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.
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| Eastern New Mexico near Conchas Lake |
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