The photo above is a freeway exit off I-40 in Eastern Oklahoma which I thought might amuse the readers who are in drought stricken parts of the world.  Oddly enough, shortly after this exist you drive across a bridge over a lake so you do see a lot of water.

The photo below was taken near Lamy NM on the way into Santa Fe after surviving the rather bleak terrain of North Texas and Eastern NM.

 At the Buffalo Thunder Resort in Santa Fe they have several golf courses, portions of which are not in use.  Hiking is encouraged on the cart paths in those areas although the trails are not well-marked so we wandered frequently from the unused to the active parts of the course system.  It is all very pretty.

 Santa Fe is known for its art galleries and some actually are quite good.  I found this in front of one and it reminded me of a photograph a friend took years ago of rocks behind a caged structure of a retaining wall.  He described it as a Pet Rock Penitentiary.  This reminded me  of that.

 The shot above is on the road in extreme Northwestern Arizona right before you go across the huge bridge spanning the Colorado River just below Hoover Dam as you enter Nevada.

The very next day, after a night in Las Vegas, we headed Northwest on US95 through the deserts of Nevada.  While there is very little out in these vast stretches of countryside, it is oddly beautiful.

 Once we arrived at John's place on the river things began to settle into normalcy, or what masquerades as that.  Above is a shot looking down on an inflatable floating living room that passed by us when we were on the deck looking at people enjoying the holiday weekend on the American River.

The shot below was one I took while sitting at my computer yesterday morning as about 6 turkeys spent 4 or more hours grazing around the yard.  Nice view to look at while at a desk no?

Lastly this is a shot from the deck of the main house looking upriver toward the Sierras, which at this time of year are only visible when the sun is coming up.  This really is a beautiful spot.