RT - Day 25 (Texas to New Mexico)

Hey ya!

Who knew the first place I'd actually be cold would be in Texas?!?!? I woke up to find my car covered in dew and a very brisk chill that lasted all day from Lubbock, Texas to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Texas was more flatland and chilly weather that carried itself right into New Mexico. It's like the Universe put a large grey, cold blanket over the space between my destinations, with just little peeks at some sky and sun. Other than that, it was a pretty dreary drive.

NEW MEXICO...

Okay...as soon as I crossed the border (at the town of Farwell, no less, and not kidding) New Mexico became the ghost town of forgotten society. I swear to you The Walking Dead could have filmed here. It was that desolate. The general landscape was flat only to be accented by little bursts of trees near ranch houses in the distance. Other than that...no trees, no life, no people, no one.

Hello little tree clump!

Out of sheer boredom I saw a sign for the Billy the Kid Museum and stopped in. I was the only person...of course. I watched a little video documentary and took a "tour" of the stuff from the time of Billy. It was an interesting story and I did get to see his rifle, but other than that...nope. So I drove 2 miles out to his grave site (which had been stolen more than once in the past) and that eeriness of the New Mexico land continued.

It kinda cracked me up that the entire thing was caged from all sides and the stone bolted down. I mean, the place is so abandoned out there than really anyone with a torch could snatch that sucker right up.

THE SUN PEEKED OUT!!!!!!!

Okay, so more driving, more grey and all of a sudden there is this stripe of road that had billboards all advertising the same store (Flying C Ranch). I'm not talking three or four on the right...I'm talking over 25 billboards on either side of the road just screaming at you to pull over for a look. One right after the other, after the other! It was nuts! About a mile out from the store. So, of course I had to stop. It was an enormous, janky-looking warehouse of trinkets and such. The windows were covered in those cheap thin blinds people used in the 80s. Oh dear.

Look at the blinds!!!! LOL

This was from one side looking down and there was a whole other side just as long and with more stuff...and then a freakin' Dairy Queen! Hahaha! DQs are all over the place on this trip.

Okay now, lets dive into the creepiest drive I've ever taken. It was like The Blair Witch Project, New Mexico style. I decided to drive NW-3 through their state park hoping for some trees or something. I saw cacti, trees and bushes and the FOG...dude...the fog was a trip! I drove down into the canyon part and passed through a couple teeny towns with no people, no lights, no nothing! My entire hour long drive on the NM-3 I only passed maybe 10 cars and had no one in front of or behind me the entire time. It was sooooo weird!! Enjoy the pictures.

Hello car!!! I love my car! I just got out and stood in the middle of the straight road before and behind me with not a car in sight and not a whisper of wind in the air...just cold and flat and quiet.

Thus begins the fog...

I pulled over again for my first cactus sighting!

Thus continues the fog...

...down, down, down into the canyon.

In the canyon looking "up?"

And here's a church.

Side Note to NM (aka The Land of the Desolate and Forgotten)
The only buildings that were even nice, at that means they were brick and looked in decent condition, were the banks and the churches. Hmmm....what does that tell you? Literally, the only buildings that didn't look like total shit in these towns were banks and churches. Funny thing about that is they looked really out of place in the desolation and silence.

Last, but not least, I made it into Santa Fe in the evening right as the sun had set after this grey cloud I was under all day. I think these pic are quite beautiful.

 

 

I checked into my Airbnb, which I will tell you about tomorrow...OMG...went out to dinner and had the BEST guacamole EVER and listened to this amazing guitar player. He toured with famous peeps and was in a few Philharmonics. He was jammin' and it was awesome.

I took a terrible picture, but you get the gist. :-)

YUM! Remember that scene from Sex and the City when Samantha is eating gobs and gobs of guacamole while staring at and lusting after her hot new neighbor?...that was me with this guacamole. Holy cow!

My Airbnb host just said he wondered if my antifreeze would freeze in my car overnight. He wasn't sure. Hmmmm...I guess we'll find out.

Night you guys!
Kel