We made it to New Mexico

We made it to New Mexico last Sunday afternoon, somewhat less than intact. Our friend Sally drove with Nicky in a rented minivan with some of our most important stuff, and I had the dogs with me in the Volvo. Sally’s job was to keep Nicky awake, and she succeeded admirably. The drive across country was in parts beautiful and almost always interesting--something I’ve always wanted to do. Of course, I always wanted to be able to stop and see things other than just I66, I81, I40, I30, I20 and I10 and the attendant gas stations, burger joints and Comfort Inns. The colors coming through the Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge area of Virginia and Tenn were spectacular; we managed to hit them at their peak – breathtaking in many areas.

We hit the Mississippi just at dusk and at rush hour (or what passes for rush hour for Memphis). Drove through the eastern edge of Arkansas in the dark and wondered whether Little Rock actually existed – no signs of life to speak of until we crossed the Arkansas River and found ourselves in the middle of city lights. Driving south through Arkansas, crossing by way of Texarkana into Texas and on to Dallas-Ft Worth area was mostly painless but boring. We passed the two most recent Presidents’ home towns – Hope (Bill Clinton) and Midland (or whatever Bush country is called). Hope was green and rural – Midland was oily, smelly and singularly unattractive with lots of oil well pumpers and related industry. Getting around DFW was a real trick; I think their highway system is more confusing that the DC beltway – by comparison, the new 495/95/395 interchange in Springfield is very straightforward and easy. We got off track twice and had to double back. What amazed me was crossing over a hill between Dallas and Ft Worth and seeing the environment change dramatically – suddenly we were on the Texas plains – Texas cow country.

Abilene Tx will forever be one of our least favorite places in the world, through no fault of the city’s. That’s where our dog, Pepper, died in our hotel room in our arms at 11 pm. He had been not-well for some time; if you had seen him, then you saw how thin he was getting over the last several months or a year. He was diagnosed with Cushings Disease just 2 weeks before we left; Cushings is a disease caused by either a penal or adrenal tumor that causes the dog to drink excessively and urinate excessively, but in the final analysis become poisoned by the failure to remove the uric acid by urinating. It is not a curable disease, and can only be moderated somewhat by meds. But the diagnosis was too late for Pepper physically because he started failing rapidly during the last few days at home and on the first days of the trip. Then on Friday night in Abilene, he died of congestive lung and heart failure – at least that’s my guess based on his final hours. We found an emergency 24 hour vet who accepted his body with much grace and sympathy.

Poor Nutmeg is so traumatized she won’t let us out of her sight. First, we uprooted her from house and familiar surroundings, then put her in the car for days on end, then she lost her buddy, then, from west Texas on, she couldn’t find any grass to pee on without getting prickly burrs in her feet. She’s still trying to figure out where to walk without getting stuck. Even around the house here, there are prickly burrs that ‘get’ her and then she just stands there with her paw raised looking pitiful. You know that we always kept the dogs out in the kitchen/dining room at home with a gate. Well, in part because we don’t have a gate here, but mostly because she’s so unsettled, we’ve been letting her follow us all over the house, and sleep next to the bed. Now, you know and I know we’ll never get her back into the kitchen by herself at night. She does seem to be settling down a little – we’ve been taking her for long walks around the neighborhood every day and she’s getting a buffet of new smells.

Likewise, we are beginning to settle a bit. Some of the boxes are unpacked, but we’ve been at it kind of randomly. First I start on the kitchen, then get distracted when one of us is looking for something and start unpacking boxes in our bedroom or one of the other bedrooms. So no room is completely set. We are also noticing just how big and echo-y this house is. What’s interesting, though, is that because the house “only” has 3 bedrooms, a living room, dining room and kitchen, we don’t really have more ROOMS than we had – we actually have fewer rooms in which to put things. So we have a surplus of tables, but not enough seating, and there’s no place to put some of my antiques that had perfect niches in the small house in MD.

We are enjoying the delightful weather and the sunsets – nothing like a western sunset, as I’m starting to appreciate. The temperature has been mild during the day, and we haven’t driven over 40 miles per hour since Sunday. No matter how slow you drive, you’re there in 15 minutes, wherever “there” is. Don’t come if you’re a shopaholic: the nearest Mall is in Las Cruces, almost 2 hours away. But if you’re up for sunny skies; great views; wonderful walks, hiking and birding; a terrific art-gallery-filled historic downtown; and friendly neighbors, c’mon out. We’ll figure out how to send pictures soon. Till then, with our love and thanks for your calls and thoughts helping get us here safely, Sonnie and Nicky