My Triumphant Arrival in Albuquerque

RANT:  It was cloudy and threatening rain again this morning.  Still cool -- about 64 degrees. I stayed at my usual Econolodge in Tucumcari. I have made this trip so many times the motels seem to be  blur. I've been here before and decided I wouldn't stay here again....but I forgot.  Last time it was run by an (east) Indian family who ate curry three times a day so the place had a certain smell.  When I checked in this time, it was somebody different...maybe Palestinian or Syrian...anyway, the smell was different.  I went to my room and decided to open the window but the window fell into the room when I tried to slide it up. I put that back together and turned on the AC even though it was pretty cool outside.

I stopped off on my way back to the motel after supper and got some snacks so I could park in front of the TV and watch baseball's All Star game.  Well, guess what....the motel doesn't get that channel on it's subscribed stations. Bummer....so there I was with my snacks and nothing to watch....nothing that I wanted to watch.  So I drank my wine and ate my Pringles and went to bed.

Morning arrived so I went down to get my free breakfast. Not good. I wound up at McDonald's. So...I need to remember not to stay at the Tucumcari Econolodge. (I'm writing this so I remember.)  END OF RANT

The drive to Albuquerque is only 2 1/2 hours so I took my time. I stopped off at the Cline's Corners for some gas and to look over the fine selection of southwestern decor they stock there for tourists. I was tempted but passed up some great stuff.

It was sunny when I got to Albuquerque before noon and, of course, my room was not ready at the motel. I headed up to my favorite brewpub and had a beer and a brat and watched the first half of a soccer game. I drove up to Bernalillo and stopped off at the bank I'll be using to see what I need to do to change from my local Jefferson City bank. Apparently, nothing other than put in a change of address. They are both branches of the same bank (US Bank) so no big deal.

I drove past the house on my way back to the motel and it is still there. We have some ongoing confusion about the well. The well is fine but the pressure tank is borderline. It's a long story but the lender can't finalize the loan without a new pressure tank. The sellers agreed to replace the tank but it is taking a while and the lender needs a written report before we can close. So maybe we close on Friday and maybe we don't.

The sellers have moved to Georgia and the house is vacant. They gave me access today so I unloaded the car.  I met my nearest neighbor. His name is Rod and he has been taking care of the fish twice a day.  Apparently, I have about 40 fish in my pond and they need to be tended to every morning and evening. WHAT???  Holy Crap! They are having babies in the pond and the population is growing.  I have dependents I hadn't planned on. This is in addition to the chipmunks, hummingbirds and quail.  This is going to be like the scene in Disney's Cinderella when the critters are all singing and dancing. Watson will have a conniption.

Rod is great...I'm going to like him. He knows the neighborhood and also knows my house. He can tell me where the switches are and what the access code for the garage door. He was hoping I play golf...but no, I don't.  He can play bocce. He pointed out that we have a "friendly gate" between our two yards. He is also watching the house on the other side where the people are away for a month.

The landscaping looks good. We've been getting rain so stuff that is usually brown is very green. I have sweeping patches of blooming Russian Sage around the fish pond. There is something blooming that looks like Four-o-clocks.  It is all bushier than what I remembered. Most of it is native plants.

The house is almost spotless. The sellers cleaned up everything and left me a three-ring binder with all sorts of information.  I don't have any new pictures today. I'll take some tomorrow.

I'm back in my usual motel here while I'm waiting for closing. I complained the last two times I stayed here so they know me by sight and know my name and make sure I have what I complained about. I have pots and I have a chair. I hold them to a higher standard than the old Econolodge. It is an extended stay motel and people are trying to live here for long periods...months, sometimes. Just call me the Squeaky Wheel. They even gave me some free coffee packets....anything to shut me up.

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

To prove to the armadillo that it could be done.   Dead armadillos are all over the road. They look like basketballs with tails. I actually saw a road crew guy with a snow shovel pushing one off the road. Vultures don't mess with them....they'd need a can opener.  I think I've only seen one live armadillo in my life. I started seeing them just a few miles west of Camdenton but out here in Kansas they are more plentiful. People do make purses and boots out of armadillo hide but since they can transmit leprosy to humans I don't think that's a good idea. I will try not to hit any as I go forward

I was back on the road fairly early. I thought Wichita was a bigger town but it seems rather small and I didn't see much. This is my second stop here and I'm sure there must be something to see or do but I haven't found it. I'd have to say the same for Tulsa or Amarillo.

Highway 54 just keeps on going. I expected it to be a dual lane divided highway and it is in a few places but it is mostly just a two-lane blacktop with not a great deal of traffic....but there are a few trucks.  There are fewer armadillos, too.

I stopped in Greenburg KS to walk around and get some coffee. You will remember Greenburg as the city that was 95% destroyed by a huge tornado in 2007. It lost 12 people and another 500 moved away shortly afterward. Recovery has been hard but they are coming back as a sustainable "Green" city. Most of the construction in town is LEED certified meaning it conforms to green building standards. They have a lot of room to build...only three buildings survive from before the tornado. There are large areas of vacant space and most of the trees are gone. Just about everything is gone. The card catalog cabinet is the only thing left from the county library. The building and the books were swept away or hauled to the landfill with the debris. Today they have a new hospital, city hall, strip mall, museum, courthouse, and several new housing developments...all built to sustainable standards.  I went through here a couple years ago and it has come a long way since then.

 Greenburg was once known far and wide as the location of the world's largest hand-dug water well. It also is the discovery site of the worlds largest Pallasite meteorite. (Pallasite is a mix of olivine and iron-nickel found in meteorites.) Both of those amazing "World's Largest" sights are visible at the local museum.  The museum also has a lot of information on the tornado which is very interesting.



I had mixed feelings about the well....maybe it was going to be like the world's largest ball of twine.  I figured the well might be pretty small....how big of a well can you dig by hand?  Apparently, a very large well. This well was dug back in the 1880s and is 109 feet deep and about forty feet in diameter....all lined with limestone blocks.

The museum is built over the well so you can't see it unless you pay admission to the museum ($6). I was impressed. I think the entire city could have gone down the well when the tornado hit and they would  all be safe. There is still water in the bottom and it is pretty cool on a hot day...I would think.


I'm having odd weather on this trip. It is cool and rainy with some wind. I expected it to be hot and humid and very sunny. When I pulled into Liberal KS to get gas and lunch it was 64 degrees with a wind-driven mist. It never rains for long but it is heavy rain, sometimes, and the terrain is so flat that you can see it miles away.

I always wondered what Liberal Kansas was like....not much. The main street is Pancake St., which I thought was odd until I remembered that they have the pancake races here on Shrove Tuesday (AKA Mardi Gras). Women run 400 yards down the street flipping pancakes in frying pans.  They do this also in Olney, England on the same day. I can't walk and chew gum so running while flipping pancakes is sort of a challenge. I think this is something that you have to witness to appreciate but you could say the same for Mardi Gras. Probably once would be enough for both.

US-54 crosses into Oklahoma's panhandle just south of Liberal and before you know it, you are in Texas. The highway in Texas is a two lane blacktop with a 75 mph speed limit and almost no traffic except for livestock trucks...traveling at 85 mph. The cattle must be pressed against the back of the truck.

The cattle trucks are in a hurry to get to the two huge feedlots just south of Dalhart. When I got there I wasn't sure what I was seeing because the cattle are so crowded in the pens that you don't immediately recognize them. You can't see an individual cow. The wind was blowing to the west so the first feedlot, on the west side of the highway didn't smell too bad. I was congratulating myself on my good fortune when I came up on the second feedlot on the east side of the road. Yikes...there is nothing quite like the smell of a rain soaked feedlot crammed full of cattle. I was too slow in rolling up my car windows so I got to experience the smell for a few miles. (Next time -- Roll up windows when leaving Dalhart.) This area was all the center of the dust bowl but I couldn't see any indication of it.

It is a tedious drive through Texas and into New Mexico. The most exciting thing is the change to Mountain Time. Eventually the scenery changes and it gets a little more rough and rocky and you can see the Tucumcari mountain off in the distance. 

I got to my motel in Tucumcari and then went out looking for supper. I ate at the Thunderbird restaurant and had a New Mexico meal of Chile Rellenos, rice and beans with green chile sauce....two beers and a big class of water.

The Road Less Travelled

I'm heading west on US-54 and finding the trip interesting. It is good not to be on the interstate. I once had a travelling auditor job with the state and we went to every county seat but I don't recall ever coming out this way.

I was on the road fairly early and was in Eldorado Springs by about 10 AM. The towns out this way are fairly evenly spaced so that when you get moving up to speed you only have a few miles before you are slowing down to go through these little towns. You see some interesting things...like a big sign on a house saying "KIDNEY WANTED" and an interesting little café called "Aunt Toadies".  The towns look reasonably prosperous but there are not many people. The farmers are having a bumper year with hay and milo (grain sorghum) so I guess they are in the feed business. The hay bales look like giant marshmallows sitting out in the fields.

I stopped in Eldorado Springs to get some coffee at a McDonald's. The place was crawling with flies...both inside and out. You couldn't stand to sit in the place for the flies. Not surprising, then, when I headed out of town the first creek I crossed was Fly Creek.  Must be some kind of local phenomenon...yuk.

Hospital

I enjoyed stopping in Ft. Scott KS just across the Kansas line. Guess what...there is a fort there....yes...Fort Scott. It dates from the 1840s and was involved in the Mexican War. Soldiers from Ft. Scott went all the way to Mexico City. The fort has been turned into a national historic landmark and is very interesting. It also had a role in keeping peace among the various Indian tribes being relocated to eastern Kansas.  The fort was abandoned in 1852 and the buildings were sold to local settlers and became the nucleus of the town. The government rented it back during the Civil War and it served as a refugee camp and hospital.

Parade ground and stable

12-pound Mountain Howitzer (L) and
a 6-pound cannon (R)

Officers' Row

Dragoon Uniforms

The soldiers were Dragoons, which means they could fight on horseback or on foot. They usually patrolled the plains and went as far west as South Pass in Wyoming and down the Santa Fe Trail. Their uniforms are quite different from what we expect from the mid-1800s.

The rest of the trip to Wichita was pretty uneventful. There were a few sprinkles of rain. The highway crosses part of the Flint Hills which is probably the prettiest part of Kansas (It's the best they can do and it does have some beauty - in a way.)

I got to Wichita and checked into my motel and then went looking for something to eat. I managed to get lost and it took a while to find my way back.  It's been a long day....I'm tired.

Wish Me Luck

It looks like everything is going to fall into place on time for me to close on my house on Friday. The trek begins tomorrow (Monday) bright and early and I should be in Albuquerque by mid-day on Wednesday.  I have a few things I need to do before closing and then I hope to be able to actually stay in the house Friday night and through the weekend before heading back.  I'm taking a different route this time.....going through Wichita and Liberal, Kansas, before heading south to join I-40 at Tucumcari. So it will be US-54 out of Jefferson City and straight through to Tucumcari.  I might come home through Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

I need to get back on Tuesday so I can get organized for the weekend trip to Chicago for the Gold Cup Final on July 28th. After that I'm planning on renting a trailer and loading up my pick-up and the trailer with some stuff and heading back down again around August 3rd or 4th.  I'll have some professional movers move the big stuff down the end of August or after Labor Day.

So, am I coming or going?  I'm not sure.

Me and Julio

Sunday...time to go home. I packed up the night before so I was pretty much ready. I also broke the coffee maker last night so I was a little worried if my jerry-rig attempt to fix it would work this morning.....it did!   I loaded up and checked out of the hotel and headed off to get a little gas in the car and them headed toward the car rental

The hotel was OK this time -- I had 2 pots. My expectations are so low by now that they can't miss....almost.  I guess it would kill them to put a chair in the room. You can either sit on the bed or sit at the table on a wood bar stool.  Or stand.  What do I expect for $32 a night?

The car rental (Enterprise) was busy but I got my bill settled and it was only about $180 for the week. The car was OK for what I needed.  They got me to the train station and I checked my big suitcase and sat for about 10 minutes before the train arrived....over a half hour early -- a good omen.

My sleeper attendant is Julio (Hoo-lio) and he is great and looks snappy in his Amtrak uniform -- they say clothes make the man. He is friendly and chatty. The train was well used already, this being their second day out of Los Angeles.  You can usually tell that with your nose.

We pulled out of the station on time.  We don't have any private cars this time. Julio made my lunch reservation for 12:45 and I was getting hungry. When my seating was called I trooped to the dining car and was seated with Linda and Jim, from Michigan. They did the hand thing to show me that they live due west of the state thumb over on lake Michigan. Everyone from Michigan does the hand thing...they must teach it in school.....but what if you are from the upper peninsula? Is there some other kind of hand thing for UP?

Anyway, Jim and Linda were going home after coming to NM for a funeral. Jim was born in NM but moved with Linda back east about 4 years ago. He is a retired history teacher and I think Linda was also a teacher. I told them my story of buying a house and they filled me in on all kinds of details and even the best local restaurant. Jim lived in Rio Rancho for a while. They also told me all the places I need to visit.  As we ate lunch we could see the smoke from the forest fires still burning. They tried to drive up to the top of Sandia Mountain but the roads were closed due to fire danger. I had an Angus Burger with cheddar cheese and potato chips and a soda, coffee and blood-orange sorbet.  I'm going to lay off the sorbet after this. It's good but I'll try something else.

It has been so dry that you appreciate green when you see it. Desert plants are a pale green or even a dull silver ---unless they are brown. As the train climbs up into higher elevations there has been more rain and the ground is splotched with a dozen shades of green.  There seems to be plenty of water in the streams -- for June -- up in the higher country.  There are a few fly fishermen out near Raton!!!

Raton is a smoking stop so I piled off the train to get some air and walk around. Jim and Linda were there so we chatted some more about fly fishing. Chama River near Navajo Dam and the San Juan and the Cimarron rivers were good places to fish. I've fished the Cimarron but not the others.

 

Getting back on the train seemed easy...no stragglers. I grabbed a cup of Julio's coffee on my way back to my room. They have a coffee pot going in the sleepers almost all the time.  As soon as we left Raton we headed through Apache Canyon and then over the pass through the tunnel and into Colorado.   It's all downhill from here.  Colorado seems much greener on the other side of the pass.

I was getting sleepy so I called Jill and chatted for a while about soccer and basketball. They called me for supper at 6:45 -- it seems like supper time rolled around pretty quick.

My supper companion was Hank, a theater director and independent film producer from Fort Worth.  We talked about his theater productions and what he was doing in Albuquerque. He went to the grower's market and filmed and interviewed some NM farmers selling produce and then went to the Petroglyphs National Monument and filmed an interview with the Park Ranger.  He was on a quick trip to Albuquerque to help a friend move to UNM to teach economics for the summer. Now he is heading back to Fort Worth via Kansas City and St. Louis...yikes,  what a route...his friend drove and then he had to get back as best he could.

Supper was pan seared tilapia with a red bell pepper sauce, mixed veggies, wild rice, salad and a roll. I got a white wine ($6) and later coffee and cheesecake.  Once again I'm eating across America.  I'll see Hank again tomorrow because he takes the train to St. Louis which will drop me off in Jefferson City.

We pulled in at La Junta and I was able to find a hot spot for a few minutes. That is the last smoking stop until Kansas City so the smokers all took advantage. That is also a crew change point so it takes a few minutes to get back on the way with a new crew and they do all of the same announcements all over again. The sun went down and I think we crossed back into central time a little east of La Junta.

 

I stayed up and read for a while and then Julio showed up to convert my room into a bed. I tried to sleep but I think that I need to bring ear plugs along on my next trip. The train sounds its horn at every road crossing and in Kansas they have a grid road pattern so there are lots of road crossings.

 

I apparently did sleep because I was surprised when Julio woke me up. I think I slept 45 minutes. The train pulls into Kansas City at 7 AM so I needed to get my stuff organized and get some breakfast before we got to the station. I was seated with Ray, a guy on his way to someplace near Moberly, Mo. Ray must ride the train a lot because he knows some of the workers and attendants. He was coming home from a visit to the San Francisco bay area.   We were both getting off at Kansas City so we didn't chat for very long. 

 

At Kansas City we had to all parade into the waiting room and sit for a while even though the River Runner, our train going east, was sitting on the tracks waiting for us.  Before long, Hank appeared and asked if he could interview me for his film project. Apparently he is just collecting people at random as he makes his trip back home to Fort Worth. So I got interviewed -- maybe three minutes long. I'm calling it a "cameo appearance".  Hank is a giant of a man...African-American with dreadlocks weighing close to 300 pounds or more.  If Hank wants to interview you, you will probably agree.

 

We finally got the call to board our train so we all trudged back to the tracks. The group included a number of folks who seemed to be off their meds. One guy was hearing music that no one else heard and was really getting into it...until he fell asleep.  Another guy was intent on doing calisthenics and push ups on the floor.  Hank didn't try to interview these folks.

 

The trip back to Jefferson City was quiet and uneventful except for the woman the EMTs had to haul off the train in Warrensburg. We were met at the station by an ambulance and a fire truck and the lady was wheeled away to the ambulance on a gurney...not looking very good. Hope she did OK. 

After spending a week in New Mexico, Missouri looks like a jungle.  It isn't only green it looks like the vegetation wants to take over everything. There is water standing everywhere, too, so that is keeping everything green and growing.

Home was fine and Watson was happy to see me.  

Something Tells Me It's All Happening at the Zoo

Who?

Got up and dilly dallied for a while and then went for coffee at my local coffee shop. Surprise!!!  The retired engineers were back and wearing their uniforms...Hawaiian print shirts. They just checked in because they had to go do some "honey dos".

white rhinos

I decided to spend part of the day at the zoo.  Albuquerque has what they call the BioPark made up of an aquarium, botanical garden, river beach nature area and the zoo. I had never been to the zoo before so I went today. It is a pretty good zoo. They seem to focus on dry climate animals and have a bunch from Australia and Africa, They do have Polar Bears and some other usual animals and a few North American animals.  They have a Koala and Tree Kangaroo and a Wombat.  They have a baby Giraffe and a baby White Rhino.  I'll post a few more pictures at the end of this blog entry.

bay giraffe...sleeping

They have free parking but it costs to get in. They let you bring stuff in and have a picnic under the tall Cottonwood trees. Like every zoo I've been in there is part shut down for construction. Apparently there are days when volunteers take some of the animals out for a stroll.



I went and signed off on the final paperwork for the house. Everything had been agreed to informally but we had to do the final paperwork. It is still contingent on a couple inspections but I don't think there will be any hangups.  Here are a few pictures...

Front

Living room

Rear and garage

Front approach

Kitchen

I will be a fine house for me. It has a lot of new stuff I will need to learn how to use.

After I finished signing papers I realized I hadn't eaten lunch.  Being hungry and thirsty I stopped off at the Il Vicino Cantina again. Il Vicino is a brewpub with multiple pubs....three in Albuquerque and some in Colorado and Kansas. The Cantina is the actual brewery for the New Mexico locations.  The next few lines will be happy talk about Il Vicino...

fermentation

cold room for lagers

 

I stopped by yesterday and had an IPA, which was very good. Today I had the stout and the scotch ale and both were very good. The place is busy but not crowded. People were having a good time...some were playing dominoes. They have outdoor seating under cover (picnic tables) and plenty of indoor seating at tables and the bar. The staff are also happy people and it rubs off on the patrons...everyone is having a good time. Tyler, the manager gave me a quick tour of the brewing facility. He is a restaurant guy not a brewery guy, I think, but he has a good thing going. I had a pulled pork sandwich that was too big to pick up. The whole thing cost less than $15 minus tip.


Well, tomorrow I head home...catching the train around noon.  I should be home Monday in the morning.

Some additional zoo pictures, just like I promised...

rude polar bear

baby prairie dog

koala

flamingo

Australian lorakeet

baby giraffe awake

kookaburra

picnicers at the zoo

The Other Side of the Mountain Was All That He Could See

Since the house buying process was out of my hands for the most part -- waiting for a response -- I decided to do something fun.  So I went to Walmart and bought me a baseball cap to help keep the sun off my head and face. I'm trying to remember to use sunscreen every day and carry water in this climate.  I got a hat for $2.50 and the checkout lady said it looked great.

My next stop was the coffee shop....still no engineers. What happened? Maybe on a road trip in a rented RV?  Anyway, I got my coffee and headed out.

Out?  Out was the tram ride up to the top of Sandia Mountain. I haven't done that in thirty years so what the hell. Last time there was a lightning storm that knocked out power and we almost had to be rescued. Maybe this time would be better.

What's that ladder for?

 Getting to the tram is no problem unless you have to stop to pee because you had too much coffee...but I digress. The tram was built sometime in the 1960s at a tiny fraction of the cost it would take today (without cell phones!). Back then it was out of town a ways but now the houses are almost up to the property. You have to pay $1 to get on the grounds and then -- if you are old and crotchety, like me, pay $17 to do a round trip. You do want a round trip ticket.  Regular young folks pay $20 but, it is worth the money. This is the longest aerial cable tram in the world and it climbs almost 4,000 feet up to the summit of Sandia Mountain at 10,600 feet.  What would a tram ride be without the snappy patter of the tram guide/driver guy.  He doesn't actually drive anything but he has a walkie talkie so if anything bad happens he can call tram control and say goodbye. At one point we are suspended on a cable 900 feet in the air. He points out interesting rocks and boulders...that one on the left looks like an elephant....that one on the right looks like a golf ball on a tee...those in front look like Easter Island statues. Of course people are going from left to right and back again. I'm holding on to the sissy bar.  Capacity looks like about 20 people but we were not full.  They said they have 250,000 people ride up in a year and during Balloon Fiesta they have had 25,000 in one day. (Note to self...avoid tram during Balloon Fiesta).  They occasionally have folks who fly into town from Florida and go directly to the tram and ride up to 10,600 feet and have heart failure or other things. They get a ride back down right away to EMTs waiting down below. They do have oxygen bottles up on top.

When I got up on top I was feeling fine so I started hiking along a trail that skirts the rim of the mountain top.  This is a wilderness area and there are a lot of trails. Today was the last day that they would allow people on the trails because the fire danger is too high. People will be allowed to ride up and go into the restaurant or enjoy the observation deck but can go no farther.





I walked about a mile and a half along the trail taking pictures as I went. The trail is so narrow that you have to be careful passing people. I was surprised at the number of hikers. Some had hiked up the 4,000 feet from the valley floor and were going to ride back down.

The day was a little hazy to start with but it became clearer as the day went on. The entire city is laid out at the foot of the mountain and you can see how the Rio Grande courses through the valley -- a green stripe through gray and brown.  I figured that I'd be able to see the smoke from the forest fires but there were clouds on the horizon  and you couldn't make out the mountains.



You can very faintly make out Cabezon Peak about fifty miles west of Albuquerque. It is a volcanic plug very similar to Devils Tower in Wyoming (remember Close Encounters...).

HOUSE HUNTING
So after spending a couple hours on the trail I had lunch at the restaurant on top of the mountain and then headed back down.  I had a message from my agent that the seller of the house I'm trying to buy had responded to my offer with a counter offer.  I went to her office and reviewed the counter offer....it was not as good as I'd hoped. We reviewed and talked and reviewed some more. I did  some figuring and head scratching but finally made a better counter offer...my final offer, actually.

So this evening, while I'm working on this blog entry, I got a message that I BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!  Closing is scheduled for August 9th.   It's a nice house.  I'll talk more about it later.

1705 Nez Perce Loop NE, Rio Rancho, NM  87144