New Mexico Roadtrip ~ New Year's 2010

In November 2009 my husband was transferred to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. We were engaged at the time, and I still owned a business. Therefore, I was stuck in Arkansas while he was stuck in Oklahoma. We wanted to spend some more time together before we got married, so we decided to take full advantage of his leave over Christmas. Since we had a big trip to Tahiti coming up, we decided to get away by loading up the truck and driving. We took our sweet little beagle/dachshund mix, Bentley, loaded up some clothes, a cooler full of food and drinks, an air mattress, a space heater, and a generator, and we started driving. As we got on the road my husband asked me which way I wanted to go. I thought for a second and said, "How 'bout west?" And so we did. We drove from Arkansas into Oklahoma. The sunset was beautiful as we drove through the plains part of Oklahoma, and we loved seeing the many windmills along the highway.

We drove through the panhandle of Texas and into New Mexico. We decided to stop there. We found a truck stop in a safe area, parked in the parking lot, set up a generator outside the vehicle, blew up an air mattress in the bed of the truck with a camper shell over it, and plugged up a space heater. We taped black trash bags over the windows for privacy.

Because it was New Year's Eve, we broke open a bottle of champagne with some styrofoam cups, and we rang in the new year in the back of our pick-up truck. It may sound redneck, but I must say it was the best New Year's ever!

The next day we hit the road again. We picked a spot on the map and decided to head to it. We were so excited when we finally hit snow, though, so we had to stop for a picture.

Then we headed on to our chosen spot on the map of Taos, New Mexico.

Unfortunately we were not as excited about Taos as we thought we would be, so we continued on. We came upon Red River, and we fell in love with it immediately. We decided to set up shop there for the rest of the day and night.

We decided to get a room in a motel so we could curl up by the fire and get plenty of rest for the drive the next day. We splurged on eating in a restaurant in that quaint little mountain town, too.

We got up the next morning and walked the shops in town a little more. We let Bentley play in the snow before climbing back into the truck for the road trip home.

The drive was just as incredible as the destination. We saw some beautiful sights along the way, and we frequently pulled over to take in the views. Hey... we were on no schedule, right? There was no reason to rush down the road.

Although apparently we really did decide to "rush" down the road without realizing it. We got the wonderful opportunity to meet one of New Mexico's finest on the side of the road. Tim was 40 years old at the time, this was the first time he had ever been pulled over, and it was his first and only ticket ever.

We continued on, stopping at each state to take a picture, and all the while enjoying the views.

So... an incredibly awesome trip, and it only cost us diesel for the drive, one night's stay in a motel, and dinner in one restaurant (which was very moderately priced).... well.... and one speeding ticket. But all in all, it was a trip worth way more than what we spent.