Month: January 2026

On The Road To Loiusiana, Day One

In my never-ending quest to find a different path between Santa Fe, NM, and Hammond, LA, that includes minimal Interstate travel, this one is number five. It is actually the route that was our return on the Thanksgiving trip but was abandoned for weather reasons and includes Big Spring and Crockett in Texas.

While driving thru the town of Plains, I spotted a Quanah Parker
Arrow, so I pulled into the Yokum County Building’s parking lot and took a picture. Longtime readers might remember that I have taken photos of these before. I went back through my photos and found 6 more, five of which came from Donna and my Oregon to Mississippi and back trip in 2023. The last one came from our 2018 South Carolina to Tahoe and back, but I didn’t note that one’s town. There are approximately 80 of the arrows, all in Texas, but as far as I can tell there is no list of the cities they are in. There is a list of all 51 counties that have one or more on the website, Quanah Parker Trail, but it hasn’t been updated since 2011 so your mileage may vary.

A Santa Fe Day

For Christmas I ordered Sally one of those adventure scratch-off things from Reach International Outfitters for the state of New Mexico. There are 3 cards for Santa Fe, if you count the one for the Santa Fe National Forest. We had a down day, so she said scratch one off and we’ll do it.

The one I picked recommended going to Meow Wolf. This was met with a resounding, “No, thank you.” First off, it is basically sensory overload and more suitable for kids and stoners. Secondly, it is $35 a person, and lastly, and most importantly, we fit neither of those two previous categories.

The second one suggested a visit to the Santa Fe Museum of Art. This was met with slight indifference. Turns out neither one of us is a big art lover. If we went, we would probably enjoy it a moderate amount, so we decided instead to go to the New Mexico History Museum, which we both would enjoy leaps and bounds over some art. We spent maybe 2-1/2 hours wandering the 4 floors of exhibits. One of the featured exhibits was Zozobra: A Fire That Never Goes Out. It’s Santa Fe’s version of Burning Man, but really those roles should be reversed, as Zozobra predates Burning Man by 60 years.

So, while the folks at Reach International Outfitters went 0 for 2, it did spur us into going to a museum, so we’ll give them a 1/2.

Travel Day

Like last January’s trip to Santa Fe, I flew. I’ve got all-weather tires on the GTI, but if I were to have to drive through a real storm somewhere along the 4- or 5-day trip either way, they might not be good enough. They were fine for about 5 miles of slushy roads in Utah back in early December, but even if they can handle that weather, that many miles of heavy blowing snow creeping along on an interstate, I thought taking to the skies was the way to go.

Unlike last time’s direct flight on Alaska Air, I had a two-hop trip on Southwest. Southwest doesn’t fly direct to ABQ, and I had to use my vouchers from the two flights I cancelled during the government shutdown. That was two separate flights because of the 2-day stay in Vegas to see The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere, so they turned into 2 one-way flights between PDX & ABQ.

Christmas Card Peculiarities

Okay, so Christmas cards were Donna’s thing; I printed labels and stuck them on envelopes. Back in 2023, she made sure everyone knew that she had ALS, and that was just one more hurdle for her to jump over. But her life turned out to be a lot shorter than we thought; she passed away before 2024’s Christmas card season arrived. Most everyone that was a relative or close friend of ours knew of her passing, and I did not send cards out for Christmas. What I did was to send a thank you postcard to everyone that mailed me a card.

Not everyone who we sent cards to always reciprocated all the time. This year I received cards from 3 sets of people that, for whatever reason, did not send a card last year. All three belong to the periphery of the family/friend circle, so their cards were addressed to Mr. & Mrs. or Brian & Donna. For 2 of them I have sent thank you notes for the card and let them know that Donna has passed away.

The third card I’m not sure about. It came from Dan & David Smith*. The address that is in the spreadsheet is the same, but the only name associated with it is Nancy. I can’t recall exactly, but I think the names used to be Dan & Nancy Smith way back when. So what happened to Nancy? And who is David?

*The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Buckie Gets A Ride


 
It was sunny out, so I took the Miata out for a last drive because it won’t get used for more than a month, but once again it was way too cold to put the top down. It was just a short hop, Marine Drive to Troutdale, then a mile or so of US30 before heading home via Stark and Halsey. But those last few miles the clutch did not feel right. It was engaging deeper into the pedal throw, and it became hard to get in gear. I was going to stop for my daily latte at Stomping Grounds but headed home instead. Good thing. I was hoping to get the Miata into the carport area, but first I needed to move the GTI out. When I cleared that spot, I couldn’t get the Miata in any gear at all; it was not moving from its spot.

My only option at this point was that I needed to tow Buckie to the dealer. I think if I could have gotten it into the carport area, I could have possibly tried to troubleshoot and repair it later. This was not an option, as there was no way to get the car up the slope of the driveway to there. The clutch itself has got to be fine because it was brand new from back in June when Tonkin Mazda got rid of the infamous clutch judder problem. Most likely it is one of the hydraulic cylinders that operate the clutch.

The service rep said they may get to it on Monday, but maybe not until Tuesday. On Tuesday I board a plane for Albuquerque, but there is no issue; they’ll take care of the issue and just keep it on their lot until I get back.

Be careful what you wish for; this car has turned into a money pit. I wonder if I kept the 2024 blue one, would David in Klamath Falls have swapped my old 2002 CTBNL for the 2024…

Bump In The Night

For whatever reason I like to back the cars up onto the carport/portico. And this is a stupid idea. Truth be told, my brain cannot comprehend going backwards; this means I do a lot of steering corrections trying to keep it between the posts. Side note, two of the 3 posts are inline; the third, not so much. That fateful night, I misjudged it badly; hence, below are photos of a post and a GTI.


I’m going to get it fixed; the wrap is too new not to, but they are working over a month out. So I have an appointment to get it fixed on February 12th. They’ll rewrap the entire rear bumper because it sustained the most scrapes and scratches; there will be one inch or two of a patch at the top because otherwise they would have to rewrap most of the body.

Thanks Dani

On Tuesday I got a text from Dani at the local Mazda dealer; it was a reminder that the last time I had a service was in July. I texted back that I could come in Wednesday or Thursday early. Her reply asked if tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7:00AM would work. I texted back, “Great, see you then.”

I set an alarm for 5:30 so I could shower and have breakfast first. I timed my arrival pretty well; I was only 4 minutes shy of the hour of seven. When I walked up to the door and pulled, it was locked. That’s when I looked down and noticed the vinyl lettering saying that they opened at 7:30. There was someone inside, and he came over and let me in.

Me, “I have an appointment.”
He, “We don’t start until 7:30.”
Me, “Someone named Dani texted me, and she gave a 7:00 time.”
He, “Aaaah…our AI agent that helps with customer contact.”
Me, “Well…I’m here.”
He, “I won’t have any techs available until 7:30.”
Me, “Thanks Dani.”