hail no!

As soon as we finished buying carne seca and native tan at Ludi's in Las Vegas, the heavens opened up (again) and rained down upon us. We had hoped to spend more time exploring the town, especially sinceOld Country for Old Men had been filmed there and the parts that were not filmed there, were filmed in Marfa which we had recently visited as well.
Despite the ominous skies, In a hopeful effort to power thru it, we toughened ourselves against the afternoon storms and headed for Storrie Lake. All day, in the hot, desolate plains between Roswell and Santa Rosa and finally Las Vegas we had fantasized about spending the "afternoon at the beach." We would check in to a motel and then take a day trip to the lake. How utterly civilized, but totally NOT happening. Still chasing the dream, we drove 2 miles to the lake, it was dark as night and raining sideways. Lightening danced and crackled on Hermit's Peak. There were no shelters available, and the park attendant wasn't exactly sympathetic to our plight, so we we did the only thing we could. We drove on. We swang back through town and found a Days Inn. I rallied for this choice because I sensed it would have an indoor pool.
SCORE!
After a punishing 6 hours of hard riding through the desert, then being frozen and pelted by sideways hail, we wanted to settle in, if the price was right. As ghetto as this may sound, there have been many occasions when the Days Inn has been over budget. Today was not one of those days. We pulled in, checked in, and were suddenly thrust from a hail storm to the warm and friendly accommodations of hot tubs and cable tv. I walked across the street for a six pack and we were good to go. After blistering in the West Texas sun, and freezing in the New Mexico hail we had found a bug free place to hang our hats.