The dreaded drive across the Oklahoma and Texas was actually not so bad. I wish I had taken some photographs so I could capture the feeling of vast emptiness in this part of the country. Just mile after mile of nothing but scrub, and an occasional windmill to draw up water for the grazing cattle. Even the road side rest areas were windblown and dreary. The poor dog could barely take a step without getting a sand spur in his paw. The term “God forsaken” is what most comes to mind when traveling through this part of the heartland. It may be for this very reason, that someone took it upon himself to erect the reputed “tallest cross in the Western Hemisphere” in one of the small towns along the highway.
A Subtle Reminder to the Faithful
We made a short stop in Amarillo for some food (note to self, “family fajita combo” is not the best choice for eating in the car) but we were determined to make it to New Mexico before dark. Sure enough, within a few short miles of the New Mexico border, we started to drop down from the high plateau and entered a landscape that looked distinctly Southwestern, buttes, mesas, and washes dotted the landscape. Crossing the border we entered Mountain Time. This was thrilling, for months it had seemed like the Southwest was an elusive fantasy, but now we were almost there!
We had decided to reserve two nights at the Tucumcari KOA camping ground. I had read online that during this weekend, you could camp one night and get the next night free. We needed clean hot showers, laundry, and wifi and this is what KOA “kampgrounds” offer. Many have dog runs with agility equipment and heated swimming pools. Many campers go for the easy pull-through sites and full hook-ups. That is why KOA can and does charge much more than other non-chain campgrounds. If you are a member you get a small discount so of course we joined.
There are moments in life when you realize that you have great kids. Some are important events such as college graduation or the birth of a grandchild and others are so small that you have to be paying attention so as not to miss them. I had one of these moments at the Tucumcari KOA. We pulled in just as it was getting dark. It takes some minutes to level the trailer, unhitch from the vehicle, and attach all the hook-ups, so I handed the girls a flashlight and sent them off to find the bathrooms so they could brush their teeth and get ready for bed. A few minutes later I joined them in the bathroom. As I walked in the door, they said, “Watch out Mom, there is a tarantula near the door, be careful not to hurt him.” My children, having never seen a tarantula before outside of a zoo, took it in stride and were concerned only for his safety. I was SO proud!
The best thing about this campground was meeting the owners, a lovely couple from Salt Lake City who decided to get out of the auto mechanic business and buy a KOA franchise. One of the great pleasures of traveling this way is meeting people like this all across the country and having the time to stop and chat and get to know them a little. I find it enormously edifying to gather these bits of insight into the lives of folks we normally would not meet or have the time to get to know. Of course everyone is very interested in our story, the vintage Airstream is a great conversation starter and if that doesn’t do it, the two red-headed girls playing their fiddles or the large neurotic collie dog will inevitably draw folks in.
Tucumcari New Mexico is a dying town along the current I-40 with a half dead main street that is part of historic Route 66. Formerly, this was a thriving little metropolis because it was a truck stop as well as a busy train depot. The new faster speed limits made the truck stop obsolete, now truckers can make it all the way from Flagstaff to Amarillo in a day, bypassing Tucumcari completely. The trains no longer stop here either, I think because of new, faster rail lines. What there is in Tucumcari is an interesting little college. They have an very active paleontology department with more dinosaur (and other) digs than they know what to do with, a wind energy department and state of the art wind turbine, a rodeo program, and a farrier school (a farrier for those of you who are not horse people is the person who shoes horses and generally cares for their hoofs). The college has an excellent dinosaur museum and even better, if you are lucky as we were, you can get a behind the scenes tour and see where the students are working on the actual fossils from the digs. Did you know that dinosaur fossils will stick to your tongue? In my many years of studying geology, I hadn’t experienced that phenomenon. Older daughter got to experience that first hand with a little fossil fragment in the museum/college paleontology laboratory. How cool is that??? If you are over the age 15 or older and have always wanted to go on a dinosaur dig, you can do it every summer at this college. You camp and they provide the meals. The cost is around $450 and you get college credit. My little son is counting the days until he is old enough to go on a dig.
Mothers' Day Bouquets
Mothers’ Day morning I was greeted with the sweetest little bouquets of New Mexico wildflowers. Though the children just picked flowers by the road at the back of the campground, there were around 10 different species in my little bundles.
Then they took me out to breakfast at the Lizard Lounge at the Pow Wow Inn on historic Route 66.
The Lizard Lounge on Historic Route 66
Initially we had planned to head south to Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands. By the time we were in the area, we read that the highs in southern N.M. were over 100 every day and we started to have second thoughts. But having come this far, it seemed a shame to miss those unique sights and after all, as everyone says – it is a dry heat. So we bid our gracious KOA hosts goodbye and headed south towards Carlsbad.
