Stop Five and Six

We left San Antonio heading for Abilene where we spent a couple of nights visiting with a special friend. Abilene is a nice size town and the traffic doesn't overwhelm you, but you swap the lack of traffic for heat. The temperature was 98 the first day and 100 the second. It reminded me of a warm tropical breeze, but without the ocean to jump in to cool off.

The highlight of Abilene was our visit with Pam. We really enjoyed talking and laughing and the time we got to spend with her. Put her father on your prayer lists, he is in the hospital with pneumonia. We love you Pam!

A couple told us about a place in Santa Rosa called the Blue Hole and said is we got a chance to take time to see it. That it was pretty interesting. So we thought if we have time we will check it out. On to Santa Rosa.

Our next stop was a stop over in Santa Rosa, New Mexico which is a very small town connected with the interstate. It too was hot and no ocean in sight. The themometer read a 100 degrees as we pulled into the campground. Once we settled into our camping spot we decided to see if we could find the Blue Hole. We saw the sign for it as we were coming into town and since it was only a mile down the road we would check it out. It is a big hole with sandstone walls, 80 feet deep and is feed with an underground stream at 3000 gallons a minute. The water temperature stays 61 degrees year round and the city allows you to swim if you dare. Someone will always dare.

It was only a mile down the road but without a sign showing us where to turn so we missed the turn. We continued down the road until we found ourselves at the end of the road where we had to decide to go right or straight. We started to turn right onto the interstate then suddenly decided to go straight hoping there would be somewhere to turn around." So, Dennis at the last minute pulled to the left and had to stop to let the cars that were right behind him pass, one being a policeman. Yep, he turned on his lights and requested to see his license, registration and proof of insurance. We were blessed with a warning and told to be more careful.

Now back to the Blue Hole. Divers are allowed to explore the Blue Hole but since they were going down and not coming back they put a net across the hole about 20 feet deep to keep them from going any deeper. It is a pretty amazing place. You can see by the picture that the water is crystal clear but at it gets deeper it takes on a beautiful rich blue thus giving it it's name.

We are now on our way to Colorado Springs and have traveled about 100 miles since leaving this morning. We have been fortunate enough to see georgous scenery along the miles and miles of mountains and land as far as the eye can see. There are antelopes, rattle snakes three so far this morning), fences and cross fences, cattle and windmills pumping water for them to drink. We saw a little house at the bottom of a hill and one of those old fashioned antennas at the top of the hill all by it's self with the wires feeding down the hill. Too funny. You do what you have to do.

Today we will reach Colorado Springs where we will spend a week while we venture off sightseeing. So once again, on the road with the Snow's.