[All times are MOUNTAIN time (MDT) unless noted otherwise]
- 0700 – wake; shower; dress; get breakfast; pack bags
- 1030 – load van; briefing
- 1100 – head west
- 1154 – On the road to Taos (US 64 West), we stopped for some photos for 10 minutes. A ranger stopped to tell us we needed to pay $5 (even though it was obvious the 8 people with cameras and no tents were stopping for photos, not to set up camp. “Bureaucrat!” I though as he drove off. (To save further grief and aggravation, we drove off shortly thereafter. No $40 from us!)
- 1213 – I took more photos of the landscape to our south. I see snow on the mountains and in scattered patches on the ground. Hopefully, we do not have any on the roads ahead.
- 1229 – We stop for a few photos of a few mountain storms brewing. Typically these fizzle as they reach the flatlands (especially when the dew points are in the 40s there).
- 1245 – continue to just east of Eagle’s Nest; photo opp for mountain lake with snow-capped Rockies as a backdrop. Breathtaking!
- 1250 – At the Eagle’s Nest convenience store, we stop for washrooms, food, fuel
- 1305 – continue to Taos; per GPS, our route crests at 9058 feet above sea level then descends into town.
- 1412 – After a 15 minute stroll, we have lunch at Ricky’s (based on a recommendation by some friendly, local workmen). “It’s a keeper” $14 plus tip for a hearty New Mexican combination plate and an iced tea.
- 1538 – depart east on US 64 until NM 505. We stop to observe several storms rolling off the Sangre de Cristo range (one NW, one S of us). Both are photogenic non-severe storms that fizzle as they reach the moisture-starved plain of NE NM.
- 2100 – we check in to the Sands Motel (again); 5 minutes later several of us pile in the van for star gazing
- 2127 – then 5 in our group take a stargazing side trip to 7 mi E of Yankee.
