May 29, 2011 - Tucumcari NM 5/23 & 24/2011

stayed Mountain Rd. Campground. Toured the Mesalands Community College Dinosaur Museum. Had an interesting tour and was given a back room tour by the museum director, Craig Currell, introduced to the palaentologist and saw the bones from what they think will be certified as a new species discoved about 28 miles from Tucumcari. It is a phytosaur, a crocodile ancestor. This species is about 5 times bigger than previous species with different shaped plates of armor on his back. Had an interesting talk with the German palaentologist and his...

May 23, 2011 - Tucumcari, NM

We have buzzed by Tucumari several times during our travels on I-40, never taking the time to leave the interstate to check it out. It's claim for fame (and tourism) is that it was one of those legendary towns along the famous Route 66 highway back in the 40's and 50's. Today it is but a sad reminder of it's heyday. The strip of Route 66, once lined with dozens of motels, service stations, saloons, cafes, and other businesses, is almost deserted. When we arrived we parked in the first RV park we came to, Kiva AOK. Being Sunday, the museums...

Apr 28, 2011 - Day 24 into Tucumcari

Today was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, it was clear, and it was only breezy not windy (except where it was supposed to be windy). We left Albuquerque about 0930 and started on the way to Tucumcari. THE ROUTE between Albuquerque and Tucumcari is chopped up and not drivable in many places, so mostly we stayed on I-40. We stopped at several of the places along the way, but didn’t spend too much time. Most of the places we stopped were gift shops and really didn’t have exactly what we were looking for. Clines Corner was written about...

Mar 14, 2011 - Readjusting to Traveling Again

After sitting in one place for four months, we need to get use to traveling again. We got quite comfortable in Benson and had settled into a routine. Well, hit the road and the comfort zone is gone! No more playing cards three times a week or volunteering in the kitchen for Monday night tacos or working out on the treadmill or watching Wednesday night movies. Now it is life on the road and we are adventuring into unknown (at least to us) territory. I’m feeling a little bit disoriented but that feeling will pass I am sure. Our initial stops...

Feb 17, 2011 - Goodbye Texas, Hello New Mexico

Left Abilene this morning and put another 400 miles and one more state behind us. After a last lunch in Amarillo at the Big Texan Restaurant - Home of the free 72 ounce steak - we continued on to Tucumcari. After a rest tonight the motorhome will be winterized in the morning and as long as the weather holds out we will keep travelling. Once it gets sloppy, we will take a break.

Nov 8, 2010 - Shamrock, Tx - Tucumcari, New Mexico

At our nightly group happy hour, the next few days were discussed. We have heard the weather is supposed to change, and get really cold. Originally, we were going to go to Santa Fe, New Mexico and stay there for a few nights, then come down to Albuquerque to stay there for a night or two. But they are expecting snow(!) in Santa Fe and the RV parks are charging over $40 per night! So we have adapted to staying a few nights in Albuquerque and going to Santa Fe for the day. This morning we are passing through McLean, which was once known as...

Oct 23, 2010 - Day 19

Headed HOME! We got on the road about 11:30 am PT. 50 degrees. At 12:20, we arrived in Winslow, AZ. "Standin on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see!" From an Eagles song. We drove downtown and they had a cool area dedicated to the song so we stopped for a bit. The trip home follows Route 66 to Oklahoma City, so we see lots of references to Route 66. Had lunch and then got back on the road. Entered New Mexico at 5:05, still in mountain time zone. We finally stopped in Tucumcari, NM at 10 pm for the night. We are listening...

Oct 5, 2010 - Four states in one day!!

But if you look at the map you see we only went about 240 miles. Between Kansas and New Mexico are the pan handles of Oklahoma and Texas. But I told you about that yesterday. We went down Kansas 25 straight south from Ulysses and then it turned into Oklahoma 136. We picked up US 54 in Guymon,OK. But first we stopped at the Wal*Mart in Guymon for lunch. We needed bread and, as Wallyworld is our ATM, some $$. As long as we were stopped and had some bread now - I made some sandwiches for lunch. So we sat and watched the cars go in and out of...

Oct 3, 2010 - Almost back to AZ

Well we spent our first night at a Wal-Mart and I was never so happy to see one! We headed out yesterday with a casino campground as our destination. When we got there the camping sites were all back in and there wasn't a place to park the RV in the parking lot so on we went. We have been traveling 4 months and have seen Camping signs along the way so we could stop at many different places. So the next RV stop I picked off of Microsoft Streets and Trips was the Phantom RV Campground in some city in OK. Should have known from the name we...

Sep 26, 2010 - Tucumcari Museum

I liked the campground and town so well, I decided to stay another day. Today I had breakfast cooked by the KOA hostess and went into town to see the Dinosaur Museum. They had made bronze casts of lots of dinosaur bones –and a sign in there explained the reason was “because we have a brass foundry at the college, and also so they can be touched” I got a kick out of the order of importance in the sign.

Sep 25, 2010 - Drive through many States

This morning at 9:05 am we hit the road. And Tom started off driving through very heavy fog. Was not very pleasant for him. It was very poor visability. At 2:00pm today entered a brand new state for Debbie the Lone Star State of TEXAS. Yeah, I finally got to Texas. It was really sad for me as we were driving down Rt. 54 we passed a lot of Stockyards for cattle heading for market. I would have to become a vegatarian if I had to kill my own animals. Little did they know they would soon die... Then we entered the state of Oklahoma. Then at...

Sep 25, 2010 - Twelve more miles to Tucumcari

"Twelve more miles to Tucumcari”… what a cute place. I stayed at the KOA, very friendly and clean. The owners cook breakfast and dinner and are trying to make it nice. I spent a couple of hours in Tucumcari - - it is a slice of the 1950’s. The main drag is Route 66 and it still looks like it did in it’s heyday. Motels and eating establishments, I ate at Del’s. Lots of yummy food, Spanish menu, but not Spanish place.