Sept 15 – Western New Mexico

I crossed over into New Mexico in the late afternoon and here’s the summary of the drive with visual aids:

• Unexpected sights of pecan and walnut orchards, and several vineyards!
• Had to pass by Silver City and the Gila cliff dwellings, which was sad since the cliff dwellings were on my must-see list.  Next time!
• Huge dust devils along the valley and one monster next to the highway at one point—it was like a tornado of dirt spirals a good 50’ wide and a couple hundred feet tall!  Signs were everywhere for "caution: dust storms" and "zero visibility possible" and "do NOT stop in traffic lanes."
• Cone-shaped mountains that looked like pyramids from a distance.  I think they must be volcanic remnants—I’ll have to check into that once I’m home.

• I crossed the Rio Grande twice!
• I passed a sign for a town called “Radium Springs”, which reminded me of “Radiator Springs” from Disney/Pixar’s Cars and I wonder if this is where they got the inspiration for the name.  It also made me wonder (thinking of anthropomorphic vehicles) if I were a car what would I be?  I’ll have to think about it and work up an illustration for fun.  Let’s see  . . . 1970s, something speedy but not glamorous, both practical and fun, a little bit tom-boyish, some funky detailing. . . I have a sinking feeling that if I were a car I’d be a brown El Camino with orange pin stripes.  Ha!
• Other misc pix of New Mexico as seen from the highway:

From cones to buttes.

More lush desert.

More cones.

Catching some evening light against the red rocks.

More cones in the distance.  Is using a camera while driving a distraction if my eyes are still on the road?  Heh.

Sunset lasted almost two hours.