Palo Duro Canyon and Go

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Before heading out this morning, we had just under 800 miles to do before tomorrow evening. That would be two reasonable days, but I really wanted to get to the Grand Canyon tomorrow before sunset. That meant many miles today. So, instead of driving on the old road, as we did nine years ago, we spent a lot of time on I-40. We didn't see much for nostalgia, but the scenery definitely changes in New Mexico.

We did make two stops. The first was at Palo Duro Canyon State Park south of Amarillo. It is reported to be the second largest canyon in the United States, but you wouldn't know it driving up to it. Texas is really pretty flat, and then it just opened up. We drove the park road and back because we ride too low to drive through the water at one flood point, even stopping for a brief picnic. Liam took many photos, which I would have posted had we not forgotten his camera in the car. Some of the cacti are starting to bloom, which provided a little bit of color, although there's a lot of green in the valley. On top, there's very little moisture, so lots of dirt and not much else. It's a stark contrast to the flooding that we've seen so far.

The second stop was at Cadillac Ranch. Jeff decided to stop at Home Depot for some spray paint. The boys were really excited to use it, but needed a bit more strength to do it easily. Liam drew a US 66 road sign, as did Cole, sort of. Liam also drew a car. Someone else had painted Cole + Dad 6/5/13, which was pretty funny to see. Jeff signed all of our geocaching names. None of it will last long given how many people we saw there.

The day started out very, very rainy, but it cleared up well. We then hit another storm front at Clives Corners in New Mexico, where the temp dropped nearly 30 degrees and then rose 37 in a 45 minute span. It was a little crazy. Thankfully, the weather hasn't really affected our plans at all. I hope that continues for the rest of our time.

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Miles: 672
Highest Gas Price: $3.86/gallon
Low Temperature: 55 (Moriarty, NM)
High Temperature: 92 (Albuquerque, NM)

Conversation of the Day (after I asked if anyone need to stop at the rest area):
C: Are we going to stop?
J: Nope, we put a nuclear reactor in the car so we never need to stop.
L (looking up from reading his book): That's not true.

Geocaches Found: 12
New License Plate States Seen: 7 (NM WA OR MT MS CO UT)
Projects Completed: 1, another dishcloth by Mom

We learned the Flex feels just fine at 95.
Jeff forgot that the camera lens he claimed would be just fine for our close-up and wide angle photos, when I suggested we take another one, sucks.

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Photos

Blue Hole
60 feet wide and 81 feet deep. A geocaching brought us to this spot in Santa Rosa, NM.