Portales, New Mexico

Saturday, March 28, 2009, Jim and I took a trip to Portales, NM about three hours drive from Lakewood. We went to see Jim's ex-brother-in-law, David, and his family. They have remained "family" throughout the years and have visited us many, many times in Colorado. Since we were so close we wanted to reciprocate.

We stopped in Artesia for fuel and right there in the parking lot of the Shell station was this beautiful bronze statue. It is massive and so detailed, built at 125% life size. The Trail Boss us the first in a series of three sculptures called The Cattle Drive. The series is designed to represent and honor the development of the ranching industry in southeastern New Mexico in the late 1800s.

Further down the road in Roswell, I did get a photo of the International UFO Museum as we drove by. We were really surprised by Roswell. It is much bigger than we envisioned. Quite a large town.

On to Portales, we arrived about 10 am and were welcomed by David until his wife, Mary, finished teaching a nursing class. Since eating seems to be the theme of our travels :) we went to a local restaurant we have visited many times in years past, La Hacienda. We were joined there by their daughter, Katherine, and her husband, Keith. Katherine teaches third

grade and Keith is the band teacher at a middle school/junior high in nearby Clovis. We missed seeing David's and Mary's son, Sean, who is a nurse in Dallas.

It is always nice to be able to visit family and is one of the true benefits of this traveling lifestyle.

Remember, you are loved!