Weed, NM

This morning, we decided to take a drive down through the Lincoln National Forest to the little village of Weed, NM. We knew we were getting into backwoodsy areas because we went over several cattle guards. Apparently the area is open range for cattle. Weed was about 10 miles down the road but I didn't take any pictures there because it was a bit rundown and I didn't see anything very picturesque. We wondered if the name was a holdover from the 70's, but a little research on the internet showed that the town got its name in the 1880's from a man named William Weed, who built the town's first store and applied for a post office there. A small cafe which doubles as a post office is about the only commercial venture in town.
On the way back, we saw a flock of wild turkeys crossing the road. The markings on their backs were beautiful. As we drove slowly forward, I was able to get a snapshot of a couple of them. Wish I could have gotten a closeup of them.
When we reached the high point of the mountain, we stopped to take some pictures of the spectacular view. Well, it looked much better in person than you see in the photos. In the third photo you can see Highway 130, which we turned off to go toward Weed.
We continued on the very curvy road to Cloudcroft and did a little shopping at the only grocery store in town. I needed corn tortillas because the Hatch tacos I tried to make yesterday didn't work out too well. I think I'm going to make some shredded beef enchiladas, hence the extra corn tortillas. I'm going to try making my own enchilada sauce out of some Hatch green chilis we got last Monday. Hopefully it'll be better than the tacos I tried to make! Maybe someday I'll figure out how Chuy's makes their Hatch tacos.
The weather has been astoundingly beautiful here, and we've had a few light showers. It was 49 degrees outside this morning when we got up, so we used the furnace for a while. We've been able to get by without running the air conditioner during the afternoon now for about a week. (We have to pay for our electric at this park).
Almost forgot...we woke up this morning around 4:30 and heard coyote pups yipping and howling, twice!
Well, that's all for today...will let you know how the enchiladas turn out!