Spring Break Trip - Day 3

Had heard that snow was forecast - and wanted to say goodbye to Leo and Sean (they were going skiing) - so got up around 0630L. Found the ground blanketed with about an inch of snow - and more was falling. Leo mentioned for us to be careful with speed traps along the roads, especially in Indian Reservations. Luckily, the roads were clear - but I wanted to get down off the mountains before it got worse. Got Nicky and kids moving (not by choice) and we left around 0815L, sad to leave the cousins. Our original plan was to drive to Albuquerque - but that was nixed when Mary showed me on her laptop that the pass west of the city (I-40) was closed. So, settled for a southern route - at least to I-25. No problems across the mountains on US-70 and had great weather across the White Sands. This time, we really didn't stop (except for gas) and made it to Las Cruces pretty quickly. Explored a little - not a bad town (especially Picacho neighborhood). Brought some food to eat in the car - saved time. Around noon, realized that I-25 wouldn't work for us - continued snow in ABQ - so decided to press on to I-10 into Arizona. Found an interesting possible future job site... As we reached US-180, decided to detour (better weather) to Silver City and the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. Things going well on that tack until I got pulled over for 53 in 45 zone (?) just as we reached town. Dampened spirits a little, but got to access road to park around (what we thought was) 1300L. Started to see interesting signs about how it was a "two hour drive from this point" - but only 40 miles. Two hours later, I understand: 20 mph all the way in some of the most remote country you will ever see in the lower 48 (see AUG 2007). It was beautiful - mountains, big trees, deer. After all the switchbacks and three mountains/valleys, the HUGE bummer at the end of all this was that we weren't able to see the actual dwellings after the drive! A road was out, increasing the hike from 1 hour to 3 - and they closed the trail earlier than normal accordingly. In addition, I figured out at this point that we hadn't adjusted our car clock to the new time (Daylight Savings) and we were off by an hour.... Nicky was more upset (at missing the view ?) than the rest of us - I may have spent a silver bullet on this one... After a short nature hike along the Gila River (that took out the bridge) near the birthplace of Geronimo, we drove back along the scenic (albeit LONG) road to Silver City and had a quick dinner at Taco Bell (dinner mistake #3 - wrong kind of tacos = free food). Drive out of town on NM-90 was very pretty - complete three sunsets (hills/mountains) and lots of deer on the road. Made it to I-10 around 2000L. Another time change as we entered Arizona (body clock getting confused...). Brenna wanted to be my navigator this evening - in addition to help me with the map, she found a hotel for us (Benson, AZ). It was a good place to stop after all our driving and the kids topped it off with warm cookies.