New Mexico

The Land of Enchantment

Day 8,  7 May 2016 Palo Duro Canyon to Tucumcari, New Mexico.

 This morning was our last morning to drink in the magnificent surroundings of Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Finally, it was warm enough to enjoy our morning coffee outside as we drank in the sun shining off the colorful cliffs.

 

One of the local roadrunners visited our campsite and gave us the once over, before heading into the bushes. We did not see the local wild turkey today, but she visited us most days, and was obviously expecting the campers to throw her a crumb or two, even though the park requests that the wild animals not be fed.

We departed the campsite about 10:00 am. It was time to warm up the diesel and let the old girl chug steadily and slowly up and out of the canyon.

 

 

 

Being Saturday, we were met by heavier oncoming traffic, heading down into the canyon for the day. Extra caution was required on the narrow, sharp, hairpin turns.

 

 

 

 

Once out onto the wide open Texas landscape, we headed to interstate highway 27 towards Amarillo, where we joined interstate 40, which took us along the wide open, flat and often desolate landscape to New Mexico border, "the land of enchantment".

 

The freeway was busier than expected with semi-trucks. The wind was strong , gusting to 30 mph, and continued to strengthen all morning. We were happy to reach Tucumcari, our destination after three hours of battling wind gusts.

Tucumcari, is about 18 miles from the Texas/New Mexico border on Interstate 40. It appears to have been a bustling town with endless motels on historic Route 66. Obviously, this was all prior to the building of interstate 40. The town has long since seen it’s hey-day and only the nostalgic now “get their kicks on Route 66”. It is very much in a state of decay and disrepair.

 

Many of the motels are still operating, but it appeared that visitors are few and far between. Today, Tumcumcari refers to itself as the City of Murals. Gone are the neon lights and bustle of days gone by, replaced by the 25 or so murals painted on buildings throughout the town. The local folks that we encountered all seemed friendly and welcoming.

It is spring in this prairie desert and the wind is still howling. We are periodically getting sandblasted from the dust. After a drive through town and a visit to the local Ace Hardware store, we will consider this a rest stop with a quiet overnight at the sparsely populated Cactus RV park. The park has friendly, helpful office staff. The lots are level, with good power, water, sewer and cable.

Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe, just a short run. Looking forward to some sightseeing, some upscale grocery shopping and a great Mothers’s Day dinner at a nice wine bistro in this town of foodies and upscale cuisine.

 

Tucumcari to Santa Fe. Day 9, 2016-5 – 8

Happy Mother’s Day one and all. Out here in the desert, it was another chilly start to the morning, (40 Farenheit). We departed about 9 AM, but given the time change from central to mountain time, it felt like 10 AM body time. The three hour run to Santa Fe was mostly on interstate highway, which had much heavier truck traffic than anticipated, given that it was Sunday morning.

Another blustery day with winds gusting to 35mph.

The crosswinds were a challenge, and that combined with heavy truck traffic meant a day of intense and continued concentration for Alan.

As we travelled this lonely, often desolate and unhospitable stretch of highway, I couldn't help but wonder, and marvel at the Pioneers, as they travelled by wagon train across this hot, dusty and windy stretch of the country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once settled in the Los Suenos RV Park in Santa Fe, the closest to downtown ( 4 miles), we headed downtown to do some provision shopping at Trader Joe's, and then to our restaurant of choice for Happy Hour and dinner.

Trip Advisor rated the TerraCotta Wine Bistro as #4 of 400 restaurants in Santa Fe.

 

Being Mother's Day, we made a reservation for late afternoon Happy Hour (all glasses of wine $11 and beneath for $6.00)..........what a deal for we two winos! Not having had lunch, and a recent time change to Mountain time from Central time, we arrived at 3:30pm, thinking it was 4:30. We sat in the small bar area and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and a selection from their bruschetta board. Trust me, if I lived in Santa Fe, I would be a daily patron for Happy Hour wines (till 6 pm) and the bruschettas. We selected, brie with fig and port jam, homemade chicken pate with chopped egg and red onion, melted blue chees and grilled pear and goat chees and tomato. All were exceptional, but we unanimously agreed that the homemade chicken pate was without doubt #1, followed by the brie and fig, blue chees and grilled pear, followed lastly by the goat cheese and tomato. Believe me that there was not a bad choice, we just preferred some more than others. The service and dinner were outstanding and we concur with Trip Advisor on the rating, and look forward to subsequent visits when in town.