New Mexico Archives

Wind, Sand & Travel Plan Changes; This is Just Day One!

May 8, 2025April 21, 2025Posted in adventure travel, blogging, environment, safety, Travel, writingTagged Nature, New Mexico, travel, weather3 Comments

Wind blowing. Sand blowing. My high-profile van is rocking and swaying as I drive the interstate into New Mexico. The last 20 years I have seen the signs about low visibility possible when the wind and sand are blowing across the road. I’ve read the signs posted at various intervals along the hundreds of interstate miles here in New Mexico.

Don’t stop in travel lane. Pull over, get off the road. Turn off your vehicle. Turn off vehicle’s lights. Keep your seat belt on. Do not put your feet on the brakes. Signs posted in areas that during this trip did not even have wind and sand blowing. I was ready, if need be.

And then it happened. Traffic slowed as the wind-blown sand created low visibility. I thought, let’s be careful folks, no multi-vehicular accident today please. We crept along … so very slow … and we were going okay keeping a distance between vehicles. Then … there was no vehicle in front of me. Sand filled the air! With my van moving slowly, still in a driving lane, the next moment I saw the vehicle in front of me. It had stopped. So did I, and thankfully so did the vehicle behind me. We all sat … for numerous minutes. Here was a parking lot on the interstate!

I never saw the police car till it passed me on the shoulder.

Any minutes when the air cleared, traffic slowly moved forward, then stopped for minutes at a time on the road. I was so thankful to be surrounded by patient drivers as this would have been awful if we did not all cooperate in our stopping. We were at this for a long period of time to only travel a few miles. Emergency messages were numerous on my phone. Here is one still after I had stopped for the night … road may have still been closed.

My destination was Hatch, New Mexico. However, the direct road to Hatch and the round-about longer drive on the interstate to Hatch were both closed to traffic. The sandstorm prompted the officials to close the roads. We all descended upon Deming, New Mexico. We could go no further. My travel plan changed and I slept in my van at a Walmart parking lot along with many others who could travel no further. I don’t know what time the roads eventually opened. My van rocked in the wind till at least 9:30pm despite the weather predictions of less wind at 7pm.

Two Loves Accomplished in a Day!

February 12, 2023February 3, 2023Posted in blogging, TravelTagged Black's Smuggler Winery, New Mexico, wineLeave a comment

I love wine and birds … along with friends and family … and many other things, but for this day I was focusing on birds and wine.

I was visiting Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico to see geese, sandhill cranes and whatever other birds were there. Since I needed a place to camp for the night I checked in at a Harvest Host location: Black’s Smuggler Winery about an hour north of the wildlife refuge.

Bird watching followed by a wine tasting and meeting local people at the winery — great ways to spend a day … I loved it! Tony and Mary Ann Black grow and produce their wines. I appreciated their hospitality. People loved their cranberry wine. I liked the Painted Lady.

After a good night’s sleep, I was back to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. However, be aware there are many other places to see wildlife between the winery and Bosque. New Mexico is doing a great job attracting birds along Interstate 25! Have time to visit? Check out the various places and certainly do not miss Bosque del Apache NWR!

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge; Part 1 of 2

February 9, 2023January 30, 2023Posted in Birds, Travel, wildlifeTagged birds, Bosque del Apache NWR, New MexicoLeave a comment

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, in New Mexico, is more than 57,000 acres between the Chupadera and San Pascual Mountains with 30,000 acres designated as wilderness. I recently visited the refuge for a couple of winter days to view various ducks, sandhill cranes and geese. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages this area. It is a challenge to do so because of the shrinking water supply from the Rio Grande River. Birds do land here and then fly off to feed in nearby fields of the Middle Rio Grande Valley.

I scoped out the refuge the previous spring to know what to expect when I arrived here. There is a wonderful visitor center and nature shop. Friendly volunteers will answer questions and provide insight on how best to spend your day if this is your first visit. The first day of my visit I drove the north loop. It was four hours of slowly driving an auto loop, stopping at observation decks and a blind or other spots where I simply noticed some bird activity and wanted to spend more time. At some spots I walked with my camera and tripod to get closer to birds and not flush them with any vehicle noise. I eventually saw 20 different species of birds, 1 coyote, 2 squirrels, and 4 javelina.

Some photos:

Many birds are here, such as the great blue heron.

I only saw one bufflehead this day, but 15 the next day!

Huge blind yet no water on the other side of it at this time.

Other important info: You are at 4500 feet elevation so plan for cooler weather than the cities, plus hat, layers of clothing, sunscreen and sunglasses. Mountain lion are in the refuge; signs remind you of this fact. There is an annual Festival of Cranes each December to celebrate the sandhill crane migration. Hiking trails and a biking trail are other activities to check out when you have more time at the refuge.

There were not many sandhill cranes there while I was at the refuge since it was midday and they were out for lunch! But about 150 were in the nearby agricultural land eating their lunch so I was able to observe them.

Northern harrier. I love their owl-like, disc-like face.

Friends of Bosque del Apache help support this wild area since federal funding is not enough to meet the increasing challenges in this area. Here is a link if you wish to join the Friends. Or when you drive on Interstate 25 between Albuquerque and Las Cruces, New Mexico, plan a couple hours to visit the refuge! You’ll have a great break from driving as you spend time in nature.