New Mexico - Intro
Twenty-five years ago, I went to Albuquerque for a weekend and vowed to return and explore ‘some time soon’! And so we left South Padre Island, TX on February 17, 2011 and traveled yet another 1500 miles north and west to the beautiful state of New Mexico where we spent five weeks. It is a place of diversity in matters of history, culture, geography, tourism and opportunity. The state license plate says everything - the “State of Enchantment”.
I can’t short-change the drive from South Padre Island in southeast Texas to the west end of the state. The drive was easy – all interstate. But the drive is similar to driving from Ottawa to Thunder Bay as it takes two full days to get across Texas. On Day One, we drove 360 miles north to Bandero County, referred to as “Hill Country”, just west of San Antonio. There, we connected with I-40 and headed directly west to Van Horn. Once we turned onto the I-40 on Day Two, we still had 350 miles to go before we actually reached Van Horn.
Once Hill Country was behind us, it wasn’t long before we saw our first mesa in the distance. John told me to quickly grab the camera and take a picture and so I did – as if it would disappear after thousands years! The front windows of the rig are big and wide and photos often surprise us in that they turn out OK – even through the window. The country side was everything you’d think – we were looking for John Wayne behind every bush!
After an hour, I had taken at least 10 (useless) pictures and the mesa was, well… somewhat closer. And then finally, it was there to our right and it still looked far away! Unbelievable that it took so long for us to get close enough so the mesa took up the full photo frame (without zoom)! Even so, you can see it was still a distance away:
Just on the other side of the Guadalupes is the southeast section of New Mexico and the city of Carlsbad where our adventures with the state began. I have to split the news of this adventure into a few chapters – there’s a lot to share. All to say, I’ll start with Carlsbad and the Caverns and will follow with a few words on the very interesting little town of Artesia and the infamous Roswell. Albuquerque itself will scoop a chapter and our tours on the Turquoise Trail, to Sante Fe, to the Acoma Pueblo and Los Alamos may take a few more.
Early into the five weeks we spent in this beautiful state, John traveled home to Kingston for a week – he had a previous commitment to a local Home Show. During that week, my long-time gal-pal Mary joined me for a visit. So, as you read the following chapters and I talk about where ‘we’ went, my co-explorer was either John or Mary. There were even a few places that I even got to go twice – once with Mary and once with John! I was lucky.
Hang in there with me as I hope to keep you entertained… m.
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