Road Trip

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?

Bowie,TX – Day 7: Norris Wright Disembowelment Implement

World’s Largest Bowie Knife


 
On the road again. This is a short 2 day hop to Hammond, LA and the halfway point is Bowie, TX. The town is named after the famous Jim Bowie who actually was never anywhere near here in his lifetime. The town name was a tribute to the that famous Kentuckian whose brother, Rezin, designed the renowned knife. As befitting of the town name, it built the World’s Largest Bowie Knife. There is even a plague from the folks at the Guinness World Records. It is 20 feet long, with a blade length of 14 feet 5 inches, and weighs 3,000 pounds.

Santa Fe Sally and I staying in the Best Western one room apart. The lady at the front desk was fantastic, we had picked out a highly rated restaurant on Yelp, but I never checked the open times. Turns out that it is Breakfast/Lunch only, so it was closed. She gave us a great alt, The Armadillo Grill. If you ever get this way it is definitely worth a stop, the food was delicious and plentiful. Even if you are just passing through, a stop for the Armadillo Poppers won’t disappoint, bacon wrapped jalapenos stuffed with cheese and a choice of meat. On our return trip in a week and a half we’ll be staying in Bowie again, so we will probably eat there again.

Santa Fe, NM – Day 4: No Data?

Started on the final leg to Santa Fe at around 7:30 AM. Because I have been heading mostly southeast, I have been driving into the sun the last few mornings. Today I should have started an hour earlier or later because US-160 is pretty much straight east out of Kayenta. Fortunately for me the sun was just high enough that the sun visor worked if I sat up real straight, it would block it.

The first stop of the day was in Farmington to get the Roadside America picture of the day, Sunny the Big Man (Muffler Man. I knew he was on a Main drag in town, but not which one, so I fired up Google Maps to direct me the last few turns. I didn’t have service, no map. Because I was listening to MP3s off the phone I didn’t realize it, but somewhere after the end of driving day yesterday I had turned off Mobile Data on the phone. Ooops.

Out of Farmington I hooked up with US-550 South and if Miss Google had her way, I would follow that to Bernalillo and then go 40 miles north on I-25 to Santa Fe. I would have none of that, just north of the town of Cuba I hung a left onto NM-96 which is a rural windy road with beautiful southwest scenery and it only cost me an estimated 7 extra minutes.

Not long after NM-96 ends at US-84 there is a town called Abiquiu that id home to the Big Pink Flamingo and Georgia O’Keefe’s home. I also had lunch in Abiquiu at the Inn there. Beef and Potato Soup with a big hint of Green Chili. The 50 miles of NM-96 and that lunch in that setting were enough to make the last 3-1/2 days and 1,500 miles worth it.

Kayenta, AZ – Day 3: “Tse Bii” Ndzisgaii

The Mittens in Monument Valley


 
It has been a long day and I’m beat. I stopped to get three different Roadside America pictures, two of which made the cut. See below or on Instagram. The biggest item of the day was the above picture, the Mittens in Monument Valley. I stopped in and had to wrangle a single seat on a tour. I tried to reserve on line, but there was zero options available for a single, it started at 2 and went up. I can sort of get the reason, it like a cruise ship all there cabins are for two and these tour vehicles seat twelve. But what happens if you get a family of three?

Anyway, I did get on a tour and there was an empty seat beside me. I thought I was getting a 2-hour tour, but as it turned out it was a 2-1/2 hour tour, which in the end, ended up being 3 hours long. At the finish I was bounced, shaken, stirred, slightly sunburned, very wind blown with sand in my shoes and dirt in my nostrils. The guide was great, informative and entertaining. Because it is a guided tour we also got to go places and see things the peasant don’t on their $8 a head self-guided 2-hour loop.

Tomorrow I get to Santa Fe where I can wash some clothes and the dead bugs off the Miata.

Price, UT – Day 2: Plastic Eggs For Breakfast

Texaco Big Friend – Service Station Man

Day #2 Roadside America Pic: Texaco Big Friend – Service Station Man in Springville, UT at a very large Motorcycle Shop that included a Motorcycle Museum and a Motorcycle themed restaurant. Note the puny human on the left for scale.

I got out the door of the hotel at around 6:00 but didn’t hit the Interstate ’til later. Part of the time lost was getting a latte at The Human Bean and then breakfast at a Jack in the Box. When I went back up front to get some napkins the Shift Leader was placing little plastic eggs all around. I looked at her quizzically and she said that none of the people that worked there had never seen this particular Easter tradition. She was the only one I interacted with, so I have no idea why someone had never had an Easter Egg Hunt and I didn’t ask.

Easter Egg Hunt at Jack’s