A Week in New Mexico (Part I)

July 7, 2013

I’ve been in Portales, NM for a week now and the experience has been awesome!  After my last night sleeping in my car, I wasn’t exactly eager to get back on the road, so my sister, Cat, her husband, Seba, and I have been spending lots of time together and relaxing. 

Darcy Wants to Eat the Birds

Loud Bird that Darcy Wants to Eat

The morning I woke up at the random rest-stop, I got to see where exactly I had adjourned my trip.  I mean, it had been pitch black when I arrived so I didn’t know what my surroundings really were.  I peaked out from my littered up bed and saw that there were lots of dirt, lots of trees, a public bathroom and some benches.  And, I got to see the little birds that had kept me up all night, along with a wild rabbit hopping about, so I may as well have been camping.  Luckily for me, the bathroom was in fair condition and I was able to freshen up, though.  Unluckily for me, when I got back to my car, Matela had left me a very special treat on my makeshift bed...

After taking care of THAT, I was able to hit the road for Cat’s place.  I pulled onto the highway was welcomed by the most amazing view!  The sky was decorated profoundly by vast cloud formations!  Light pierced its way between the dollops of whipped cream sky and radiated to the end of Earth.  I drove my humble self along the straightest road, going up and down the miniature hills that popped up from time to time.  As I went up a particularly buoyant hill, I realized that I was driving as if ascending into the heavenly realms of life.  I cannot describe adequately to you the elation I experienced traveling that early morning.

Santa Rosa

I stopped in Santa Rosa, a smallish town sprinkled, too, with gorgeous clouds.  I stopped there because I caught glimpse of a gas station sign offering $.95/gallon.  (WAAAAT!)  It turned out to be an old decrepit station that’s been out of business for years.  (oh...)  Oh well, I figured I could make use of the station and get some photos in.

After expending my energy photographing the road, the signs, the sky… I decided it’s time to go.  So I set out again.  But I think I stopped every 10 or so minutes, due to the fact that I was driving through the high plains on a 1-lane highway with no other cars, the infinite grassy fields, topped with that crazy sky above.  So it took me a few hours to get to my destination.

Once I reached Portales, I actually laughed out loud: This is where Catherine and Seba live; in the middle of nowhere!  The town is considered a micropolitan- population 12,000, and surrounded by rural farms on all sides.  It takes less than 10 minutes to drive from one side of town to the other.

I turned into the neighborhood and was struck by the quaintness of the community.  Neighbors waved friendlily at me, kitties sunbathed in unkempt lawns, and the wind offered a cool relief to a warm afternoon.  I arrived at Cat’s house and in immense joy, I walked up to her porch and knocked on the door.

A Warm Welcoming