Road trip to..

.. New Mexico!

So we love New Mexico, this was our 3rd trip.  We've been to Pojoaque/Santa Fe a few summers ago and to Albuquerque over Thanksgiving.

This time we stayed in Taos, from southern California that's a 12 hour road trip.

Ready for action

I meant to set the alarm at 3am so we would be ready for the road at 4am, but somehow I set it an hour later than I needed.  Oh well, Nadim was happy with one extra hour of sleep.

Sunrise over the summit of Cajon Pass

We woke the kids up and started the drive.  We took the I-15 to I-40 all the way to New Mexico and I already had a motel booked in Gallup, NM for the night.

Hesperia/Victorville Area

I had an ulterior motive for pushing all the way to Gallup on the first leg of the drive, I had plans to see Acoma Pueblo and Cultural Center the following day.  It did not disappoint but more on that later, we still have about a 9 hour drive ahead of us.

Mojave Desert goes on forever

It's a long, long boring haul between Barstow and Kingman, AZ.  If you stare at the Mojave Desert picture for about 4 hours you get the idea.

Rest area break

The I-40 is a major trucking route and has only 2 lanes each way.  Needless to say slow cars and semi trucks passing other semi trucks slowed us down.  Talk about your rolling road blocks.

Colorado River

When we finally hit the CA/AZ border we were all excited!  A different state!

Train running along the I-40

In addition to the I-40 being a major trucking route, train tracks run along there as well.  This is all along the old Route 66.  Many people travel through here checking out the Rte 66 sites, but we haven't gotten our kicks on Rte 66 or stood on the corner in Winslow, AZ.

Gaining altitude

We didn't stop in Kingman, AZ - but started heading up into Flagstaff, AZ.  We once ate at the Cracker Barrel in Kingman and sat across from a couple that were open carrying handguns.  Nothing like worrying about getting shot while enjoying pancakes.

Heading into Flagstaff, AZ

Flagstaff is a nice town, its located at 6900 feet so it is much cooler than many other cities in AZ.  It is a college town and as Nadim describes it - "normal".  They have the Lowell Observatory there, I wanted to take a tour but the timing didn't work out.  Next time.

Vacant building

Once we hit Eastern Arizona and New Mexico interesting buildings and signs sprinkled the landscape.  Not to be missed is the Twin Arrow stop and the town of Two Guns.  Of course there isn't actually anything to do or buy at these stops, just empty buildings and memories of what used to be.

Power plant

What is depressing are these giant plants.  I think they are generating electricity but what a blight on the landscape.

Another plant

We were finally getting close to Gallup, NM, our home for the night.  Good thing I made those reservations earlier, by the time we checked in the hotel was full of cowboys from Texas in town for a rodeo.

Goodnight ya'll :)