Day 2: Long roads, long trains, tall windmills

UPDATE from Day 1: We spent the night in a very quiet area in Springerville and reviewed the road for today, listened to Hannity on XM radio for a little while then hit the hay. We were a little nervous sleeping in the RV for the first time but in the end it was very comfortable. 

 Our plan was to head to the VLA aka the Very Large Array and wind our way towards Las Vegas... NM. Well we found that New Mexico is certainly the land of horses, bovine, antelope, open spaces and very very long straight roads. They also have some of the longest trains and a bunch of wind farms.

On our way to the VLA we had to stop and do some research to see if PIE TOWN, NM really does have the best pie... maybe for Pie Town but doesn't beat Luchia's in Wikieup, AZ (very disappointing).  But we did meet three young hikers, from France, Belgium and Farmington, NM. They were hiking from our Southern border up to Canada. When asked Why? They laughed and really didn't have an answer. I figured it was just because they could.

The VLA was is still amazing... for those that don't know what it is: "The Very Large Array is.one of the world's premier astronomical radio observatories. It consists of 27 radio antennas in a Y-shaped configuration on the Plains of San Agustin fifty miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. Each antenna is 82 feet in diameter and 94 feet tall. The data from the antennas is combined electronically to

give the resolution of an antenna 22 miles across, with the sensitivity of a dish 422 feet in diameter."

In other words it puts new meaning to ET Phone Home... LOL. OBTW it's also featured in the movie Contact. We went back there to replace an denim shirt that we misplaced but like all good things they didn't have them anymore and ended up with a t-shirt.

After that we hit the LONG, STRAIGHT road again for gas and heading in the general direction of our next stop for tomorrow. Along the way we saw some incredible trains. They can run them so long out here and fast too. They also have a bunch of open spaces filled with wind farms.

Right now we are done for the day after a total of 333 miles and resting up somewhere outside Santa Rosa near junction 84 and 40. Time to eat, rest up, listen to the news and then the Red Sox v Yankees game.

Goodnight for now!