Road trip today. I’ve been curious about the Llano Estacado since I heard Carrie Rodriguez’s song of the same name. 2016, I think? Straddling the Texas/New Mexico border, it seemed within reasonable distance of my base in Santa Fe. I set out early on the Santa Fe Trail Scenic Byway, through Las Vegas (NM), to Springer. The Santa Fe Trail skirts the edge of the Sangre de Cristo range, but still on the escarpment. About 6,000 foot elevation and rolling hills, much of it conifer covered.
That got me to La Frontera del Llano Scenic Byway. The picture above is from the edge of the escarpment, looking east over the Llano Estacado. The elevation of the Llano is closer to 3,500 feet, much flatter, and with just scrub for vegetation. It’s like that well into Texas.
The end of the Llano Scenic Highway brought me to Tucumcari, and Route 66 Scenic Byway. I headed west, and then north, back to Santa Fe.
There was no Tucson. No Tehachapi or Tonopah. And no weed, whites, and wine. The cities at least will need to be another day.
The Journey 
Had no idea that Tucumcari was in NM! Sections of Route 66 out there are really pretty cool, very retro. When we started our roadtrip from Santa Fe we went west into Arizona. The first night’s stop was a historic hotel in Winslow Arizona — I need to stand on the corner, which was so worth it! From there we did a circuit of Parks in AZ, UT and into Colorado, finishing in Durango before heading back to Albuquerque to fly home. The scenery in that part of the country is spectacular. That article you posted about the fire damage to the waterways was really interesting — you don’t think about those things around here. Good luck with your work there and enjoy your sightseeing when you can.
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