Deciding that we were getting tired of life on the road, we made a marathon drive from eastern OK to the NM border town of Tucumcari on Sunday. Crossing Oklahoma the scenery was still pretty nice with rolling hills and the trees gradually giving way to rangeland. We passed through one very picturesque town, Guthrie, OK with much of its historic downtown intact and some beautiful Victorian homes. In Texas we got on I40 for a quick crossing through Amarillo. Hot, dry landscape in that part of Texas.
We camped outside of Tucumcari at a KOA campground. I think it's the first time I've stayed at a KOA and it was very clean and nice. They even served meals if you wanted them. It was next to a little ranch (see photos of campsite and horses).
The next morning we were up at 5:30 am (mountain time) so we had breakfast at Denny's and got to Santa Fe by 9:30 am. The house was in great shape and all the furniture was piled in the living room. We spent a few hours getting the bed put together the kitchen unpacked and finding clothes that we hadn't seen for a month. Nothing like a new wardrobe after a month of wearing the same clothes! There were also all the mysteries of a new home - what light switches turn on what fixtures, what keys work with which doors.
By noon we were hungry and tired so we drove downtown and ate at the nearest restaurant, La Osteria, which had excellent salads and a lovely shaded courtyard. The post office was just down the street so we retrieved our accumulated mail. Then we found the nearest grocery store so that we could finally eat a home cooked meal!
The last few days we have been attempting to arrange internet and phone service. TV was supposed to be hooked up today, but the service person didn't show up. Our cell phone doesn't get reception here, so we are getting a local phone number. Fortunately our neighbor has wireless internet that just reaches our house, so we have been "borrowing" their internet service and can make calls through Yahoo or Skype. We expect to get phone and internet by June 30. We will probably have the cell phone number forwarded to our local phone, so the number will be the same.
The house has been unoccupied for a month, but several birds have taken up residence on the porch under the awnings. On the back porch there is a mourning dove with a chick that fledged the first day we got here. Very cute watching its flying get stronger over two days. A robin is nesting on the next awning down. The eggs hatched today and both parents are busy bringing insects to the young. On the front of the house there is a finch, maybe a Cassin's finch?, that is building a nest. The awnings need replacement, so I hope they are all done with nesting and fledging by the time the new awnings are ready to be installed.
The weather here has really been wonderful. During the day it gets up to the low 90s, but if you are in the shade it feels perfectly comfortable. Humidity is around 25%. At night the temperatures drop into the low 60s. The house is territorial style with thick adobe-like walls and it stays nice and cool during the day. We don't even have air conditioning. In the afternoons clouds gather and there are very localized thunderstorms. Only a few drops of rain in our yard so far.
More on Santa Fe, the house and the southwestern style in another post after I have some more photos to go with it!
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