Santa Fe, NM – Day 17: I Despise I Forty

Sunrise Shovel

Back to an actual Roadside America picture that you can find on the website, this is the Largest Shovel in Texas. How do they know? Just because the construction company that put it up says so? Texas is pretty big; maybe there is a bigger one in the eastern side of the state. They estimate it is 15′ tall, and to me, that doesn’t sound that big. And even if it is the largest, someone will take that as a challenge and make one 25′ tall somewhere else in the state.

From Bowie, TX to Santa Fe, NM is approximately 550 miles, and almost exactly one half of that drive was along I-40. Today there was a pretty stiff crosswind, and it seemed like 80% of the traffic was 18-wheelers trying to stay in their lanes. Lone truck drivers hauling ass, corporate drivers who might be speed limited, and any others that might be worried about many points they have on their driver’s licenses. Mix in pickups hauling giant camper homes and skittish auto drivers, and you make for a very exciting, AKA tense, drive.

When I do head east next weekend, I will only cross I-40 once on my way to get on US-60 & 84 to get to Lubbock, TX where I’ll pick up US-82 to finish off Texas. I’m sure I will run into plenty of big rigs, but it should be easier to pick them off (pass) one at a time than when they are in a big formation like B-17s on their way to bomb Berlin.

Bowie, TX – Day 16: Rust in Peace

Rust in Peace


 
No actual Roadside America picture today, but if the photos here in this post don’t technically qualify, at least for me they sure do.

For the second morning in a row I slept right through my alarm. I have it set for 6:00 AM and I woke up both days at 6:20 without hearing it. It is not like I changed the alarm sound; it is the same one I’ve been using for months, so tonight I’m going to change it to a bugler playing reville.

Kinda wish I could find what they used to play aboard the U.S.S. Midway when I served aboard it in the 70s. They didn’t actually use a bugle, the officer of the deck, at 6 AM would announce, “Reveille, now reville, drop your cocks and grab your socks.” “The smoking lamp is lit in all authorized spaces.” “Sweepers, man your brooms, fore and aft.”

Nowadays, with women serving aboard ships, I wonder how that first phrase could be modified for the female gender?

Hammond – Day 15: Four Forks and a Feeding Frenzy

Sally has been talking about wanting to go to B&J’s Seafood to get a po’boy almost since we got here. But family plans have been getting the preferential treatment so far. There was a moment earlier this week when it could have happened, but the parking lot was overflowing, and even the across-the-street lot was full.

Sweet Heat For Your Meat

It had to happen today because it was our last day in Hammond, and Louisiana. If it didn’t happen, she would have been talking about not getting to eat from there all the way back to Santa Fe, so we broke down and set out early for a meal. She got her soft-shell crab po’boy, and I got one with crawfish. Both are on the cusp of their seasons, hers waning and mine waxing. Killing time while waiting for our order, I perused the plethora of spices, rubs, and seasonings. Sweet Heat For Your Meat stood out, mainly for its package art.

The food there is great, and it is apparently true about not being able to rush greatness, as it took nearly 30 minutes to get our to-go order. At the table in the Airbnb, if you listened carefully, you could hear us actually purring quietly while polishing those sandwiches off. Trouble is now she probably won’t stop talking about how good it was all the way back to Santa Fe.

Tonight’s meal is back at Adele’s with older brother Steve and his wife Janet. For our dessert, we were tasked with picking up a couple of slices of cake from The Cocoa Bean Bakery. Their cakes are beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. Their 9″ cakes feed up to 20 because of their height. Each slice is $4.25, so you do the math on the total cost of that cake. The woman behind the counter asked if we wanted them in two different boxes, and Sally replied, “Don’t bother; we’ll put it in the center of the table, and it’ll be four forks and a feeding frenzy.”

Those po’boys were worth the wait, and the cake was worth the cost.

Hammond – Day 14: Three & A Quarter Meals, Hundred Something Miles

Breakfast: Maybe five miles to go to get my usual morning latte.

Sally and I headed to her mom Adele’s house to pick her up.

World’s Largest Ronald Reagan Statue

Lunch: From Hammond I drove Sally and her mom 20 miles east from Hammond to Covington to have lunch with a couple of old friends from their days at Lakeview Presbyterian Church in New Orleans. I was invited to join them, but was also given the option not to, seeing as I didn’t know them, I opted out. I had something way more interesting to see in Covington, the World’s Largest Ronald Reagan Statue. Less than a 1/4 mile away from Mr. Reagan was a restaurant called Lola’s where I had lunch. I dined on a 1/2 Bostonian sandwich and a bowl of Corn & Crab Bisque. It also included a small side salad of mixed greens with a balsamic vinaigrette. Iced tea to wash it down.

We returned back to Adele’s house just briefly before heading out again.

Afternoon Interlude: We drove over to Adele’s friend Charlotte’s house, maybe 5 miles away, to trade her some (a lot really) plastic food containers that we brought back from Covington for some of her fresh-baked biscotti, which is a big draw for Sally when she’s in Hammond.

We returned back to Adele’s house just briefly before heading out, sans Adele.

Dinner: From Hammond I drove Sally and me 30 miles west of Hammond to Baton Rouge to have dinner with son Stuart and family for the 7-year-old granddaughter’s birthday. The birthday girl picked for our epicurean delight was Central Buffet. Stuart’s wife Christina’s parents were there too. We reintroduced ourselves because the last and only time we had met was twenty-three years ago at their daughter’s and Sally’s son’s wedding.

We returned home to our Airbnb stuffed to the gills, but already planning tomorrow evening’s big dinner with Adele, Sally’s big brother and his wife…

Hammond, LA – Day 13: Just Another Day

I didn’t take a picture.

Sally and I had breakfast at the Airbnb before heading over to her Mom Adele’s house. From there, they were off to visit their Edward Jones rep for some financial wisdom. On the way they let me out at the local shopping center for some retail therapy and to await their return. I spent the next hour or so shopping at Target (a couple pairs of shorts) and Books-A-Million (a couple, well, guess.)

After, we all met up at Shoe Show or Shoe Town or Show Something where Sally looked for a pair of, well, shoes, while her mom and me, cooled our heels (pun intended.) I briefly considered buying a pair of Hey Dude flag themed foot coverings that I would wear possibly once a year on the Fourth of July before coming to my senses after seeing the $50 price tag.

After shopping, there was a lunch at a local watering hole with me, Mom, Sally and Sally’s big sister Susie. Satiated, we three returned to Adele’s house and whiled away the afternoon telling tall tales of our wasted youth.

A couple hours after Susie left, a friend of Adele’s arrived with our dinner. She had recently purchased a Big Green Egg and is breaking it in by cooking up a storm and sharing her cooking skills with her inner circle. Dinner was a pork loin wrapped in bacon, sweet potatoes and a succotash of broccoli and squash. Scrumptious.

When our evening repast was finished, Sally and I returned to where we started our day and watched the Red Sox game. The FRS charged to an early 6-run lead only to have the Blue Jays storm back in the 7th and 8th to tie it, and then win it in the 10th.

Tomorrow, I promise a picture, and it will be worth the wait.

Hammond, LA – Day 12: A Sucker Born Every Minute

Back in January during the first trip here I bought a bunch of postcards at CJ’s Antiques and Collectables in Ponchatoula to use as Thank You cards for the people who sent me Christmas cards. So, to kill some time while Sally was at her doctor’s appointment in that same town, I returned to CJ’s pick out a few more vintage postcards I plan to send off to friends and relations while on this trip.

That first time I came really close to buying something that for whatever reason really spoke to me, but just couldn’t pull the trigger. This time I almost bought a bunch of Boston Red Sox Media Guides from the Early 2000’s, but couldn’t pull the trigger on them either.

Carl Durbin – Leading District Manager 1977

But I did pull that metaphorical trigger on the thing I almost bought in January – Carl Durbin’s 1977 award as Leading District Manager for the United National Insurance Company. There is just something about a trophy for a businessman. That Fedora! But what really chinches it is the portfolio tucked under the arm, not a briefcase, a portfolio is so insurance salesman.

Hammond, LA – Day 11: Sport, Off-Road, Touring

R.I.P. Edition of SORT
As of Monday, April 28, 2025 at 2:00 PM Central Time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
2006 Honda S2000 1999 Jeep Cherokee 2001 BMW 325i
This is the last SORT. I have missed the last two weeks because of travel and I didn’t realize I missed them until today. Three weeks ago I was a day late on Tuesday. I have been doing this since August of 2020 and I’m tired of trying to find different ways of getting creative with the picks, the well has run dry. Before that I did a Track/Daily/Crush version, also using Bring A Trailer, for a little over a year. That’s nearly 6 years total of Mondays looking at and judging cars. I like cars but I need a break (pun intended.) SORT might return someday or maybe I’ll go back to the Track/Daily/Crush version.

Here is what 3 weeks ago’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sport: 2006 BMW M3 Coupe Sold for USD $44,060 on 4/10/25
Off-Road: 1994 Land Rover Defender 90 Bid to USD $36,750 on 4/10/25
Touring: 2015 Maserati GranTurismo Sport Sold for USD $34,222 on 4/10/25