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Published: January 10th 2006
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Mural Tour
On the mural tour in the town of Tucumcari I woke up at about 7:30 am to check out the weather. It was gloomy with light rain. The area was still affected by the storm up north. I planned to drive to White Sands National Monument at New Mexico with some stops along the way - about 300 miles drive.
I ate the hotel breakfast and chatted with the front desk clerk to find out the closest post office. After loading everything back to the car, I headed out to start my day. I found the post office at down town Amarillo and dropped off the Christmas mails. Hopefully they were not too late. I tried to send them in Overland Park but the line was too long. I had to drive 600 miles to send the mails - talking about long way to the post office. *laughing*
Pumped gas at Shell. I found my way back to I-40. Not long after I was out of Amarillo city limit, I saw a line of Cadillacs bruied-nose down in the dirt on the left side of the highway. They were all buried at the same angle. This must be the Cadillac Ranch. Cadillac Ranch was created by Ant Farm
Mural Artists
Sharon, Doug and Larry were the local artists that guided us through the mural tour. artists and architects collectively in 1974. All the Cadillacs were bought from local junkyards or used-car lots at an average cost of $200. Once in a while, an advertising agency or a rock band would select it as the backdrops in photo or video shoots. It was quite a remarkable art creation.
After about 45 minutes, I saw the sign for the Land of Enchantment - New Mexico! Yeah!! I stopped at the visitor office for some local information. They told me that there was a Mural tour in the near town of Tucumcari on the old route 66 in about 45 minutes. Sounded interesting. I decided I would make a stop. I noticed the time changed from central to mountain time - one hour gain.
Tucumcari was a town that not many people would stop by from the busy interstate highway. It was a quiet town with some deserted feeling. There were a lot of old worn-down motels with neon signs on my way in - a sign of a boom town long time ago. I felt like I was back into the 1940s. The histroic route 66 passed right through the town. I could imagine that
Mexican restaurant owner
The very friendly and nice mexican restaurant owner Hope it must be very busy when route 66 was at its prime. What a shame that interstate highway took away vibrancy from small towns like Tucumcari.
The mural tour - guided by local artists Doug and Sharon - was indeed quite a fun little horse trolly ride. In order to revitalize the town, Doug and Sharon was planning to paint every major outside walls of the town with murals. They invited artists from different places to collaborate on the effort. So far, they had painted over more than 10,000 square feets of wall spaces. The tour went through each one of their creation while introducing the significance of the buildings that carried the mural. Afterward, I had a nice chat with Doug. I was really moved by their passion and really hoped that they could one day reach their goal - create a second Santa Fe at Tucumcari.
After the tour, I stopped at a local Mexican restaurant - Lena's Cafe. The owner Hope was a very friendly lady. She was very proud of her restaurant and her family. In fact, she had Doug painted her whole family and closed friends on the two walls of her restaurant. They were pretty pround of their tradition. She proudly asked her daughter to show the scar on her face - the result of an rodeo accidence. The food was great - one of the most authentic Mexican foods I had ever had. I finished everything on the plate in no time. **yummy!! **
After saying goodbye to Hope, I continued my journey to the White Sands Monument down south. I drove pass the town of Santa Rosa - didn't see too much, and got onto US 54 heading south. It was a long, mostly straight, desert drive. It was very peaceful with all the open space and Rockey mountains as the backdrop. I watched the the sunset at the desert until it disappeared behind the mountains. Had a slight loneliness feeling after the sunset.
Since it was already dark, by the time I reached the White Sands Mounument site, it was already closed. I wandered to the nearby town of Alamogordo - 2nd largest city in New Mexico - and found a Motel for the night.
Mom called. For some reasons, she was very interested to find out where I was at. We chatted for several minutes.
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Marianne
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omg ... I think we ate at the very same restaurant! The owner was incredibly nice. My daughter was worried about her chinchilla's being out in the car in August and the owner let her bring them into the office area in the back of the restaurant. Most kind.