Onward to Albuquerque

We got up a bit early on Saturday and headed south to Albuquerque. Denver had clearly expanded since we were last here, with a new baseball park for the Rockies and evidence of a commuter train system for the area. As we continued, we noticed the fall colors on the trees with lots of yellows and golds. It was beautiful! We also saw two long trains with cars full of coal probably also heading south. One of the trains had six engines, two in front, two in back, and two in the middle. If the train had to go over Raton Pass like we did, then all the engines on the train made sense.

On the New Mexico side of the Raton Pass, beautiful chamisa was in full yellow bloom. This plant adds much to the color of the countryside. We also saw a small herd of prong horned antelopes and a coyote crossing the road. When we got to the Pecos Wilderness area northeast of Santa Fe, we realized that there were many cars parked along the freeway. We finally figured out that they were picking pinons or pine nuts. We saw so many pickers and cars that I believe the entire crop will be harvested in a few days.

As we drove south from Santa Fe, we saw the construction of the high speed train track that will take commuters from that city to Albuquerque or vice verse. When this project is completed, we hope to be able to enjoy that train ride, too. It has been talked about for twenty years, and finally the project is underway. There is already a connection from Albuquerque to Belen, which is thirty miles south.

We are now parked in Jerry's driveway with a full hookup he put in several years ago for us. They had us over for dinner, and we enjoyed to see how much Andy and Michelle had grown. Kait was off to a homecoming dance so we will see her on Sunday at some point. A lovely rain lulled us to sleep. Happy travels.