I left this morning at about 7:30, on I-25 near Santa Fe. Calm and just above freezing. Within 15 minutes the sun was out and the temp up to 40; and in another half hour I was down to 5K ft and the temp was up to 50F. I finally started to warm up an hour later, when the temp along the Rio Grande was almost 60.
But then I turned west on US-60, which climbed up to 6500 ft and the temps went back into the 40's. I finally wimped out in Magdalena and put on an electric jacket liner. I'm in my summer riding gear and was too cold to fuss with photos. There wasn't much to see anyway. I went past the VLA
http://www.vla.nrao.edu/, which was way cool 35 years ago, but now these huge dishes are all over the place. Also around the northern edge of the Plains of San Agustin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plains_of_San_Agustin, some 50 miles long and surrounded by ancient Indian camps. Now it's mostly large ranches. (I had a biting headwind, but not as bad as expected.)
The western end of the Plains is in Catron County, which I would describe as a cross between new-age cowboys (who think they're the old-age kind -- some have lived here for generations -- but I suspect many of them watch John Wayne movies to see how they're supposed to dress up) and hippies (some have lived here for decades, and they dress just like cowboys anyway). The place reminds me of being at the dinner table of a couple who should've divorced long ago -- but they still have a sense of humor.
The gas station in Datil had different pumps for the different kinds of gas, and the pumps were innocent of credit cards. I was assured that it was 100% gas -- none of that ethanol crap for this bunch. The county is notoriously right-wing whacko -- I think they still have a law on the books that vehicles must carry 200 rounds of ammo at all times. I have genuinely fond memories of public meetings here, given that I was an environmental scientist doing the presentation. I'll tell you about it sometime. (The trick is to keep everyone laughing, which isn't really very hard.)
Anyway, with all that going around my mind and the countryside honestly kinda boring, it got warm enough to take off the electric gear. And then I got into the western edge of the Gila Mtns ("hee-la"), which are up and out of the grasslands and sage flats and into heavy Pondo pine timber. The valleys are extremely deep and steep, but I still only stopped for a couple photos.
[Edit: here are a couple photos just to show the general countryside. As mentioned, I was cold and not really into taking photos. I got a lot more later in the trip.]
Anyway, I made it to the tiny village of Alpine, AZ. We're about 8K ft elevation and tonight will be in the 20s. I'm in a very old motel -- which doesn't have a refrigerator, but I'll leave my ice stuff in the panniers and the weather should oblige). Tomorrow I'll ride from about freezing to about 95, off this Mogollon Rim ("mo-ghee-yone",
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogollon_Rim) into the low desert. I've got a campsite reservation in Organ Pipe Cactus Natl Mon.
Right now I'm just sipping my margarita and easing into travel mode.
,Nails,and keep us posted on your progress 
