Closer to home by one state - in New Mexico

What a beautiful morning. It will be shorts and t-shirt weather today.

I’m sure everybody knows by now that I’m a great NASCAR fan. My favorite driver is Kyle Busch from Las Vegas. Why do I follow Kyle – well it started out silly. Our son John was a great Earnhart fan and to rile him I picked Kyle to root for – at the time we were living in Vegas. As time passed I saw that Kyle was an amazing driver and  became his fan. Besides I like M & Ms. And this weekend he won both races in Texas. Friday night he won the Nationwide race and today he started from the pole, led the most laps and won the Cup race. Love to watch him race.

We had planned on stopping in Albuquerque yesterday but it was only a little after noon when we got there so we kept going. Ended up doing 393 miles. By the time we were here it was starting to get pretty windy and supposed to be very windy for the next two days so we’ll stay here for a couple days until the wind stops. We are now in Tucumcari, New Mexico.

We are staying in the Kiva RV Park here. Right in the middle of town on old Route 66 – in fact this park still has part of its orgins an old 40s/50s motel. We stay here when ever we are in town. It is a Passport America park with good WiFi and 30/50 amp sites. New owners since we were here in November but they seem really nice. We knew the park was for sale as the old owners wanted to return to their home in Alaska. Glad it happened for them.

To regress. I took this picture the other afternoon in Holbrook [when we were going in search of a mouse.] Just liked the cloud formations.

I-40 follows the old Route 66 much of the way so it is always interesting to see some of the older empty buildings that were once thriving businesses. Always makes me wonder what happened to the people.

Did they go on to bigger and better things or were their dreams smashed when the interstate came through.

And all the roadside businesses. 

Lots of tepees and big fake dinosaurs. All selling “authentic” Indian pottery, beading, blankets, jewelry etc. I remember one time years ago we bought a beaded belt for our youngest son. After we got home I noticed the “Made in Japan” tag on it. It was a very long time ago.

I must say though that the I-40 could use some of the governments money for repairs – talk about rough in places. Had to rescue the coffee pot before it shook out of its traveling place. But at least there were no tolls or animals. And the trucks. It’s been a couple of years since we drove much of the I-40 we’d forgotten about all the truck traffic. Lots of stuff on the go. Gas for the most part in Arizona and New Mexico is around $3.40 – diesel about 3.85. I thought it would be more expensive than that.

Into New Mexico. 

It’s funny but the scenery seemed to change just a ways into New Mexico. Got prettier – more brush and red rock formations.

So now we’re one state closer to home. From here in Tucumcari it is about 1200 miles to home.

We spent most of the day at altitudes of 6500 – 7000 feet. Way up there. Was messing with the GPS when we crossed the Continental Divide so didn’t get a picture of the sign. Did see this mountain in the distance covered with snow. Looked for it on the map and it is over 11,000 feet high.

At least now we are finally headed "down hill." The altitude really bothers Bill. We're still at 4100 feet but much better than 6000 feet. 

Today we’ll be busy with TV watching – and listening to the wind howl. Luckily we are facing the wind so we don't get too much rock and rolling. Barcelona plays early and right after their game finishes there is the truck race from Rockingham. Kyle isn’t driving but three of his trucks will be in it. One with a 16 year old driver.

Our TV works great once the dome picked up the satellite signal. Took a while for some reason had me nervous for a minute- thought I'd have to call tech support. Ugh. And the MiFi works like a charm. Strong signal and fast. After getting settled in we hightailed it up the road to Pizza Hut to get take out so I could get back here to see the race. Good pizza by the way.

Arizona doesn’t do Daylight Savings Time so even though we were and are still in Mountain Time Zone we lost an hour of the day here in New Mexico. Had to remember to change the clocks. Still haven’t figured out the one in Jennie’s dash – but soon it will be the right time.