Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, repeat……
This week, I spent the whole week in three states. Well, four if you count shock from changes in weather. A couple of other drivers and I got an opportunity to do multiple turns hauling from El Paso, TX to Brighton, CO. It was good pay and nice trips. The first one went off without a hitch. The next one was a little different. You’ll notice two pictures that look similar but are in different seasons. These should be referred to as what a difference two fall days can make in our weather. One was taken on Tuesday. The second was taken on Friday. New Mexico had a little bit of a weather oddity in that they usually don’t have snow at such low latitudes and so much. I’ve seen this kind of snow twice in the years I’ve been going down there. So, it’s not rare, just a little unusual. The snow was heavy and wet and started out as rain, then changed as the day cooled off. The roads were definitely treacherous, as NM never seems prepared for snow. As I went into Colorado, it was more seasonal but still treacherous. Funnily enough, it was better in the valleys and worse on the hills in between. I saw hundreds of wrecks, everything from fender benders, to far worse. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some fatalities. Just like in Wyoming, every time it snows, people need to relearn to slow down and drive carefully in bad weather.
On the first trip, I went up I-25, which is a bit dull. The rest of the time, I went up and down 54 and 84, which is shorter and prettier. I got a couple of shots of Sandia Peak in Albuquerque with the sun going down. It looks vaguely watermelon, which is what ‘sandia’ means in Spanish. I also took a few pictures of the desert mountains south of Albuquerque. I stayed at the rest area near Watrous, which is a small town in NM. That is where the picture with the tree and mountains behind it was taken. I tried to take a picture of the stars, but it didn’t turn out as I had hoped. Needless to say, the stars were so bright, and the moon was late coming out, so I could see the Milky Way. It was brilliant. I delivered in Brighton and ran south again to get the next load. The next pictures are the storm clouds over the Sacramento Mountains, which are east and north of Alamagordo. This was just before I ran into the snow near Corona, NM. I got as far as the Watrous rest area before I’d had enough of the slick roads and bad drivers. The next few pictures are from that rest area towards Raton pass where it got hectic and was not safe to take photos. The last picture is of the mountains in CO across from Brighton. I unloaded late Friday in Brighton and headed down to El Paso Saturday. As I got south of Raton, there wasn’t a trace of the snow from Friday. It was like it never happened. The trip was nice and the scenery was pretty as always, or almost always. Now, it’s Sunday evening. I’m in El Paso and it feels like shorts weather again or close enough. All of the locals are wearing coats and I’m walking around in a short-sleeved shirt. What a difference a couple of days makes….
