Monday, March 13, 2005 – After some French toast for breakfast, we begin to get ready to leave for Taos. Samantha and I take some pictures of her with “Flat Stanley”, a foot high cut-out of a little man that Samantha’s cousin Ashley Kumler has asked Samantha to take and photograph in different places, in front of the hotel and in the breakfast area.
Eventually all is packed and we leave Clovis at about 10:30 a.m. on a very chilly morning. We begin to see ice on sides of telephone poles and signs along the highway. Turning north on Hwy 84 at Fort Sumner (the REAL burial site of Billy The Kid) snow begins to lightly fall. The plains have snow in more places, and we’re beginning to get excited about seeing the white stuff. Within a few miles more the snow outside is covering everything. As we progress toward Las Vegas NM the snow falls off and on, hard at times, and the drifts on the ground are getting higher and at times the road looks to be getting narrower.
Its about thirty or so miles out of Las Vegas that Samantha informs us she has an urgent need. Outside there is nothing but snow and its coming down pretty hard and steady. Tension begins to accumulate again. We attempt a stop, but to no avail and get back on road. Luckily, there is a gas station at a highway intersection about 4 miles outside of town. What a relief – we are able to joke about the situation at last.
Las Vegas is under about 6 –8 inches of snow. The roads are brown, ice filled mushy mud pits. We stop and eat at a Wendy’s, Sean eats at Arby’s nearby. I notice we look very much out of place in our tennis shoes and jeans, when a busload of teens and a few parents come in, dressed kind of the same way. Yes, they’re from Texas too, going skiing at nearby Sipapu Resort.
Seventy-six miles are all that’s left between Las Vegas and Taos. Piece of cake. Except that its snowing hard and its windy. It takes us about four and a half hours travel those 76 miles and I was white knuckled most of the way. We had to stop for about 15 minutes at one point because an truck rig had slid off the road coming the other way and was lodged against a guard rail. I get out and knock snow off tire well so that the accumulated ice does not rub on the tires. Many snow plows go by and we get to go on. The road narrows to one lane. All I try to do is keep the yellow strip under the van and the red lights of the car in front of us in front of us. FINALLY, we get to Taos and collapse in the Super 8 hotel.
Later we go to WalMart and get some boots / shoes suitable for slushy type walking, and get a general feel for Taos. Taos was completely bathed in thick snow. We learned later 14 inches of snow fell on the mountain that day. Sorry Dad, we didn’t see the gentleman with the cat riding the dog, but not much was moving around that day.
We had some big ole burritos at the Guadalajara Grill. Back to the hotel and to throw snowballs at each other.
Tuesday is moving day.
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