Milan, New Mexico

Crossing into New Mexico we entered Mountain Standard Time and the time difference is now 2 hours from the east coast and 1 hour from Tucson.  Arizona is one of the few states that doesn’t change to daylight savings time so is the same as Pacific standard time in summer.  I watched the cell phone advance another hour as we crossed over the invisible line.  

The intention was to stay one night and continue, but the forecast called for a severe wind warning with gusts up to 65 mph. For weather information, the first is an advisory, the second is a watch and the third is a warning.  It was just too risky to travel with our high sided vehicle so we stayed another night. 

There’s not much in Milan - several large truck stops off the I-40, but there is a remarkable diner called “Wow”.  For a diner, they had one of the best menus we’ve ever seen; their specials even included lobster! 

Howard had a delicious chopped beef steak smothered with an excellent brown mushroom gravy, baked potato and asparagus as a side. I had a pasta dish with lobster, zucchini (courgettes in the UK) and mushrooms in a yummy creamy garlic wine sauce. Wow.  If other RVers like good food, there’s loads of space to park a large rig at the truck stop opposite; we’d certainly go back if we travel that route again.

Having walked under the Interstate to reach the diner, we stopped to talk to two homeless guys who were sheltering underneath. It was a bitterly cold day. They just asked for food - a loaf of bread and some bologna.  They didn’t ask for money.  We feel thankful that we always have enough to eat, so we stopped to buy them food to last for a few days and gave it to them on the way back.  They were so grateful, shook hands with us and said “God bless you”.  Winds were so strong that dust and grit was blowing everywhere and we hoped that they found better shelter for the night.  We did both wonder though, why one of them had polished his nails with brightly colored purple nail varnish. I didn’t like to ask.