Greg was driving his pick-up truck and pulling most all of my belongings with his 19" trailer. I was following in my little cavalier loaded down with the majority of my clothing and fragile items.
We left early Tuesday morning, successfully avoiding the St Louis morning rush hour. It was a weird feeling driving along hwy 44, knowing that it wasn't to return to my apartment of 3 years. I think I was focusing too much on watching the load in front of me, making sure nothing fell off the trailer to really be too emotional about it all.
After driving approximately 14 hours, we arrived to Tucumcari, NM to spend the evening at a KOA. I had kept a tent and sleeping bags available so we could camp out, but for only a few bucks more, we elected to stay in a heated cabin:
I have to say that we were both quite impressed with the accommodations at the KOA. The cabin was outfitted with both a bunk and full-sized bed, including mattresses. There was electricity, A/C and heating inside. It provided a very comfortable night's rest for two travelers. And in the morning, we dined a la carte items at the camp kitchen. Simply wonderful.
We assessed the trailer after a full day of driving. Everything was still strapped down well, although the tarps hadn't survived very well...this was quite disappointing as we had experienced rain the evening before in Oklahoma, and were certain to see rain again as we drove across New Mexico. Surely a few items would be suffering rain damage.
After filling up the vehicles, in the words of Willie Nelson, we were on the road again. As we traveled across New Mexico, the terrain changed and views of mountains were suddenly everywhere. Here is the view from my side mirror, just south of Albuquerque:
As you can see, there are mountains to the East and the North. What you can't see are the mountains to the West and South as well. It was pretty. :)
Lunch that day was at a little "hole in the wall" Mexican restaurant in Hatch, NM-the Chile capital of the world. Literally, there were chilies being sold everywhere! It was amazing, and I had wished there were more time for us to shop the street stands. Maybe some other time...
Around 6pm Wednesday evening, we drove across the NM-AZ border. Instantly we were provided the most beautiful scenic views of the Arizona mountain ranges. Since the weather had been crazy, with storms all over the southwest, clouds provided an amazing scene for us to enjoy. Two hours later, we were driving into the Tucson area, just in time to witness the sunset:
Yeah, I think I'm going to like it here. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment