During the first several months of my retirement, I spend a great deal of time watching Bob Wells videos on YouTube and reading everything I could find on traveling solo, RV-ing, travel trailers and especially solo women traveling.
In Nov 2018, I took a short road trip from Austin to Santa Fe to meet up with my friend Bev. I left Jay with my friend Wendy again and hit the road; still in my Subaru Outback. The details are a bit of a blur of course it now being Jan 2020 which is one of the reasons I feel I need to 1. document my trips in a blog closer to real time AND 2. why I need to go back and review my photos and see what I can remember…at least where I went and where I might want to return to. So…..
I know I stopped the first night or 2 in Weatherford and stayed with Cindy’s daughter Ann. And then headed to Santa Fe. But before I made it to Santa Fe it started snowing. I hadn’t driven in snow in many, many years. By night fall, it was pretty bad but the road was pretty baron and no place to stop. I finally came to a gas station and little motel and manage to get the last room at the motel where I spent the night.
In the morning, I had to scrape the snow and ice off the windshield with piece of plastic I had in the car. And drove 10 mph for an hour or two til I finally made it to the Santa Fe Airport to pick up Bev. It was pretty f—-ing cold the first 2 days. We looked for some indoor activities and managed to find a few art museums and of course shopping (which I really didn’t need to do but always get pulled into it when I am with Bev).
It finally warmed up enough for us to do a little hiking. We went to Kash-Katuwe Tent Rock National Monument which was fascinating and a great place to hike. My cameral ran out of batteries and a lot of my photos were taken with my phone but they still capture the unique setting.
On the way back to the hotel, I took a ‘shortcut’ and ended up on a dirt road for miles and miles. I did love my Subaru! It was so fun. Although Bev was a ‘bit’ anxious but that just made it even more fun.
After I dropped Bev off at the airport, I headed back to Texas with some stops along the way.
I spent several hours at White Sands National Monument one afternoon. It was a surreal landscape and I would love to go back when I have time and actually so ‘sledding’ on the sand dunes. The photos don’t do it justice. The sand is so while and smooth. It seems like another planet. I can’t wait to take my grandson sand sledding there someday!
I stopped at the McDonald Observatory and froze for several hours for a less than interesting “star gazing party”. Not something I would bother with again.
I spent an afternoon at the Fort Davis National Monument. That was a rather sobering tour, fit in well with my summer Civil Rights theme. Much of the information had to do with how poorly and differently the buffalo soldiers were treated from the white soldiers.
I spend a lovely Saturday in Alpine, TX visiting the shops and seeing the local artistry.
And then I was back in Austin!
Travels With Vanette 