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Published: July 10th 2013
Travels with Snowbirds Tuesday July 9 2013 Texola OK to Cactus RV Park Tucumcari NM
The one about the changing topography
I got wifi!!!! It’s here!!! Yay!!!
Boy it was hot last night. My a/c chugged along, not really cooling Moya down until almost midnight. There was a beautiful breeze, but it was so blooming hot out, it was 92 until 10:00. I put my small oscillating fan on in my bedroom, and fell asleep easily, but it was a fitful night. Two 18 wheelers pulled into the parking lot of the now closed for the night ‘store’. Their lights were on and their engines purred all night. So, between the hum of the a/c, the hum of the fan, the earth moving because of the 2 semi’s engines…….I was vibrating. I welcomed morning. I was out walking Winston at 6:30, and my new friends were also up walking. It wasn’t a very big circle to walk, I did it 4 times, and no poop for Winston. The temperature was nice, about 73, nice breeze, but still somewhat humid. I showered, dumped my holding tanks (something about showering first then having to do the dirty work always makes
me wonder about my process) and was on the road by 8. I went back thru the defunct town of Texola and got some (hopefully) cool pictures. Garmina directed me to follow Historic 66 until I connected with I40, so I obliged. No, No, she was wrong again. It dead ended. Fortunately, there was no traffic and enough room to turn around without getting my tires off the pavement, and back past the campground and on to I40. I only went about 3 miles out of my way. While on that dead end I crossed into TX. As I looked around, I could tell the border went right along the edge of the campground I overnighted at. I could have stood on the state line if I wanted to.
Crossing into Texas the terrain stayed pretty much the same as it’s been for a while, long slow hills, light reddish brown dirt, trees with tops bent to the north from the ever present wind, and the start of what looks like tumbleweed before it dries up and rolls on the road. One thing to note: No roadkill on the eastern portion of I40 in the TX panhandle. First thing
I saw was a truck with many workers, ?Prisoners? picking up trash, and picking up blow out tire pieces, and I am assuming road kill as well. I only saw 2 armadillos in the western portion, and none in the eastern part – I think it was too hot for any animal in the western panhandle. There was some construction, but there was no traffic, so I passed easily thru. They are paving the road with asphalt, covering the older cement, and where it’s done, it’s beautiful, and where it’s not, it’s horrific.
As I trudged on towards Amarillo it got flatter and dryer, if that is at all possible. I passed many windmill farms, with hundreds of windmills each. I saw some type of big black bird riding the thermals on the edge of the road, but I couldn’t figure out what they were. Historic/Old Route 66 parallels I40 for most of the way across the panhandle. Where there is a ‘town’ there is a sign announcing the sights you can see as Route 66 veers off and thru the town, connecting back up on the other side. I got off at a few towns and drove thru,
but this started to really slow down my progress, so I opted for staying on I40.
What I can tell you about Amarillo is this: It has a very RV friendly Flying J Truck Stop, one each of every chain restaurant known to man, and it has a lot of railroad tracks. I saw numerous cars that I think hauled animals, and I am guessing cows. I say that, because once west of Amarillo I saw a huge stockyard with a million black and white cows in it. Boy did it stink. I smelled it before I saw it; there were train cars there as well. I saw ‘silo farms’, groups of 10+ silos all together, then another group of 10. Some looked like they were still in use, others seemed abandoned. I saw more huge windmill farms, I am guesstimating 100 windmills in each area. The panhandle is one windy place; I got blown all over the road, but at least it was nice pavement and wide lanes. The TX panhandle is about 200 miles across on I40.
Just a few miles west of Amarillo is a well known Roadside America spot, Cadillac Ranch; a bucket list
item for me. From the ever reliable Wikipedia: Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas, U.S. It was created in 1974 by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, who were a part of the art group,
Ant Farm, and it consists of what were (when originally installed during 1974) either older running used or junk Cadillac automobiles, representing a number of evolutions of the car line (most notably the birth and death of the defining feature of mid twentieth century Cadillacs; the tailfins) from 1949 to 1963, half-buried nose-first in the ground, at an angle corresponding to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Cadillac Ranch is currently located at a wheat field, but in 1997 the installation was quietly moved by a local contractor two miles (three kilometers) to the west, to a cow pasture along Interstate 40, in order to place it farther from the limits of the growing city. Both sites belonged to the local millionaire
Stanley Marsh 3, the patron of the project. Marsh was well known in the city for his longtime patronage of artistic endeavors including the "Cadillac Ranch", Floating Mesa, "Amarillo Ramp" a work of well known land
Johnson Ranch
I have never seen a sign announcing a ranch. Most of these big farms have a gate with their name over the arch, right along I40. Pretentiousartist Robert Smithson, and a series of fake traffic signs throughout the city known collectively as the "Dynamite Museum". As of 2013, Stanley Marsh 3 does not own the Cadillac Ranch. Cadillac Ranch is visible from the highway, and though it is located on private land, visiting it (by driving along a frontage road and entering the pasture by walking through an unlocked gate) is tacitly encouraged. In addition, writing graffiti on or otherwise spray-painting the vehicles is now encouraged, and the vehicles, which have long since lost their original colors, are wildly decorated. The cars are periodically repainted various colors (once white for the filming of a television commercial, another time pink in honor of Stanley's wife Wendy's birthday, and yet another time all 10 cars were painted flat black to mark the passing of Ant Farm artist Doug Michels or simply to provide a fresh canvas for future visitors. In 2012 they were painted rainbow colors to commemorate gay pride day. The cars were briefly "restored" to their original colors by the motel chain Hampton Inn in a public relations-sponsored series of
Route 66 landmark restoration projects. The new paint jobs and even the plaque commemorating the project lasted
less than 24 hours without fresh graffiti.
I did just what the directions on a Roadside America web site told me, get off, turn around, drive to the gate and park. The frontage road was pretty wide with a hard dirt/rock shoulder. Lots of cars – mostly Camaros, enough to make me wonder if there was some type of Route 66 Road Rally going on…….get your picture of your Camaro and Cadillac ranch in one shot??) I brought my spray paint, found a spot, land made my mark – picture. Winston made his mark as well, laugh. There is now a growing pile of empty spray paint cans starting it’s own piece of art.
Back on the road with a grin on my face. About 80 miles east of the NM border the terrain changed again. Still the same reddish color, but it was rockier, both small rocks and large boulders. I saw the first mesa of the trip as well. (Mesa ((table)) is a large area of rock that hasn’t been eroded away by the constant wind, and it rises up off the desert and looks like a table. Some are small, some are huge. Generally the
road goes near or around a mesa you will see signs announcing HIGH CROSS WINDS. (I hate not having internet to research all this, but I suspect the winds whip around the mesa and meet up again at some place causing these high cross winds, or either the prevailing wind bounces off the mesa back onto the roadway)
I did not see as many oil wells, either drilling or production, as I thought I would have as I crossed OK and TX, guess I was just in the wrong area.
First time in NM today!!! More reddish dirt, more mesas, more tumbleweed. No cows that I saw, though. I stopped at the Welcome Center and picked up brochures. I really have no plans what I want to see in the Albuquerque area; I need some inspiration.
I tried to reach KIVA RV Park in Tucumcari NM by phone, it looked like the best option for the night, but they didn’t answer their phone and didn’t return my message. Free wifi there. Instead I called Cactus RV park, and was greeted by ultra informative Sue who told me to get off an exit earlier than my GPS recommended
so I could see Tucumcari from its beginning on Route 66. Cactus RV is adjacent to KIVA RV. I can see their wifi, but don’t have a password. No wifi here. GROWL. But, it’s Passport America, cost $18.50. It was worth it just to meet Sue! What a delight. I suspect she is full American Indian, or, Asian Indian who made herself up to look American Indian….laugh. Either way, she asked for cash payment, then walked outside and led me to my site. She helped me plug the cable in (so nice I can catch up on Deadliest Catch tonight) nice level site on the brown rock/dirt. As I look around, I see that someone has spent a lot of time planting all different types of trees, Evergreens with peeling red bark, between the campsites and some type of fruit trees, Flowering something or other that looks like Rose of Sharon. I saw Sue again and asked her about the little trees, and her husband grew them from seeds – apricot seeds. It’s obvious they have been watered and are thriving. Sue directed me to Del’s for dinner, within walking distance. Since I changed Time Zones again, and am now
2 hours behind EDT, and I am not yet caught up ((OMG, what will Winston do tomorrow morning?)) I waited as long as I could before I walked next door to Del’s. I was in the middle of Roadside America for sure. Round back maple chairs, maple tables, knotty pine walls, linoleum floors, Fiestaware dishes. Very pleasant waiter, excellent salad bar with interesting choices including fresh fruit salad, spinach, real bacon bits, sunflower seeds, wonderful croutons, great dressings, and I spied jello with whipped cream……My choice of baby sirloin came with choice of potato (mashed). It was cooked to perfection, seasoned wonderfully, great mushrooms on top, BUT, it had a big piece of gristle down the middle making a large portion of it inedible. 2 large glasses of unsweetened iced tea, some jello for desert and I was a happy camper. Previous food for the day was rice chex at breakfast, almonds and yogurt for lunch. The walk back to Moya was downhill, and boy is it still hot (97). Winston was quiet.
About the heat. Yes, it is outrageously hot, but there is always a breeze, so my sweat gets evaporated quickly. The humidity keeps getting less the
My mark
Yellow paint from my 'shutters'. Green paint from my lamps. I gave my almost empty cans to 2 young marrieds who were thrilled further west of Oklahoma City I go.
Does anyone watch Deadliest Catch? I think the Wizard crew is giving the greenhorn way too much grief – I think Dane is just trying to work, but no one will leave him alone and let him try. I commend Discovery Channel for trying to be unbiased. He is harassed way too much. Captain Keith chews up greenhorns and seems to thrive on it. Nasty man, IMHO. Freddie is worse. Enuf said.
I am trying to grow an avocado from seed. I tried one at home, found out (thanks Barb) that I had it in the water for over 2 months upside down. I took toothpicks from the restaurant tonight, took the paperclip harness off the seed and it looks wonderful. I hope it works, then I will have an avocado tree from OK growing in NC.
I think I am about 200 miles east of Albuquerque. I will head there tomorrow, Wednesday, and wait until Thursday to get an oil change. Then I start heading north to Park City, about 600 miles from Albuquerque to Park City, and I have driven over 1600 miles already.
OMG!! It just
popped up!!! Cactus RV has a wifi connection. I ran to find Sue and she gave me a passcode. I told her how much I loved this place, and she asked me to spread the word. I told her I would write a wonderful review on every campground reviewing web site I knew of.
Time to stop now and try to post my pictures!!!
Kat out.
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susan samuels
non-member comment
I enjoyed seeing these pics of Cadillac Ranch, this was one place we were planning on going to but for some reason did not get there. I can relate to a lot of the other things you have seen, along with all the oil wells, flat lands, high temps, windmills. Have fun, susan