The Land of Enchantment. It's True.

Saturday, 11/06

Amarillo.  When we think of Amarillo, we think of the West.  And we should.  It's near Oklahoma and New Mexico.  You can't get more West than Amarillo, unless you cross the border into New Mexico and enter both a state and Mountain Time.  Whooeeee!  Another hour in our favor, but tonight, we also get a second "extra" hour because of the end of daylight savings time.  We need both as we're 2 ponies and 400 horses (AKA 400 horsepower pushing our second home towards our first home ... and we all know what it's like to when the horse is heading toward the barn ... nothing's going to stop the beast from going for the oats, or whatever makes the day.

Ah, well, let's slow down to 70mph.  We're now in the Land of Enchantment.  New Mexico has always held a special place in my heart, and Doris has developed the same feeling.  There definitely is something spiritual about New Mexico and we feel it.  The road is easy, the landscape is definitely western ... no more green grass, folks!  Is it the rising, multi-colored mesas that define the interstate path?  Is it the gentle people, or how about the food, filled with New Mexican chillies that may not be so gentle on the tongue or tummy?  And then, there is the perfect ballooning weather at this time of year, adding color and motion to the endless sky above.  We've tried to tell each other what is the magic, the reasons for the feeling of enchantment.  And we fail.  Instead, we just enjoy this state.

Today, we rolled along, up grade and down grade; little traffic on a Saturday ... mostly big rigs like ours, saluting each other with light signals, sometimes a wave of thanks.  We (and we both did) drive all day in this environment.  Instead, we chose Albuquerque (spell THAT 3 times quickly & correctly!), biggest city in the state.  Again, it's an Elks Lodge, this time atop a hill overlooking the city and the western view of the sun setting.  But, we had to have a favorite:  a NEW Mexican dinner.  With Doris's help, we locate THE restaurant and drive on over to the other side of town to find it's not what the folks say it should be.  Walking further down the street, we find another and realize we'd been part of a group who had lunch there last year during the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta!  Too early for dinner, we walked outside to grocery shop, only to find the security guard who said better food was elsewhere.  Being a "local", he added credibility to the choice of the evening.  So, off again across town in our coach and a dinner at a restaurant.  Funny thing is:  It was only a few blocks from the Elks Lodge.  Oh well.  We now have driven most of the streets of this city at the base of the Sandia Mountains, and had laughs doing so.  And, the famous chillies added a special heat to the memories of the day, more so for Doris than me, but that's her story to tell.