RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) – A Rio Rancho neighborhood is mourning the loss of a massive Joshua Tree after Saturday’s storm destroyed it. “We moved into this house in the 1990s and we just referred to it as the big cactus,” said homeowner Rusty Dils. “The house was built around 70 and we’re the second owner, the previous owner I assume planted it in the very early seventies.”
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It was the first thing you’d see when driving by Rusty Dils’ Rio Rancho home. “Last week, I happened to look at it and it was 40×40. 40 feet tall by 40 feet wide and beautiful, evenly proportioned,” said Dils.
A massive Joshua Tree which is part of the yucca family. “When we figured out what it was we were on a trip to California, middle of California with our five kids in the Aerostar and we were stuck behind a train in the middle of the Mojave Desert and we got out and wandered around for a bit and we saw a bunch of trees that looked like ours,” said Dils.