Those that know me, know that I love cars, well, special cars. Not all have to be as special as my beloved Aston Martin Vanquish (some day!), but even just the ability to go anywhere, do anything is enough. Getting serious speed in a car is not that affordable, especially for newer models. However, getting serious offroad ability is. When I traded in my faithful and much loved Mazda3 sedan in March for the Jeep Renegade Trailhawk you see here, I was giving up great, affordable on road driving dynamics for the ability to drive offroad anywhere a stock vehicle could.
Penny, the 18-year old dog of Cloudcroft New Mexico
My rural land photography work recently took me to Cloudcroft, New Mexico, which is about 30 minutes east of Alamogordo. It is a small mountain town, almost like a place you might think is hiding up in the Alps in Switzerland. The town has a lot of charm and while there I stayed at The Crofting Inn B&B. The is where I met Penny, the 18-year old dog.
When I heard of this ghost town near Hillsboro, New Mexico I was quite excited. Exploring haikyo in Japan (and even here in the U.S.) was the source of some of my greatest adventures. All of these past places were just forgotten and open for exploring. Lake Valley Ghost Town, however, had an admission gate and a museum! Despite this it was still interesting to see an old safe lying open in the desert, wagon wheels leaning against fences, and to listen for old voices. It was useful having actual signs describing what each place was in a past life, even if it took a lot of mystery and imagination away.
I recently went to Las Cruces, New Mexico on a rural land photography assignment. On the way back we made a detour to nearby Deming, New Mexico. Jessica is good at finding odd places to visit, often from a website called Atlas Obscura. We went to two places definitely deserving of the description obscure!
Going through my recent rural land photography archives while out in remote places in New Mexico, I was reminded of being brushed by a strong thunderstorm. It does not rain often in the winter in the greater Albuquerque area of New Mexico, much less a thunderstorm. Thus, my surprise at having to stay close to my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk in case a deluge broke from the sky or lightning started striking the ground.
I have spent a lot of time in Torrance County, New Mexico lately, mostly out at rural land properties. Recently, I had time to do a little exploring and I saw that Quarai Mission Ruins were on the way to a land photo shoot. Near the town of Mountainair, and part of Salina Pueblo Missions National Monument, the Quaria Mission Ruins remain the most intact. Approaching them on foot from the small parking lot, visitor center and museum, one does not expect the towering opening once passing through its main doorway. I marveled at all the stones and was told by the ranger on duty they were not quarried, there were enough just lying around on the ground to make that great structure!
I have only put 1,500 miles on my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk since I got it last month and have not taken it more than an hour outside of Albuquerque, but I have been offroad a lot already. Nothing crazy like Moab-like trails or anything, but I have been using it as the Jeep, especially the Trailhawk version, was intended. I really like knowing I can go anywhere, do anything with this vehicle. However, I would not do everything you see in Jeep and other offroad vehicle commercials like driving down and across streams! Or causing tumult by trying to "crawl" over big rocks. To me this is destroying Nature. I do want the Jeep to help me reach places just not possible on foot, but by staying on established fire roads and unmaintained roads.
