What I Discovered Deep in the Canyons

We’re already halfway through Andy Hickman’s series, Falling Back in Love with America. In the past few months, Andy has taken us to a remote island in the Great Lakes, the far reaches of the Northern Border, the flat plains of Nevada, and the lush paradises of California—all in search of some hope that America is still a nation full of colorful characters, that it’s more than an “economic development zone,” as he puts it. If you’ve missed any of it, you can catch up here, and for even more from Andy, you can subscribe to his own newsletter here.

Today, he writes about the time he and his wife, Keturah, spent in Eastern New Mexico, which, for him, felt less like travel and more like time travel. Scroll down to read the essay. But first: Some news!

While Andy and Keturah had plans to travel for a year, fate had other ideas: Keturah and Andy are expecting their first child. When they found out, on their way out west, they decided it was time to put down some roots, a story we’ll hear more about in the months to come. But the Hickmans have plenty of stories from the road they’ve yet to tell, and some miles yet to travel before they go home for good. We’ll still be bringing you Falling Back in Love with America each month, and tales from the Hickmans of forgotten places, secret enclaves, and great geographical beauty.

After hearing their news, I called Andy up to see how he thought the project was going so far. Had he “fallen back in love”? Had the Hickmans found some hope on the road? He spoke to me from the porch of his home in upstate New York. What follows is an edited transcript of our conversation; after that, you’ll find his new essay on New Mexico. —Suzy Weiss

Suzy Weiss: Talk to me about the first half of this journey—what’s changed about America since the last time you were on the road?