A great Day!

After spending some time in a totally funky coffee shop sipping our favourites and reading the local Sunday papers we were on the road.  It was chilly and I was wearing my heated jacket, although not plugged in.  The terrain is undeveloped, grasses and scrubby bushes, cattle on the range.  Just as I am thinking oh where oh where are the buffalo and the antelope playing, I spot three antelope racing across the land! It's like I willed them there! It's a beautiful ride, the road is slowly winding and we are gaining elevation.
After about an hour we are in the tiny town of Magdalena (elevation 6,556 feet) . We stop at a small art  gallery which is open, they have quilts, rugs, jewellery, pottery and some paintings. We are the only visitors and chat to the friendly lady on duty. She asks if we are going to the VLA. We are...she advises us to turn off highway 60 onto 52 which will be in about 20 miles., then it is 4 miles further.  The VLA stands for Very Large Array. It was good advice because one would want to continue past highway 52 as it looks like you would be turning too soon. (I will explain eventually!)
We turn down highway 52, we are still on a two lane road but it is much narrower than highway 60, which is also two lane. As we drive we are gazing to our right at the very large dishes in the distance. (looking like they are further down highway 60!!!! ) all of a sudden a huge buck with a full set of antlers bounds out about 10 short feet in front of us, I saw him a millisecond before Jeff and yelled and Jeff realized at the next millisecond that he had to brake. Fortunately the universe cooperated, the buck did not freeze but darted across the road in one motion and we slowed enough that we did not hit him. It was a very scary moment, over fast, just  a lingering feeling of what it could have been.  There would not have been a winner in that meeting. We continued down the road to theVLA.
There are 27 humongous dishes (like TV sattilite dishes) each 82ft (25m) in diameter, ea. 230 tons. The dishes are lined up in a Y formation and each can rotate to receive radio signals. We spent an hour at the site, saw a 23minute video and viewed many info boards and walked around the dishes outside. There has recently been a $98 million upgrade, contributions were received from Canada, and the new central supercomputer was built by the facility's Canadian colleagues. One last fact I will give is: the radio vision is sharp enough to read a newspaper in NYC from the distance of Los Angeles.
In the gift store at the VLA  I picked up a postcard of the image of Cassiopeia for our grandaughter Katie, as she was almost called after that supernova!  We were soon on our way again, a few miles on the postcard blew off the bike, I had not secured it well....so it was back to the VLA for another!
On the road we soon cross over the continental divide at 7,760 feet elevation. The grasshoppers are all over the road, jumping up Jeff's pant legs, somehow getting under his seat! Glad I can only feel them hitting my legs and boots.  We stopped for a sandwich and grasshoppers fell out of his pant legs in the restaurant! There are lots of signs to be on the watch for elk crossing but we see none. I'm scanning both sides of the roadway diligently.
We pass from New Mexico into Arizona, a little closer to home.  We are spending the night in ShowLow only 180 miles from Carefree.