Monday, July 26, 2010

The (too) Dark Skies of New Mexico

This place is amazing.  Pitch black skies.  So dark it eats the light of the full moon.  The moon is out there somewhere but I can't see it.  Might have something to do with the cloud deck and intermittent thunderstorms.

Yes, we arrive to some spectacular weather.  Sheets of rain on the drive up I25 from Albuquerque.  We are staying in a B&B in Espanola only a 35minute drive to Ghost Ranch tomorrow.  Here we make our annual visit to Walmart - the only time I'll suffer a journey into that special big box hell.  In addition to picking up some supplies for the week ahead I needed to secure some larger or heavy items that didn't make it into the "box that had better be on a truck speeding this way".
  • Folding camp tray table for laptop in field
  • Small folding stool
  • 20 pack of AA batts
  • Thermos to hold the coffee what will keep me awake
We were just settling in and thinking about dinner ... I hit the go button on the small in-room microwave oven when pftzzz.   Thought I threw a breaker for the room.  But no! The whole B&B went dark.  Heck ... the whole town for blocks went dark.  So either I caused a massive blackout trying to heat up some food or we have to invoke temporal coincidence. Three hours no power.  Yes,  New Mexico likes it dark.

Wunderground says:

Showers and a few thunderstorms will continue through late evening.  Rainfall on saturated ground will fill arroyos...ditches...small streams...and underpasses and block low water crossings with fast flowing water.

No comments:

Post a Comment