BBB Day 27

March 22
Before we left New Mexico, we decided to drop in to the Living Desert State Park.

Though I don’t LOVE zoos because the animals always look so sad to me, I appreciated this institution in that most of the animals were rescued or are being protected. So, though some looked sad, they WERE alive and well.
This little Gray Fox looked just fine in a tree seemingly made for him; seeing him confirmed that this is what David saw in the Davis Mountain campground:

We saw some beautiful birds:



…a big old Bolson Tortoise:

…an endangered Mexican Wolf (they’re breeding them to release in to the wild):

…typical western Bison and Elk:


…and a Cougar:

The Bobcat was in quarantine. Apparently a few days before, a child was scratched by the cat. The zoo worker said that the child’s Mom was holding the kid close to the cage, which was a few feet beyond a well-marked metal barrier. Mom claims the animal reached out and scratched the child. We couldn’t imagine how. Now they’re planting Prickly Pear between the barrier and the cage. Some parents…
The zoo also has a beautiful Cactus of the World greenhouse. It was a nice stop before heading east:

Then we drove…and drove…past New Mexican Potash mines and oil fields and hit the red soil (and a sign for potatoes!) of Texas. More and more small towns were derelict and abandoned (sign for $1.08 gas). Looked like the world stopped in the 1960’s.
Signs we saw on the road included

• Nothin’ BUTT Smokes
• Bush’s Chicken (new job for W?)
• “Caution: Wind Currents” and “Gas and Grab” sharing a billboard

We decided to sleep at the Flying J near Sweetwater, Texas after a long day.
Here’s the view from my chair: