New Mexico

... and sorry for my delay in replying.

No, I haven't read Hillerman's books, since I'm just not a big fiction reader to be honest, but I've been enjoying the 'Dark Winds' TV series based on his books.

As the political dark winds blow, although I'll forever love and fiercely defend my home city of Memphis, Tennessee, it's still a big urban blue dot in a sea of red, and I'm determined more than ever to escape to New Mexico for my own retirement.

And no, I haven't yet explored the Taos area, just southern New Mexico. The Chihuahuan desert there captured my heart upon my first visit, and even though I've seen some of the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area of central NM, it's that desert that won't let me go, so I'll plan to relocate to Las Cruces. One of these days I'll make it up to Taos and to Ghost Ranch to pay homage to Georgia O'Keeffe, but this coming visit in late Oct./early Nov. I plan to make a little side trip to take a peek at Madrid and Cerrillos. Since I can only take a certain number of days off from work, and it's a three-day drive from Memphis to NM, I don't have a lot of time to explore the far reaches of the state; and so I end up spending most of it in Las Cruces to tick the boxes of all the places I love there.