We drove up from Alamogordo on a blistery Saturday morning. Most of the drive was through arid, hilly terrain with an occasional dusty small town to pull off in to get gas. As we approached Shiprock, the elevation began to climb and the outside palette shifted from fine sand to a mix of rock and snow. Setting up in the dark isn’t much fun but by this point we have a pretty good system and in less than 15 minutes we were setup for the night. The blistering cold of the desert will always be a shock to me. When I was growing up, I always pictured deserts with extreme heat, tumble weeds and lizards skittering across the sand and baked earth. Being out here is a completely different experience from the images conjured from my childhood imagination. Even in the RV the cold air could be felt seeping in through any nook or gap it could possibly find. Fortunately, we were prepared and have a number of heavy blankets to keep warm throughout the coldest nights.