A New Mexico Getaway for Abby and Richard My wife Abby and I hadn’t traveled at all since before the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. The last time we went anywhere significant together was Pagosa Springs in October 2019 for our 15th anniversary trip, The Winding Road. The Road to Taos We were eager to get…

A 15th Anniversary Vacation for Abby and Richard Driving to New Mexico My wife Abby and I haven’t had an anniversary vacation since 2016, and were excited as this one approached. Our plan was to find and drive roads that we’d never seen before, particularly winding mountain roads, and our plan worked exactly as we…

A Twelfth Anniversary Adventure for Abby and Richard “Running towards the setting sun Wading through the time and tide We don’t have to turn around Under an endless sky…” ~Balligomingo The Road West Among our adventures on the road west was dinner in Albuquerque with friends Greg and Terry Smith. I hiked and made pictures with…

A Tenth Anniversary Vacation for Abby and Richard The Drive West: Haboob, Hat and Hoodie Abby and I packed our Chihuahuas, Max and Sierra, and the rest of our travel gear in her truck and headed west toward our first destination, Santa Fe, New Mexico, on a trip to Moab, Utah, where we got married…

Driving to Moriarty, New Mexico via West Texas A&M University Early in my drive I spotted a “peace park” sculpture garden near the rest stops at mile marker 87 on I-40 in the Texas panhandle. There were no signs explaining what it was or who created it, but it made decent pictures. I timed my drive…

The Road West Up early, my wife Abby and I shared our traditional send-off breakfast. I drove to Midwest City, Oklahoma, where I picked up Daily Oklahoman photographer Jim Beckel. Despite being ten minutes early, I found him with his bags, camping gear, food and cameras already on his front porch, and he was eager…

“There’s a place That’s far beyond this time and space When each of us comes face to face with something more…” ~Alan Parsons Project For many years I have been photographing Canyonlands National Park in southern Utah. On many of those occasions I visited The Needles District of the park, The Island in the Sky…

Drive to Farmington, New Mexico Unending, excellent conversation with my guest on this trip, fellow photographer Robert “R. E.” Stinson, who was so excited to be on the road shooting that his camera was in his hands more or less the whole time. We also made stops at the famous leaning tower of Britten, several…

A Sixth Anniversary Vacation for Abby and Richard Driving to New Mexico, and the long route to Moab Abby and I drove to Santa Fe, New Mexico at a leisurely pace with our Chihuahuas, Max and Sierra, in our new Nissan Frontier 4WD pickup, which travels well and comfortably. We drove from Santa Fe to Moab,…

Driving 14 Hours from Byng, Oklahoma to Monticello, Utah I had a nice breakfast with Abby, a tradition of ours, then hit the road. I only stopped to shoot a few items. I talked to some good friends on the phone, listened to satellite radio, and called Abby at least half a dozen times. Coffee…

Driving to Albuquerque As always, the long ribbon of interstate 40 asphalt west proved an interesting drive. My first stop was at Amarillo, where I spotted the fact that the Cadillacs at Stanley Marsh’s Cadillac Ranch were yellow. I’ve stopped plenty of times at the Cadillac Ranch over the years, so I wasn’t planning to…

A Fifth Anniversary Vacation for Abby and Richard Driving from home in Ada to Farmington, New Mexico My wife Abby and I find that this drive, which we have made many times both alone and together, is never boring. Among other things, it represents the path to adventure. The road itself is mostly interstate highway,…

Arches National Park and Castle Valley I drove a tiring but trouble-free route from our home in Oklahoma to Monticello, Utah, and was up before dawn the next morning. Michael was good enough to lend me his Honda Element all-wheel-drive, which he and I took on a trip in 2004. After shooting a couple of…

Driving West, then Waiting for a Repair Due to a broken heater hose, I spent an extra day in Moriarty, New Mexico, waiting for a part to come from Albuquerque. By the end of my second day, I was in Page, Arizona late for the night. Glen Canyon Dam, Cottonwood Canyon, Bryce Canyon At first…

Driving from Byng, Oklahoma to Blanding, Utah I spent the day on the road. I stopped and shot lots of fun stuff, but I didn’t do any hiking, since my plan was to drive straight through to Blanding, Utah, which took about 15 hours. Blanding to the San Rafael Swell Monday morning I left Blanding…

A Third Anniversary Vacation for Abby and Richard Driving to Farmington, New Mexico We loaded the car with me, Abby and the Chihuahuas Max and Sierra, and all our stuff, and headed west to Farmington, New Mexico. It was a fairly routine drive, with a couple of thunderstorms on our route, and a wildly windy…

A Second Anniversary Vacation for Abby and Richard Driving to Monticello, Utah For our second anniversary, Abby and I gathered our dogs, Chihuahuas Sierra and Max, for a trip to Utah. Our driving day, straight through to Monticello, Utah, was about 16 hours, but we had fun, and the dogs did just fine in our…

Driving from Ada, Oklahoma to Monticello, Utah I’ve made this drive on a few other occasions, but never in June during maximum daylight. This allowed me to shoot more along my route. Chesler Park Trail at Canyonlands National Park and Butler Wash I started at the Elephant Hill trail head in Canyonlands National Park, with…

Driving to Farmington, New Mexico I drove to my usual first night stop, Farmington, New Mexico. Generally speaking, this 11-hour drive is beautiful and interesting, but uses divided highways, so it is more of a utility drive. With radio and CDs, plus frequent phone calls to my wife and friends, the time slides by. Hite…

A first anniversary vacation for Abby and Richard The Road to Santa Fe We drove from Ada, Oklahoma to Santa Fe, New Mexico,  making a stop at our favorite rest area in the Texas panhandle, which we visited on our first vacation together, The High Road, in 2003. We usually refer to it as “our” rest area….

Driving from Ada, Oklahoma, to Moab, Utah My time on the road was uneventful. I made a few nice images. I stopped for night in Farmington, New Mexico. I was up early in Farmington after the long drive from Oklahoma the day before. I was at Shiprock by 8 am. I tried several rutted, rough…

Abby and Richard Get Married Abby and I discussed many options for when and where to get married, and we finally decided on a very special and beautiful place, Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah. Abby’s parents got married on October 12, and since early autumn seemed like a perfect time for…

Driving to Farmington, New Mexico Up early, I drove to Norman, Oklahoma, to pick up my guest for this trip, my long-time friend Michael Zeiler. We made two or three good images, and, except for worthless restaurant service, had a pretty decent travel day. Michael’s Honda Element was well-suited to piling-style packing, and seemed like a good…

The Road from Oklahoma to Chaco Canyon I drove to Norman, Oklahoma and loaded in David Martin‘s Saturn. We got an early start. As usual, we drove through gloomy weather until we hit the New Mexico border, where the clouds parted. Forecasts for our destination indicated a slight chance of rain. Military truck: NPOKUS. Sign at Cline’s…

A July 2003 Road Trip for Abby and Richard This was my first vacation with Abby Milligan, who was destined to become my wife. We got the name for this trip from the Third Eye Blind song Crystal Baller. We had a tape of Third Eye hits and listened to it over and over, singing…

This was my first trip to southern Utah, one I wanted to make for years. With David Martin, who hiked with me at Chaco a year earlier, and Jamie Harrel, who had never been hiking in the desert, we set out on November 2, 2002. Driving to Gallup, New Mexico  I initially thought we might…

Since my visit to Chaco Canyon in 2000, I have been drawn to that place, and the mystery that it holds. Something about its remote, elegant, lonely beauty calls to me, but I cannot explain what or why. From almost the day I left in 2000, I had wondered about returning, and I decided that since…

I chose the date for this trip partially based on the Very Large Array’s configuration schedule. I saw on their web site that the radio telescope dishes would be in their closest configuration. When I visited during the Villanueva trip in 1999, the dishes were far apart, and I wanted to return when they were…

In the summer of 1998, my newspaper made the transition from conventional cut-and-paste production to desktop publishing, which meant instead of printing, I would be scanning my images. I happily began using my new Nikon LS-2000 scanner, and abruptly stopped making photographic prints. It happened that I still had over 1000 sheets of black-and-white glossy printing…

A long-time friend named David had, in 1989, hiked with his cousin in the Mount Evans Wilderness Area of central Colorado. On that trip he had seen areas of forest that burned in the 1960s, leaving an eery landscape and fascinating weathering patterns on the trunks of the trees in the burned areas. Wanting to…