Day Two

I tried to write a little before I went to bed Sunday, but I was so tired all I could do was review what I’d written the night before in Houston, update a few things and go to bed. Dan woke me up in the early hours of the morning thinking I’d woken him up. “No,” I told him. “I was asleep. I was dreaming!” A few seconds later I saw the lightening and realized what had woken him up. A huge storm rolled in—one of those violent thunderstorms that north Texas and Oklahoma are prone to. But it finished cooling things off, and that was nice.

We got up at 7 and started packing. Our proprietor brought in some breakfast and all was right with the world. We headed out at 8:00 on Route 66, thinking we’d stop at everything of interest along the way. Ha! Little did we realize just how long such a venture would take. We drove through quaint little towns, got lost, got found, saw some nifty things and went to a museum. We finally found ourselves at 12:30 still in Oklahoma with the entire Texas panhandle and part of New Mexico to cross! So we figured we’d better hurry up and jumped on I-40
We crossed the state line into Texas around 1:00 and spent the next couple hours trying to find a place to eat, to no avail. I had realized we would have trouble finding places open on Monday, but I had expected our difficulties to be mainly attraction-related. Instead, we could go to any museum we liked, but unless it was at the truck stop, forget finding food! Well, at least we had brought food with us. I snacked on crackers and goat cheese, a banana, blueberries and that sort of thing.

We finally found food in Adrian, Texas, almost at the New Mexico border. We were by now no longer hungry, but Dan’s eyes were glazing over from all that driving, so we stopped for coffee. And pie. OMG. The Midpoint Café in Adrian, Texas has some of THE best pie on the planet! I’m pretty sure pie this good is illegal in at least three counties.

Now suitably nourished, we continued on our way, stopping to take photos in the ghost town of Glenrio before making the rest of the run into Tucumcari.

Dan was making noises like he wanted to push on to my dad’s place south of Albuquerque but I had a feeling that was just talk. He had been dragging back in Adrian and I knew if we continued on, he’d be crying uncle by Santa Rosa. So we stuck with the plan and checked into our room at the Blue Swallow in Tucumcari. And let me say right now that every wonderful thing you can read about it on the internet is true. Charming, delightful place! And friendly owners!

We got settled in and I went for a run through the neighborhood. It was my first run in over a week, due to illness and trip preparation. Boy did I need it! And it was a lot of fun, even though it was dusty. I didn’t much notice the heat because it was so dry. I had water with me and made sure to drink it and counted my blessings that I wasn’t running in the steam bath that is Houston.

After my run, we went and had dinner. There was a little steakhouse open, and the food was quite adequate and the peach cobbler delish!

When we got back to our motel, the owner took our picture underneath his neon sign – a service he does for all his guests. How cool is that? It’s even cooler than the free cookies in the lobby, and that’s pretty darn cool!

And since he has wireless, I’m connected. And happy!

Tomorrow, it’s on to my dad’s place where we’ll settle in and take things easy for a day or two. Or not. You just never know!