After leaving our overnight stay at Walmart, we headed north on I-25 towards Alburquerque. The road is in good condition and the scenery starts to change from a desert landscape to wide open prairies of rolling hills, buttes, mesas, and trees. We haven’t seen so many trees since we started our trip and it’s a nice change for us. In looking on the internet, we think they are a type of cedar tree and must be very prolific since they cover the landscape to the horizon in all directions.
New Mexico is #6 for the lowest population density in the US and here it’s evident as there are no towns, gas stations, or any hint of civilization other than the highway and fencing. There must be huge mega farms in the area and in reading about it, Ted Turner owns a million acres in New Mexico and owns the largest herd of Buffalo on private property. Richard Branson, multi-billionaire and founder of Virgin Galactic, lives in Truth or Consequences, NM and is building a spaceport here, to offer 50,000 customers flights to space when it’s completed.
The city of Alburquerque is located 5,000 to 7,000 feet in elevation and appears to be a beautiful city with great scenery of towering mountains. The highway is busy but just as we are driving through it, Justice decides he needs to stop and stop now! He starts nudging Ron, which he never does, and we know it’s urgent but there’s nothing that can be done at the moment. I tell him he has to wait, and he lays down for now – he’s such a good dog and I locate the nearest roadside rest outside of the city. We reach it in less than an hour and he has to go NOW, dragging Ron to the dog area when he lets loose a huge load, then taking 10 steps, drops another just a big! Poor dog, had to go so badly but he managed to hold on!
New Mexico has some of the most unique rest stops, at least in our experience. I had to snap a picture of this one and the historic sign that’s posted there. The historic marker described how in this area hostile Apache frequently waited in ambush along a narrow passage by the Rio Grande River which runs through the area. Travelers had to organize into well-armed caravans to assure their safety along this section of the Camino Real.
After a long drive of nearly 5 hours, we make it to Tucumcari around 1:00pm and get checked into our campsite. It’s nothing fancy but its level, full hook-ups including a good WiFi connection, and the showers are amazing. We are spending tonight and tomorrow night here before moving on and plan to check out some of the unique attractions nearby tomorrow. We are looking forward to some R&R for a couple of days.
2025 Airstream Travels 