We are now in Santa Rosa New Mexico, about eighty miles East of Albuquerque after 8 hours of driving across the windy dessert of Arizona and New Mexico. I drove straight through with only two stops, both to stretch our legs. The incredible thing about this gas-chewing Navigator is that the tank is about 32 gallons deep, so you can go almost 400 miles wihtout filling up.

The first stop was at a little rest area East of Gallup NM. We pulled over, got out and just walked away from the highway until we found some train tracks. The wind was whipping around crazy and the ground was rough so we only lasted about twenty minutes and then the dog actually turned around and went back to the car herself. That was a first.

 

The second stop was really great. The sun was starting to go down and Loona needed to stop. We pulled off on a "No services" exit and just started driving down a side road. I decided that it might be fun to explore a little while we still had daylight. I looked North at the high cliffy mountains that line the Horizon. Every time I drive down the New Mexico highways, I look left and right and see these crazy mountains, with the yellow rock faces that go way up and look so strange. They always seem very far away and I just blow past them. But I've always wanted to go right up to them and see them close up. So we found a dirt road that led north and turned off. The roar of traffic on the Interstate 40 got quiet really fast as we trudged down the is very rocky dirt road, and the tiny triangle that represented our Navigator on the NEverlost screen ventured into the inky blackness that lies outside of it's charted domain. I know what you're thinking "Inky blackness, Louie? Was it really inky?" No. Sorry. It was just black.

The road we drove on got rougher and rougher and I flipped the navigator's switch to "AWD". It handled great, plus it's a rental so it's not like I babied it. The poor dog was being thrown around the back of the truck as I plowed into the wilderness, getting closer and closer to these looming mountains. (maybe they were hills. I don't know the diffference). As we got closer, they looked incredible towering over us. They seemed impossible. I almost got a feeling of vertigo looking at them, as if my body was afraid I would fall UP the mountains or something. I was also struck by this feeling like we were trespassing. I kept expecting to see a sign telling me to go away or for some security guard to stop me. That's one thing about being out in the real country that is hard to get used to for folks like me who live in New York or LA. When you see these beautiful things in nature, you keep expecting to be restricted from enjoying them. It seems hard to believe that all this stunning scenery is just there for whoever wants to walk up and touch it.

About twenty minutes into the drive, the road was almost not a road anymore, but we reached the foot of one of the... high things... and got out of the car. We started to walk, then started to climb. The ground got very rocky, then gravelly, then grassy and very steep.

That's all for now, my friends...

Thanks for reading,