83, 281, 37, 10, 83, 153, 70, 20, 84, 60, 84, 40, 285, 25

Unfortunately these are not winning lottery numbers. These are the highway numbers that took me from McAllen, TX back to Santa Fe, NM over a two day driving period.

On Tuesday (October 24) I did some hiking at Bentsen Rio Grande State Park. It was a great day. Did not see many birds but the butterflies were everywhere. I only encountered two other humans during my three hour visit to the park - this was just fine with me - I loved the peace and quiet. I immediately found World Birding Center Letterbox, pretty easy and close to the entrance. I then walked for maybe half a mile and looked for Red Crowned Parrot. The area is pretty overgrown and I didn't have any luck locating this box. So I continued walking. After another mile or so I looked for Silver Eagle's Green Jay Microbox. Found this box right where it was supposed to be. What a great stamp - it may be micro but it has to be one of my favorites. Now that all the boxes were found I walked around enjoying the butterflies and then headed back to my friends house to get ready for my trip home in the morning.

I got an early start on Wednesday heading for San Antonio. I left McAllen on US 83 to US 281. This eventually merged with I 37 into San Antonio. About halfway between McAllen and San Antonio it started raining (really hard rain) and that stopped me from getting a couple of letterboxes on the way. In San Antonio I took I 10 to a friend's work and we had lunch together. Since it was still raining and didn't look like it would let up I said my goodbyes and headed west on I 10. I arrived at US 83 and the rain was beginning to stop. In an hour the sun would be out! I continued through Menard, TX (no relation to my family - at least none I could find out about) to Winters. At Winters I took TX 153 to Sweetwater. Since the weather was holding up and it was still relatively early I made a goal to be in Lubbock for the night. After filling up the car with gas and getting a snack I took I 20 to US 84. I arrived in Lubbock as it was getting dark and stopped at the first hotel I found for the night. Just one more day and I would be home. I slept great that night - after 10 hours of driving and 2 hours of visiting my friend in San Antonio I was exhausted.

Early on Thursday morning I headed out but not before finding Silver Eagle's Buddy Holly Microbox (and in the dark). I headed out on US 84 to Clovis, NM and picked up US 60 to Fort Sumner. I stopped here at the Billy the Kid Museum and Gravesite.I replaced a missing letterbox for Silver Eagle and saw Billy's grave and visited the museum. A nice little stop. I continued my journey for home on US 60 to US 84 to Santa Rosa. From here I took I 25 to US 285 at Clines Corners and was ever so close to Santa Fe.

After about 45 minutes I arrived at I 25 and then home. I had a great time in Texas, found some incredible letterboxes and met some wonderful people but I sure am glad to be back home!