new mexico Archives - RV Wanderlust

2018 in Review: Stats, Photos, Adventures

June 1, 2019 by BrittanyHighland Leave a Comment

I’m a wee late publishing this one, but the turn of the year was so crazy and the future so uncertain. All our thoughts were consumed by selling Meriwether, moving into our Jeep Wrangler, and overlanding through the interior of Mexico for 2-3 months.

But we bought another RV home sooner than expected and are now straddling the RV and overland lifestyles. And since 2018 was such an epic year (our favorite year of travel yet), it seems a shame to drop the ball on the annual review…even if it is a few months late.

So here goes. In February 2019, we marked five years of full-time travel. The year 2018 started and ended at our home base of Austin. After speaking at RV Entrepreneur Summit, we embarked on our Western Mountain Loop Trip. It was an unbelievable journey through Arizona, all five national parks in Utah, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Glacier, the Dakotas, and more.

In the process, we drastically changed as travelers. We broke out of our comfort zone by dry camping for extended periods of time, driving our RV to a few crazy camping spots, and breaking our travel rhythm a number of times.

[Read more…]

Gallup, NM Reminds Us Not to Jump to Conclusions

March 31, 2018 by BrittanyHighland Leave a Comment

When we plan our trips, we have a list of what we want to see. But since we only travel 250 miles every two weeks, there are always places we stop simply because they’re at the right place between Point A and Point B. Gallup, NM was one such means to an end.

When we decided to stay in Gallup on our way from Santa Rosa, NM to Flagstaff, AZ, I wasn’t exactly excited. It seemed like a small town on Route 66 with some hiking options, on the way to other places.

But when we made friends with some Albuquerque locals last week, some of them had negative things to say about Gallup. The kind of things that stick in your mind and cause your perspective to change. From that point on, I wasn’t expecting much out of Gallup.

I was wrong. [Read more…]

2016 in Review: Stats, Photos, Adventures

January 15, 2017 by BrittanyHighland Leave a Comment

As we enter the month of February, we close out three years as full-time RVers, and enter our fourth year! These stats describe our travels from January-December of 2016, the year of our “Grand Loop Trip:”

Number of States: 8 (6 new states with the RV: Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington and Montana)

Number of Overnight Stops: 26

Where We Stayed: 1 BLM dry camping, 1 national forest, 1 national recreation area, 1 county park, 1 state park, 1 service center, 4 parking lots (hotel, restaurant, Walmart), 4 military bases, 12 private campgrounds [Read more…]

Laid-back Week in Las Cruces, New Mexico

January 27, 2016 by BrittanyHighland 3 Comments

After an extremely long two days of driving through West Texas, we crossed the New Mexico border and arrived in Las Cruces, NM. There wasn’t any outstanding reason we chose Las Cruces, other than the fact that it was a good fit for our overall route.

Our week there was laid-back and low-key. We’re saving up for an international trip later this month, so we mostly ate at home and avoided tourist traps (confession: we’re sometimes susceptible to tourist traps). Despite the slower pace, we definitely enjoyed our visit. Here are the things we recommend, based on our experience in Las Cruces! [Read more…]

RV Wanderlust’s 2016 Grand Loop Trip Has Begun!

January 19, 2016 by Eric Highland 9 Comments

Our site at Fredericksburg RV Park

Our “Grand Loop Trip” has begun! That’s what we’re calling our 11-month journey this year.

Grand Loop Leg 1: Austin TX, to Fredericksburg, TX (82.5 miles…kind of)

We left Austin, Texas on Sunday, January 3, 2016. Let me tell you, our first Grand Loop day was a really long day. [Read more…]

Wonderment at White Sands National Monument

October 19, 2015 by BrittanyHighland Leave a Comment

275 square miles of dunes at White Sands National Monument

We’ve been staying at Brantley Lake State Park, half an hour north of Carlsbad, NM. We amazed ourselves by not leaving our campground for our entire first week. That was a first! But this past weekend, we broke our stay-at-home streak to venture three hours west to White Sands National Monument in Alamogordo, NM.

The terrain changed dramatically over 158 miles. We left the desert brush to enter beautiful Lincoln National Forest. We climbed to Cloudcroft, a ski town with an Old West vibe, which sits at 8,668 feet. Then we dropped more than 4,300 feet in 16 miles (6% grade) before arriving in Alamogordo.

Alamogordo was the site of the Trinity test, the first detonation of a nuclear weapon as part of the Manhattan Project. We’ve heard great things about the New Mexico Museum of Space History, but didn’t have a chance to visit this time (would love to hear from you if you’ve been there!).

Arriving at White Sands

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Grand Loop Leg 1: Austin TX, to Fredericksburg, TX (82.5 miles…kind of)

Arriving at White Sands

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