Road Trip

Monticello, UT

When I left Santa Fe this morning, the view to the west was outstanding. The sun was up, but not over the mountains to the east, so that the setting full moon was brightly illuminated as it descended towards a mountain that was covered with the recent snow. I thought I should pull off of US-285 and take a picture, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to capture its beauty, so I just looked at it every time I could and imprinted it in my brain.

Pork Taquitos at Amigo Cafe

The plan was to follow the semi-shortest way to get here, about 330 miles, but as with most of my driving plans, it went astray. Instead of turning north onto US-191 in Shiprock, NM, I stayed on US-64 West. Wondering where I might get lunch, I couldn’t stomach any of the fast food places in and around Farmington/Shiprock, so I thought of the restaurant that Sally, I, and her friend Holly ate at in Kayenta three weeks ago. It was a place called Amigo Cafe, and I could still taste the pork taquitos I had. Checking the map and the timing, I opted to go on a 110-mile detour. Worth every mile and minute. A place that I can highly recommend eating at if you find yourself in that area.

This route also took me by Monument Valley. I had seen very little traffic on the road past the entrance to it, so I thought that there wouldn’t be anyone standing in the road at Forrest Gump Point. Wrong, there were at least ten cars pulled over and about forty people pretending to be turkey vultures trying to get to some tasty roadkill. Singles, duos, and whole groups would run out into the road to get the selfie on the yellow line, only to have to hop back real quick to the sides when cars came through.

Santa Fe, NM

World’s Largest Mule Shoe?


Leg 3 on the return trip to Santa Fe.

I got to check off a Roadside America thing today that I missed back in May of this year, the World’s Largest Mule Shoe. I’m not so sure it is even a mule shoe; it is more of a horizontal McDonald’s logo made of cement with mule shoes imbedded in it. The Roadside America write-up’s location led straight to a mule statue, not the big shoe, which is located at the town’s Heritage Center. The center looked like a very interesting place to visit, but because it’s a short hop (comparatively) from Lubbock to Santa Fe, we were there before they opened.

Quanah Parker Arrow, Muleshoe

As a bonus, there was a Quanah Parker Arrow there. Donna and I had taken pictures of a half dozen or so of them on our travels through Texas, but not this particular one.

Lubbock, TX

Sunset Geese


Leg 2 on the return to Santa Fe.

I had to scrape the thick frost off the windshield with my credit card to get going. Today was a shorter day than yesterday, and we got to Lubbock a little after 1:00 PM, which was way too early to check in, but that was OK, as we had 3 things to do first. 1) HTeaO 2) Eat lunch and 3) Clean out our 3rd H-E-B of the house brand Cinnamon Spice Oatmeal.

At stop #1 Sally asked for a restaurant recommendation from the girl behind the counter. Her response was Italian Garden. It was smack in the middle of downtown, and the food was fantastic and reasonably priced.

After we got all checked in, we wanted to take a walk to stretch our legs and found McAlister Park not too far from the hotel. It is a large park with a variety of sports fields, and the east side has a big lake with dirt paths around it. That lake is a stop along the migratory path of the Canadian goose.

Paris, TX

Christmas in Paris … Texas

Leg 1 on the return to Santa Fe.

If I ever had the windshield wipers off at all on today’s drive, it was for only a few seconds. The weather was just miserable. And whenever we got out of the vehicle, there was a stiff breeze making the 37° temps seem a lot colder.

For the first time in quite a while I didn’t make a stop at the Eiffel Tower, and there were two reasons for it. 1) The weather is miserably cold and wet, and 2) there was no reason to, as I already took a picture last year of Sally’s Tucson in front of it to go along with past photos of two different Mini Coopers and two different Miatas.

But, we did not miss going to Burgerland for dinner.

Burgerland

Hammond, LA Day 7

Wolfsburg Throw Blanket

A fool and his money are soon parted.

Last day here in Louisiana; tomorrow morning it is on the road back to Santa Fe. This north Texas route back is similar to last January’s return from Hammond, but instead of stopping in Amarillo, we are staying the second night in Lubbock so we can totally avoid driving on I-40.

Hammond, LA Day 6

Ponchatoula’s Giant Strawberry

Another exciting day in Louisiana. It started with my usual trip into Hammond for my morning latte, then there was a trip to Aldi’s with Sally’s mom. Next, some light yard work at Mom’s before a trip to Livingston for a lunch of burgers and onion rings with son Stuart, his wife Christina, and their kids Max & Evie, along with Christina’s parents at G & J Drive Inn. Another round of yard work before Sally and I headed back to the VRBO to put our feet up for the night.

Hammond, LA Day 5

Chillin’ at the Range

Another exciting day in southern Louisiana. A morning visit to the Dollar Tree with Sally’s mom, followed by a visit from her son Stuart and his wife and children, and finished it off at the gun range with her brother Steve and nephew Brad.

After Sally’s Ring camera went off at 6:30AM yesterday with a stranger poking around her yard back in Santa Fe, she decided to maybe get some sort of gun to deter this type of activity. She really wanted a Red Ryder BB gun but was dissuaded from that angle. Nephew Brad is an ex-policeman and a gun aficionado; he was telling her all about guns and suggested she try one on for size.