A fairly long uneventful day, passing through some pretty dismal and down-on-their -luck little towns. Main streets lined with abandoned stores with empty dingy windows, ramshackle houses and outbuildings. Very sad. ( See Deonne's blog about Encino, NM.) Also passing by a lot of cotton fields and big business farms. We took an hour out to visit the Blackwater Draw Museum, where the exhibits showed early Folsom man, flora and fauna and geologic conditions 30,000 ago.
We stole another hour toward the end of the day at Huarache De Oro, set up on a street corner in Texico, NM. Bill spied the display and practically did a u-turn in the middle of the busy street. The terra cotta ware is called Talaveras; the slip ( liquid clay) is poured into molds and then bisque fired. After that first firing, the glaze is painted by hand, in very intricate designs. Elias showed us a piece of extremely hard stony clay, which they pulverize and then mix with water. We bought one of his small pigs and a couple of planters. Truly, it was difficult to choose-- we wanted to bring it all home with us!
We stole another hour toward the end of the day at Huarache De Oro, set up on a street corner in Texico, NM. Bill spied the display and practically did a u-turn in the middle of the busy street. The terra cotta ware is called Talaveras; the slip ( liquid clay) is poured into molds and then bisque fired. After that first firing, the glaze is painted by hand, in very intricate designs. Elias showed us a piece of extremely hard stony clay, which they pulverize and then mix with water. We bought one of his small pigs and a couple of planters. Truly, it was difficult to choose-- we wanted to bring it all home with us!
About dusk we landed at the Silver Wind RV park in Silverton, Texas, a gem of a park that Bill found in the camping directory. We were the only folks there in an airfield-sized park with flat, spongy grass. No one was around, so we took a spot-- any spot!-- and set up in the soft warm air. Occasional shouts from the crowds at a football game over yonder would be heard-- kind of a homey sound. Later on as I took Xian for his nightly constitution, I heard coyotes yipping far off in the distance. I know that I may be in the minority on this one but I like that sound.
The following morning we met our hosts, Sharon and Gary, who have owned the place for 3 years. They also had four charming little cabins outfitted just beautifully, and both take great pride in their RV park, always planning some sort of upgrade, like paving the sites and the road.
