Like Satan diving into holy water, we are genuinely concerned about outing ourselves as the enemy were we to walk through the doors of The Trumped Store here in Show Low, Arizona. Claims of the best coffee in the area and the promise of hotdogs were not enough of a draw for us to cross the street and pay a visit. In these days of diminished retail presence, someone is making enough money selling Trump paraphernalia to have been planted on this main thoroughfare through town for years now. My favorite part of this enterprise is a quote from their website where grifters are grifting the grifter:

“The products sold by company are not licensed, introduced, or otherwise authorized or approved by President Trump, His Campaign or by any of its affiliates; and President Trump’s Campaign Committee does not receive any proceeds whatsoever from the Trumped Companies Sales or Activities.”

Out of the ugly and into the beautiful. Truth be told, that stop in Show Low was a minor speed bump because the road northeast of the Phoenix area was as spectacular as it always is. There are no photos from that leg because we’re entertaining the idea that instead of spending the night in Albuquerque, New Mexico, we might be able to make it all the way to Santa Fe. Leaving earlier than anticipated helps in this equation of covering the requisite 500 miles to reach this city sitting in the clouds at over 7,100 feet (2,194 meters).

It’s so easy to see the world reflected in the still waters lying upon the surface, but do you know how to see it in the eyes of the person you love? And how should you know with certainty that what you see in those eyes is a real representation of enchantment or a façade being presented for the sake of harmony but hiding deeper unhappiness? Maybe you don’t, but Caroline and I seem to have either reached a permanent delusional state of tricking one another, or we really do see the resonant frequencies of amazement in each other’s smiles when we stop to gaze at the exquisite sights that nature deploys upon those susceptible to such murmurs.

We left Phoenix seemingly minutes ago, and blam! we’re in New Mexico. These roads we’ve been traveling might be at risk of growing overly familiar, and maybe we struggle to find alternative routes to mix things up a bit, but that won’t stop us from these long hauls. After previous journeys that took us over Holbrook, Arizona, to Gallup, New Mexico, or when we skirted through St. John’s, Arizona, over to Zuni before taking the route south through Mogollon, New Mexico, then cutting over through Duncan, Arizona, we find a way so the adventures continue to pile up like so many stickers found on this State Line sign on U.S. Route 60. As for the nature of what brings us out this way yet again after having been in this Land of Enchantment twice already in the past five weeks: well, those exact details will have to wait until tomorrow when I share that story.

We might have had better luck catching, dispatching, and cooking this pronghorn antelope than getting a proper dinner meal here in New Mexico because it seems everything other than fast food closes at 8:00 p.m. It was just a few weeks ago on our way to Gallup, New Mexico, for the Sheep is Life celebration that we were wondering out loud why we haven’t seen any pronghorn on that trip, and then here today, we finally see a solo member of the species hauling ass trying to race past us. While it finally put on the brakes and reversed direction faster than we possibly could have, we have to have respect for this antelope speeding well over 55 mph (88 km/h), making the capture of this photo taken by me in the driver’s seat tricky, to say the least. Little did I know that the pronghorn antelope is the second fastest land animal on earth, only surpassed by the cheetah by a mere mile or two per hour.

Prior to stopping here at the La Ventana Natural Arch in El Malpais National Monument, we dipped in at the Narrows Rim Trail that we hiked last year for some reminiscing. Back then, we didn’t hike the entire trail because we arrived at the trailhead late, and this has us dreaming of a return to the 7.3-mile out-and-back hike that brings you to a cliff across from the arch pictured here for a view from above. Enough of the sightseeing; time to finish the long haul to Santa Fe.