After being forced to be extra nice to each other in lieu of Ruby haunting us the entire time in Carlsbad, we decided to split time today doing activities each of us enjoy individually. Ryan went to play golf at Red Hawk Golf Club in Northern Las Cruces. Nikki grabbed coffee, walked around the local farmer's market and ate some delicious local tacos. 🌮

In hindsight, Nikki made the best choice of that day. Golf consisted of 25-30 mph sustained winds for about 15 of 18 holes with gusts to 60 mph. There were quite literally times where it was impossible to even swing the golf club. Ryan still shot 90 but came home from what felt like a boxing match rather than a round of golf. 🏌️🥊

By time we met back up at the adobe compound it was time for more food! This time we tried to check out the local Broken Spoke Taphouse (in honor of our Austin friends and family), but both the Broken Spoke and the adjoining bar and restaurant were closed and setting up a pretty large stage out back. We'd later find out that this was due to...graduation ceremonies? We believe the college and all the local schools were planning to host graduation as both places were closed for an entire week! So we settled for a little pizzeria/Italian restaurant around the corner. Awesome pizza, tasty margaritas, wonderful people and excellent service and the evening was capped off properly. 🍕🍸

We walked back to the compound and decided to start season 4, part 2 of Ozark. Yes, the adobe compound had decent WiFi as well. No spoilers though please! Love y'all, be back tomorrow for another driving journey! ✌🏼

We got another good night sleep (this time it may have been the margaritas 😋 ) and packed up the car pretty quickly again. I think we're getting good at this road trip thing!

We stopped at a local coffee spot and got some very tasty coffee from a man who claimed to have "been in the coffee business longer than y'all two have been alive." We also looked up some local breakfast spots since we had some extra time. The first couple of places we tried to stop at were super packed so we snuck in some Whataburger taquitos right before breakfast time ended.

Now friends, we've driven in a LOT of different conditions over several road trips and just generally speaking. However, it is safe to say that today was the scariest day of driving we've ever experienced! Those same winds (or worse) from the golf course yesterday haunted us the entire drive from Las Cruces to Tucson. Passing semi trucks (or really passing anyone) was incredibly terrifying. Not just once, but several times, we saw semis veering off the road only to barely regain control in time for another big gust of wind. Spring winds in New Mexico are no joke!

What happens when you combine high winds with a highway surrounded by desert the entire way?? If you guessed dust storms, you're correct! 🌪️ Dust tornados and dust-nados are also acceptable answers. Once again, we got super lucky. We saw several dust storms along the way but only very briefly had to drive through the tail end of one storm. So far the southwestern portions of New Mexico and southeastern portions of Arizona are our least favorite part of this trip (we're looking at you Lubbock) but we got into Tucson safely and even stopped at Saguaro National Park (East) on our drive in.

Luckily the winds had died down a bit and we got to drive the 8+ miles around their scenic drive. We stopped at some overlooks, snapped some pictures of the cacti 🌵 and really enjoyed the desert scenery. This particular National Park is divided into two areas, east and west. The east park was very cool and we'd love to go back and hike there one day. We're staying much closer to the west park though and will likely opt for some cool hikes closer to "the Zen Den." <-- We didn't name it but that is our Tucson, AZ airbnb. 🙈

We got checked in and unloaded the car (once again) before we took a brisk drive downtown for some food. As usual, Nikki picked a great place called the Drunken Chicken. We had some really amazing waffle-battered chicken strips. Maple syrup dipping sauce included! 😛

We were beat from the drive so back to the house for more Ozark and a well deserved night's rest. Tomorrow is technically a "working day" for us but being on PST will help us get some afternoon activities in throughout the week. Though waking up at 6am might be a bit strange for us. 😴 Catch y'all on the next update!