"I Need Space"

With these words, Kate clearly expressed the goal of the day's activities.

We have found that large towns (over 25,000) or cities are associated with a quality of crowding that we can tolerate for only a few days before feeling the need to find some back roads or small towns to investigate. Our home town of Wycombe, PA, probably had a population of fewer than 500 people.

Minutes after leaving the campground on I-40, we were in open spaces. We were taking the long way to Los Lunas, NM, by heading west and then backtracking on Route 6 to the town that was due south of Albuquerque.

In some places, it was railroad tracks leading to the horizon that emphasized the expansiveness of the open space.

Other times, a dirt road conveyed the message that few people pass along this way.

Sometimes rock formations and mountains provided a sense of the vastness of the area as demonstrated in these photos (above and below).

There was so little traffic along Route 6 that we could simply pull off the road, enjoy the scenery, and take some photos.

Judging by the length of the bridge over this stream, we believe that at different times of the year the water level is a lot higher.

There were rock formations that broke up the flat terrain. Though the area is probably not classified as a desert, the vegetation is quite sparse.

There is a certain beauty to the landscape. The distant hills and mountains and the shrubs, though not colorful in the sense of a range of colors, reflect a beauty derived from texture and subtle variations within a narrow range of a few colors.

A day in the country with our cameras was relaxing and restorative.