Monument Valley: We awoke in Monument Valley to sunny blue skies. The early morning light lit the red landscape bringing it to life. However, after about an hour we began to see clouds and we knew the views would not last. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Storm Clouds: As we drove about the area we saw clouds forming to the west indicating a change in weather was on its way. We had many miles to cover but we enjoyed a nice morning at Monument Valley before escaping the oncoming storm. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Los Alamos Daily Post
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famous quote “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey” is applicable to life in general but I am constantly reminded of this quote every time we “hit the road” in our RV. We have a destination in mind when we leave but we never know what we will encounter along the journey. There have even been times when we change the route midway through a trip if we want to see or do something that’s not on our route. This is why I love to travel and why when we are at home I can’t wait until that next trip.
The adventures of traveling never cease to amaze me. We travel in a manner that is flexible in routes along the way as well as time spent while out and about which has allowed us to expect the unexpected wherever we may be traveling. Whether it be luck or serendipity we love seeing the unexpected as we roll down the road.
We are fortunate in that we have the time to be flexible. We often travel the “two lane” or back roads during our travels. We find that there is far less traffic and much more life to see as we travel the backroads through small town America and taking the “slow road” allows one to see and experience more along the way. I love the quote by the late journalist and travel correspondent Charles Kuralt about Interstate travel; “Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.” Kuralt made this statement over 35 years ago and it is more true today than ever … and we won’t even discuss the traffic!
We love to explore new roads and regions of our magnificent country exploring and experiencing the towns along the way, the local culture and history of these areas as well as the local food in different parts of the country. We always return home with more than when we left because with every adventure we have made memories that will never be forgotten.
Carol Clark of the Los Alamos Daily Post first mentioned to me about doing a feature about our travels more than six years ago. I hesitated at first not knowing if it would work for me. I decided to “give it a try” and five years ago this week the first “Post From the Road” was published. I will be the first to say that some posts are better than others and some travel features have been more successful than others but I have enjoyed sharing each and every story of our travels during the past few years. However, we still have places to go, things to see and there are still miles of pavement that will lead us to even more adventures and surprises so the wheels on the bus will keep going around and around. There will be many things to share as we move forward.
We recently returned from a trip to Arizona and Utah where we experienced several new places although we had traveled the same roads that we had traveled numerous times. There are always things we see but for various reasons we can’t do it all. Many times it takes a return trip to visit favorite sites and check off new sites and adventures on our ever-growing bucket list of “places to go and things to do”!
This Post features photos taken during the last day of travel on our recent trip to Arizona and Utah. While returning from this trip we experienced a variety of sites, landscapes, weather issues as we traveled back home. We left Monument Valley as a storm approached, we saw the beginning of spring in parts of southern Colorado, and we saw snow on the mountain passes, all of this in a matter of a few hours as we traveled home. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said a century ago, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey”.
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country, and he shares his photographs, which appear in the “Posts from the Road” series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Valley Ranches: As we traveled home Mother’s Day weekend, we began to see early signs of spring as the valleys were clear of snow, at least for the day, and green foliage was beginning to replace the winter landscape with fresh spring green. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Mountain Valley: A rest stop/view point on Highway 160 in Colorado allows visitors to stop and enjoy views of a beautiful valley filled with several ponds, creeks, and rivers. Spring was beginning to green the valley but this view will be a lush green valley by early summer. The view point is on Highway 160 as you travel west from Wolf Creek Pass. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Mountain Snow: As we traveled toward Wolf Creek Pass just a few minutes after stopping at the scenic view point we were in snow country. The mountains received several inches of snow which quickly reminded us that spring had not reached the high country but the May snowfall did create a beautiful landscape. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Rio Grande: The headwaters of the Rio Grande are in the San Juan Mountains. The South Fork of the Rio Grande flows near Highway 160 before joining the Rio Grande. The river flows generally eastward into the San Luis Valley before turning southward near Alamosa, Colo. before it flows through New Mexico. Shown is a site on the South Fork of the Rio Grande near Highway 160 between Wolf Creek Pass and the town of South Fork, Colo. showing the clear river waters on a beautiful day. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
La Veta Pass: After driving across San Luis Valley the highway begins to climb in elevation again east of Ft. Garland, Colo. toward La Veta Pass. Shown is the snowfall from the May snowstorm near La Veta Pass as we approach the pass. Again, snow covered the ground letting us know that the calendar may say spring but in the higher elevations winter was still present. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
