Wind, Windows, and Rocks

We spent two nights in New Mexico in two different campgrounds. The first was in Tucumcari, where we had an easy night but captured no photos of significance. The second night, we spent in the parking lot of the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona, although it was close enough to New Mexico, so we'll play horseshoes and just call it that. The Time Zone challenges justify it!

As soon as we drove into New Mexico, the winds were very strong and gusting, making our very long drive a bit stressful. (Also, look forward to an upcoming post about road conditions throughout our trip. It'll be fun and informative!) We crossed the Continental Divide again, and I snapped this photo at a gas station:

Covered Wagon Depicting Continental Divide Elevation in New Mexico

It was difficult to get other pictures from this location due to the chain link fence surrounding the property on the side with the beautiful mountain views, but trust me when I say it was beautiful. Despite it being well into summer, New Mexico along the I-40 is currently green and gorgeous. Except for the rain and wind.

Driving through the high country, we came upon brake lights on all vehicles in front of us, just after a squall of near epic proportions. As we inched forward, we started to see why traffic was backed up. On the eastbound side of the divided highway, a big rig had jack-knifed, flipped over, hit at least one other vehicle, and literally shattered. In the video below, Ron and I share the story as you see footage of the miles of backed up traffic.

We were surely going in the right direction to have avoided all that.

We got to our campsite at the Navajo Nation Museum, a Harvest Host, quite late. The sun was already low on the horizon, but we caught a few photos. Here is our rig in front of the huge rock closest to the museum:

Truck and Travel Trailer at the Navajo Nation Museum, Window Rock, Arizona

If you recall, one of my favorite flora experiences on the trip were the mini-sunflowers seen along the road beginning in Utah and throughout Montana and most of North Dakota. They seemed to disappear in Minnesota. I was missing them, but grateful to have captured a photo of them just outside our campground in Fillmore, Utah. WELL . . . as soon as we drove into New Mexico, the flowers returned in abundance! Oh, happy day! Even better than seeing them on the roadsides, there were a couple of patches of them in the embankment just behind our rig. This time, I took video so you can see their whimsical dancing, smiling, and waving!

I know now, since I did some research on the road, that the plant is called Brittlebush and it is prevalent throughout many of the plains states. Funny name, as the plant seems anything but brittle — more like flexible — and it doesn't look like a bush. But hey, sometimes given names don't match their owner. Anyway, the Brittlebush living alongside highways moves even more than in this video because of the high winds, so when I saw them, I would always think of the flowers as dancing, smiling, and waving at us!

Wishing that you meet people and plants that dance, smile, and wave at you, too! See you in the next road trip post (or back home, since we're already there)!💖