On the Road - Day 9 -- That's All Folks

I'm a little grumpy because the last day of my trip was sort of a downer after such a good trip.

I left Wichita about 9:30 AM. Can't say much about Wichita because I didn't see much. What I did see wasn't very impressive or interesting. They have that same dumb highway design as they do in Texas with one-way access roads on either side of the highway so that you can see where you want to be but can't get there. Albuquerque has the same thing but it seems to be easier to negotiate. At least the highway entrance ramps are better than in Texas.  I headed north on I-35 which is a toll road ($4.00) all the way to Emporia. I actually like toll roads and I'd be willing to pay a toll on I-70 going to St. Louis if the road was well maintained and trucks were limited. I-35 heading north out of Wichita crosses part of the Flint Hills which is probably the prettiest part of Kansas. From Emporia to Kansas City there isn't much to see.

Kansas City is always a pain to get through. If the KC drivers would pick a lane and stay in it or use a signal when they change lanes it would be a better experience for everyone. There is always someone who is in such a hurry that they come on the highway already stressed out and then race across four lanes of traffic, cutting people off as they go, only to run up behind someone not trying to set the land speed record so they then have to weave back and forth through all four lanes. Usually they are not in the correct lane when they approach their exit so they again have to cut people off to get in the exit lane.

It started raining off and on....light drizzle...around Sedalia. As I arrived in Jefferson City it had sort of a neglected and diminished look about it.  As I said...I was a little grumpy.  I got home around 2:30 in the afternoon.

On the Road - Day 8 -- Panhandles and Tornado Alley

I'm still on Albuquerque time and I almost missed breakfast and, gee whiz, these Texans mean to stick to their schedule. Yessir, 9 AM is 9 AM.  I whined a little and she let me get some coffee and a couple danishes to take back to my room.

I was thinking about going to see the Alibates Flint Quarry National Monument about 30 miles north but they have a schedule too. You are not allowed to walk around on the trails unless you are escorted by a Ranger and they only go at 10 AM and at 2 PM and you have to make reservations. What's with that???  We are talking about rocks not WMDs. I wasn't going to make the 10 AM walk so I gave it up for this trip.

I decided to stop off at Lake Meredith National Recreational Area which is next to the Alibates monumednt. The drive north out of Amarillo is not a pretty one this time of year and much of the land had recently burned. This is wildfire season and there were a lot of warnings on the radio and weather reports. I drove up to Fritch Texas and then stopped off at a picnic area overlooking the lake. Fritch has seen better days...I hope. It looks pretty bad and I was surprised at how many buildings looked like they were falling down or had been bombed or hit by a tornado and never demolished or fixed up. There are a lot of mobile homes but most don't look liveable and many have gaping holes in the walls. While most of the panhandle is pretty flat this is a pretty rugged and rocky gorge carved by my old friend, the Canadian River. The overlook is about 100 feet above the lake and there really wasn't much going on.

Today's drive was going to be off the interstate on back roads and eventually getting to Kansas and US Highway 54 but I had to go through the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles first. I decided to use my trusty GPS and it showed me how to go from the picnic area, past the Sanford Dam that backs up Lake Meredith and on through a bunch of tiny towns. This must be cotton country because there were a few fields that had scraps of raw cotton hanging on the dried weeds. Every town had a huge grain elevator but I didn't see a cotton gin.

Once again, crossing the Texas line doesn't need a sign....it is obvious based on  the patterns of agriculture and land use that something fundamental has changed. Going into the Oklahoma panhandle was prettier and less trashy than Texas. Maybe prettier isn't the best word....it is all flat plains...but there was less stuff and what there was seemed to be better cared for and not falling down.

Generally the roads were about the same in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas...not much traffic and you could make good time.

I went through Beaver Oklahoma and discovered Beaver Dunes State Park. If I had an Off Road Vehicle I could have spent the day driving around on  the sand dunes but the Subaru wasn't up to it and I had to rely on it to get home. The park was pretty much empty except for one group of campers. The dune area is partly stabilized with vines and undergrowth with small pockets that are sheltered from the wind. About 300 acres are open for ORV use

Crossing into Kansas was not as noticeable as leaving Texas. The terrain is pretty much the same and the winds were very strong. Fire warnings were out because if a fire started it would probably be up to Canada in a short time with the wind and humidity as low as it is.  I hit US 54 at Meade KS, apparently the site of the Dalton Gang hideout. I followed the signs and found it located in a residential neighborhood looking like a fake western movie set. I decided not to stop and didn't bother to record it with my camera. The James Gang would never have stooped to stay in such a place.



Greensburg KS

 I went on to the town of Greensburg, which, if you recall, was almost entirely destroyed by an EF5 tornado in May of 2007, killing 12 people. Greensburg's population tumbled from over 1,500 to 777 after the tornado. They are intent on rebuilding and the motto seems to be "Stronger, Better, Greener". They are trying to make it a "green" city by conforming to LEED standards as much as possible. I stopped for lunch at a little coffee shop/deli in one of the few new buildings. The main street shows signs of rebuilding but the entire place seems pretty sparse.  I think the jury is still out on the recovery. Part of the problem is they have to compete with the bigger town of Pratt, a few miles up the road, that has a Walmart and several motels.  Greensburg is also famous for the world's largest hand dug water well (that I did not see) and it is the home of a 1000-pound meteorite on display in a museum (which I also did not see).

I drove on to Wichita and found my motel. I ate at a Denny's and found some gas. Watched a little TV...that was my day.   Should make it home fairly early tomorrow.

On the Road - Day 7 -- Heading Home: Duke City to Amarillo

Sunday --- time to go home. I got myself packed up and did a little housekeeping so I was ready to leave by 9:30 -- after eating my last apple and granola bar for breakfast. I was going to make my own meals but I still have a bunch of food left.    I checked out and made a last stop at the local coffee shop and then hit the road. The coffee of the day was called Arco Etrusco...Etruscan Arch....of course I had to inquire about the name and of course they had no idea. 

The traffic was light and the weather was crisp and clear. You have to climb a couple thousand feet when you head east out of Albuquerque so it sometimes seems like a struggle with trucks and cars trying to gain some speed on the hill. At least today there was no road construction. The speed limit is 75 mph so everyone is going a little over 80 by the time they reach the flatter sections east of the mountains. I was past Cline's Corners and the Flying C almost before I realized it.

At Newkirk I decided to get off the highway for a while. I took a side trip to go see Conchas  Dam and lake about 25 miles north of the highway but on a road that connects to Tucumcari. This was a pretty drive through red rock hills and dry farmland -- almost desert. This apparently was part of old Route 66 and I had the road to myself. I'm beginning to wonder what road was not part of old Route 66.  The countryside reminded me of some of the scenes from the movie Cars and I expected Mater to show up from behind a rock.  Eventually I was passed by a couple cars going in the opposite direction...we all waved as we passed.

Conchas Dam is on the Canadian River but it is a Corps of Engineers earth and rock dam and was not very impressive. The lake was also not very impressive but there was some water in it. It must get a lot of water after the snow melt in the mountains. It looked like it was a popular place but a sign said that the season really didn't start until May 1st.  There wasn't much around and what there was seemed closed.

I continued on my merry way toward Tucumcari -- another 39 miles of solitary driving. There was the occasional cow and horse and a few ranch roads heading off the road but nothing else. The country is pretty in a lonesome and desolate way. I wouldn't want to be a rancher out here. Finally, about ten miles out of Tucumcari I came across a historical marker and a place to pull off the road. This was the site of Fort Bascom built in the mid 1860s and abandoned in 1870. Apparently it was made of adobe and one rock building but it was never fully finished before it was abandoned. Kit Carson led attacks on the local Indians from the fort and Phil Sheridan used it as a base for an Indian campaign. Once it was abandoned the buildings melted into the countryside and people hauled off what was left. There is no trace of it now.

I was getting hungry for lunch so I headed into Tucumcari and stopped at a McDonald's near the interstate. After I finished I walked around the parking lot for a while and who did I see but the Regis and Kelly tour bus pulled up in the gas station next door. I recall that there was some kind of road trip that they were doing to promote a guy (Dean Karnazes?) who is running across the country to raise awareness for wellness...I think.  He runs 40-50 miles a day and apparently he was on the interstate somewhere around Santa Rosa heading toward Tucumcari today bu I didn't notice anyone running along the highway.  Well, anyway, I looked around for Regis at the gas station but couldn't find him....probably asleep on the bus.....surely not running. So disappointing.

The rest of the trip from Tucumcari to Amarillo was relatively unremarkable except for the pit stop I made in Vega, Texas, at a gas station operated by a Sikh from Punjab.  A big tall guy with a turban who was also selling Punjabi music CDs. I stopped myself from buying one. Apparently there is a Punjabi community out on the plains of the Texas panhandle.

Amarillo was waiting for me. I found the motel and checked in and that was pretty much it. I ate some of my surplus food for supper and watched CNN tell us about the new war we are involved in against Libya.   Boy....it's hard to keep up with this stuff.

Eastern New Mexico near Conchas Lake

On the Road - Day 6 - Retired Nerds, Museums & THE brewery

I slept until about 8 AM...a little late for this trip. It was a nice cool morning so I decided to walk up to the little coffee shop about a half-mile away. The retired nerdy guys that I ran into on my last trip(August) were there...the quiet ones at first ...but then the Alpha Nerd arrived to whip everyone into shape. He has put on some weight since last summer (but who am I to point this out?) and was sporting a very bright Hawaiian print shirt. He speaks at a higher decibel level and always seems that he has already had his limit of coffee. Before long, Mrs. Alpha Nerd arrived and she was wearing a matching Hawaiian print shirt. The Mrs. seems to fit right in and must be a good match for Alpha. I finished my coffee and a cheese danish and left but they were still going strong trying to decide on what the day's projects were going to be.

 I was having a hard time deciding on my projects for the day. I didn't feel much like driving a couple hours up to see Valles Caldera and the Bandelier Indian ruins since I'll be on the road for the next couple days. I decided to find the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology on the campus of the University of New Mexico.  The University sits smack in the middle of Albuquerque but I've never really been on the campus. It is Spring Break so very few students were around and parking wasn't a problem after I found the museum. I was the only person visiting the museum so I had the run of the place and they allowed pictures without a flash.      As you would think, most of the exhibits are on southwestern archaeology and the various people who have lived in the area. They didn't have a huge amount of stuff but they told the story. There were a few pueblo ruins that were excavated and they found colorful frescoes on some of the walls. The kiva at Coronado monument at Bernalillo  had frescoes and they had some examples of others. There was also a good exhibit that highlighted the physical characteristics and differences of the early human ancestors. I never realized how different Neanderthals were from other variations and from modern humans.  There was a travelling exhibit on Mayan weaving that was very detailed and a little more information than I needed but very good.  The museum is free and they have some special events and a small book and gift shop. Today they had a tour going to one of the local archeology sites for a cost of $75 but it left early in the morning.

My next stop was at the National Hispanic Cultural Center located in a southern part of town near the Barales neighborhood which is traditionally a Hispanic area.  The cultural center is very large and has areas set aside for a variety of purposes. There was a lecture going on and some performances were scheduled for the evening. I wanted to see the art museum and it turned out to be a free day so no admission fee -- yes!  They have a permanent collection of contemporary art by Hispanic artists....most of them from New Mexico. They had an interesting special exhibit of New Mexico hand-crafted furniture. Some of the furniture was nice but it seemed very angular. Some of the local  wood, such as pine, is very soft and splits easily so they have to allow for the wood characteristics when they make the furniture. I visited the gift shop and chatted with the lady clerk who wanted me to come back on Sunday to see the Torreón. This is something I walked by but didn't realize what it was. A special artist constructed a torreon (tower) out in the front of the center and painted a huge fresco inside depicting Hispanic history. It is like a chapel and is open only on Sunday afternoons. I'll be in Texas by then. They have a nice restaurant, "La Fonda", where I ate lunch -- a huge club sandwich with ham, turkey cheese and avocado slices on whole wheat toast with french fries and chips with salsa and coffee for about $10.

I found a Trader Joe's store and decided to check it out. We don't have one at home and I had never been one. It is essentially sort of a grocery store but the have a large wine selection so I ended up getting a couple of wines to take home and a bottle of grappa all for about $24 which was probably less than half of what I'd pay at home.

I was too stuffed to do much else for a while so I went back to the motel to relax. Later I went to the Marble Brewery which I discovered is located on Marble Street - hence the name. The Marble Brewery is apparently setting the standard for area brew-pubs and micro-breweries. I'm guessing that they have been open longer than most and so they got to sort of define the locally brewed styles. Far be it from me to criticize but I don't much like what they are doing with their beer. I've had some on earlier trips because it is served all over town and people think it is pretty good. It is good if you really like grapefruit juice because most of what they make has a very strong citrus flavor that overpowers everything else. I wanted to go to the brewery to see what it was like and it was pretty big but not crowded...especially on a day when NCAA basketball tournaments were on the big screen TV.  They have a laid back attitude and serve a pretty good collection of food and have a large outdoor seating area. The beer tastes funny to me and they are apparently proud of how "fruity" it is and even seem to expand on that type of beer by doing a citrus pale ale. I know I don't like the IPA so I tried a red ale and it, too, was overpowered  by citrus but not as heavy as the IPA. Well, now I know so I won't have to go back.  Maybe I'll spend some time checking out more local wineries if this citrus madness continues....I know I like that.

Tonight was the night of the super-duper full moon -- the moon is closer to the earth than in several decades...or maybe eons...I'm not sure. I decided it would be great to get a picture but all of my attempts pretty much failed. The cameras don't understand what I'm trying to do aqd can't focus right. It was very impressive as it came up over the mountain.

Gee, I widh I'd taken this picture

On the Road - Day 5 -- Corrales, Sandia Man Cave & Cumbres Brewery

Felt sort of lazy today so I didn't get started until late. Half of me wants to make a long trek up to Valles Caldera and Bandelier ruins while the other half wants to lay low and save those long mileage trips for another day. The other half of me won since I will be driving back home ikn a couple days and decided to give the car a break....sort of.

I had breakfast at the motel room and then headed up to Corrales -- a little artsy village that lies just west of the Rio Grande. I went into a couple shops and ended up buying some small pastel and watercolor prints that can be framed.They are colorful and show what the local landscape is like.



San Ysidro Church

 I headed over to take some pictures of the Casa San Ysidro and the village church of San Ysidro. The Casa San Ysidro looks like a very old native Hispanic rancho residence - smaller than an hacienda but still pretty big. They give tours a couple times a day and I've tried to catch a tour but I never make it at the right time....so today was my day.  The church exterior is in tact as it was years ago but it is now a community and events center.  Since I was early I decided to go for lunch at the local Coralles Flying Star restaurant (think Panera) and has a sesame bagel with cream cheese and a cup of tomato bisque soup - yum.

I got back to the Casa San Ysidro in time for the 1:30 tour...just me and a young couple. They apparently had been waiting in the parking lot since noon and when the docent opened the front door to go get something they went in with me following....seemed like the natural thing to do. The docent returned and told us that we needed to step outside because the tour had not started and they were not ready. The other couple became irate and left to the utter befuddlement of the docent who failed to realize that he had pissed them off after they waited an hour and a half.  The docent is a slave to petty rules (don't touch the walls...don't touch the door or door frames...etc.) So it was just me and I got the full $3.00 tour. The guy was in his seventies and had his tour memorized so when I asked a question he went off track and it took a while to get back. Of course, photography was not allowed. Turns out that the core of the house is just a few rooms from around 1875 and the west of the colonial-style building was built in the 1950s as sort of a replica. It was essentially a place for a collector to house the old New Mexico things that he collected.  It was still interesting and it appeared to be authentic. I had already been to the old hacienda up in Taos a couple years ago that is actually the real thing and this was pretty close.

I went back to Bernalillo and walked around a while and finally stopped in at the visitor's center and talked to the guy on duty. He gave me a bunch of stuff and also directions to go see Sandia Man Cave up on the far side of the village of Placitas. Sandia Man...not to be confused with the Sandman...is the name given to a group of people who lived in this area maybe 23,000 years ago.  Archaologists have conducted extensive studies of the cave and artifacts that were found there. Much of this happened in the 1940s and is pretty well outside the current discussions of paleo-Indian issues but the discoveries did push the horizon back several thousand years. Why anyone would want to live in this cave is beyond me since it is almost totally inaccessible and way up on the side of a limestone cliff. The forest service has erected fences and elevated walkways and a long spiral stairway just so visitors could reach the cave.  If you have fear of heights you will not want to make this trip. Also...anyone living in the cave would have had to climb down several hundred feet to get a drink of water.  I guess that whatever the Sandia Man was afraid of was so bad that he took refuge in this cave. The area is very pretty and very remote but there were several people there when I finally got to the parking area.

By the time I finished my visit it was after 5 PM so I decided to head back to the motel. I decided to stop at a new brewery  -- La Cumbre Brewery -- that had recently opened and see what the place was like. It was full of people (a Friday evening at happy hour) and they seemed to have a real businesslike approach They had a large blackboard with the beer varieties listed along with the brewing date, gravity levels, bittering units, alcohol level and fermentation dates. The clientele seemed to be beer geeks and were knowledgeable about the brewing process and varieties. I think New Mexico versions of the IPA style is way too citrussy in flavoring....almost like drinking grapefruit juice. They had two IPA versions and one was just like grapefruit juice but the other was very flowery but was over 11% alcohol and $7.00 a glass.

I sat at the bar and started talking to Jason...a federal chemist working on secret homeland security stuff. He was reading a book about George Armstrong Custer so we winded up talking about various books we had read recently....we had several in common.

After the brewery I headed back to the motel and actually cooked myself a supper.




Here is a web link regarding Sandia Cave :  http://www.ele.net/sandia_cave/elephant.htm

On the Road - Day 4 -- Ken throws caution to the wind

Happy St. Patrick's Day. 

There is a little coffee shop about a half-mile away from the motel that I walk to in the mornings when I'm here. Today was a beautiful morning and the coffee shop was a little busy. I got my coffee and an orange scone and sat outside and read the local free paper. I'm guessing that this must be spring break for the local schools because there are kids roaming around all day and one of the Barista/Owners had her son working the cash register...he did a fine job.



Black Volcano from JA Volcano

 I decided to take up where I left off and headed back over to the volcanoes for a nice hike and some photography. No park rangers this morning but the water company was having some kind of problem and the water truck was blocking the parking lot. I think he was just lost because he drove in and then drove out again....maybe his GPS was messed up. The three notable volcanoes (actually there are five) are very old and mostly worn down to little nubbins of lava and solidified ash but they are perched high up on the western mesa and have a commanding view of Albuquerque and the surrounding area.  Apparently this section of the Rio Grande Valley is a rift valley that is still somewhat active. The Sandia Mountains are still rising and the valley is still sinking because the western edge if the rift is pulling away to the west....that's what the sign said anyway. At any rate there have been some massive geologic forces at work here for a very long time. Apparently a large crack opened up about 150,000 years ago and the five volcanoes all erupted at once.

There was no one around when I started my hike toward the first volcano and at over 5,500 feet elevation I was huffing a little when I got started. The trails are well traveled and since you can see for about fifty miles you can't get lost.  I guess the only hazard would be falling off the rocks, getting snake bit or being blown away by the wind. Today it was so windy that it almost blew my glasses off. There is nothing to break the wind once you get on the trail until you can get behind the volcano and take shelter in the rocks. Did I say it was windy?  I think it might have been close to 40 mph sustained wind up on the exposed parts of the volcano.

The view is pretty spectacular although there was a lot of dust in the air that tended to obscure details of downtown Albuquerque. I know some of the mountain ranges in the area but I saw several more that I didn't know about.  The first (southern-most) volcano is named JA Volcano and it is a pretty steep climb to a fairly small conical and rocky top. The second is Black Volcano and it covers a larger area and has a flatter top of about an acre or so.  I didn't try to go to the third one which looks like a much steeper climb. I was pretty well wind blown and had already walked a good distance.

After my wind-blown hike I drove up to Bernalillo and then checked up on my little ranchette-ette that is sitting waiting for me to build a house on it. It is still there although the road is almost gone. I took some time and walked around a little....somebody has been spray painting the utility boxes...nothing else to do. I guess. I found a piece of an Indian arrowhead back among the trees....from what I found it must have been a pretty big blade of some sort.

This being St. Patrick's Day I decided to get a little cleaned up and go out for a Guinness and some Irish food. I ended up at O'Neill's Pub on Central Avenue and just sat at the bar and watched the activity. I met Patty (from Michigan) and Shawn (from Wisconsin) who were doing the very same thing. I'm beginning to think that no one is actually from here. I was hungry so I had a bowl of lamb stew that was very tasty. Patty had the full treatment with corned beef and cabbage that looked really good. The Guinness was OK but the bartenders were having to use little plastic cups so the experience wasn't quite as I had expected. I ended up drinking a couple of Deschutes Brewery porters as we talked and watched the very crowded pub. Lots of green and some crazy hats and even a few kilts. After a while we were serenaded by a bunch of bagpipers who came in and played some sort of Scottish tune to rousing cheers.  Go figure.  I guess this as close as they could get to Irish music. Another guy at the bar had been to Ireland and was giving me tips on what to see and do in Kerry and Dingle....but he was pretty far gone so I'm not sure about his advice.

I ended the evening at the Sandia Casino...probably the largest of the several Indian casinos in the area. I usually go to the Santa Ana Casino up in Bernalillo so this was my first time at Sandia --- the results were the same. Nothing exciting to report.

Erin go Bragh!

On the Road - Day 3 -- Rubber Tomahawks, anyone?

Tucumcari is barely two hours away from Albuquerque and I wonder why I stop there except that things have a way of coming undone occasionally and I (usually) don't like pressing my luck. Things were going well and I could have made it all the way to Albuquerque very easily last night but I also like to ramble around a little and get off the interstate and away from the trucks so I spread it out.

That's what I did today, too. Breakfast wasn't much at the motel...in fact I could have gotten more nutrition out of sniffing an empty box of shredded wheat.  But they had coffee and orange juice and something sealed up in plastic that resembled a mutant donut.  Bon Appetit!

Tucumcari was still sleeping - I think - when I left town and joined up with the trucks on the interstate again. I considered going to see the local dinosaur museum until I learned that it was actually made up of bronze versions of reconstructed dinosaur bones. I'll save that for some other time.   West of Tucumcari the highway goes through some relatively interesting areas -- compared to Texas.  I pulled into a truck stop in Santa Rosa and got some coffee and chocolate chip cookies to sustain me on my journey.

I drove on a short stretch of Route 66 again but headed back on the highway and continued to the Flying C Ranch about an hour or so west of Tucumcari. This is just one more of the huge number of truck stop tourist traps but they have a real flair for advertising.  They seem to pull out all of the stops in coaxing people off the interstate including several miles of billboards that obscure the horizon on both sides of the highway. They have one that shows a chubby little kid...seemingly a little bit retro like a 1950s kid in modern clothes...holding an ice cream cone and saying  "git yerself some!" What parent could resist?   Once inside you are exposed to a vast array of stuff including cowboy boot wine racks and coiled rattle snake wine racks, sheet metal armadillos, 'indian pottery' and 'indian weaving', hillbilly figurines...just in case you didn't get any in Missouri, moccasins of all styles, t-shirts, hats and....rubber tomahawks. The rubber tomahawk is the one standard thing that I use to gauge this type of place.  If it has no rubber tomahawks it is judged wanting. They sell bunches of fireworks in spite of the fact that the surrounding county is a tinderbox just waiting for someone to toss out a cigarette. This place also had a real stuffed buffalo and a real stuffed Kodiak bear (please do not touch) and a huge plush bear standing up in full attack mode that you could touch and hug if you so desired. They were trying to sell a very large cement indoor/outdoor fountain -- 25% off!  This place also had the only public toilets and the only pay phone for miles around (for some reason all of the highway rest stops were closed in this part of the state). Gas prices were the highest I'd seen so far.

Well, not to be outdone....the next major intersection, maybe 20 miles ahead, was Cline's Corners....a tourist trap that has been roping passing tourists for generations. I can remember seeing Cline's Corners when I was a little kid....probably saw my first rubber tomahawk there.  I had to do some comparison shopping. Gas prices were even higher than at the Flying C Ranch. They had just about all the same stuff but maybe more of the higher quality tourist junk than the Flying C. Cline's Corners did not disappoint....they had rubber tomahawks!!!  I did not see any huge examples of taxidermy nor did I see fireworks.  Cline's Corners also has not spent huge amounts on advertising.....they don't need to since generations of kids have memories of the place and can't wait to drag their Goth sons and preppy daughters into the place. For the sake of full disclosure, I must admit that I bought Jill a set of wax teeth on one of my earlier visits that have probably melted into the upholstery of her back seat.

Moving on...I finally reached Albuquerque just after noon and went to the old town plaza to get lunch and kill some time before I could check in at the motel. I have been to this place four of five time but I have the feeling that there must be more than I'm seeing. I stopped at the tourist information shop and they gave ma a map that showed a lot of stuff that I hadn't realized was there. I wandered around a while looking at a photography gallery and a few other shops and finally got lunch at one of the plaza restaurants.....a beef-stuffed sopaipilla with rice and beans and green chile sauce and a beer. It was good but filling....no big supper tonight. 

The old church on the plaza is San Felipe de Neri which dates back to the early 1700s. The present church was built in 1793. I had never gone into the church on previous visits but it was open for viewing. The interior is simple and quite pretty and clearly very old. Apparently it was built for a small community of about 40 families that moved down from Bernalillo around 1706.

The exterior of the church looks like it might have been modernized back in the 1800s to reflect a more "American" style.

The motel was the same as always...even the same guy at the desk. It is an extended stay motel with a kitchen that is pretty cheap and conveniently located. I checked in and got my stuff moved into the room and rested for a few minutes and then decided to head out for some walking up at the volcanoes across the river. By the time I got there it was 5 PM and the park rangers were closing it down....pretty stupid to close it down so early if you ask me (Nobody wanted my opinion, however). I headed back into town and eventually back to the motel for the evening.

On the Road - Day 2 -- Everything's OK in Oklahoma (Texas - not so much)

What a difference a day makes...and a good night's sleep. Today I head west on I-40 to Tucumcari. I've made this trip about a half-dozen times by now so I can almost drive it with my eyes closed...they have those rumble strips on the side of the highway if I start to stray off the pavement.

It was still cold in Oklahoma City but it was a pretty day. I made good time and there was only one place on the highway where construction slowed down the traffic. I made my usual stop at Lucile's near Hydro and at Cadillac Ranch. Cadillac Ranch is still wildly popular. There are people parking along the interstate - not bothering to go to the outer road. When I arrived there was already a crowd of probably ten cars and over twenty people. It is funny to see the parents taking their young kids to see a bunch of barely recognizable cars half buried in the dirt in a cow pasture and then encouraging them to spray paint something on top of what somebody else already  did. The smaller kids aren't sure what to do. There was a photographer there with a tripod all set up wanting to take some pictures but as soon as someone left another car full would arrive. Unfortunately, people have started carting away parts of the old Caddys at Cadillac Ranch.

Western Oklahoma and Texas are seething with fundamentalist Christians. Not much else is on the radio although I found a station broadcasting a program from the Netherlands National Radio that was interesting.  There was a radio spot I heard advertising Regent Law School --"Training Christian Lawyers to Change the World". Scary. I found out this is Pat Robertson's law school back in Virginia. I guess they are recruiting in Oklahoma.  In Groom Texas they have that huge sheet-metal cross surrounded by bronze statues of various crucifixion scenes.



Tower Station and U-Drop Inn



I think you can tell when you cross into Texas even if they didn't put up a sign. Everything is bleak and looks like it is about to fall over. There are a few exceptions but not many. In Shamrock Texas they are gearing up for St. Patrick's day. I decided to stop for fast food at a McDonald's and the line was all the way to the door. Must be a big hit.  Many of these towns have decided to try to preserve some of the Mother Road/Route 66 stuff that they have laying all around them. That is what Lucile's is back in Hydro, Oklahoma. In Shamrock they have restored this impressive relic at the main intersection in town....at the stoplight. The Tower Station is well preserved and apparently it is lit up at night with some of the original neon lights. I was actually impressed with what a good job they did.  

Shamrock is the first sizable town you hit in Texas. I should have bought gas since I was running a little low but I figured I had enough to get to McClean...the next town that probably had gas. So I left McDonald's and headed down the highway...watching my gas gauge a little. When I got off the highway at McClean I couldn't find any gas (even though the highway sign said there was gas). Bummer. What to do. What to do. I decided to risk it and keep going to the next town of Alanreed.  Alanreed was another disappointment but as I was getting back on the highway wondering how far I could go I spied a Conoco station across the highway that I couldn't get to....it figures.  So I limped along going west hoping for a turn-around and eventually found one and got back to Alanreed to fill up on  some very high-priced gas.



Adrian - Last little hell hole in Texas

The rest of the way through Texas was fairly uneventful. I stopped off at Cadillac Ranch but didn't spend any time in Amarillo or any place else. 

The Texas Panhandle has almost nothing to look at except for some interesting geology west of Alanreed and then again , finally, at the extreme western edge about ten miles east of the New Mexico state line.  The hills and escarpments begin to look a little like what one would expect.  I have to admit that the highway was in better condition in Texas than in Oklahoma but they insist on designing those goofy entrance ramps that shoot over from the outer access road. I suspect that Texans are used to it but it seems very odd and even dangerous for people not familiar with it.

New Mexico greeted me with it's usual enthusiasm. I stopped at the welcome center just across the border and the lady was knocking herself out trying to be helpful to everyone who came in. If she could have, I think she would have liked to escort everyone around the state to see various attractions. I was early anyway and also gained an hour when I crossed into mountain time at the border so I was looking for something to do. She gave me a bunch of stuff and told me to stop at the next exit to see the free antique car museum.

Turns out the car museum was inside a truck stop but it was free and they had about two-dozen restored cars. There were two or three really old ones but most were from the 1950s and 1960s. The cars were behind a railing so you couldn't actually get too close but they were very nicely restored and well worth the cost of admission. Most of them had the hood open so you could see the engine. They were not the usual run-of-the-mill cars...these were pretty fancy.



The road less travelled

After leaving the antique cars I looked at the map and decided to take a long way to my final destination of the day. Tucumcari was only about thirty minutes away but I managed to drag it out by taking a couple back roads and then connecting up with US Highway 54 that heads south and west into Tucumcari. This is the same highway that goes through Jefferson City so I could just drive west on Hwy 54 all the way when I come to New Mexico. I was sort of sure I knew where I was going. The road headed out into some cactus and sagebrush plains and eventually curved west (as I hoped). There were a few ranches but nothing looked too prosperous. The cattle were standing out in the sagebrush looking at me like maybe I had some food. There were a few horses way out in the middle of nowhere just standing around and trying to graze on what little there was. The road finally ran along the south fork of the Canadian River and there were a few deep ravines and a very high railroad bridge coming across the river at one point. I finally ran into Highway 54 and then followed it back into Tucumcari and found my motel.

It was another EconoLodge and, once again there was an Indian family running the hotel. They were sure that I had stayed there before (what??) and told me all about their trip to Hannibal Missouri...they just got back yesterday. The family owns hotels in Hannibal and Lake Ozark as well as Tucumcari (and who knows where else?) The manager said his brother runs the one in Hannibal and his sister has the one at the lake. They always drive US 54 the entire way and he says it takes him only 19 hours to get all the way to Hannibal. Highway 54 isn't crowded in Kansas and you can make good time. I guess I'll have to try it.

Since it was still daylight I drove around Tucumcari a little. I'm not sure this town has a pulse. When the Interstate came through most of the town dried up since it relied so heavily on Route 66 traffic. No one wanted to make the half-mile drive into town from the interstate so the town started moving toward the highway. There was a Denny's restaurant next door to the motel that shut down and moved to be part of a truck stop. Most of the businesses along the old Route 66 are closed.  They are trying to preserve some of the old motels and neon lighting but there is just too much of it and not enough Mother Road tourists to justify spending much more than they have.   I went and found the new Denny's and had a good supper except that I bad to eat it with Bill O'Riley. He was blithering about the Japanese earthquake and the nuclear power plant problem so he had guests and it wasn't just him.

Crazy monkey at the car museum

On the Road - Day 1 ---Yuk

Yuk -- I woke up to about 4 inches of new snow. I was planning on getting an early start but they didn't come to clear the street until 9:30 so it was almost 10 AM before I got out of the driveway.  The snow was coming down fairly heavy. I went out and shoveled the sidewalk about 8:30 and almost had a hernia trying to lift the snow shovel full of snow....great snowball snow but it was hell to shovel. I decided to just load up the car and try to bully my way out of the driveway and that worked so I was on my way.

It was slow going. There wasn't much traffic and once I got to the highway it was pretty clear. The worst part was at Lake of the Ozarks because almost no one had been on the new highway that bypasses the old US 54 so it had a lot of snow and slippery spots. By the time I got past Mack's Creek and on toward Buffalo it was beginning to thin out and there was only a dusting of snow. Almost nothing at Springfield and Joplin was pretty clear. I stopped for lunch at Joplin and then headed on to Oklahoma. They need to do some repairs on the turnpike and they charge $4.00 per car now which I think is a little more than a year ago. I made my obligatory stop at the world's largest McDonald's and took care of some business for Jill. I managed not to get lost in Tulsa -- like I usually do. I finally reached Oklahoma City around 5 PM with a little bit of sunlight....a welcome sight on such a dreary day. I got checked in at the motel and was glad to be out of the car.

I've made this trip so often that I know the motels and have favorite bars and restaurants. In Oklahoma City I stay fairly close to Bricktown in a little antiquated EconoLodge. The price is right and the location is convenient and the same little Indian (east-Indian) guy works the desk. I decided to go to the Tap Werks in Bricktown for a beer and maybe supper. Plan B was to go to the IHOP next to the ballpark for supper but when I got into Tap Werks they were having 1/2 price appetizers because the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA game was on TV-- playing the Washington Wizards. I don't follow NBA and I forget that OKC has a team but I watched the 2nd half and the Thunder walloped the Wizards. I had a Fullers ESB and an Artichoke Dip appetizer with flat bread and then a Tallgrass IPA (a Kansas-brewed beer but still OK). Tap Werks has over 100 beers on tap so it will take me a whole bunch of trips to Oklahoma City to sample them all.  I keep telling myself I need to come down here and spend a few days....maybe this summer.   After the game they had live acoustic music....some guys doing Grateful Dead and Tracy Chapman songs. Go figure...sounded OK.   Went back to my room and watched some TV before bed.

Leaving for NM Tomorrow Morning

......and it's snowing tonight. I'm hoping this is the last snow we see.....big slushy gobs of half snow and half rain. Supposedly there will be only about an inch and it is still above freezing. Looks like rain and maybe some snow tomorrow until I get to around Joplin. Plan to be in Oklahoma City tomorrow night.

I hope to find spring around Tulsa.

Got the Bug

It's March and I caught the bug ---- road trip bug. This has been a horrendous Winter with lots of snow and cold weather. We had a white Christmas which was nice for a change but the snow kept coming. In February we had our first real blizzard in probably 50 years followed by sub-zero temps and then abnormally warm weather all the way up into the 70s followed by mud and floods.

So I need to get out of here for a while. I'll be heading off to New Mexico again.Why again? Because I want to find Spring and I know where it is and because New Mexico is my future home and I want to check up on my humble mini-mini-ranchette that is sitting vacant waiting for me to build my new home. I admit that the Land of Enchantment has its problems but it also seems to have me in its spell. 

I have a few things I need to do before I can get on the road.  The car was needing brakes so I got that taken care of today. Gas prices are heading up - supposedly because of the fighting in Libya (wink wink) - so this is possibly going to be a little more expensive than the last trip. I also have a case of sinusitis that I'm fighting so I think I'll wait a few days for that to clear up. Watson will go live with Jill and Iris for the time I'm gone....he doesn't know that yet.