"high-tailed" it to Santa Fe, New Mexico... SCARY!!
We are doing a lot each day, getting tired at night and not doing a good job in getting this blog to everyone in a timely manner.
Left Amarillo Thursday morning to a chilly 60 degrees and pouring rain. We can't believe it was 93 the day before. One good thing came out of the rain...it washed Rita's car. We both agreed that we had never seen gray sky all the way to the ground as we drove. It reminded us of how the ocean meets the sky.
We needed to take a bathroom break and saw nothing for miles and miles. It is amazing how there are no amenities at many of the exits. We saw an old faded Phillips 66 billboard and took the exit onto a side road that had a few dilapidated buildings with no sign of life until we happened upon a small unpretentious cafe called Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas. What a find we had made! It was a well kept cute cafe with friendly staff and 60's decor and great food. We decided to have a second breakfast. We heard the owner telling someone that a tour bus had left earlier as a group of about 20 motorcycles roared into the parking lot. Both men and women began to enter the door but we couldn't recognize their language. Who would have thunk it...they were from Norway. The owner was expecting them and had coffee and sticky buns waiting. The reason they were there was because they were biking the original Route 66 path from Chicago to Los Angeles. And Midpoint Cafe is the original midpoint! (Their tour guide has made this trek 48 times). We drove away from Midpoint, smiling as the bikers led the way in front of us. How did we get so lucky to experience that little treasure of a place?
So, we're back "on the road again". We passed the dinkiest little red horse barn and the sign on the front read, "Happy Tracks Horse Motel". Next sign we passed read, "Quality Beef Service". There were probably between 500-1000 cattle in pins close to I40. Yikes! We knew where they were headed. As we continued to drive, there were thousands of scrubby shrubs and bushes dotting the landscape like a map full of push pins. We realized that we never knew there were so many different kinds of pretty.
As we entered New Mexico, we have never seen such beautiful red rocks in different shades of color lining our drive out in the distance. However, at one point our road took us into the middle of the canyons which was an awesome sight to be up close and personal. However, stormy skies appeared and we realize we were still an hour away from our destination, Santa Fe. We were a little nervous for a while as we rode along watching a sky we had only seen on TV when there was a severe thunderstorm or tornado in the west. We always heard to look for ditches to jump into if a tornado appeared but there were no ditches. But we made it...whew!
We stayed at the Inn on the Alameda which was a small charming southwest hotel. We had been in our room only 10 minutes when thunder and lightning left us in the dark. Luckily, it was time for a wine and cheese reception and everyone converged to the lobby and bar (with skylights). We met a nice couple from Little Rock so we shared about our recent visit and had a great time. The Watsons were happy to know they would be in our blog. Rita always asks where the locals eat so Maria's it was. Great food and quite a rowdy place. We've always heard that you've never tasted authentic Mexican food until you've visited the southwest. OK....it really is true!
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