This morning started out before dawn, which in a way undermined my decision to stop early the night before rather than driving on in the dark. But an early stop led to an early night and I was rested earlier the next day. But while the sun was not quite up, the skyline was still visible. My first "sight" was the power plant, smoking or steaming fully. (All my pictures today were taken from the car, while it was moving and mostly through glass. There were a couple shots taken out of the driver's side window where I thought to roll the window down.)
The buttes just out of Page, AZ, were at first just stark silhouettes but very slowly their red and white banding was revealed, which led to my first question of the day: If the light after the sun sets but before full dark is called twilight, what is the light before the sun rises and full light called? Twidark? (Obviously not from my spell checker.)
In this beautiful country, there was still trash along the side of the road. But Arizona had one road feature that California should import, memorial signs. I didn't think to check how often they occurred until they stopped occurring. Anyway, they looked like they were paid for. California has thousands of miles and needs the money.
By the way, driving southeast at dawn is not the smartest direction. There was no way the sunshade could reach that low to block the sun anyway and if it could, it would create severe visibility issues of its own. Thanks to my zigzag course, I was soon going northeast.
It's just my supposition but the best scenery seemed to be either into the sun or in my rear view mirror. But it didn't matter. What I could see was still spectacular.
In the middle of nowhere I saw a person standing by the side of the road. I assumed he was hitchhiking but with my car sprawl I didn't have any place for him even if I had the inclination to pick someone up.
While there were long sections where I appeared to be the only vehicle on the road, it seemed that the only time there was traffic was when I came up behind someone. On the other hand, most of the vehicles that passed me, really zoomed around. They were all gas guzzlers to boot, large pickups for the most part. My cruise control was set for two to three miles above the speed limit. (I don't know for sure that the odometer is calibrated properly as the "your speed" flashers never seem to say what my speed says.) This leads to my second question: Does cruise control set in fractions of miles per hour? If I am slowly increasing my speed and set it just before the next mph registers is it close to the higher number or does it always set in the middle. Since my Prius can display in kph as well, I could set it to the kph number that is relatively higher in the mph display.
The first view of truly snow covered peaks was breath taking. Of course, I was always fond of mountains.
For some reason, I enjoyed silence this morning, well, except for the road noise. After about four hours when I found myself singing "I've been a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn, and a king. ..." in response to a sign that read "Pawn and Propane," I started up my iPod.
New Mexico has their speed control signs grammatically correct. Unlike California, and most other states I've been in, whose signs say "enforced by ...," New Mexico's said "Speed monitored by aircraft" and "Speed checked by radar."
I saw all kinds of animals, many I couldn't identify because they were either road kill or it was dark and I saw them too briefly. Lots of crows. Lots of dogs, horses, cows, donkeys, and goats. I saw at least one owl and a couple other raptors I couldn't identify.
While the first consistent snow I saw was 16 miles before Dulce on the north facing ground, the first full covering, thank goodness not on the road was at the continental divide. The high point with a full blanket of snow that looked to be at least eight inches was at mileage marker 193 on US 64. I kept looking for an elevation sign but never saw one.
I got to Taos around 3:00 PM MST. It and the brief time I drove on 160 in Arizona brought back memories of Marilyn. I ate quickly and at least the lentil soup was hot and got on the road to Clayton. Marilyn and I had driven the loop to Eagles Nest in 2004. I just drove the US 64 portion backwards to our direction then. I didn't realize before I drove into Taos that it crossed the Rio Grande River Gorge bridge. We made a special trip out there as well.
After making a special stop in Taos for some hot food, I arrive at the Kokopelli Lodge, a Best Western in Clayton, to have a hot dinner, and breakfast, as part of my stay.
Believe it or not, this is not all of my notes. It is, however, all of my typing. I'm deliciously tired in my Life after Layoff.
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