Ride Report: None - Travel Day
It was a four bagger today: Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and finally, New Mexico. We were wheels up at about 0700 this morning and arrived at the RV park in Albuquerque by 1430. It was at this point that I learned the first reason not to live here - ya hafta learn how to spell it. For a guy who spells "have to" as "hafta" this is a big deal. There are other reasons - this will come later...
As far as the first 6 1/2 hours of the trip are concerned, it went pretty well. There was that one rain squall in Oklahoma that Susan had to drive thru, but she didn't bat an eye. To a Teamster squalls are as mist to mere mortals. In fact, I would go so far as to classify the day as pleasant. We had a tail wind and it was just generally a good travel day. Until...
Oklahoma. I may have made passing reference to Oklahoma's roads in a Texas Test Flight blog. Suffice it to say that my initial suspicions were confirmed. I'm pretty sure that the battleship Oklahoma could have floated in some of the potholes encountered during the rain squall. And Oklahoma makes no pretenses about it. We were in Kansas and the roads were fine. And then we were in Oklahoma and they weren't. I'll just leave it at that.
Ah yes, back to the other reason not to live in A-town. (I've tired of looking up how to spell it.) Let me be succinct: WIND. Holy Cow Batman! The last hour of the trip today was probably the windiest day on which I've ever had the misfortune to drive a car. As an added bonus, I wasn't driving a car, I was driving The Rig. So - Susan and I had planned to split the last hour of driving with her going first. She didn't want to drive into A-town. No problem, we'd each have thirty miles on either side of Moriaty, NM. But when the wind shifted it did so with a vengeance. Steady winds in the mid to upper 20s with gusts to 50. Teamsters refer to this as a "mild breeze", but I was edgy. Neither are Teamsters troubled by the sound of rumble strips passing beneath their tires. She was cool as a cucumber. I like cucumbers... Then I took over for the last 30 miles.
Now I was cool as a cucumber. However, teamsters apparently have to be in actual physical control of the vehicle to remain cool? This is a mystery to me. Actually, I exaggerate just a tad. Susan gave me no grief during my time behind the wheel - which is good - cause the wind gave me plenty. I'll just describe the experience as unpleasant and move on. But we made it to A-town on time and in one piece, if you don't count the lost gas cap. I don't know what happened. It was there the last time I looked. Prolly the wind. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. My only other alternative is to blame the Teamsters and I don't wanna end up like Jimmy Hoffa.
Now on to today's pics...
It was a four bagger today: Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and finally, New Mexico. We were wheels up at about 0700 this morning and arrived at the RV park in Albuquerque by 1430. It was at this point that I learned the first reason not to live here - ya hafta learn how to spell it. For a guy who spells "have to" as "hafta" this is a big deal. There are other reasons - this will come later...
As far as the first 6 1/2 hours of the trip are concerned, it went pretty well. There was that one rain squall in Oklahoma that Susan had to drive thru, but she didn't bat an eye. To a Teamster squalls are as mist to mere mortals. In fact, I would go so far as to classify the day as pleasant. We had a tail wind and it was just generally a good travel day. Until...
Oklahoma. I may have made passing reference to Oklahoma's roads in a Texas Test Flight blog. Suffice it to say that my initial suspicions were confirmed. I'm pretty sure that the battleship Oklahoma could have floated in some of the potholes encountered during the rain squall. And Oklahoma makes no pretenses about it. We were in Kansas and the roads were fine. And then we were in Oklahoma and they weren't. I'll just leave it at that.
Ah yes, back to the other reason not to live in A-town. (I've tired of looking up how to spell it.) Let me be succinct: WIND. Holy Cow Batman! The last hour of the trip today was probably the windiest day on which I've ever had the misfortune to drive a car. As an added bonus, I wasn't driving a car, I was driving The Rig. So - Susan and I had planned to split the last hour of driving with her going first. She didn't want to drive into A-town. No problem, we'd each have thirty miles on either side of Moriaty, NM. But when the wind shifted it did so with a vengeance. Steady winds in the mid to upper 20s with gusts to 50. Teamsters refer to this as a "mild breeze", but I was edgy. Neither are Teamsters troubled by the sound of rumble strips passing beneath their tires. She was cool as a cucumber. I like cucumbers... Then I took over for the last 30 miles.
Now I was cool as a cucumber. However, teamsters apparently have to be in actual physical control of the vehicle to remain cool? This is a mystery to me. Actually, I exaggerate just a tad. Susan gave me no grief during my time behind the wheel - which is good - cause the wind gave me plenty. I'll just describe the experience as unpleasant and move on. But we made it to A-town on time and in one piece, if you don't count the lost gas cap. I don't know what happened. It was there the last time I looked. Prolly the wind. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. My only other alternative is to blame the Teamsters and I don't wanna end up like Jimmy Hoffa.
Now on to today's pics...
This little church was in the middle of nowhere Texas. There's a lot of that in Texas, but then its a big state which may mitigate Texas' culpability in the matter.
There is also a lotta nowhere in New Mexico. Neither Susan or I had ever been to the state before. There is some pretty scenery and a lot of sage brush, which falls into a different category than pretty.
New Mexico does, however, have some unique (if not pretty) rock formations. In fact, New Mexico has an abundance of rock. I dunno what the cows eat out there, but I saw several moseying along with their heads down just like cows in Kansas do when they eat grass. From this I was left conclude that New Mexico cattlemen have developed a breed of cows that eat sand.
Repeat... Hey - I had nothing better to do.
This is how New Mexico lays claim to pretty rocks. If the reader disagrees I recommend placement in the "visually stimulating" category.
Home for the night. the KOA near I-40 in A-town.
And let me close with this. Tomorrow may turn out to be interesting. Should that prove to be the case you can read all about it...tomorrow. If not, the reader will never know.
Till next time.
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