100º F at the top of the escarpment, a distant thunderstorm midway between Punta del Chorro and Mesa Huerfana offered prospect for cooler, moving air possibly enhanced by rainfall. Twenty minutes later driving down the Corazano drainage temperature peaked at 104º but the edge of the storm was within reach, straddling Hwy 104 and still dropping rain.
Ten minutes later rain was falling on the new truck. Then came hail. Fresh off the lot in Santa Fe, that made me tense up a bit, but the hail remained small and caused no damage. I rolled down the window to take in fine aroma of rain on long-parched earth. Then it was past, receding in the rearview–wistful memory for those fortunate enough to be there when it was.
