Last week we took off on a short road trip to New Mexico. The winds were nasty both on our Monday, March 12th departure and, especially so, on our return on Thursday, March 15th. Map plot above is for 3:00 pm local time on 15 March and is along I-10 in southwestern New Mexico (from MesoWest). There are obviously some problems with directions reported but the wind speeds were in the range of 40 to 60 mph. When we departed on Monday the winds, from the east, were quite strong as soon as we passed the high point between Tucson and Benson. There was some dust and tumbleweeds, and I estimated a nasty, cold wind at the New Mexico Visitor Center on west side of Lordsburg to be gusting 40 to 50 mph.
However, the winds on Thursday caused serious problems due to dust storms that closed I-10 for over four hours. The Arizona DOT (or Highway Patrol) was doing a serious disservice to stranded motorists, putting out a statement that the interstate would be closed until 2:00 pm (which - of course - is about when one would expect the strongest winds to be in play, and they were). The interstate was eventually reopened between 4:00 and 5:00 pm.
We decided to turn south toward Hachita, rather than sitting in Lordsburg for hours. Our plan was to head west through Rodeo and then Portal and drive over the Cirichuahua Mountains - this is something we've been hoping to do - eventually returning to I-10 at Wilcox, Arizona. However, we learned the hard way that there is no gas available at either town to the east of the mountains. I didn't feel we had enough gas to get over the mountains, and so we limped slowly south to Douglas, arriving at the first Douglas station with just a whisper of gas. So much for our Chirichuahua plan.
The rest of trip went very well. We spent two nights at the Plaza Hotel (above) in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The NetFlix series, Longmire, was filmed in and around Las Vegas and has produced a significant tourist draw. I had also learned that the United World College - USA Campus was a bit west of Las Vegas in the small village of Montezuma.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armand_Hammer_United_World_College_of_the_American_West
This is a unique two-year, tuition free, college that hosts a small number of 17-19 year-old students from around the world. It is a closed campus with only a few tours each year, but seeing their main building (below) was worth the drive. The restored hotel is called the Montezuma Castle (Hotel). It began life in 1886 as a Fred Harvey Hotel (the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad had a short spur line to Montezuma because of the well-known hot springs there).
The light sanctuary is a special campus building that is open to visitors. This structure is essentially a work of peaceful art that creates a meditative environment that uses numerous prisms to capture the moving light as the sun crosses the sky. It is really quite beyond description.
We visited the Pecos National Monument (above) - along the famous river and just outside the village of Pecos. The ruins shown are of the final Spanish Missionary Church that was constructed there. The early ruins are mostly just remnants of the walls and foundations of the large pueblo that was there. There are a couple of Kivas open for visitors to climb down into.
We also visited Petroglyph National Monument on the west side of the Rio Grande at Albuquerque (below). The park is a difficult visit for the less nimble visitor (as per us), since the trails are rough and wind through and over volcanic rocks and boulders.
We managed to cram quite a bit into the short trip - which also included a breakfast in Santa Fe, where Katie's sister and her husband live.
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