North on New Mexico 84

2012 April 27

Traveling North on New Mexico 84

On our way to Heron Lake State Park, from Cochiti Lake Corp of Engineers Park, we (read I) wanted to make a stop in Santa Fe, in particular, at Target. Since I have an app for that, I found a Target and mapped out what I thought would be an easy route. Let me explain, that I have NO sense of direction, and I have great difficulty reading a map and converting what I see into actual real life movements. Raymond is our navigator. But this seemed such a simple task that I wanted to show him that I could do a small side trip. Pride goes before the fall.

We exited from I-25 appropriately, but immediately missed a turn. We made the best of that error, by stopping for gas before turning around to try it again. I won't bore you with the number of wrong turns I made, just say it was more than one and less than ten.

We did finally make it to Target! My obsession was rewarded, too. The bath wash I wanted was on sale, as was the dish washing liquid. I bought two. Let me explain why I needed to find a Target. I am sensitive to certain fragrances and the dish soap I bought at Walmart gave me a headache, and I haven't been able to find the kind I like in any Walmart, or local grocery store. Also, Targets have been few and far between. OK, maybe I am kinda weird. But I was so happy to find a Target!

Unfortunately, that happiness was clouding my already impaired ability to navigate and my memory of where we were headed. In this, I was not alone, thank goodness. Raymond also seemed to lose his memory temporarily. 

The reason, I chose the Target I did, was because we were now off I-25 and headed north on NM 84. Somehow, after finally finishing our errand, we both forgot that we were done with the interstate and headed back on I-25! What a couple of bozos! Turn around, yet again.

Finally, we were headed north on NM 84! We were uncertain how long it would take us to reach Heron Lake, because all the errors to this point had made us uncertain of everything. But, we were on the right road and it was our primary road for at least 100 miles, so we were on our way.

I am a big believer in "everything happens for a reason".  As we headed north, we began to see again, the beauty that makes New Mexico "The Land of Enchantment".  AS we gained altitude, the clouds seemed low enough to reach out and touch. The mountains, rocks and hoodoos changed color in the sun and clouds. When we reached a climb through red rocks, I was so moved by the beauty and wonder of the landscape that I actually teared up.

The sight that made me tear up, initially

Since I was driving, Raymond took on photographic duty.  These are some of the pictures he took. Enjoy. 

Raymond thought this looked like a turtle 

See the snow capped mountains off in the distance?

And notice how the clouds change so quickly.

This is one B-I-G  Country.