Wednesday, May 3, 2017--From Judy and Kevin's, McDonald Observatory to Percha Dam State Park, New Mexico--307 miles

     We hopped up before 7 this am, to visit with Judy and Kevin before they were off to work at 8 and 9 respectively; to try once again for a photo of the Montezuma Quail and TO HEAD HOMEWARD west and north.

     We all thoroughly enjoyed our visit and were sorry to see it come to a close. We did not see the quail at all this morning, but feel very fortunate to have had a good look at it at all. This is what prime Montezuma Quail habitat looks like--about 6700 feet elevation.

     A Bluebird bid us goodby. We left at 9:10 and wound our way slowly out of the Davis Mountains. 

     We found a Say's Phoebe at a picnic area and a Lark Sparrow along the way in addition to 15 Turkey Vultures on the road in front of us trying to lunch on some very small poor critter. No Photos!

     It was a beautiful drive, and mostly lonesome which suited us. We then caught the freeway  (I-10) toward El Paso. The drive was quiet at first so I took a shift. 

     As we drove westward the traffic increased, especially big trucks zooming past. The speed limit was 80. We were surprised to see a couple cars getting speeding tickets! Paul took over.      Nearing El Paso a cowboy sculpture caught our eye.

We avoided El Paso by taking a by-pass highway through rugged mountains, then north to New Mexico and Mountain Standard Time. 

     New Mexico rocky mountains and mesquite flatlands have a wild beauty all their own.

     We reached our campground at Percha Dam State Park at 4 pm, right after crossing the Rio Grande River. The park is on the river. We were surprised the elevation is 4100 feet. We have been climbing.

     It was 87 degrees when we got here. The sun was hot and no shade on our site. The van temp soon rose to 100 degrees. 

     We sat outside in the nearby shade and watched birds flitting in the trees, including a Bullock’s Oriole and a pair of Northern Mockingbirds. We also enjoyed watching Say’s Phoebe, Red-winged Blackbirds, the constant White-winged Doves and our first Robin since entering Texas several weeks ago. 

     Then we noticed no-see-ums biting us. Actually it is a misnomer; we did see them. So we moved inside and tried the AC. It works awhile and then shuts off. 

     Just think how wonderful our home AC will be when we get there! We are definitely in the homeward bound frame of mind now, especially as it is so much hotter than it was a month ago. The good thing is that our truck AC works very well and we all enjoy being cool while driving.

     It was a very peaceful campground.

Today Our Eyes Were On

The constantly changing scenery from mountains to foothills to green flatlands to desert to no vegetation then to green again and passing pecan groves to a much smaller Rio Grande river

A shopping area on the outskirts of El Paso that had mega-super-sized stores of every chain we have ever heard of plus hundreds of stores with names new to us. Even so, I had absolutely no desire to shop! It was way too overwhelming

The beautiful city of Las Cruces, one of the most appealing we have seen—adobe and stone homes and lovely landscaping. I would have liked to explore it more 

The road heading HOME!