New Mexico, which expanded its territory after the US civil war in a complicated deal with Texas (which gave up a third of its territory for US$10million), is called "the land of enchantment" and it really lives up to its name. It's 1/3 bigger than NZ and has half the population - so if we say 'empty' you'll know what we mean. We went from the valley floor to nearly 9000 ft (and snow) and then down again, barely seeing another car - wonderful touring.
We reached a milestone today: we've travelled more than 3000 kilometres. And in all that time we've felt entirely safe on the road. I think we've seen fewer than 10 police cars and only one accident.
Until today. As we pulled in to buy apples from a roadside stop we saw a couple of animals flat on the road. As we passed, Finn saw they had leads on . . . and yup, they were pet Yorkshire terriers. Manda told the owner, who was looking for them, what she saw while Finn and I ran back to the dogs. One was dead and the other died within minutes. With some other people we got them off the road and brought them back to the hysterical owner. She was screaming, keening and all but tearing her clothes. It was pretty upsetting.
We went to dinner at La Posta in Mesilla - a haunt of the late William Bonney, Pancho Villa and other outlaws and notables from the west.
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