Rockhound State Park, NM 1/20/2018

Had a great day traveling and reflecting on how diverse the natural beauty of this country is. In October, I left the Oregon coast with its salty waves crashing over sandy beaches and against rocky cliffs, traveled thru the green forested mountains of the Cascades and am now enjoying the desert southwest with its arid cactus covered landscape! How lucky we are to live in such a wonderful place. I wish all my friends and family could enjoy the sites that I have been privileged to experience these last few months! Enough reflection, lets get to today's travel!
I left Picacho SP early this morning and headed for New Mexico! As I rarely drive over 63, I was a bit apprehensive about driving 300 miles on an interstate with a 75 MPH limit. I was expecting traffic like you find on Interstate 5 which runs thru Oregon. To my surprise and relief traffic was mild and everyone passed me easily and rapidly.
I have never been to New Mexico before so crossing the state line was an exciting first. Along the way here I drove by a sign that read "You are now crossing the Continental Divide"! I am not new to crossing the divide but what was confusing and amusing was I was driving thru a long wide arid desert with the only mountains quite a ways in the  distance. Having only crossed the divide in the northern part of the country I was used to steep passes and forested hills!
I stopped at a visitor center and picked up some maps. One showed state parks along my planned route so that is how I ended up here at Rockhound SP near Deming NM.

This is the view of the valley towards Deming.

This is a view of the rocky cactus covered mountains behind me! I did find a few birds including my first Green-tailed Towhee. Unfortunately it did not stay still long enough for a picture! If you are interested in seeing the complete list of the birds I did see and the pictures I was able to get, click here: Rockhound SP ebird list