We've been at Jason's for awhile now and Janet is doing so much better that we felt the need to hit the road! Of course, in our hurry to get home (and it was still winter!), we left Maxine, wounded from the tire incident outside Deming, NM in Amado RV Storage. Sooooo-we left on Sunday, the 18th and went to Albuquerque, staying in a "nice enough dog friendly" Hampton Inn. We got there early enough to take a quick tour of (mostly closed, due to the Pandemic) Old Town and found a very nice restaurant that was still open (maybe the only one, except one that wouldn't serve us on the patio, let alone serve us with a dog on the patio) who even allowed Boo to join us in our booth.
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| OMG, CUTE!! |
We were up the next morning early to hit the road and make it to Lordsburg, NM where we have stayed before-another Hampton Inn. Take-out and an early start next morning, had us arriving in Amado where we greeted Maxine for the first time in months. She was camped next to a pot farm with wonderful security, so we thought she was fine-turns out she doesn't know anything about pot!! BUT-she was secure!
SHE STARTED! We gassed up, checked tires, got propane (took forever!), water and we were on the road-just in time to miss happy hour at our next (and first stop with Maxine) in Deming, NM-the DH Lescombes Winery. Aside from having goatheads (weeds with thorny seeds) all over us and our rugs and worst of all-Boo!, it was a delightful sunset outside, watching the sun go down and the moon come up and picking goatheads out of our Crocs and Boo's fur. First time we could sit outside in ages.
Since we raced down to the border area, we were determined to have a little fun on the way home. First we stopped at San Antonio to stop at one of our favorite restaurants, The Owl Cafe, for a chili cheeseburger and a margarita. We ate outside with Boo this time which was just fine but the inside is quite a trip in itself!
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| The Owl Cafe |
It had been many years since we visited Bosque del Apache, a National Wildlife Refuge south of Socorro, NM. We had been down here several times for the annual migration of sandhill cranes and snow geese. Although nothing can ever compare to the thundering sounds of thousands of those birds taking off at sunrise or returning home at sunset, this is a thrilling area to visit any time. We saw javelinas, turkeys (mating!), vultures, hawks, deer, hundreds of ducks and just as many birds. Below is a smattering of the beautify of the area.
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| This picture actually was taken around Sonoita, AZ. The Palo Verdes were just stunningly beautiful this time of year! |
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| The Turkeys |
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| The javelinas crossed the road in front of us and went into the marshes. You can just barely make them out on the right. I didn't want to take a picture of them any earlier or I may not have made it for the rest of the trip! I hear they can be nasty. |
Next, we had the most delightful Harvest Hosts' stay at Black's Smuggler Winery, south of Albuquerque in Bosque. We got off the highway and followed the railway north through all these small towns (Abeyta, Las Nutrias, Sabinal....each one with a population below 50), went under the Interstate and came upon this wonderful place, with only 2 sites (we were the only ones there this time!). It was terribly windy, so they put us right alongside the winery building, out of the wind.
Tony Black, the owner, greeted us and invited us in for a wine tasting. They had wonderful wines and we had a great afternoon tasting them all. It was especially delightful when 3 neighbors walked in, saying, "we heard there was a party here" and joined us. We had a million laughs and learned more about
hunting than we might have needed. We also learned that this area (around the Thief Mountains) was renowned for hiding smugglers and banditos!
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| Arley, Arley Jr. and ? They, of course, had beer! |
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| Tony, Owner and Bartender for the day. See all the prize wines behind him! He and his wife retired in Denver and came down here shortly thereafter to open this winery. |
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| Maryann, the very hospitable owner and wife of Tony. She brought plenty of snacks! They had pictures of all kinds of Wild West characters, from Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid, to Jessie James and Annie Oakley. It was fun guessing who was who. |
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| Sunset over the "back forty" |
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| We managed to enjoy Maxine, despite her wounds from last year's accident. Our steps were taken out by the tire we hit and the whole right hand side of her was damaged. The bill amounts to $11,000-thank god for insurance!!!! We still need to get her repaired when we get back. |
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| The most wonderful view of the Spanish Peaks from the back! |
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| And this wondrous view in the front! We had a whole back yard to ourselves. |
And, home again, home again, jiggity jog!
