Archive for the ‘Road Trip’ Category

Amarillo TX, to Farmington NM.

We managed to make quite good time. New Mexico is simply stunning, the landscape is just as I grew up with on old western movies and road runner cartoons.

I-40 was the usual crush of trucks, but the real concern was the pea soup fog we were flying through. The Texas panhandle is one of those iconic areas of the world, lauded in folklore and movies. The shame was that we couldn’t see much of it through the fog.

We stopped in Albuquerque for lunch and due to inept wait staff, who were more interested in gossiping than serving, we ended up having a very embarrassed manager comp our meal.

Through some dumb luck we ended up finding a great little Mexican place for dinner that had a live band. Great band, pity about one of the singers, the fact they repeated songs several times and too many churchy songs for our tastes.

All in all we had a great time, ate some good food, drank some fine local sparkling wines and enjoyed a live band.

Rumors that I was asked to sit in with the band are entirely true. I did manage to have a quick play, and a good chat with a few of the band members at the end of the gig.  We shot the breeze a while and noodled around while the rest of the guys packed up their gear. I got to bash out a couple of tunes on a nice Fender Fat Strat. It was the guitarists backup guitar, but much more to my taste than his main axe, a Gibson 335.

We left a little late but not too bad. Georgies party was great and she loved her butterfly cake.

Good time was made and we managed to make friends with the Oklahoma toll road system. It may not have been a lot of money each time but it all adds up. Made me feel like I was back in Sydney. While the 75 mph limit was nice I think a lower limit with fewer stops would be faster.

Before we could escape Oklahoma, the effects of hurricane Ike rolled in and we had to find shelter to put the top up on the jeep. Just ad the heavens opened we spotted an abandoned service station. A few minutes later we were back on the road and heading for Amarillo. Ok, so I’ m lying. We’ve owned 7 jeeps between us and this is the longest it’s ever taken either of us to get the top up.

We arrived in Amarillo, TX, to the news of the LA commuter train disaster and the impending landfall of Ike.

Dinner was a snappy taco bell affair and the hotel was OK. The front deal clerk was clueless and apparently spending 300 nights a year under the roof of a Marriott doesn’t entitle you to a free breakfast, even if the details of the Marriott platinum membership distinctly challenge her thought process.

Day 1 complete and already ahead of schedule.