Chapter 11 ( no I am not filing for bankruptcy)

We left Silver City, N.M.  & headed  up to the top of Emory Pass where we left off yesterday. I started downhill  & then leveled out & then started uphill again, only to discover that yesterday we did not get to the top of the pass. No wonder we did not see the elevation sign. We still had 10 more miles to go before the pass. That 10 miles took us from 7950 ft to 8,228 ft to the top of the pass. I think my lungs are still somewhere up on the mountain. The winds were high again today, but not as bad as Monday.As you look East over the top of the mountains you can see quite a distance to the hills below.Certainly not a breathtaking as " Going to the Sun Road" but pretty  respectable for the southwest. There were actually some small patches of snow left & I spotted several fir trees among the ponderosa pines. As we dropped down to an elevation of about 4000 ft I rode by Caballa Lake, which is pretty much the headwaters for the Rio Grande. A lot of agriculture in the area. Mostly chili peppers and some formidable groves of trees, we think Pecan trees. I went through  a small community called Garfield N.M. , but no sign of the "Fat Cat". About three miles down the road a little " ankle biter"  dog chased after me- a new mexican Chihuahua -naturally. In the late afternoon with the sun at my back I began to notice my shadow riding ahead of me & I never did catch him. We are now at Fort Selden ST. Park in N.M.about 17 miles from Las Cruces N.M. We should be in El Paso, TX Wed. night. Just under 1/3 of the way across to St Augustine, FL and into our fourth state. Because of it's size we will spend more time in Texas than any other state. " Glad none of my ex's live in Texas" with that sad bit of humor I will close and get some rest! : Hasta La Vista Baby"
Mike
Sounds like the fire in Silver City area was under control when we left this morning. Talked to some of the forest service DNR guys and they said they were up all night fighting it with the winds.