New Mexico trip

[benp]

I would have like to post this sooner but haven't had time to get it together and on a post.

Earlier this month I was fortunate to have a spur of the moment trip come up for work that allowed me to travel to Roswell, NM. As soon as they asked me if I could go I immediately thought of Al Hansen, and if he was fairly close to Roswell. A few PM's later and I had a plan to visit him on one afternoon after I got off work.

To cover the work part, Roswell is where the Coast Guard planes are painted and de-painted and the paint crew there had damaged a plane. My company chose to send me if I was able to repair the damage which wouldn't take too long. I was informed of the damage on Tuesday afternoon Oct 1st and was leaving out of Norfolk early Saturday morning Oct 5th.

A stop through Dallas and then I was in Roswell early afternoon, a quick drive through town in my rental to the hotel showed a town different than mine. I'm used to a north side of town and a south side but also a twist and a turn to the east and west side. Roswell is a straight stretch down Main St. and some stuff going on 2nd St that perpendicularly intersects Main St.

The weather was nice and I didn't care to see the tourist attractions of alien crashes so I looked up wildlife parks and tried to go to the bottomless lakes park but due to heavy rain the day before the roads were flooded going to it.

So Sunday comes and I work on the plane, it goes by quickly and that afternoon I find myself adventuring to the Bitter Lake National Park. This place is know for wintering Sandhill cranes and snowgeese. I was hoping to find some cranes and hear their distinct call everyone talks about.

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I did find a small flock but they were not vocal one bit. Very cool to watch them though and I did see a big flock of coots not far from them along with some mallards and teal and what looked to be a few widgeon. I drove further down and took a trail which showed some pretty flowers and a soft shell turtle.


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I stayed there in the park looking at lizards and plants until sunset. To the right of the sun you can see a mountain, which according to google was 57 miles away from me, that is Capitan and Sunset peaks.


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That mountain is where I would be driving on Monday to go see Al. Driving through there I passed through the town of Lincoln where Billy the Kid shot the sherif and got out of jail. I then passed through the town of Capitan where Smokey the Bear was rescued, so very cool to pass through points of history like that.


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After those townships I reached the Valley of Fires. That is a lava bed in the middle of the desert. I stopped there and paid my fee to the park and walked around which was very cool too.


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So after that I made it to Al Hansen's house where we jumped in his truck and took off to see his duck hunting wonderland in the desert. He showed me places that were totally foreign to me and my area of hunting that yeilded some good story telling and listening along with seeing road runners and quail. Being able to see the places he talks about just adds to the excitement and enjoyment of reading his stories, he showed me where he found the shotgun shell of his friend that we read about about a month ago when he posted the story. I witnessed the Rio Grande flow through the desert where he has taken ducks and geese that fly between the Bosque Del Apache NWR and the state lands north of it.

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To make the experience better he and Bev had me over for dinner and to feed the many Quail that flood his back yard. Wish I could of had more time to listen to stories and explore the area more but night came and I had to drive back to Roswell so I could leave early Tuesday.

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Thanks Eric, for keeping this site going so that we have these opportunities to make new friends through our life journeys.
Al, I hope to visit again one day and to explore more of the desert with you.
The saddest thing in life to me is there being so much beautiful land and creatures that God created and we don't have time to fully explore and learn every aspect about the specific habitat that we pass through. I thank you Al for letting me get a glimpse into the life in the desert.

 

[Eric Patterson]

Ben

Thanks for the trip report and I'm glad the site helped you see new places and meet new people. We are here for the long haul so you and others can do the same.

Eric

 

[Al Hansen]

Hi Ben,
I sure did enjoy reading your story and then checking out the pictures you had to share with us. Thank you so much. All I can say is that I am grateful that you took the time to call me and introduce yourself. When you let me know that you were in Roswell, that isn't all that far from us. I just checked and it was only 159 miles to our place. Bev and I sure enjoyed visiting with you and of course we were happy you decided to stick around and have supper with us.

Do you remember when I drove you out to the ranch and we went down to see how the Rio Grande had torn up my honey hole and blind? Well, this morning right after breakfast, I loaded up the Mule on the trailer, got Chipotle and we headed for the ranch again. I wanted to see if I could find a place to hunker down with a few decoys and see what came in when our opener starts this coming Monday, the 28th. I guess I had been on the sand road for no more than a mile when all of a sudden I found myself stuck in the middle of the road. Well, I sat there until Tele, the rancher you met, drove up and asked if I needed any help. He had that grin on his face because he could see I my predicament. While waiting for him, I had to take the Mule off the trailer, then hitch the trailer up to the Mule and pull it back about a mile to where the road was firm. I ended up parking on a driveway to someone's home and headed back to the truck.

Thankfully, Tele had decided to go out and feed his cattle a little earlier than normal. What he did was attach a chain to the front end of my truck and pull me for two more miles to the only spot where I could turn around and that was right before the cattle guard that was on that road. Then after I turned around he sat up on that hill and watched me head back. I didn't go a quarter of a mile until I buried the truck again. He observed that and headed my way. He hook me up again and this time didn't stop until we arrived at that driveway where my trailer was sitting.

Tele told me that he would give me a call when the grader had finished doing the road. The most important thing was when he said that I should wait until the ranch dried out. They got a down pour of almost 2 inches of rain over a week ago and that is why the road was so bad. There are about 12 spots where arroyos cross the road. When they start acting like small fast moving creeks, they dump lots of sand on the road and of course will cut the road up pretty good. So now I have to scratch the ranch off my duck hunting list for a while.

Ben, tomorrow I will go over to the other ranch and see if I can get to the Rio Grande where I took that picture of you. If I get there, then I will go test the river bottom and see if it is firm enough for me to walk on so that I can set out my decoys. I'll bring Chip again so that he can run around out there and get used to this spot. I can hardly wait until Monday, October 28th. If that area got 2 inches of rain last week, I know I can't get to the spot. Way too muddy!

I hope you and your family are doing well and that life is good. I want you to know that if you ever find yourself working in New Mexico again and would like to come over, we would love to see you again.
Al

Here are some pictures from the 13th when I went down to lop more saplings off the trail. This time I took Sonora with me. As you can see, Ben, she found a great spot to go down the embankment and get out into the river. It is right where I took that picture of you. I did find a great spot for a blind, so I need to get that done IF I can get there.


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