Los Lunas

It was a clear and beautiful morning as we left Santa Rosa and headed towards Albuquerque.   Our destination is Los Lunas, N.M. and the driveway of friends, the Hamanns.  They live in a small air park where the garages double as hangars and the roads double as taxi and runways.  It is in a lushly irrigated valley between dusty yellow mountains.  The Rio Grande river runs through this valley, providing the water for these beautiful fields and the tall cottonwoods that line its banks.

The scattered mesas and buttes have given way to windshield views of the mountains ahead.  We've noticed a bit of smoke in the air from the wildfires burning in the state. Severe crosswinds hit Beluga regularly, but Dave hung on to the wheel.   We pass a few antelope and large areas of pink flowering cholla cactus.  Beautiful to look at from a distance, but....

We had a great New Mexican dinner at a small, local restaurant with Dave and Ann, and Vince and Mary Kay,  people we met on our Mexican trip. They also live at the air park.  Its a friendly, well taken care of community.

Tomorrow Dave and David (Hamann) will play golf and Ann and I may go to the zoo.  She is a volunteer there I'll  get some good behind the scenes info.

JoAnn, this picture is for you.  I couldn't get all the Salukis in one shot

More pictures tomorrow.  Today we spent too much time just yakking and catching up with friends and  now its time for bed.