Champions Run By Evrentals Ruidoso Downs

5.5hr drive to Ruidoso today. We went through some fascinating area's. White Sands, border patrol station, towns that are more like a ghost town, for example.

On the way, we heard that Ruidoso was having torrential rain, but as we were at a lower altitude, still hot outside + not yet in the mountains, it was hard to believe.

By the time we drove up the mountain roads into Ruidoso, we could see where heavy rain had hit & ...

We arrived at "I Luv Used" Discount Auto Parts around 8.15 to discover that the "spares" they carry include a couple of hundred old bugs and buses in a lot out the back. A sort of final resting place for old VW's. And for us it really was Volks heaven. By around 9.00 the beam had been greased and we were let loose in the back lot to see if there was anything of any use to us. A couple of hours later we left with all kinds of goodies, including original VW mud ...

... races whilst we are here. Ruidoso itself is now very much a ski resort using the many cabins as country retreats during the summer. On to Capitan, the ...

... observed that our shadows were getting longer and the temperatures were dropping quickly. Again we stopped along the way for numerous pictures including a stop at the Merchant Marine cemetery at Fort Stanton, where a TB sanatorium was operated for many years. This fort has been many things over the years, a buffalo soldier outpost in the late1800's when it was used to control ...

... has a major touring roadshow or event every 11 days throughout the year. The theater has been called one of the seven finest theaters in the world. It seats only 514, so it is intimate, but the whole town's population is only 800! It was so great to perform there, but because we were so high in elevation, it was a little harder to catch your breath sometimes! Erica

... I'm at about 3800 miles on my tripometer now, which means there's 1900 miles left on my original route. So I got into the room and unpacked by 9 and was able to score a free breakfast from the lady at the desk. The breakfast, as it turns out, was about two steps below the oatmeal I've had sitting in the back of my car for the last week, making my breakfast accomplishment significantly less valuable. Apparently, this place is too far from decent chickens. I ...

... It said continue ahead to Roswell, New Mexico. I wasn't quite sure what this was, and thought it may be just what I was looking for, a modernized sort of sailing ship for the seas. One that would not fall apart on me like my last one. So I traveled ahead to see if I could buy one. Once I reached Roswell, I quickly became very confused. There were pictures ...

... from the Giant Saguaro Cactus in the lowland desert to pine,fir,and spruce trees at the highest elevations. Elevation from Tucson (2000 ft) to about 8000 feet at Mount Lemmon. We made a few stops and had a picnic lunch....our last stop was Windy Point Vista.....a very unfortunate one for me!!!! It was absolutely breathtaking and in my exuberance to take a ...

... off our bikes. With all this behind us, we turned onto US 285 headed North out of Roswell a little before 8AM. The morning was cool, but the skies were absolutely clear with no threat of bad weather where we were. About an hour North on US 285 we turned West on NM 247 towards Corona. When we arrived in Corona we had only passed about 3 vehicles. County roads in New Mexico are not the busiest roads on the planet. We fueled in Corona then headed over to the ...

... since they were charging for spending the night I went a couple miles back down the road and stayed by a roadside picnic table for the night. Again a link to my art sites where I will be uploading the photos and painting to-phots bought from the site online, paintings get in touch with me through site. http://home.earthlink.net/~greenvanartu sa/index.html and http://artwanted.com/artist.cfm?ArtID=4 2727