Moseying 2023

In this photo, the lettering on the side of the galvanized-tin building says, “New Mexico Choice Recleaned Beans, Vaughn, N.M.” Like many photographers, I have a fondness for abandoned buildings, the sense they give of time’s passage. In addition to the old structure, the farm equipment, and the tree, I hope you can make out […]

Attending the Navajo Rug Auction in Crownpoint, New Mexico in the late 1970s is one of my wife’s favorite memories. She loved talking about the experience. A tiny rug, 17×22-inches, hangs on the wall in our reading room. As we drove cross country this spring, it occurred to her that we would be within a […]

On Day 17 of our 39-day, 8,006-mile trip around the USA, we only got 40 miles further west because we took a side trip to visit Bandera Volcano and Ice Caves. The land south of Grants, New Mexico is full of extinct volcanoes. Eleven can be seen from one viewpoint. This photo is from inside […]

It seemed significant that we were able to see the San Francisco Peaks 108 miles away. Just south of those mountains is Flagstaff. I do not remember ever seeing that far. We were in the Painted Desert on Easter Day, in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. We could easily see snow-covered Humphreys Peak, 12,633-feet above […]

When I was still a child in the 1950s, I had a thick long-playing record, an LP, by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers. They sang about Pecos Bill and how the Painted Desert got its name. That was the first time I heard about this desolate yet fascinating place in Arizona that […]

Ravens are rascals. This one followed us — or so I imagined — from one stop to another as we toured the Petrified Forest National Park on Easter Day. The raven liked our trail mix but was careful only to get so close. As my wife dropped fruit and nuts closer to her feet, the […]

On Day 18 of our trek across the USA, we visited Petrified Forest National Park. Tree trunks made of rock! Now what do you make of that? And what are these tall trees doing here in the desert and why aren’t they growing here now? Answers to those questions involve many millions of years and […]

Here are two views of Wukoki Pueblo in Wupatki National Monument taken on April 10, 2023. Sunset Crater National Monument is northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona, and these 900-year-old Pueblo Indian ruins are just north of that. The snow-covered San Francisco Peaks can be seen in one of the images. After our visit, we had lunch […]

The Mojave Desert was green. Here it is on April 10, 2023, our 19th day on the road. During the past year, we had heard of huge storms inundating California, about snow storms dropping feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains, but we had not hear about that moisture reaching the desert. I have […]

My theory is that the high altitude, low humidity, and high pollen counts in the blooming desert caused my allergies to flare up in Flagstaff, Arizona on day 19 of our 39-day trip around the USA in the spring of 2023. Daytime was OK, but allergies made nights miserable, used tissues piling up on the […]