell this base was nowhere near as nice as Tinker AFB.

When I asked for a list of hotels in town, all I got from the clerk were upscale hotels for $99/night. Kevin had mentioned cheaper ones but I never saw them. The town was pretty dark and perhaps I just didn't notice?

I opted instead to drive toward Roswell, but I had to stop once because of fatigue. The lack of any moon (new moon was 4 Jan) made this a dangerously dark drive. It dipped into the 20s and my feet got cold.

When I finally got up the sky was grey and overcast, quite a difference from when I left three weeks ago.

Roswell's streets were empty and the stores still shut. I've yet to make it to this place when there are actually any stores open! It's not a bad little town, and coming down from Amarillo, the first decent town to resupply in.

I continued toward Alamagordo, where I could see the snow-capped mountains of the Lincoln National Forest. It was my first real snow on my return trip. The highway, however, remained dry.

My breakfast was at a McDonald's for sausage biscuit and coffee. Then I crossed the White Sands missile range where two jet fighters came close over the highway while landing nearby. Then on to Las Cruces where I took another break at the Mesilla Valley animal shelter (which looks as nice as the one in Sierra Vista). People were already waiting outside the door to reclaim their lost animals or drop off goods for the critters. I stopped by to see what animals there were. Among the many, many chichuahuas and pitbulls, there was one young female German shepherd dog, one young black lab, one older Golden Retriever getting humped by a frustrated German pointer, and one young golden retriever pup. The 24-hour reprieve for adoption prevented me from taking any of them home right away.

There was still Deming, NM's animal shelter, a rundown shelter on the edge of town off a dirt road that was overstocked with more homeless animals. "I can't believe how many animals get dropped off here!" said the woman I spoke to, Sandy, who only started working there last May.

There were several Rottweilers and shepherd mixes, and in the corner of the outdoor kennels was one German shepherd-Husky mix male dog watching me quietly. His demeanor stole my heart and I ended up driving the rest of the way home with him as he quietly sat in the back of my crowded van. We stopped at every rest break to allow him to pee (which he always did!) and getting him back into the van after each stop got harder and harder.

I crossed into Arizona at 5:30pm to the first beautiful sunset in over two weeks. It felt great to be on the homestreth.

When I got home at 8:30pm Kevin agreed that the new dog's name should be Bruno. He's going to be one big dog.