Day 17
States: 47
Miles 9792
Waking to the smell of bacon is something that I hadn't experienced in, oh, about 39 years, the last time probably being my freshman year in college when my dorm room faced the kitchen. And the garbage cans. I had slept a little longer than planned, and my hosts were already up preparing breakfast. Turns out Chainsaw is even more of a bacon lover than I am, and he was hard at work making sure our arteries had a challenge on their hands. He and Heather cooked up eggs and something I had not had before, monkey bread. It was delicious and I highly recommend that if you can find monkey bread, get some. Sounds weird - tastes great.
Three states remained untouched at this point, and my next goal was Colorado. The roads that lead from Kansas to Colorado and on to New Mexico are slightly less numerous than days without wind there. In my trip planning I had been forced to choose a path that took me through some rather unscenic and boring parts of Colorado - Baja Oklahoma, if you will. Not all of Colorado is Rocky Mountain majesty. Chainsaw took one look at my route and vetoed it. As others had before on this trip, he said, "I'll get you to Colorado, and save you about 5 hours." I was all for that, so off we went, past the fields and silos.
States: 47
Miles 9792
Waking to the smell of bacon is something that I hadn't experienced in, oh, about 39 years, the last time probably being my freshman year in college when my dorm room faced the kitchen. And the garbage cans. I had slept a little longer than planned, and my hosts were already up preparing breakfast. Turns out Chainsaw is even more of a bacon lover than I am, and he was hard at work making sure our arteries had a challenge on their hands. He and Heather cooked up eggs and something I had not had before, monkey bread. It was delicious and I highly recommend that if you can find monkey bread, get some. Sounds weird - tastes great.
Three states remained untouched at this point, and my next goal was Colorado. The roads that lead from Kansas to Colorado and on to New Mexico are slightly less numerous than days without wind there. In my trip planning I had been forced to choose a path that took me through some rather unscenic and boring parts of Colorado - Baja Oklahoma, if you will. Not all of Colorado is Rocky Mountain majesty. Chainsaw took one look at my route and vetoed it. As others had before on this trip, he said, "I'll get you to Colorado, and save you about 5 hours." I was all for that, so off we went, past the fields and silos.
Within 40 minutes or so, after several turns, the paved road came to an end. We had arrived in Colorado. Apparently Kansas deemed this road to be more important than Colorado did, for it became a gravel road just a few feet over the border.
I had used the term "dipping a toe into the state" previously in cases where I simply went across the border, then turned around, taking credit for having set my feet down in the state. I had done this in Michigan, Maine, and New Jersey, but this was the first time that I had stopped literally just a few feet over the border. This was also the dividing line between the Central Time Zone and the Mountain Time Zone. I thought later that I should have bounded back and forth across the invisible state line to see if my phone would change back and forth by an hour. Another opportunity lost. We took a few pictures, then climbed back into Central Time and headed down toward Oklahoma. I had no idea that the borders for five states were within just a few miles of each other in this part of the country. Soon Chainsaw and I parted ways, he heading back to his home, me on my way to New Mexico.
New Mexico is known as the Land of Enchantment. To me that's a euphemism similar to those that real estate agents use like "charming" for "really small house." Land of Enchantment translates to "we really don't have a whole lot to offer." One of the Shark Week attendees told me he refers to it as the Land of Entrapment. I'm inclined to agree. While most western states set their highway speed limits at 70 or 75 mph, New Mexico's speed limits (away from their few interstates) is 60. Are kidding me? 60? This seemed totally inappropriate as I watched an evil thunderstorm come into view. As bolts of lightning shot from clouds to ground and curtains of cold,dark rain appeared directly in my path, my priorities shifted from avoiding tickets to avoiding becoming the next of nature's statistics. Soon another storm cell came into view, then another, and finally I was surrounded. I gave up, donned the rainsuit, and promptly got dumped on. I got as far as Gallup, where I finally gave in and stopped for the night. Of course, it immediately began to clear up. There was a silver lining, or rather an orange tinted, multi-colored lining, though, and I was able to get this shot of a tired and dirty Herm.
New Mexico is known as the Land of Enchantment. To me that's a euphemism similar to those that real estate agents use like "charming" for "really small house." Land of Enchantment translates to "we really don't have a whole lot to offer." One of the Shark Week attendees told me he refers to it as the Land of Entrapment. I'm inclined to agree. While most western states set their highway speed limits at 70 or 75 mph, New Mexico's speed limits (away from their few interstates) is 60. Are kidding me? 60? This seemed totally inappropriate as I watched an evil thunderstorm come into view. As bolts of lightning shot from clouds to ground and curtains of cold,dark rain appeared directly in my path, my priorities shifted from avoiding tickets to avoiding becoming the next of nature's statistics. Soon another storm cell came into view, then another, and finally I was surrounded. I gave up, donned the rainsuit, and promptly got dumped on. I got as far as Gallup, where I finally gave in and stopped for the night. Of course, it immediately began to clear up. There was a silver lining, or rather an orange tinted, multi-colored lining, though, and I was able to get this shot of a tired and dirty Herm.
It is worth noting that the backdrop for this inspiring photo is a Wal-Mart, stealthily hidden - my version of being a Playboy Playmate photographer, hiding the flaws, accenting the beauty. My artistic venture complete I decided that I was also tired and dirty and retired for the night, on what I hoped would be the eve of the final stretch for home.
Unusual things seen on the road today:
- A five truck crash. Five 18-wheelers. Not the crash itself, but the after effects. How do five large trucks crash into each other?
yep, them NM super-slow roads are actually painful.
ReplyDeleteyou're doing great !!
BoeLoser