Summer Vacation 2013: Day 6 ~ Travel from Dallas to Santa Fe, New Mexico

Wind Farm in Texas

The drive from Coppell to Santa Fe was beautiful. The scenery went from flat land, where it seems you can see for miles and miles in Texas, to rocky mesas and small canyons in New Mexico. We passed several wind farms in Texas that appeared to have thousands of wind turbines and saw a lot of cattle. As we approached Amarillo, Texas, we saw many run-down and abandoned houses. It was such a large number that we were speculating on the reason. Was it a lack of water? A loss of jobs in the area? The economy? What would drive that many people to just abandon their homes and property? It was disconcerting. Eventually, we got off of the interstate for a while and took Old Route 66, just to say we had driven it. After getting into New Mexico, we decided to again get off the highway, so instead of going due west to Albuquerque and then north to Santa Fe, we took Route 104 out of Tucumcari to come into Santa Fe from the north. It was a gorgeous drive through red canyons, very small towns, and breathtaking scenery. Along with that, however was an impression of extreme poverty. We drove many miles without seeing another car and saw only 6 or 7 cars during the entire 125 miles we were on it. There were huge, fenced-off ranches among the rocky, scrubby land. The landscape changed rapidly once we returned to the interstate in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The mountains became more predominant and the climb became steeper. With the approach to Santa Fe, the adobe structures stood out along the hillsides and in the valleys. The city passed an ordinance that all structures had to follow the adobe style architecture, which makes for a unique sight. It was also quite a bit cooler there, as it is close to 7000 feet in elevation. After arriving at our hotel, we went into town and ate at a restaurant on the plaza, and then walked around and enjoyed the band playing there, and the shops surrounding the plaza.