Heading southwest, and then to Denver

Made it as far as West Memphis, Arkansas yesterday - and woke up to a skiff of snow this morning.

Stay tuned...

Oh, rough time to be going to Denver based on the weather report!

Please be careful.

Donna

A Major storm came inland this morning. Portland got ice and snow and that's pretty unusual. Do be careful.

That's the part about having good tuning - not going straight to Denver! I don't have to be there for my conference until November 19. They'll have things straightened out and cleaned up by then, surely.

Today we arrived in Abilene, TX - and still pretty brittle at 30F. At least the sun finally came out just before Dallas, and in time to be right in our westbound eyes.

There has been a lot of friendly fall color along the highway, especially in Arkansas with excellent Sweetgum, bronzy copper Baldcypress, and vivid arrays of Sumac colonies.

We'll see what real west Texas, and southward, brings on the 'morrow.

Happy trailsVV!

Roll on!

Cloudy to the east, with sun making colors behind the overcast - but looks decent westward.

Now to the south...

Your road trip brings back memories. In December 2010, I started driving west in a snowstorm because my daughter, who had recently moved to Utah, wanted her Subaru Forester and I couldn't find a trucker willing to haul it out there. Fortunately, she and her boyfriend were able to meet me in Denver.

What still sticks with me is that when I printed out driving directions from my house to Denver, they were shorter than for a drive from my house to D.C.!

what is the conference in Denver?

As trustee for the KY chapter of ASLA, I get to attend a midyear meeting of the Board of Trustees for the American Society of Landscape Architects as well as the annual meeting of ASLA wherever it is held. Last year was Boston (in the rain); this year is Denver (where they've recently had some snow, I hear).

We are headed there tomorrow, as we wrap up several vacation days here in New Mexico - after a wonderful weekend at Big Bend National Park.

It has been cool to cold, but fascinating and restful...

Now that's a vanity plate!

Oh no, you took the Mrs...what about my truffle order for Christmas?

Love the plate!

Can you tell about pic 4- is that a specific trail there, or just one on many such scenes?

Very nice pictures. The desert southwest has its own beauty, but I'll take the verdant east. I lived in the Phoenix area for three years and was oh so happy to get out of there. I do have to admit I wouldn't mind being there right now...

Nice scenic pics. Enjoy the drive north, dig out the ear muffs...

All those images were from Big Bend National Park.

sallyg:

That is the Santa Elena Canyon of the Rio Grande. There is a trail from the mouth back into the 7 mile canyon some distance before vertical topography (1500 foot tall walls) terminates it.

On the way to New Mexico, I got some of my geek on...

Astronomically assuaged, we continued up the road to New Mexico. Based in Grants for a few days, there were nearby volcanic and pueblo culture parks - as well as unique experiences.

El Malpais National Monument and National Conservation Area were right next door...

Presuming you picked Pie Town...

haha Weerobin!

Warning= you wouldn't have to tell me twice. eek

It all looks breathtaking.

How many miles have you put on thus far? It's usually about ten days into a trip that I start missing home.

Your trip looks fabulous, lot's of great sights. How did the conference go?

Not a bad presumption...

From that road sign, it was 32 miles of rough sledding - with no pie at the end of the rainbow - see sign in window.

For a little burg, there was an amazing amount of additional enterprise - despite being sans pie.

You've got a pretty big smile on your face for someone who didn't get any pie! Maybe you can get something from this place to make up for it on your drive back: http://ozwinerykansas.com

It's so great that you had the time to sight-see on your way out there.

Despite the disappointment - devoid of delicacies - we soldiered on.

You might not yet have realized that we were now astride the Continental Divide on U.S. 60 - which just so happens to be the same federal highway in central Kentucky which I lived on in Versailles KY in my horticultural youth, AND the same federal highway on which I spend a good bit of my work life in Louisville KY - Eastern Parkway. So I felt a bit more affinity there than the usual backroad on the high plateau of western New Mexico.

Oh, and there is one more thing.

What would you make of this?

I took those four pictures from the airplane window on a late October flight to the 2011 ASLA conference in San Diego. I didn't know what I was looking at when I took them, but endeavored to find out by looking at Google satellite images of roadways, rivers, mountains, etc.

Turns out this unusual arrangement is located near the intersection of US 60 and NM 52 in western New Mexico - not very far at all from Pie Town. Thus was set an element of the itinerary for this year.

This is a National Radio Astronomy Observatory facility known as the Very Large Array (VLA). I must say: except for it being located on the Plains of San Agustin, it is pretty near the pinnacle of geekdom.

Did you take a tour of it?

Of course we took the tour!

And things moved when we weren't looking...

Walked away with some swag, and wonderful memories...

I'm sure you'll all understand I HAD to get that all out on the table.

To answer some previous queries...

Much of this trip was breath-taking, and not just because of the awe-inspiring landscapes. High elevation takes a toll when you are an Ohio River valley landlubber. We spent a lot of this trip at 5000 feet (about 1515 meters) and higher.

We arrived back at the Valley just after midnight November 27 (Thanksgiving morning), having covered a lot of ground on this trip - I think just over 5000 miles (8000 kilometers) total out and back. We started missing home as it got dark on eastbound I-64 that last Wednesday evening in snowy St. Louis, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana...

The ASLA conference went extremely well. The attendance was over 5,500; we had over 90,000 square feet of EXPO space, with many exhibitors already signed up for 2015 in Chicago; and the educational sessions were informative and invigorating. Being a trustee means all your time is not your own, so I didn't get to see much of Denver in daylight except for Monday before we hit the road. A handful of very good meals rounded it out: Cholon, Charcoal, and Jax offered some keen eats.

Seeing the landscapes and countryside of places besides where I live - that's a goal every time and a pleasure. Along with that comes food, culture, history - plants - and an amazing array of people. It's all good.

The smile is from the pleasure of spending quality time with my dear spouse...

Thanks for the cross country tour. Getting your geek on was also enjoyable. Don't we all have a geeky side?

Every now and then I am reminded of just how geeky I truly am. Going to Disneyland sounds like torture to me, but I would love to see the Very Large Array, and buy the geeky souvenirs too.

VV, its so different from Ky! I breathe much easier on the Western Divide, and the dry areas of the west, but the road is hard and wears ya down soon. Am in Denver today and the temps went from 50° this mornin to 21° as I dropped off of Vail. Theres a different world on the west side of Vail, but thats where the best touring starts. Just gray and cold today.

Where are you going, kittriana? Are you skiing?

Kittrianna, are you in a Freightliner?

I think I recognize the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 west of Denver - as well as the excellent elevated elements of that same interstate that were among the last sections completed through some significant and valuable terrain.

An architect/engineer named Joe Passonneau designed those features, meant to lay lightly on the land while providing the important transportation link through the scenic Glenwood Canyon.

https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/15372/joseph_passonneau_architect_and_engineer_designed_past_of_interstate_highway_system

Kenworth pos. I70 westbound upper ramp, Glenwood Canyon, several of tunnels across there, but not Eisenhower. I was folllowing another truck up @Eisenhower that had had 2 parts of a ujoint drop out, yet was dtill climbing and well shook up, chuckle.
I have always loved the White River Gorge.

That's an ancient wing mirror there!

And some nice pines on those crags . . .

Resin

I recognize EisenhowerTunnel because of the wide pullouts for hazmat trucks before entering that long tunnel, this KW is a 2009, Cummins pre def, but still with the original cat converters- its one redeeming feature. Not hijacking VV's thread and awesome trip (60) isnt one of the usual routes I would run. I enjoyed the installation. Gone now while I have a moment to investigate the new structures in Nev ( to me ) of tall solar lite towers...

That's some beautiful country. It's difficult to enjoy the view yourself, let alone share it with us via photos when you're driving a big rig.

Thanks for the link VV, the structure not only lays softly on the landscape but actually adds to the natural art of the terrain. Well done Mr. Passonneau! Gorgeous form following function!