Some of you might be wondering why we haven’t posted in a while. Well, it’s because we’ve been on the road. Now that we’re home, we look forward to sharing our latest adventures with you, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here’s a short synopsis of some of what we encountered on our latest winter road trip.
New Mexico
Our trek covered some fun cities and national parks in central and southwestern New Mexico and southern Arizona. The trip was fun and uneventful except for some weather issues. On day two we were met with 70 mile per hour winds near Las Cruces, New Mexico. Not only were we plagued with zero visibility in the blowing dust, but a tractor-trailer rig blew over in front of us and blocked the interstate. Fortunately, the driver was only slightly injured but had to be pulled out of the cab through the broken windshield. We didn’t get any photos because it was just too terrifying trying to help the driver and worrying if drivers behind us were going to see that traffic was stopped.
Our planned hike in the mountains at Las Cruces was out of the question, so we spent a couple of hours eating lunch in a Subway sandwich shop and watching the awnings over their windows blow away. Luckily, our hotel let us check in early enabling us a place to get out of the wind.
Arizona
Day three was perfectly gorgeous: a bit chilly but with just a slight breeze. As we drove toward our first stop of the day in Arizona, we began to see some snow-capped peaks. But when we crossed the border, Arizona greeted us with gorgeous desert peaks, all topped with glistening snow. It was a scene that we would see throughout our trip, but it got even better.
Our first destination of the day was in those mountains, but not at a high elevation, so the weather was perfect for hiking and perusing the park site. We were blessed with perfect hiking and sightseeing weather for the next few days until we woke up to the scene below on day six. Our itinerary called for a morning of hiking in a national park, so we went prepared to be cold and muddy.
As luck would have it, the skies cleared, and we were able to enjoy the park as planned. While driving northward toward our next stop, we saw even more frosted peaks with fresh snow.
Then we saw this:
One day we went from this cold and wet mountainous landscape…
…to this dry and windy desert landscape, all in the matter of a few hours.
Conclusion
In all, we traveled through three desert ecosystems with each one being unique in its climate, flora, and fauna. We also saw some breathtaking mountain scenery along with a few lonely backroads. Where Arizona meets Mexico, we saw the border wall and talked to a park ranger who regularly shares her lunches with hungry immigrants who have crossed said wall.
It was an amazing road trip covering just under 2,400 miles. With that said, you might be wondering about the title of this post. No, it wasn’t a ruined road trip at all, even though we had to change the itinerary a couple of times due to snow. For now, let’s just say we learned a lot of history, visited some nice towns and cities, and did a lot of walking, hiking, and eating. We’re excited to be back in the blogosphere and cannot wait to share our latest destinations with you!
Mike and Kellye
©2023
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Can’t wait for your coming posts Kellye. Always good to see new territory, as long as you can stay safe doing it. The winds in NM sound horrendous. We have friends who spent the last month in Tucson. At times, our weather was better than theirs. Glad you got home safe and sound. Allan
Great summary/taster and lovely photographs. I look forward to your more detailed posts
Thank you, Brenda. We’re working on the posts now.
Welcome back! Oh my, you have had some adventures! I am glad you were able to stay safe and to enjoy much of the trip. I look forward to reading your future posts!
Thank you, Betty. It’s good to be back.
These are lovely adventures! I had similar experiences in Japan, where dunes meet snowy mountains. I would love to visit New Mexico one day and see this contrast, too✌️
Thank you, Bahanur.
SOunds like a nice trip minus the sand storm of course. Looking forward to read more about it. I can’t help but wonder if we crossed paths at one point.
Thank you. We may have crossed paths. Our trip was mostly through southern Arizona.
An example of just how large and wide-open a country this is where you can go from a desert dust storm to a Winter wonderland in a relatively short period of time. Mrs. Chess and I have always wondered about what it would be like traveling from Phoenix to Flagstaff and back in the Winter. Maybe some day! Looking forward to future posts – welcome back!
Thank you, Bruce. We’re looking forward to sharing our trip.
What a lovely road trip. I’ve enjoyed your summary and now I’m looking forward to finding out more!
Thank you, Marion!
Ooh exciting – New Mexico was one of our favourite US road trips and I can’t wait to compare experiences and see it in this very different season! I’m so pleased your title was a ‘tease’ 🤣
Thank you, Sarah. It was a good road trip.
The weather in the winter can always be a bit of a gamble. That’s wild about the tractor-trailer. Glad to hear that no one was injured. That’s quite the drastic change of landscape in Arizona from those snow-capped peaks and snow along the roads, to a dry and warmer area. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip. We’ve never been to New Mexico and always enjoy a good road trip!
Thank you. We look forward to sharing our posts.
I’m very excited to read about your trip! Glad there were no injuries with all that wind, how crazy!
Love the post and photos! Always look forward to seeing and hearing from you both!! 💖🤗
Your photos are great! I can’t wait to hear about your adventures! I’ve never seen a cloud rainbow. It sounds like you had some intense weather to deal with.
Thanks, Donna. The dust storm was the worst of it.
How scary to be the first responders to such an accident. Glad the driver was okay and glad you were there to help in that moment. I’m so excited to follow along with your winter trip through these desert places! 🙂
Thanks, Meg.
Yep, like others we’ll be looking forward to joining you on the freeways and highways….you can’t beat a good view of snow capped mountains huh
Well, they’re not the Swiss Alps, but coming from the flatlands, we love the views. Thank you!
Wow! You have covered alot of miles and with vastly different scenery. Those palm trees and the snow, and then desert. Glad you are well and back safely. What an adventure.
Yes, it was a fun adventure, Sandy. Thank you for reading.
Kellye thanks for sharing your adventures. I love seeing your posts..Anita
Thank you, Anita. I love seeing yours too!
You said Road Trip in Ruins, I know what ruined it. Snow. You got way to close. 🙂
No ruined trips for us. We try to make the most out of what we’re dealing with. Thank you for reading.
I love the snow and palm trees photo!
Thanks, Neal!
Wow! You really had an amazing trip with everything from snow covered mountains, arid desert, an emergency rescue, and a cloud rainbow. That’s quite eventful. Glad you both had a good time. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you. We can’t wait to share more of the trip.
Bright blessings on that park ranger ~ and on you two, for not just calling the accident in and driving on. It’s one person reaching out to another, all over our world, which has any hope of saving it.
Thanks for sharing the scenery. So much open space to feel free.
We love open spaces. Thank you for reading.
What crazy weather Kellye! That must have been so scary when the semi blew over, I’m glad he wasn’t seriously hurt. The mountains with the snow is so beautiful. We are still planning a trip that way and your posts are helping us make our decision where to go. Thank you!
Thank you, Diane!
So glad that your quietness on WordPress wasn’t down to any life difficulties and that you were out on the road! It sounds like you had quite an adventure, especially with those crazy weather conditions early on. Relieved you both stayed safe. These snapshots have really whetted my appetite for your upcoming posts. Love the contrast in vistas, colours and conditions in seemingly the blink of an eye. Not sure I’ve ever seen a rainbow cloud, at least not one like that, it’s a great capture. Looking forward to seeing some ruins and glad nothing was ruined 😉
We appreciate that Leighton! We’re going to “ruin” a few blog posts over the next few months, but not all is in ruins.
What a trip – looking forward to reading the details…..
Thanks Marie!
Crazy thought to have desert and snow in one place makes the Uk look quite mundane
Thanks for checking out our post. I would say the UK is extraordinarily interesting!
Yeah !! For all the wrong reasons 😂😂
Haha!
Lovely landscapes to drive through. It’s amazing the size and scale of the outdoors in the US – we just don’t do it like that here in the UK
Thanks, Hannah. We certainly prefer wide open spaces as opposed to “people-y” places.
Sounds like a marvelous adventure! Those high winds and snow can be really scary when you are traveling down the road. Glad you were able to have some nice days to get out and explore. Looking forward to seeing more about your trip.
Great photography! Great trip! Thanks for sharing! 👌
What a lovely road trip. I’ve enjoyed your summary and now I’m looking forward to finding out more!
Thank you for stopping by our post, Tyler! Stay tuned. We’ve got some cool stuff coming up.
Great road trip. April 2022 we drove through Arizona and New Mexico. We got caught up in a dust storm, too. We’’d never seen anything like it. I think we got lucky we didn’t get hurt.
You’re very lucky, Dan. Thank you so much for reading our post!
Wow!!! Awesome photographs and such an amazing trip!!! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing with us. 🙂
Thanks so much, Linda!
A great documentation of Arizonas diversity with your words and your photos. I think that is what we love about living here. In one day we can choose our weather…most of the time.
Thank you! While we live in west Texas, we do have that saying, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait 10 minutes.” I think that’s applicable to most places.
True isn’t it. I like that. Our weather tends to be the same where we lived, but we can drive to different climates.
Wow, so many hand gliders in the air at once, that’s not something you see everyday lol, brilliant 😊🪂
Thank you, Cherryl! Definitely not something we see every day or ever. Thanks for checking out the post.
Hi Kellye. Whoa- does that mean you guys were trying to help that truck driver out through the windshield? Can only imagine not being able to see and hoping anyone that comes, stops… Love that you saw so many deserts and snow topped mountains. Sounds like a great trip. Love that someone shares their lunch. I do not like when people are hungry- love when someone shares. Hope you have a great day. PS I still can’t comment from my other blog. I don’t know why. I don’t even get any notifications either.
I stayed in the car, but Mike helped another truck driver get the driver out. It was truly terrifying for a few minutes. Just glad everyone was okay in the end.
Thank goodness they got him out! My husband is the type to do that, too. He’s helped several folks before.
Hi Kellye and Mike
I’ll be catching up slowly now with your trip. Some gorgeous photos already, so many different scenes. Just love the rainbow cloud. That’s so kind of the ranger to share her lunch. Looking forward to reading the rest 😃
Love this post and photos.
Thank you so much, Rameen!