Thursday, September 14, 2006

day 34

happy birthday to my brother jon and aunt bonnie. i hope you both had a good day.

it was a short ride from las cruces, nm to ruidoso where is was staying with some extened family (wife's brother's wife's parents). the one thing i did want to see on the way was white sands national park. i was a bit dissappointed when the road through the park was only open about half way due to the heavy rain they had the day before and overnight.


white sands national park, nm - 09/14/2006

so i ended up walking about a mile each way to get to the area where there are no plants and just white and sky.


white sands national park, nm - 09/14/2006

the rain from the day before and overnight was not only evident on the road but on the dunes as well. normally the sand is soft and blowing. with so much rain even the tops of the dunes were wet and hard. i wonder if aLex can tell whose footprints these are?


white sands national park, nm - 09/14/2006

continuing on it was a nice ride to ruidoso. it is at a relatively high elevation, so it cooled off significantly on the way there. after arriving i took a walk around the property. normally this stream is dry, but with all of the rain it was flowing quite quickly.


ruidoso, nm - 09/14/2006

while unpacking the motorcycle, i noticed this small snake in the wheel well of a van. we are pretty sure it is a rattle snake, but it is so young that it didn't have a rattle.


rattlesnake, ruidoso, nm - 09/14/2006

it was very nice to meet and get to know these relatives. they were very helpful and provided a great deal of knowledge and information about new mexico, its history and culture, and places for my to ride through and visit.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are all-too-familiar with that van; I think it is the home's landmark.

Joe, Lu and Rye

Anonymous said...

That is officially the first time I have seen water in them-thar creek. The past few years have been drought. July 2002, no water; Dec 2003, no water; April 2006, no water! SEPT 2006, WaTeR EvErYwHeRe!

Joe