I ate a light breakfast and quickly packed all my gear. I was separating from Romey and Lee to make a quick escape out of Texas. Before I descended the trail from the way I came I made a 2-mile (round trip) detour to the summit of Hunter Peak. It was pleasantly birdy with a modestly rewarding view. On the way back from this detour I did get a chance to see some beautiful Stellar's Jays.
Now freshly rejuvenated it was time to drive from one corner of New Mexico to the other. There were some stretches of rangeland that, as pretty as they were, were awfully boring to stare at for two hours at a time. One of the most entertaining things I saw on that stretch was the birds perched almost exclusively in the shade of the utility poles. There were few and far between so the birds have really taken advantage of the narrow bands of shade from the poles along the fence line. The pattern went on for miles, and I started to correlate presence to denser vegetated clumps. Such as a patch of sunflowers that would provide better food sources (insects).
Heading out from Albuquerque I was very surprised by the beautiful landscape that I drove through during sunset, I know New Mexico is pretty but I just didn't expect this particular series of mountains and canyons. I don't think I've ever seen a bad New Mexico sunset either. Its gotta be the most consistently amazing place for sunsets. I'd put money on it.
I made it to Farmington around 10 PM and had a wonderful place to stay and catch some rest for my next big day around Durango Colorado.