Santa Fe

A nice lie in then back (so we thought to Santa Rosa).  We had breakfast at a Denny's and tried to figure out a route.  There were three choices;

Roswell > Ft. Sumner > Santa Fe

Roswell > Ft. Sumner > Santa Rosa > Santa Fe

Roswell > Santa Fe

View fullsize

As you'd expect Roswell to Santa Fe was the quickest at three hours (but only by forty-five minutes).  We plugged it into the GPS which said; "Turn right in 198 miles" which pretty much summed up the journey ahead.  An undulating road ribboning off into the horizon for hours.   The route took as back via Vaughan so we stopped off for a coffee at Penny's Diner were we'd eaten lunch the day before.

We pulled over in a few towns as we pressed on to Santa Fe.  None had signs that we could see and it wasn't for the GPS we'd not have known their names.  I saw towns - expanses of ranches, mountains and endless roads.

Getting to Santa Fe by 4:30pm or so we had a rest before heading out to Appleby's for dinner.  The lemon chicken was one of the nicest things I've eaten on the trip.  Each table had a portable device which allowed you to order more food and pay when you were finished.

We've mapped out the rest of the trip to make sure we're on schedule.   We think it's about seventeen hours of driving to go.  4 hours in New Mexico, then about 7 in Arizona and finally 6 in California.  By our calculations we think one more day in New Mexico, then four in Arizona and five to get across California.  We did have a plan to drive North at Needles, California to Death Valley but it'd be a round trip of another 400 miles and that'd be pushing it.  Next time then.

Finally fell into bed about 1am or so.  Should go to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum tomorrow before driving to Grants, New Mexico (it's It is the county seat of Cibola County.)

Aliens

We both woke up early again (6:30am) so we were more than ready to set off by 8:30am.  A slow drive out of the Tucamcari taking lots of photos as we went.  A rest stop at Newkirk, through Cuervo (though not related to Tequila).  At Santa Rosa we came off Route 66 and headed South towards Roswell.

At Pastura I went to take photos of a broken down shack, and Jane crossed the road to photograph cows.  At Vaughan there were lots of photo opportunities, though one was guarded by a roaming dog so we stayed in the car for that one.  Across the road was Penny's Diner so we grabbed a nice lunch before the rather long, uneventful drive down to Roswell which was pretty much a hundred miles in a dead straight line.  Threw the car into cruise control and tried not to nod off.

Finally getting to Roswell we checked in, put the cases into the room then drove to the UFO museum.  A weather balloon crashed, someone took it away and I assume pretty quickly someone decided to start making merchandise.  Everything is covered in aliens.  Everything.

It was the Trump/Clinton debate which we were looking forward to,  but you don't want to watch Trump without a drink in hand so we bought a couple of bottles to take back to the motel. 

Where's Whitby?

Can you find me?

Cowboys and Colourful Cars

We were in Texas on a Sunday so we decided to go to a Cowboy Church.  We figured it was like a normal church but with bigger hats (if you discount the Pope who packs what must surely fill about fourteen gallons).  We were warmly welcomed by many, many people.  In my limited experience of English services it was different.  A lot of guitar, a man with an outdoor voice inside and the crowd whooping and holding their hands in the air.  It felt quite like an episode of the x-factor (but with more scripture).  We were pleased we went though.

Onwards to try and find the Cadillac ranch.  There wasn't a specific address to head towards so their was some t-turning involved and you can't see it from the wrong side of the road (which we were on) but we got there in the end.  Someone leaving handed me an aerosol spray so I sauntered up the mud path towards the cars and sprayed some patterns on a car, which seemed appropriate.

Yesterday, while at the Red River Cafe a couple told us that we were close to the Palo Duro canyon and that it was the second biggest after the Grand Canyon, so we drove over, paid the $10 to get into the national park and enjoyed the view.

A re-fuel then onto Adrian as there's a cafe on the mid-point of Route 66.  Called, as you may expect, the mid-point cafe.  So we're half way there and nine days in of twenty-one.

Many abandoned gas stations later and we crossed the border into New Mexico.  A new timezone and state number six.  We drove as far as a town called Tumacari and found a nice motel called the Roadrunner Inn.

As the sun went down the eagles circled around the Tucamari mountain, and we walked along looking at the nice neon signs on the main street.