On The Road Again

The fall in Boulder this year has just been incredibly beautiful, as you can see from this picture I took of Coot Lake a few days before we left town:

We woke up, on the morning we were leaving, to another lovely fall day in Longmont, CO but you could see the snow and wind forming over the Indian Peaks, so we knew it was time to head south.  The temperature dropped from 62 to 5 degrees in a matter of hours!  Getting out of town is never easy as all kinds of unexpected things happen at the last minute:  needing to rent Jason's duplex apartment next door (including arranging for painting-THANK YOU, Chris!, replacing blinds, steam cleaning carpets, getting the yard ready for winter, etc.), having a problem with the heating unit in Jason's apartment, not being able to find some things (isn't that always the case!), deciding we had to do some Christmas shopping, as shopping in Mexico is primarily for people who want/need Mexican things, and cleaning up our basement (KIVA) apartment!  Note:  I have not mentioned the at least 100 other things that came up.....

So, a good-bye to Boulder/Longmont:  it was a gorgeous fall and we had such great times with friends and family. Erin and Todd invited us to spend the first night in Golden which was just delightful and we were off on the 12th of November for the trip south. We are ready for the next adventure!

We left in bitter cold and blowing snow, our car packed to the gills with what we thought was less stuff than we had last year - not so much!  We had to rearrange things many times to create a small hole so we could see out the rear view mirror.  And to think we almost bought a kayak!!

Boulder on Tuesday

After going over Raton Pass in New Mexico, it was clearer sailing until we got close to Santa Fe where it was snowing again.  30+ degrees there felt like a veritable heat wave.  We hunkered down into our funky, dog-friendly "Willie Nelson Room" at the Silver Saddle Motel, ordered Mexican food from the cafe across the street and relaxed for the first time all day.  After checking out Jackalope next door for some shopping (I just bought a couple of cards!), we headed south to Silver City.

On the way, we stopped at one of our favorite places for lunch:  The Buckhorn Tavern in San Antonio, where the owner (Bobby) has won a "Throwdown" with Bobby Flay, making his world famous green chili cheeseburgers.  You can see that they are proudly #7 in the country and, let me tell you, they are good!!!!

Dog friendly porch

The bar

Police patches from all over the country

Usually we take the quick route to Tucson; but, since we had never been to Silver City before, we headed west through the beautiful Gila National Forest on a VERY windy, but beautiful road and checked into the Gallery 400 B and B.

The Gila looking west

Gila rock formations

Gallery 400 B and B

The courtyard

We had a beautiful room with a small courtyard in this very nice family-run art gallery with 3 rooms for guests.  We were exhausted, so hit the sack early and got up early to explore the town.  There really wasn't a whole lot to see.  It is an old mining town whose main street was wiped out during a series of floods.  There is now a "Big Ditch" where the original main part of town was.  It is a lovely walking area now and they are still in the process of rebuilding the main street.

Boo and I loved the colors of this mural in town!

We crossed the border early.  US customs takes a photo of your car passing through and the Mexican authorities took a perfunctory look at the back of the car and decided that we were more trouble than we were worth and waved us through.  There was a long, long line on the other side, going into the states. Note:  don't come through on a Saturday morning going back.

At KM 21, you get out of your car, fill out papers for your visa, pay at the bank and go your merry way.  No problemo!

No wait

Buying the Visa at the bank

We headed to Hermosillo, passing through several small towns where you need to slow down to avoid upsetting your car on the topes (big bumps in the road) and try to avoid buying anything from the men and boys selling tortillas and fruits and vegetables.  Hermosillo is a big city and a bit of a challenge to get through but we made it with only one wrong turn and headed south on Rte. 15 which is now very familiar to us.  It is a straight shot to the San Carlos turnoff.  A few changes were evident in town (i.e. there is now a stop sign in the middle of town) but it seemed familiar and almost like "home".  Stay tuned for pictures from our home for the next 5 months!