Snowbird Journal--Oct 28 Roswell to Deming

From Roswell we continued on Hwy 70 to Picaho, Hondo, Ruidoso which took us through beautiful mountains. Really a pretty drive. We then started going down and went through Mescalero, Tularosa, Alamogordo. After Alamogordo we did a quick stop at White Sands National Monument. Betsy ran in and got her book stamped while I walked Tippy. Tippy is having a hard time adjusting to life in the west. He was totally freaked by the Cadillac Ranch. Then later in the day I was walking him at the Clovis Tourist Info Center and a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train with six engines roared by with horns blaring. He decided it was time to get back in the truck. Then after we had checked into our camp ground yesterday afternoon we all took a walk on the sand dunes and he got several sand burr's. We had to pick them out of his paw's. At White Sands he found another sand burr bush and we spent another 15 minutes getting them out again. Until we figure out where he can and can't go we will start carrying a little pair of scissors and some tweezers. We roared through Las Cruces and found I-10 and Deming where we decided to spend the night. We picked a Good Sam campground for the wifi and cable to watch the remainder of the World Series game that was suspended last night. Shortly after checking in I learned that the game tonight had been cancelled due to rotten weather. That's okay, because son-in-law Jim is a huge Phillies fan and we'll get to watch the rest of the games with him.

Snowbird Journal--Oct 28 Portales to Roswell

We had a much warmer night since the temps didn't fall as much as the night before. We are two hours behind Indiana time, and are trying to adjust our schedule so we're not up at 4 AM local time. We pretty much forced ourselves to stay in bed until 6 AM local time. After a quick breakfast we hit the road for Roswell. I expected the road to be two lanes but it stayed four lanes all the way and traffic was super light all the way. After arriving in Roswell we drove around town but never did find anything that looked even remotely alien or otherworldly. I'm pretty sure that Tippy and I were protected by our AFCPD's (Aluminum Foil Cranial Protection Devices). Betsy refused to participate in our AFCPD plan.

Snowbird Journal

Day 3—Oct 27, 2008
Well gang it got a little nippy last night in El Reno. We awoke to 29 chilly degree’s.
When I woke up at 3:30 AM freezing I was sure that Betsy had left her window open, but no it was just that cold. Our little heater couldn’t keep up. I unhooked the electric, cable, sewer, and the water hose in the dark. It’s a real treat to try and stuff a half frozen hose into the small storage compartment about the size of two shoeboxes! Next we headed to the motel for the promised hot breakfast. Sure enough it was there and pretty good too. After breakfast we hit the road and the sun still hadn’t come up. We made real good time and rolled into Amarillo about noon. After a brief stop at the Texas Tourist Info Center we found our way to two special attractions. Those are covered in The Special Edition of Oct 27th below.
After Amarillo we found Hwy 60 which cut’s SW over to Clovis, NM. Son In Law, Jim who has made several trips from Tucson to Erie, PA swears that cutting diagonal thru NM is quicker that following I-25 from Las Cruces to Albuquerque. Plus you get off the interstate and see places such as Hereford, TX (Beef Capital of the World) and Friona, TX (Cheeseburger Capital of the World). We also saw several cattle feedlot’s, one must have been a mile long and a quarter mile wide. Luckily we were upwind on that one.
They grow millet down here. The only thing Betsy and I know about millet is that it’s in birdseed, but they must also be feeding it to cattle. We arrived in Clovis and found the NM Tourist Center and ask the nice lady about RV Parks in Clovis. She said there were a couple in Clovis but she really wasn’t recommending them, but on the way to Portales there was the Wagon Wheel RV Park and it would be better. After a brief WalMart stop (the first of this trip) we found the Wagon Wheel RV Park and believe me folks it was pretty grim. Several of the sites where obviously occupied by permanent residents, one trailer even had a rather fancy wheelchair ramp. Obviously that puppy wasn’t going anywhere soon. And to boot the place had no bathroom or shower facilities. We were about to head back to Clovis to find the real crappy campgrounds when Betsy remembered that there was a state park close by. We found it and the campsite and facilities are great. Also the park ranger grew up in New Castle, IN. Plus we finally found Nowhere. I’m not positive that we’re in the middle of Nowhere, but we have to be close. There are about 30 campsites and 3 are occupied—one by us, one by an ex Marine and proud NRA member, and the last site is the campground host. I’m sure he’s enrolled in the Federal Witness Protection Plan. I was hoping to watch either the Colts game or the World Series but couldn’t find a TV signal with our antenna. No TV for Jamie tonight. Way out here in the high desert I expect to see Clint Eastwood ride over the hill any minute now. The stars should be spectacular tonight. Don’t forget to look at the Special Edition for the special attractions that we saw today. It should be below.
Disclaimer: The comments written by my traveling companion are not necessarily accurate and may be slightly to greatly embellished and should in no way reflect badly on me. Betsy

Snowbird Journal

Day 3—Oct 27, 2008 Special Edition

I’m trying to get better at this leisure travel deal. You know, the stop and smell the roses thing. When we were in OK we could have stopped at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum. I guess that I’ll always wonder if Dick the Bruiser was a hall of fame member and just what in the heck do you put in a wrestling museum or the gift shop. Or we could have stopped at any one of the 37 Route 66 museum’s that were advertised along I-40. But I didn’t and now it’s too late.

The other day I was looking at the map and the Amarillo area in particular. Now the only thing that I know about Amarillo is that it’s home to The Big Texan steak house. It’s a restaurant that serves a 72-ounce steak with the trimmings and the hook is that if you can eat all of it in 1 hour it’s free. When Betsy and I took Jeff to Flagstaff we stopped at the place and ate. We did see an uncooked 72-ounce steak and it was freakishly huge. If I remember correctly the place was rather seedy. But heck it’s only been there for a hundred years.

Anyway, I’m looking at the map and see Cadillac Ranch just west of Amarillo. I’m always interested in Cadillac’s so I look the place up on the web. I thought it might be a ranch where there were a lot of Cadillac’s with big horn’s attached to the hood along with six guns on the fenders, etc, etc. Heck no, it’s the place where someone partially buried 10 old Cadillac’s front bumper down and all at exactly the same angle of tilt. It’s sorta
like a vehicular Stonehenge. So anyway we tool on out there expecting maybe a little museum, or plaques describing the creative process of this major work of American art.
There was nothing of the sort. The ten caddies are in the middle of a millet field about a hundred yards back from a frontage road that parallels I-40 eastbound. There is a gate that you open and walk through, and then you just follow the path through the millet field to the cars. Over the years people have put all sorts of graffiti on the cars. While I took pictures Betsy added the following inscription on one of the cars—“On this day, Oct 27th, 2008 Starship Avion landed at this site. The crewmembers, Jamie, Betsy, and Tipper bring greetings from a galaxy far, far away.” I’m glad she didn’t have any pot or we’d be out there yet. Later on in the day, while Betsy was in WalMart I learned that the angle that the cars were tilted was exactly the same as the Cheops pyramid in Egypt. Now it all makes sense!! And we took the time to see it. I’m so proud.

Amy alerted me to our second special attraction. It’s in Canyon, TX just south of Amarillo. Kimbrough Memorial Stadium. Has a nice ring to it. Except that memorial part. That’s usually not a good thing. The stadium is associated with West Texas A&M, and is the largest of all Division II schools. But look, another concrete white buffalo just outside the stadium. First we see a concrete white buffalo in Chelsea, OK and now another one in Canyon, TX. And just after we’ve been to the Cadillac Ranch. It’s all coming together now. I’m telling you this trip is getting more and more mystical. Instead of Snowbird Journal we should re-name this portion of the blog the White Buffalo Magical Mystery Journey of Blissful Sedation. Wow what a day of adventure and excitement. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings. We’re in luck. Our first stop will be Roswell, NM. Alien spaceships and Area 51!! Lordy, Lordy, Lordy.