How's My Driving?

"If you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you"
Weigh Station - 2 miles
"I've been to Trucker School -- How about You?"
"FREE 72 oz. Steak!!"
Yield
"Highway Closed When Flashing - Please Use Next Exit"
Weigh Station - 1 mile
"Eat - Stuckeys"
"Gas - Stuckeys"
"Clean Restrooms - Stuckeys"
"Park and Ride"
"Jesus Saves"
Weigh Station - Next Right
"Share The Road"
Scales Closed
"Adult Videos"
Exit Now
Well, I made it to Amarillo.











Sounds Like a Plan

I met with Betty the Builder and her house designer, Max, this morning before I left Albuquerque. Max is amazing. He worked yesterday and on into the night so he could give me a new set of house plans showing the kitchen changes and other alterations to the plan. All together he was able to cut out over 500 square feet by making just a few changes here and there. The laundry room is smaller, the garage went back to its original size, the master bedroom shrank a little but is still bigger than what I have now, the foyer lost some space. He shaved a little off the outside areas -- the three covered patios (or 'portals') -- but I had him add some of it back.

The biggest change is the kitchen where we knocked out a wall and integrated it into the common living space. That was contrary to my original ideas...I wanted a separate kitchen, but seeing other houses and some of the apartments this week made me see that it was OK to have it open if we can manage it. That one change makes the common area of living, dining and kitchen seem larger and will reduce some costs.

I'm coming home with new plans so I'll be able to look at them and see if it is still what I want. I'm pretty happy.


A Man With a Mission

I decided to continue with my exploration of New Mexico as I worked my way east back to Amarillo. I went north on I-25 past Santa Fe and stopped at the Pecos National Historical Site. This is another Pueblo mission, contemporary with the two that I saw yesterday. There are about seven 16th century Spanish missions in the U.S. and all of them are in New Mexico. With today's visit I've seen four of them.

Pecos Mission is different because it is largely adobe and stuccoed with mud. The others are made of stone. I'm sure there is a lot of stone at Pecos but what you see is mostly adobe. I was here maybe 30 years ago with Joie and it was not very developed. There was no museum or large visitor center that I can remember. We could walk just about anywhere. Now there is a museum and a large visitor center and paved walkways through the site. I'm sure much of this is due to ADA regs. The mission itself seems smaller to me than what I remembered.

They have scaffolding up and are working on restoring or stabilizing the nave. Much of the actual pueblo ruins have not been excavated but they have been mapped out so you can see where the residents lived. The old pueblo buildings were four stories high and they make quite a pile of rubble.

I was greeted by some perky park ranger folks...maybe volunteers...who clued me in to the fact that I was eligible for a lifetime pass to all national parks and monuments for a mere $10. I no longer have to pay an entrance fee. All I have to do is flash my little card and doors will open. Pretty cool.

I watched the short little movie and then took the trail guide and strolled around the site taking pictures. I'm going to have a hard time keeping these three missions separate in my photo collection. This is complicated because I use three cameras and they aren't sorted together. It will take a while to get it all organized.

After leaving Pecos I decided to just drive on to Amarillo. The route was different and it was also busy. This being Friday, people were on the road more and the route passed close to a couple of lakes.  I finally got into Amarillo about 9 PM -- I lost an hour crossing into Texas. I had supper at an Outback and watched part of a Rangers-Mariners ball game....yawn.