In my head, (which is often more ambitious than what my body is capable of) I thought I would travel from Arizona to New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Yes, I thought this was possible during the month of February…and why not? It was the Year of the Horse and what do horses do? They charge through the wild frontier.

The itinerary was good through Arizona. AZ was warm and we only saw a fraction of what was available. Albuquerque, New Mexico was mild in temperature and high in strangeness. We camped for a few nights while we explored the University District. We ate vegan sushi that resembled real sushi and stopped by a store that supplied rock candy for one of many meth scenes in “Breaking Bad.”

A few days later we made our way to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The travel brochure warned of the high altitude. Perched at 7,000 feet (the Empire State building is a mere 1,250 feet) many visitors experience altitude sickness. But it wasn’t the altitude that got to us. The frigid, piercing wind scared us into staying only two days and then we headed south toward Austin. Reason being, if New Mexico is that cold, imagine what Colorado and the other states would be like.

How long does it take to get from Santa Fe to Austin? Oh, about 10 hours.

And yeah, there’s not much to look at on those roads. It took a day and a half and made it to Austin.

One of the first places we stopped by was the South of Congress area…where retired Airstreams go and satisfied our sugar craving.