Wednesday, February 14, 2007

The Road to Tucumcari











We stopped in Cheyenne and cleaned Ms. Kittie up for next leg of trip. The land was covered with snow obviously drifted deeply across the road in some places. Cuts by the snow plow left about three feet deep snow on each side of the road in places.
In southern Colorado I saw a large abandoned steel mill and an interesting looking little town, which I'm sure was suffering economically. Colorado had the worst roads of any state I've seen. I enjoyed the mountains, including Pike's Peak always being on my right. Colorado's mountains and forests are entirely different than Wyoming's.
On into New Mexico and finally losing the white, crusted, shining snow covered lands, I found a charming place called Las Vegas, New Mexico. I drove around enjoying the town, snapping pics. I especially enjoyed the old-fashioned drug store with old soda fountain and the little adobe gas station. At the station I met a man who told me about a road to Tucumcari which would cut about 2oo miles from my trip.
After a few miles, I should have had a clue that I wasn't going to like it when the speed limit dropped to 25 mph. On a highway? I slowed down, and then for miles felt like I would just faint away. I have an extreme fear of heights and the road to Tucumcari wound through steep, beautiful canyons. I should never have watched that documentary on the Road of Death in Peru. I could not look out at the vista which must have been awesome, because my head was swimming. Anyway, I made it and thankfully did not meet any other vehicles. Then, down, down, down, down, to flatter land. No wonder New Mexico is called the Land of Enchantment. It was sooooooooo beautiful and fascinating.
I did not have any fantastic meals, as I lived off of string cheese and oranges on the trip. I thought if I spied a good Tex-Mex place in Las Vegas I would splurge - but it was too early in the morning.
The next States were a bit of Oklahoma and a skip across the top of Texas. Ugh. More later.

6 comments:

Pickled Olives said...

Sounds like the scenery was good for the soul. Too bad you didn't get good Tex-mex.

ldbug said...

The first part of the trip sounds fantastic...unfortunately, ugh indeed to Oklahoma and flattttttt

Wandering Coyote said...

Who'd have thunk that there'd be two places in the US called Las Vegas? Cool. Sounds like a good trip, even though I know you suffered from back problems.

DILLIGAF said...

er...what kind of drugs is Murphy pushin? Not that I've used for donkeys years. Just curious. Never known a pusher with his own sign on his street corner before. Amazin!

tshsmom said...

Agreed, mountain roads can be terrifying!

mister anchovy said...

nice pics