Sunday Morning Coming Down

Rubber Chickens at Cline's Corners

(Obviously, I'm losing tack of time....this is Monday).
We had a restful night at the Safari Inn in Tucumcari and got on our way reasonably early. Traffic on I-40 was light and we made good time. As before, the trailer was a big gas guzzler and we had to stop for gas at Santa Rosa...not very far into the drive.  We made another stop at Cline's Corners to search for appropriate souvenirs.  We got a few.

The road is pretty in a desert sort of way. It winds around and climbs a few hills. The road is always climbing - little by little - and finally, at Moriarty, it is roughly at 7,000 feet. Several mountain ranges are visible but the Sandia and Manzano mountains are straight ahead. By the time we got to Edgewood we started out descent into Albuquerque. In a fairly short distance the road drops 2,000 feet. Driving a fully loaded pick-up truck and towing a heavy trailer down a steep and curvy grade was  a challenge ---only made more exciting by the semi trucks and other U-haul drivers hurtling down the same grade.  The road into Albuquerque is exciting just in a car but today's descent was a little more "white knuckle" than usual.

There are lots of people on the road in Penske and U-Haul trucks and towing rental trailers.  This would be due to college students heading back to school but there seems to be a lot of families on the move as well. When we were at Wichita swapping out the crippled trailer the U-Haul store was totally out of trucks and trailers and the manager was calling people to see if they could bring their trucks back early. I guess we were lucky to get our replacement.

Once we were in Albuquerque it is about a fifteen mile drive north to the town of Bernalillo on I-25 and then about a five mile drive across the Rio Grande and into Rio Rancho and - finally - to the house.  All was as it should be...except for a really huge rain puddle out in the street in front of the house....just beyond the driveway entrance.  We pulled into the yard (the gate worked) and parked the truck. My neighbor, Rod, waved and immediately struck up a conversation.  Apparently we had a heavy rain storm the night before...thus the huge puddle in the road.


We went to work unloading the trailer and truck and were done by 2 PM. We celebrated with a beer and then drove the empty trailer to the local U-Haul store and turned it in. I have to say that, except for the near catastrophe of the wheel falling off, the trailer experience was very positive and the U-Haul people were very professional and helpful.  I'd do it again if I needed to.

We stopped at the Corrales brew-pub for lunch after dropping off the trailer. Food and the beer was good. We were beginning to relax a little.   We stopped at a grocery store on the way back to the house and picked up a few things. The rest of the day and evening was spent chilling out on the front portal and unpacking a few boxes.

Tucumcari or Bust

Before

We went to bed with a problem and woke up with a bigger one. The trailer was inoperable because the wheel was about to fall off. We had towed it as far as we could. It was loaded with stuff and was going to be replaced and U-Haul would take care of everything including unloading and reloading to the new trailer....at no extra cost. That's what we knew when we went to bed.

During the night we had tremendous storms and it rained almost 3 inches....adding to the 3 inches they already got over the last three days.  Everything was flooded. The motel had leaky ceilings in some places and the floor was squishy in the hall. The parking lot was flooded....including where we finally left the truck and trailer.  Also, a certain nameless passenger, seriously engaged with the problem of the broken trailer, accidentally left her window open on the truck and it rained in all night, soaking the passenger seat.

We had a pretty good breakfast  and pondered our dilemma. We were waiting for a call from a towing company but I finally called around 8 AM to find out what was going on since we needed to be on the road. The guy with the flatbed finally showed up and we managed to get the trailer pulled on to the flatbed truck...in the rain in water ankle deep.  He secured the trailer on the truck and we started off...him leading and me following close behind. At his first turn, still in the parking lot, the wheel fell off the trailer and the whole thing lurched toward the edge of the flatbed. He stopped and re-secured it to the flatbed and we took off across town. Everything went OK until he had to brake at a stoplight and the crippled trailer slid sideways on the flatbed. It came close to falling off again but stayed upright. We finally made it to the U-Haul place and he unloaded the trailer on the back lot and the tow truck left.  The driver was sopping wet.

After

The trailer swap went OK but the U-Haul people weren't aware of the unloading/reloading part. They finally had a guy start transferring the stuff and I ended up helping just to get it done and, since it was still raining, try to keep stuff dry. They gave me a bigger trailer so the boxes and furniture fit much easier than in the older, smaller trailer.  I bought a large plastic sheet to make the truck passenger seat usable since it was soaked by the rain.

I was on my way back to the motel before 10:30 AM and got into some dry clothes. Donna was ready to roll so we checked out and were on our way a little after 11 AM. The weather was still miserable and the rivers and creeks were all flooding  and there was water standing on the road.

We finally got out of the stormy weather around Pratt KS and by the time we got to Greenberg the rain had stopped. The new trailer was wider, taller and heavier than the old one so we were using a lot more gas. I think our MPG dropped by 1/3 and I had to pay close attention to the gas gauge.

This stretch of highway is exceedingly boring but the road is pretty good and there are very few challenges for folks towing trailers. High Plains Public Radio kept us from descending into prairie madness. We enjoyed the Thomas Jefferson Hour....a radio talk show hosted by Thomas Jefferson....or maybe a professor who is a Jefferson impersonator.

We stopped for lunch at a Pizza Hut in Liberal KS and then headed south and west into Oklahoma and Texas. The two cattle feed lots are almost beyond toleration...the stench stays with you for miles even if you have the windows closed.  We crossed into New Mexico and gained an hour with the time change to Mountain Time.  We finally pulled into Tucumcari somewhere around 7 PM.

We were staying at the Safari Inn, a retro Route 66 motel on the historic motel stretch in Tucumcari. The Safari Inn dates back only to the 1950s and is across the street from the Blue Swallow motel I stayed at previously. The Safari does a pretty good job of recreating the 1950-1960 era but with some nice upgrades where it counts.

We got into our rooms and also got a suggestion for a place to
eat.....the Pow Wow Restaurant....where I usually eat.  The Pow Wow has a shuttle van so we called them to come get us so we wouldn't have to tow the trailer up to the restaurant.


We ordered a couple beers and I ordered some food. Donna was still dealing with her  big lunch so she just has some tortilla chips. I had two loaded chicken tostados.   We bought a six-pack of Dos-Equis beer and went back to the motel to sit out and relax with a beer. We met a couple from Bristol, England, in the shuttle back to the motel. They were driving old Route 66 and then heading up to the motorcycle festval at Sturgis in South Dakota.  We sat out in the motel's patio area and relaxed and talked for a while before heading off to bed.

We get to Rio Rancho and my house tomorrow. Today was a long day and the rain and trailer problems made it worse.

Wichita Saturday Night

The trip from Jefferson City to Wichita was reasonably uneventful. We had a little rain but it was dry most of the way and we saw the sun in the afternoon.


Once we were in Wichita everything went to pot. We were heading west on US-54 (Kellogg) which turns into a semi-expressway and we were hearing funny squeaks coming from either the trailer or the truck. It was quite noisy and we were worried that something was coming loose. I slowed down and the noise lessened but was still there. We limped along and got to our motel and got out to inspect the truck and trailer. At first everything looked OK but then we saw smoke coming out of the trailer's right hub. The hub seal/cap was missing and there was grease spattered around the wheel.  We figured that that wasn't good.   We also noticed that the wheel was actually sticking out from the body of the trailer more than on the other side.  Once again, we figured that that probably meant there was a problem. Can't fool us.

What to do???  U-haul has a 24/7 emergency road service contractor with a toll free number. I called, and once they were satisfied that we were safe and not standing on the highway, they started working on my problem.  Actually, I'm impressed that their first priority was our safety...even before they heard what was wrong or confirmed who I was.

It took a few return phone calls but now the plan is for someone to come very early tomorrow and flat-bed the trailer to the U-Haul place here in Wichita and unload it and then give me a different trailer and reload my stuff so we can be on our way with a new trailer.    We shall see...stay tuned.

We are staying at the Clarion Suites motel and it seems pretty nice.  Supper tonight was at the Monterrey restaurant located next door. This was one of the best Mexican restaurants I've been in. I had a Yucatan Salad that had grilled shrimp and grilled pineapple with mango vinaigrette.  Donna had a marinated and grilled chicken breast. Both were excellent.  The margaritas were good, too.

We tried the motel bar but that was just not worth the effort. We settled for a couple beers since the bartender couldn't do complicated drinks, like margaritas....and couldn't do basic arithmetic, either.


That was it for today. They might be here pretty early for the trailer....I hope.

...or There and Back Again

I'm beginning to feel like the Hobbits...always tramping around. It's been a crazy summer and here I go again.   This trip will be a carbon copy (anyone know what that is anymore?) of my last trip to New Mexico except that I have a friend (Donna) going along and we will be meeting a couple other friends from Arizona who are passing through. We will also be towing a U-Haul trailer and driving a pick-up truck full of stuff. Donna will be put to work helping to unload and setting up  some stuff....she knows that and still wants to go along!!

So, anyway, I'll post a few things but not much since I just made this trip last month.

Back at my (old) Home

I got back to Jefferson City a little after 1 PM. No surprises. The grass is high but not too bad. Watson was excited to have me back (for once).

The drive from Miami to Jefferson City was uneventful. As always, Missouri looks like a jungle when coming from the drier plains and deserts. I came back through Lebanon (Mo) on highway 5 and it has been improved a great deal from the last time I tried it and the bypass around the Lake of the Ozarks is very nice.

On reflection, the route down US-54 is maybe 20 miles shorter than coming on the interstate but I'm not convinced that it was a better route. When I go back I'll be pulling a trailer, I think, so it would be better for that than having to negotiate the larger cities and interstate highway changes. US-54 only has Wichita and that is a straight shot. Otherwise, I'd opt for the interstate just because you have better choices for food and lodging and occasionally a place to get out and walk around.

I'm home for only two days and then I'm off again to Chicago to see the Gold Cup soccer final next Sunday.....then back here on Monday.  I'll head back to NM around August 3rd with a pick-up and trailer full of stuff.  I plan on being back here around August 12th and will stay until I can get movers to haul the rest of the stuff back down to the new house.


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I'll be posting some reactions and pictures of the house on Ken's Gazette  
=====>>>       http://kens-gazette.blogspot.com

Prairie Fever...Again

Drove from Amarillo to Miami, Oklahoma, today.  It's a rotten job but somebody has to do it.  If it wasn't for High Plains Public Radio I'd go nuts on parts of this stretch. They always have something interesting on.  Yesterday I learned about "Leaky Gut Syndrome" which was not too pleasant. Today it was just a variety of music...some I've never heard before (like "The Night I Punched Russell Crowe"). They had some Joni Mitchell and Eagles songs and some rockabilly tunes.  I'd forgotten that Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf Islam  / aka  Steven Demetre Giorgiou) had written "Here Comes My Baby"...they did The Mavericks' version.  (Note to self---pay attention to The Mavericks).

Where'd she come from?

There a not too many highlights on this route....well, I guess there a few. There is the VW Bug version of Cadillac Ranch east of Amarillo and the second largest cross in North America at Groom, TX.  Groom also has the leaning tower of the plains...a water tower that leans at an angle. Shamrock has some restored Route 66 relics. There are some wind turbines at Weatherford, OK, if you missed the ones in Texas. Apart from that it's pretty dull so the radio is your friend.

Oklahoma City is a bustling place. I took the bypass so I avoided the downtown area but it looks like they have a new skyscraper.  I like Oklahoma City. There are lots of interesting things to do, including the minor league baseball team.


There are things to see in Tulsa but Tulsa is my enemy. I always get lost or screwed up in Tulsa. I think it is case of poor signage and too many turnpikes and exits going off in every direction. The highways are always torn up for some reason. I ended up on the Creek Turnpike and don't know how that happened and then got off in Broken Arrow but had to almost bushwhack my way back to I-44...of  course, another turnpike. It costs $8 to go from Joplin to Oklahoma City, which would be fine if the highway wasn't constantly torn up. Gosh...even the world's largest McDonald's was closed.

Miami, Oklahoma, is where I'm spending the night. Miami is the home of seven Indian tribes and they have at least six casinos. Mickey Mantle was from around here but they claim just about everyone with any celebrity for miles around. The GAR Cemetery is one of the tourist stops. There are some Indian Chiefs buried there along with Mickey's parents and a guy who was killed by Bonnie and Clyde.  During WW-II there was a British RAF training school here and there are over a dozen RAF Cadets who died in crashes buried in the cemetery who are recognized each year in a memorial event. Some of these guys were just 17 years old.

I'm staying at the Microtel motel here in Miami. "Micro" is the operative word. I might stop complaining about Econolodge if I stay in a few of these.

Well, that's about it for today.  I'll be home tomorrow and do my final trip report.

Artists at Work

I loaded up and got on the road at 9:30. It felt a little odd going around and checking doors and windows and making sure everything was OK for a couple weeks. It feels like somebody else's house still. The wildlife will have to fend for itself. Rod will manage the pond. I decided to pay him a little to take care of the pond. The previous owners did the same so I'm just following their lead.

I met some other neighbors. Jerry and Dorothy stopped by and gave me a tray of homemade cookies. I froze some and brought some for the trip.

I'm sticking to the interstate on my way back. I could almost do this blindfolded but maybe not this trip. There are lots of trucks on the road and freight trains on the tracks that run parallel to the highway. Maybe a sign of a healthier economy?

Speaking of signs, today's valuable lesson will be somewhat abbreviated. I stopped at a rest area  and found this informative sign. This is an area with a noticeable increase in the number and density of scrubby pine and juniper trees. The name comes from Coronado who pestered the Indians in this part of the country. Every time he wore out his welcome they sent him on to the next tribe. He got most of the way through Kansas but turned back empty handed...probably from boredom.

Even though I'm on the interstate, this route is more interesting than the trip west through Kansas on US-54. That is probably due to this being the route of old Rte. 66.

I stopped for lunch in Tucumcari and just stayed with the traffic all the way to Amarillo.  I noticed a huge increase in the number of wind turbines on the north side of the highway. There were very few the last time I came this way.

I stopped at Cadillac Ranch -- as I do from time to time. I'm not really interested in the old cars. It's the people that interest me and the art work that they left behind. There was a crowd of about 100 people either at the cars or on their way back and forth. Somebody set up a Kettle Corn stand and was selling spray paint cans on the side. There was a guy with a bullwhip showing off with tricks
 and posing for pictures.

There seems to be less profanity and fewer "John loves Marsha" commitment statements (that last about 6 hours before being painted over). Instead there are more peace signs and Jesus Saves comments and some "Live life to the fullest" admonitions. Must be a different sort of art crowd these days.

Give somebody a spray paint can and a target and it unleashes their inner artist.  Some young couples approach the old cars with very different expressions on their faces. The guys have a look of enthusiasm and anticipation. The women have a look of "WTF?  You made me get out of the car in 95 degree heat to smell paint fumes and see a bunch of junk cars covered with paint!!!???"  Once they have a paint can they seem to  embrace the moment and leave their mark.


There had been so much rain lately that the artists were having to concentrate on only a few cars that weren't in a big mud puddle.

There's a limit to how much someone
is willing to suffer for their art.

I stayed at a Quality Inn and it seems OK.  Not much choice in places to eat. I ended up at another IHOP.