English: A photograph of Shiprock. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Our original plan was to stop in Albuquerque, but we made good time which meant we would get into that city around 3:00. We thought we could do more that day. A high wind warning was in effect for the next day, so we decided to continue north to Farmington, New Mexico which is east of Shiprock. I know that seems a strange turn to take, so I will explain. Originally, our plans were to go over the Rockies to Moab, Utah. That plan was ended when a snowstorm dumped a couple feet of snow on the mountains just before we left. We had to think fast because we wanted to see Utah. The safest route was to take I-40 to Albuquerque and then go north.
I make it a point to use interstates when I travel alone, but this time I had a passenger. In addition, interstates to do not take vacationers driving from the southeast directly to the National Parks in Utah. We headed north on US 550. We traveled through the beautiful land of the Navajo reservation and were treated to the most beautiful sunset we had ever seen. By spending the night at Farmington, we were able to take three hours off the next day's journey. Only two hours left to Moab!