August trip to New Mexico - 2010 - Day 2

Sunday - Left Oklahoma City around 8 AM and headed west on I-40. There seems to be a lot of road work going on -- maybe due to the stimulus money? I took a side trip to follow Route 66 for a few miles and then went off looking for the wind farms near Weatherford OK. I'm fascinated by the huge wind turbines. My GPS lady was yelling at me trying to get me to go back to I-40...she is such a nag.

I also stopped at a roadside Cherokee Trading Post -- a tourist trap but a pretty high class one. They sell lots of Indian jewelry and pots, rugs, etc. and most of it looks pretty good -- not like it came from China. They advertised that they had live buffalo but he was busy elsewhere so I got a picture of the fiberglass one and a huge Indian.

I crossed into Texas and stopped to see the 2nd biggest cross in the western hemisphere at Groom TX....not much else happening there (except for the leaning water tower). I think the biggest cross is in Greenland or Illinois or somewhere.

Went on and saw the VW version of Cadillac Ranch in Conway, TX, just off the interstate. It is pretty run down...VWs don't hold up to the elements like Caddies. It doesn't get many visits....no tour busses.

In Amarillo I tried to stop at the quarter horse museum but it was closed...again. Always closed on Sunday. Instead I grabbed lunch at a McCafe and used the McToilet. I also made my obligatory stop at Cadillac Ranch. Each time I stop I seem to have a different favorite one. A bus load of German tourists were there and I met a family that drove up from Lubbock just to see it...(better than the Alamo?)

New Mexico now has a tall welcoming gate spanning the highway as you enter the state....must be more stimulus money. It looks nice and is a welcome sight as you leave Texas.

Tucumcari is where I'm staying at the Blue Swallow Motel - built in 1939 back when Route 66 was the biggest deal in the area (it still is, apparently). My room is nice and the couple that run the place are very nice. This is almost a ghost town...no industry and it only serves the local ranchers and tourists. Most of the old motels are closed or torn down. The few that are left seem to be barely hanging on but the Blue Swallow is the exception -- they have a full house. There are painted murals on some exterior walls and in the garages. My garage has a scene from Easy Rider and, as fate would have it, my next door neighbors are two guys from Denmark who are crossing the country on rented motorcycles.

Went to the Pow Wow Restaurant for supper and had a huge beer (Shiner Bock) and a stuffed sopaipilla covered with cheese and green chile sauce (stuffed with beef and refried beans) --- ahhh New Mexico.

Interesting...I get a free breakfast at the Pow Wow paid by my motel owner if I get up and check out by 7 AM. He explained that it is taking him and his wife longer to clean the rooms and if people leave early he can get an early start. He and his wife were very nice and were not trying to get rid of people...really. But that makes the experience more like 1950 vacations when you had to get up in your jammies before dawn and hit the road.