April 15, 2025: As I am driving from Wichita Falls to Lubbock, its an array of Wind Turbines spanning the landscape of West Texas prairie.
April 15, 2025: Seymour to Benjamin Drive: Wind Turbines dotting the landscape
April 15, 2025: More, and more and more Wind Turbines as far as eyes go
April 15, 2025: Stopped by a small Texas town named Benjamin. It's the administrative seat of Knox County.
April 13, 2025A day before my exciting New Mexico trip by road, I'm preparing myself physically and psychologically to undertake this solo road trip. As of today, I have booked reservations for overnight stays at Wichita Falls (April 14), Lubbock (April 15) and Santa Fe (April 16). I have yet to book April 17 overnight stay somewhere close to New Mexico-Texas borderline. (1:26PM CT April 13)
I have booked reservation at Tucumcari (April 13 night)
April 14, 2025
I was late in starting my exciting journey from home. Took Coit Street straight to 380 and drove west on 380. Then 287 North to Wichita Falls. Traversed through Collin County, Denton County, Wise County, Montague County and Wichita County. Stayed overnight at Wichita Falls.
April 15, 2025
I began today's journey with a complementary breakfast at the hotel with a singular goal in mind. Before I hit roadways toward Lubbock, I would hit running trails near the Falls at the Wichita Falls. I went near the Falls. Not sure where to park my car. The site [of the Falls] is adjacent the service road of the highway. I drove back and forth taking U-turns along the service road quite a few times to look for parking space near the Falls, and eventually set aside the plan of running on the [Falls'] trails.
I began my drive towards Lubbock. It was a beautiful scenic drive, with magnanimity of rural Texas unfurling and unrolling in an untidy way before my eyes. I crossed several County lines--Archer, Baylor, Knox, King, Dickens and Lubbock--to reach the city of Lubbock.
The desert beauty of West Texas is defined by unending vista of emptiness, whizzing sound of wind as you drive and gargantuan wind turbines dotting the rolling landscape as far as eyes go. Stopped at the small town of Seymour at a gas station to fill in the gas tank for another long bout of drive. I could recall what the girl at the cash register told me as I complimented that the Seymour is a beautiful small town. She demurred and said that she couldn't dream to stay at a big city as she had lived her all life at Seymour and there everybody knows everyone else. An elderly peer at the cash register shot back to her that it could be a good thing as well as bad thing. Surely that elderly lady at the gas station has a different perspective of lived experience.
I began my driving from Seymour towards Lubbock. After a while, I stopped by the Knox County seat of Benjamin. A small farming town. The town square itself is on the main state highway that goes through the town. I parked my car at a gas station and crossed the road (state highway) to take a selfie with Knox County War Memorial. The unique feature of the Knox County War Memorial is the inscription of the names of the all the war dead from this county spanning several wars of 20th and 21st Centuries--World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Afghanistan War and Iraq War.
As I resumed my drive leaving behind the picturesque little town of Benjamin--most likely, I will never visit again--its War Memorial would be a regular reminder that rural and little towns--often they are impoverished and underprivileged--bear the disproportionate brunt of the foreign wars.
My next stops were couple of noteworthy sites. One was the picnic site on the hilltop. It was barren. I could hear shrill noise of blowing desert wind. On the right and left hand sides, the highway would meander further towards where sky would meet the desert expanse. The second one was a rest area near the Silver Lake preservation site. It has a nice history of Native American artifacts.
After I reached my hotel at Lubbock, I did workout. In the evening, I picked up Souptik, my high school friend Sudip's son, and went for a sumptuous dinner at a Japanese restaurant, Hayashi.
April 15, 2025: Deserted Downtown of Rural Town of Benjamin. Main straight highway that goes to Lubbock from Seymour.
April 15, 2025: Myself at the small town of Benjamin
April 15, 2025: This is so unique to the small town feature and fabric that people are very proud of the service personnel and respectful for the ultimate sacrifices that the soldiers had made in the battle fields. The Knox County War Memorial illustrates the sacrifices of the war dead from Knox County.
The photos below are the part of the collage that depicts the rich history of Silver Falls (a Texas Historical Commission marker explains the historical context of the area) as well as barren land and accompanying emptiness surrounding Silver Falls.
April 15, 2025: A marker erected by the Texas Historical Commission explains the cultural riches of the Silver Falls area.
April 15, 2025: I stopped by a picnic spot near Silver Falls area and took this picture of a barren hill with arid soil and heat-resistant native plants.
April 15, 2025: From the same picnic site near Silver Falls area, obtained this snapshot of another barren, but beautiful, hill. Someone has said that beauty is to the beholder's eyes. Truly it's as these barrenness, loneliness, emptiness and susurrating wind of the landscape fascinated me and stirred my innate spirit to appreciate natural beauty.
April 15, 2025: Obtained this photo from the same picnic spot near Silver Falls area, winding roads meandering through valleys and hills.
April 15, 2025: Took this photo of the other side of the lonely road from the same picnic spot near Silver Falls area.
April 15, 2025: Silence, salience of nature and susurrating wind accompanied me during my drive from Wichita Falls to Lubbock near River Falls area.
April 16, 2025
I resumed my driving from Lubbock towards Santa Fe in the morning. Crossed Lubbock, Hockley, Lamb and Bailey County lines to enter New Mexico. In New Mexico, crossed Clovis, Roosevelt, DeBaca, Guadalupe, San Miguel and Santa Fe County lines.
April 16, 2025: On my way to Lubbock, stopped by a small Bailey County town named Muleshoe, close to the Texas-New Mexico state line. The above picture gives a brief context of the name of the town. The economy of the town and the livelihood of the people are centered around agribusiness, farming, dairy and other relevant businesses. Just like other small towns in Texas and beyond, Muleshoe's lifeline is also built around rail yards.
April 16, 2025: On my way from Lubbock to Santa Fe, NM, stopped by this travel center at the idyllic New Mexico town of Santa Rosa on Route 66. A beautiful and scenic drive from Santa Rosa to Santa Fe.
April 16, 2025: This is the oldest house of the United States of America. This house was built circa 1646.
April 16, 2025: As I was walking on the main plaza of Santa Fe, I ran into the oldest house of America (built circa 1646). This has been transformed into a historical preservation site by the New Mexico government. This historical gem now plays a role of story-telling, a museum and a historical relic depicting the innovation and imagination of Native American people.
April 16, 2025: Adjacent to the Oldest House of the America, stands another iconic relic, i.e., the Oldest Church of the America. A brief description is inscribed on the Exterior Signage Board on the ground of San Miguel Church.
April 16, 2025: Standing at the entrance of the Oldest Church of America, i.e., San Miguel Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico
April 16, 2025: Another picture of myself at the entree door of San Miguel Church in Santa Fe. The Oldest Church of the America is a unique illustration of Native American footprint of the 17th century architecture.
April 16, 2025: One of the salient tourist attractions of Santa Fe is Kakawa Chocolate Factory. One can enter the modest looking, but the tourist pulling, chocolate factory and taste out various flavors of liquid chocolate. I have tried out quite a few flavors.
April 16, 2025: Inside the Kakawa Chocolate Factory in Santa Fe. One can taste numerous flavors of liquid chocolate. This is a place for relishing and regaling all the scrumptious flavors.
April 16, 2025: Santa Fe is a tidy, vibrant, clean and classy capital city of New Mexico. At the Capitol lawn, a bronze sculpture represents the cultural richness and reflection of The Land of Enhancement.
April 16, 2025: Picture of the front road clicked from the elevated Capitol front lawn.
April 16, 2025: Picture of the front road clicked from the elevated Capitol front lawn.
April 16, 2025: Santa Fe is an epitome of nature's magnificence slowly unfurling in an ekphrasis. It's ineffable beauty can be summed up by a pithy photo click from the Capitol steps.
April 16, 2025: A self-absorbing, self-indulging and self-propagating moment in front of the New Mexico State Capitol.
April 16, 2025: Santa Fe is renowned for its mountainous surrounding and ekphrastic beauty adorning its streets, buildings, architectures and promenades.
April 16, 2025: New Mexico State Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Building.
April 16, 2025: Santa Fe Main Plaza, with Native American vendors selling their artwork, handicraft and jewelry, including turquoise.
April 17, 2025
Begun my drive in the following morning (April 17, 2025) towards the resort city of Taos. It's a beautiful drive on a scenic mountainous road that tortuously runs through mountain passes, slopes, valleys and prairies. The arid land often blends with sharp lush green slope. The nature's handiwork looks so organized, tidy and artistic, I can't help but remain in absolute awe for the blessing of the Mother Earth's magnanimous beauty.
April 17, 2025: On my way to Taos from New Mexico, I stopped at a gas station, Mike's Mini Mart, at the small town of Velarde that beautifies the mountain's steep lap.
April 17, 2025: New Mexico's rural mountainous community is known for their anchors. Sometime it's a McDonald's, sometime it's a small mom-and-pop cafe, sometime it's convenience store on the main thoroughfare. Mike's Mini Mart plays that all important role for the small mountainous town of Velarde.
April 17, 2025: Near the New Mexican mountainous community of Velarde. This click epitomizes the silence of the mountain pierced by the whizzing and whooshing sound of air that makes a unique feel and reverence for the magnanimity, marvel and magnificence of the mountain.
April 17, 2025: I stopped by a scenic stop area adjacent to the meandering road on which I was driving. The sky was ornate with the smithereens of the fast moving clouds over the top of the mountain [on my backdrop] punctuated with glittering rays of solar shower, thus making the entire background over the mountain all the more startling.
April 17, 2025: Rio Grande River (photo has been taken from an elevated cliff by zooming in the iPhone camera) plays an important role in defining and depicting the tradition and culture of Native American, Indigenous and Hispanic population of the Southwestern United States. Rio Grande is also the border of much of Texas and Mexico. Although it represents the political boundaries of the U.S. and Mexico in the south, it also illustrates the cohesive lifestyle and shared experience of the both sides of the border.
April 17, 2025: The magnanimity of mountain is reflected through its peaks splendidly glittering off the brightness of the sunlight and abutting the azure sky as captured by this click from the elevated bank of Rio Grande.
April 17, 2025: A selfie with meandering Rio Grande at the bottom ravine as the backdrop.
April 17, 2025: Arrived at the picturesque mountain community of Taos around noon. I walked around the main plaza to enjoy and embrace the spring weather. Cabot Plaza in Taos is host to many storefronts with indigenous handicraft, artwork and embroidery.
April 17, 2025: On my way from Taos to Los Alamos, I stopped by the picturesque Rio Grande Canyon. The background illustrates the mountain range nestled in the unending expanse of nature.
April 17, 2025: Rio Grande Canyon from the south side of the ravine. Right in front is the Rio Grande Bridge over the gorge.
April 17, 2025: Another click to capture the spontaneity of Rio Grande that meanders through ravines, valleys, reservations, cliffs and canyons. Its magnanimity and magnificence stand unparallel, and its beauty is to be enthralled to bring our senses to the fullest degree of satiety.
April 17, 2025: Rio Grande Canyon is also known as New Mexico's Grand Canyon.
April 17, 2025: One of my most interesting experiences during the entire trip was the visit to Los Alamos, the cradle of America's nuclear research program. Visiting the museum there and journeying through the history of America's evolution as a nuclear superpower was enthralling, exciting and exuberating.
April 17, 2025: One section of Los Alamos museum is dedicating to teaching the precursor of today's missile program that's associated with Air-Launched Cruise Missile, or ALCM. The above is the replica of an ALCM prototype.
April 17, 2025: Another section of the Los Alamos Museum takes you through a learning cadence of how Monte Carlo Method is useful to understanding the complexity and labyrinth of Supercomputing.
On
April 17, 2025, I stayed overnight at a small town, Tucumcari, in New Mexico close to Texas borderline.
