Highway 550 in New Mexico
I drive Highway 550 between Bernalillo and Cuba, New Mexico, often. I use it to get to Albuquerque from my home in Northern New Mexico. I've driven it in all kinds of weather in all the seasons. I stop regularly to photograph Cabezon Peak, which sits to the west of the highway, and I photograph the various things that I've encountered along the way: a man changing a tire on his motorcycle during a cross-country trip, a WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Project) truck transporting radioactive waste, the Big Chief Gas Station on Zia Pueblo, descansos (roadside crosses) and much more. Here is a sampling of some of those photos.
Winter along Highway 550
Clouds over Cabezon Peak
Big Chief Gas Station, Zia Pueblo, with a storm in the rear
Descanso (roadside cross)
Haze and hills
Moody clouds and rain above Cabezon Peak
Smokestack at gravel operation near San Ysidro, NM
Clouds over Highway 550 just north of San Ysidro, NM
WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Project) truck for transporting radioactive waste. Widelux panoramic camera photo
Descanso (roadside cross)
Billy Mosser, of Sacramento, Calif., changes a tire during his cross-country motorcycle trip (above and below)
Smokestack and hills
Cabezon Peak lit with dramatic sunlight
Dry arroyo or riverbed near San Ysidro, NM
Cloud-filled sky over Cabezon Peak
Dirt road on Zia Pueblo land leading to the Cabezon Peak area
Big Chief Gas Station on Zia Pueblo. The Big Chief Gas Station has been featured in a number of films and was in an episode of Breaking Bad (above and below)
"Protect Chaco" sign on abandoned trailers
Descansos (roadside crosses) above and below
Plateaus seen from the middle of the highway facing south
Mist bathing hills to the east of Highway 550
Dramatic sunlight breaks through and bathes Cabezon Peak
Skeletal tree
Cows and alkaline soil
Flowers and aspalt for paving repair (above and below)
Anti Landscape landscape with asphalt used for road repair
Clouds over plateau
Rainbow over Highway 550
a raven sits atop one of two descansos (roadside crosses) at the site of an RV crash
Motorcycles on Highway 550 north of Bernalillo, NM
Zia Pueblo with Jemez Mountains in rear
Road construction
A circle of flowers ringing a cattle water hole
Road work lighted arrow direction sign
Workers put up billboard for Mud Wasp Studio located in Cuba, NM
Semi at weigh station
Big Chief Gas Station and Market, Zia Pueblo (above and below)
Natural gas pipe construction on west side of Highway 550
One of my "Moving Landscape" series images
Clouds over Cabezon Peak
Dramatic sky reflected in Buick hood just north of San Ysidro, NM
Cabezon Peak and storms
Passing semis or semis passing
Parked tank trailer with plateau
Plateau with lens flare
Cabezon peak with sunrays and roadway
Retired school bus with graffiti, Widelux F6 panoramic camera
Descanso and plateau panoramic
Snow capped hills panoramic
Lone skeletal tree just north of Bernalillo, NM, on Highway 550 (above and below)
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