The long and winding American highway cuts through the beautiful, yet barren deserts to perfectly showcase New Mexico
Week three of being on the road with
Matt Herzog, Jack Singer, David Fort Jr, and Bobby Decker
Any road westward leads you past innumerable famous waterfalls or rock formations with funny names. It’s beautiful, but at the same time, it’s perfectly hard to comprehend.
We began the week exhausted, hurting and in a state of hatred in a Walmart parking lot in Roswell, New Mexico. We needed to clean ourselves. So, we went to the Bottomless Lakes State Park right outside of the city. It was incredible, but we needed to keep going. We drove on past Roswell, with all its cheap and fun alien gimmicks at every corner.
Cruising the streets of Albuquerque New Mexico, we captured the billowy clouds and never-ending roads
We desperately needed a place to recharge, but we especially needed a real shower. From there, we headed for Santa Fe. Dave’s grandparents own some property up there. Thank god for Dave. The property itself is 10 acres, which means very little for anyone who’s not a farmer, but its roughly the size of your old middle school.
Bobby takes a tumble while exploring the natural landscape of the southwest
Every town, city or Walmart parking lot that we’ve slept in, the mornings have been muggy and way too hot. For some reason, every morning in Santa Fe has been nice and chilly. The cool breeze feels great on your bare feet. From the shade of the porch, we flowed back and forth on our rocking chairs without saying a word, listening only to the wind and the bird calls.
The symbol of the Southwest has to be the Longhorn Skull. A memento mori for the American West.
Ship Rock, New Mexico: Seeing this large mass in person is unmatched. Hopefully, this photo does it at least some justice
We stayed in Santa Fe for a couple days, mostly taking in the scenery rather than going to museums. The one tourist trap that we willingly got caught in was Canyon Road. To the uninitiated, it’s a popular walking street brimming with great, small art galleries and scenic restaurants. To everyone else, it’s a row of car dealerships for art. We left New Mexico that night into Arizona.
Monument Valley, Arizona. For those who don’t know, it’s the iconic location for practically every cowboy movie. We walked around like we were John Wayne beneath the towering rock. Before we knew it, the sun rested to vast starlight. Monument Valley would begin our newly developed relationship with Arizona’s red sand.
Watoba, the mule, takes Jake through the Grand Canyon on an unforgettable voyage through one of its grassy trails
What can you say about the Grand Canyon? You spend your time trying to rationalize what you’re looking at. Part of you is deathly afraid of falling over into the never-ending depth that is the Grand Canyon and the other part of you wants to reach out and grab the view.
Utterly breathtaking is the only description for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
Leaving it, we approached a storm. We were zooming on the road before we hit strange standstill traffic on a desert highway. A flash flood covered the road with mud and rocks. Bobby and Matt walked past twenty cars and semi-trucks to see the dirty patch of road causing the problem. They stood watch before they jumped in to help clear the road off all the larger rocks. By the time they got back, the rain cleared and a rainbow appeared. So, we kept on going.