36,000 Beautiful Views

To avoid the long slog on the rough surfaced, 18-wheeler dense I-40 and crazy dense traffic of Las Vegas, our usual route home, we choose to go north and west first from Santa Fe. This way we will do the quieter less traffic route of Green River, UT to Ely, NV to Carson City, NV to home. But Santa Fe all the way to Green River is 421 miles and 8 hours of driving, so we broke it into 2 smaller segments. Because we were going to leave Santa Fe after lunch, Wednesday’s leg was a shorter 150 mile, three hour drive making today’s drive a 250 miles five hour affair.

Along with the better driving conditions we got a couple of other bonuses out of it. We were going to pass through Cortez, Colorado again so that we might be able to eat at The Farm Bistro that was closed on the way east because it was Saturday and boy was it worth it, the food was fantastic, the portion size was perfect and it was priced very reasonably. We also got a chance at one last Roadside America photo op. At the Mud Creek Hogan Trading Post the previous owner stuck about a dozen telephone poles fitted with giant arrowheads and feather fletchings into the ground at an angle (see above.)

Come to think of it, make it four bonuses. We had never traveled any of the first leg and the scenery was beautiful. Then on the second leg, where we had been on the roads before, this time we were driving in the opposite direction so everything was new to us and startling beautiful as well.

Not long after leaving last night’s stop in Pagosa Springs the Mini flew by 36,000 miles on the odometer.

Adios Casa de Sally

Having guided our host through the gates of car buying hell, we packed the Mini and headed north on the long awaited return to home.

Monday we test drove the front runner, the 2023 Subaru Forester, followed by a 2023 Honda CRV (Honda shared the lot with Subaru) and although Sally swore she wanted new, a 2020 Honda Passport was taken for a short drive. She liked the heft and acceleration of the Pathfinder, but she didn’t like the low gas mileage. The CRV was an underwhelming drive and to get the stuff she wanted it was going to be over her spending cap. The Forester remained the favorite. Tuesday we started at the Hyundai dealer to try out the 2023 Tucson. After a 10 mile test drive, this vehicle jumped to the head of the class, so much so the Nissan Rogue that was possibly next, was skipped.

She really wanted a black car, her current car a 2002 Toyota RAV4 is that color and she likes it. Also a black car diminishes the prominence of the ugly black plastic cladding that is ubiquitous these days. None of the new cars tested were black and there were no black cars on the lot. The Subaru salesman on Monday said he would email her if any might be in their pipeline, but he never did. That and his ineptness in name remembrance and constant sniffing while along for the test drive killed the Subaru sale. Sally even said if the more personable and professionalism Honda salesman could sell her a Subaru, the Forester would have been her choice.

The Hyundai dealer had a still unprepped brand new Tucson in Portifino Gray (see yesterday’s post) on the lot and she though maybe if she could get it ready later in the afternoon and she could test drive it, that might make the sale. They called at 4:30 and we went back to take that test drive that included a trip right back to Casa de Sally for a test fitting in her garage. Ding, Ding, ding we have a winner. They worked up an offer sheet and she said all she needed to do was contact her insurance to see what the coverage would be like. That happened this morning and when we left she was text bargaining with the salesman over the usual dealer added options and their extra markup crap. If all goes well Sally will be driving a new Hyundai Tucson before we get back home on Sunday.

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Santa Fe Edition of SORT
As of Monday, June 5, 2023 at 6:00 PM mountain time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
2010 Mini Cooper S
Laurel Sport		 1995 Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear L400 1951 Ford Country Squire Woody Wagon
This is called the Santa Fe Edition, not as any Hyundai promo, but because this is where I am located right now visiting a friend.

Here is what last week’s ago cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sports: 2006 Porsche Cayman Sold for $35,000 on 6/1/23
Off-Road: 2002 Jeep Wrangler Sold for $20,000 on 6/2/23
Touring: 2013 BMW 135is Sold for $27,000 on 6/4/23

Good Thing You Make K-Cups Dunkin

Back in Aiken I got addicted to Dunkin Donuts coffee. There were actually two in town and we would alternate going to one or the other for breakfasts a couple times a week. We invested in a Keurig and I bought K-cups and the Dunkin creamer/sweetener so I could enjoy a Dunkin coffee every dang day. So when we moved to Oregon, where there isn’t even one store, it really wasn’t a hardship because of the K-cup creamer combo. But every time we travel I always keep my eye open for a store to get a coffee made by someone else.

For this trip to Mississippi and back I checked for stores in every overnight town with plans to get a good ol’ medium hot Dunkin decaf with regular cream and sugar (regular in Dunkin speak means 3 sugars and 3 creamers.) My first chance came in Hobbs, NM and I can’t for the life of me remember why I didn’t go to it. Hey, I’m old and it was 2 weeks ago so if I didn’t write about it here it didn’t happen.

My first real Dunkin experience was 3 days ago in Killeen, TX. There was one just 4 miles from the hotel so Donna sent me on a trip to go get my coffee while she finished packing up all our crap. I rolled thru the drive in and got my usual order. Stopped and filled up the car with gas and when I got back to the hotel I took my first sip. They obviously didn’t understand the Dunkin phrase “regular” because it tasted like just 1 cream and 1 sugar. At the breakfast area in the hotel I added a couple of sugar packets, but couldn’t totally fix it because all they had was hazelnut cream.

Our next stop with a Dunkin was Odessa, Texas. We tried the same trick as last time in Killeen, I went off on my own with the Google Maps lady directing me. This one was a lot further than Killeen, but the route looked pretty simple, go 3 miles on the I-20 service road, turn right onto TX388 Loop, go three miles turn right off the loop, a quick left and then another quick left. When I took that second left I knew something was wrong because I was in an industrial area. When little Miss Google said you have reached your destination I was in a gravel lot of a small gray warehouse with absolutely no signage.

So I gave up and started back to the hotel. I couldn’t make a left to get back on the Loop, so I turned right and merged back on heading a 1/2 mile up to the next exit. The one really nice thing Texas has in these situations is a dedicated U-turn lane that doesn’t make you sit through several traffic lights to go right back in the opposite direction. I zipped around the U-turn lane and as I got pointed back towards the hotel on the entrance ramp what did I see in my rearview mirror but a big Pilot Truck Stop sign and a Dunkin sign right below it! At this point I was so frustrated that I watched those signs shrink in the distance as I kept going back to the hotel.

Leaving Odessa we were heading due north along US385 and as it turned out there was another Dunkin in the next town, Andrews just 30 miles away. It too was in a Pilot Truck Stop so as got to where it was located I pulled in and went inside and there wasn’t anything Dunkin related at all. When I walked outside all sad like, I notice that I had just gone into a Love’s Truck Stop. Doh! The Pilot was across the street. Donna suggested we walk, but I poo-poo’d it because of the 18-wheeled truck traffic we’d need to dodge. When I went inside Pilot the Dunkin was just a self-serve area with a couple large urns, a small cabinet with a few doughnuts and an extremely messy condiment area. I made a medium (not decaf) with what might have been creamer and some liquid sugar. It was OK, but barely worth the effort.

The next Dunkin was in Clovis, New Mexico and instead of waiting until morning Donna, suggested I get one when we arrived in town. Turns out it too was in a Pilot Truck Stop and because of that, I didn’t even think of trying it because our next stop was Santa Fe and I know they have a real store that I have been to on previous visits.

Santa Fe Fuego

We arrived at Casa de Sally in Santa Fe around lunch time after a shortish drive from Clovis, NM near the Texas border. We then spent the afternoon chatting until it came time to take ourselves out to the ballgame. We were off to Fort Marcy Park to see the Santa Fe Fuego play the Trinidad (CO) Triggers.

Because Sally has extra bedrooms (even with Donna and I there) she is hosting a couple ball players for the local independent minor league baseball team of the Pecos League. For housing these two players, she is compensated with 4 sets of season tickets for all 30 of their home games. The season just started and tonight was just the second home game and Sally has seen both of them. It is a fun night out, but I don’t think Sally will be there for all the other 28.

Four More Arrows In Our Quiver

Back ten days ago we passed up on looking for the Quanah Parker Arrow in Seminole, TX on our way east because of traffic. Well, today on our way west, we sought it out. The photos below came from there; the arrow, the plaque at the base (some have this, some don’t) and a shot of the arrow’s fletching through the sunroof.

The very next town 17 miles along the route, Seagraves, TX, also had an arrow located right outside the town’s museum. These next photos are from there; the arrow, a smaller replica inside and a portrait of Chief Quanah Parker himself on a wall inside by a local artist. We must have spent an hour inside the museum. It was a treasure trove of cool bits, it was almost being inside the dusty attics of the town and surrounding county folk’s homes. Military memorabilia from several past wars, high school band and dance team uniforms, school yearbooks, football team photos, random family photos (some marked, other not so much), school art projects and some really nice art from local artists.

Twenty miles further up the road was the town of Brownfield and Donna located an arrow outside the the county museum. We didn’t go inside here like we did in Seagraves. It was about lunch time so we found a local restaurant that served Cajun food and on the way there we spotted a second arrow in town. So after eating we doubled back to take a picture of it too.

Donna found another arrow in the town of Littlefield about 50 miles further north, but we never made it. About halfway up in the town of Levelland we could see the dark gray skies of a thunderstorm up ahead. After looking at the radar we opted to head west and kind of run through the storm width instead driving straight through the length of it. Maybe next time we should just wait that kind of storm out. The distance between Levelland and Morton is about 25 miles and it poured almost the entire way, sometimes the rain drops were hitting the car sounded like hail. Fortunately it wasn’t hail because if it was our crack in the windshield might have gotten a lot bigger. In Morton the rain slowed way down and we stopped a quick stop to get couple sodas and a snack before heading back out on the road.

This is where it got interesting. We were going to head straight north on TX214 towards Muleshoe, but at the north end of town there was a raging river across the highway. We stopped and watched several large vehicles crash through the running water and decided the Mini would never make it. Our next option was to go due west on TX114 and turn north on TX596. We got a mile down 596 before having to turn around because of high water on the road. U-turn back to TX 144 and continue west towards New Mexico. Three miles or so down that road and this time there was a small lake over the road, so we back tracked to Morton. The river across the road north was still raging. We couldn’t go back east because that meant driving back through the storm so our only option was to try going south. This time we got lucky.

Seven miles south of Morton on TX214 we came to TX125 heading west and pulled over for a second to formulate a plan. About that time an 18-wheel tanker truck passed by going west, I pulled out and followed. By this time it was just sprinkling, so I stayed back a hundred yards or so and watched for him to hit the water first. And as it turned out there were only a few places that had enough water on the side of the road to make us move over to get by. About halfway to the New Mexico border the truck pulled into an oil field so we were on our own, that was fine because by that time and place, the road the rest of the way to Clovis was mostly dry.