March 23, 2018 - On the road to Alamogordo

Friday was a moving on day, although a short one by our itinerary standards.  From Carlsbad NM to Alamogordo was only around 165 miles or so.  The ride went through some flat areas until we got into the Lincoln Memorial Highway along state route 82. Our elevation went from about 3500 feet to just over 8500 feet, and then down to 4300 feet.  The city is very near the White Sands National Monument which we will visit on Saturday.

The drive through the Lincoln Highway was nice and the temp went from 78, to 59 at the pass, then back up to 84 degrees in the city.

Along the way, we did slow down to see some signs,  just not the typical animal signs that you might have been thinking about just now.

Along this particular stretch of road, the after school programs must have been underfunded.
Just for the heck of it, Tom decided to do an impromptu survey.  In a 1 mile collection of data, of the signs on the right side of the road, there were 9 signs with a total of 27 bullet strikes.  There was a 10th sign but that was the mile 62 marker and probably too small to shoot at.
By the way, these 2 signs were not in the data collected, just a couple of the more egregious ones.  There were 4 animal signs, 3 for deer crossing warnings and the fourth for a moose crossing.  Surprisingly they only had a total of 3 bullet strikes, but they were within the Lincoln Memorial section of the route 82.
Gun safety and responsibility appears to have gone out the window. Why would that be true in the state where the NRA operates the NRA Whittington Center in Raton NM?

Also along the way were some trees that are actually a crop tree.  The trees appear to be dead but remember, it is still early Spring here too.  The trees are Pecan Trees and are common  in NM.

A tractor had just finished scraping the ground clear to make it easier to collect the Pecans once they drop.

Thanks for checking up on Grammie.  She is safe, but still sleeping as it is before 7 am Saturday right now.