Hampton Inn Santa Rosa, Nm

A good night prepared me for a longer drive today (about 390 miles/625km). Fortunately, the winds that continued most of the morning died down in New Mexico. The beautiful New Mexico flat top rock formations are always a delight. New smooth roads also gave us a relief from yesterday's roads that my dad used to call "planches à laver ...

Late start this morning as I couldn't sleep last night. Left Santa Rosa about 10am and went down 84 to Fort Sumner, famous for the last days of Billy the Kid, shot by Sherrif Pat Garrett at the old fort then called Maxwell House after the family not the coffee about 5 miles out of Fort Sumner. Had half an hour at the gift shop/museum before proceeding to Clovis where we has lunch and soon crossed into Texas. Stayed on 84 all the way through ...

... thro' the other side had to stop for petrol. By now Lona is desperatly looking for a motel, only to be told the next one was at Santa Rosa 57 miles up the road. By now the co-pilot was not a happy camper, although I got along to Santa Rosa as quick as I could setting the cruise up to 85=140 k's for the next 50 miles. I did not get one lolly, candy for the yanks, back rub or any indication that she ...

... today along I40 through the Texas panhandle. <br><br>Just a word of warning to anyone traveling along this route, stick close to the speed limit. 10 miles over will easily earn you a ticket. The state trooper was so overzealous, he even tried to wave over a light blue pick-up while in the process of soliciting my ticket. The truck did not stop. On the bright side, I did a favor for the van in front of me that I had been following.

So today I started by heading into downtown Amarillo to explore the section of 66 that they have ads up all over for. Boy was I disappointed. Most of the stores were just antique stores and every single one of them was closed. Then I went over to the Big Texan Steak Ranch. I was also disappointed in that. It was 23 dollars for my meal which was only an 8 ounce steak. Then it was onto the Cadillac Ranch. Which was ...

... s bad weather the insects are in overdrive today. Ants, flies and chiggers everywhere! <br><br>We relaxed into the evening with a few beers and a huge selection of music from our MP3 player, which eventually led to Mel dancing in the bus! They are actually big enough to do that in! <br><br>Miles travelled: 0 <br><br>Total miles travelled: 7469 <br><br>Days on road: 62 <br><br>States visited: 11 <br><br>National Parks visited: 11

As we were awake quite early we decided to make the most of the early morning coolness and were on the road for just after 7.30. The plan had been to go back up to Roswell and then head east towards Texas, but over the last couple of days we have noticed more things that are missing from the bus that were available at Discount Auto Parts. So we have decided to go back to Albuquerque. <br><br>We arrived in Roswell mid ...

... which slot machines to play. We each had $20 to blow and Beth came out with $10 left and I, $5 and 2 slips to redeem for 2 cents and 4 cents. We made it to Santa Rosa, NM which is about an hour and a half farther east than Albequerque, NM so we have a shorter drive the next 2 days to Arkansas. Take care, Tadd and Beth

... being its own road, sharing with I-40 and just simply disappearing. So once back on to I-40 we stayed for the remainder of our time through New Mexico. Getting hungry and tired we stopped in Santa Rosa to eat and find the State Park. The "Comet" restaurant seemed the best choice and we were not disappointed. A tad spicey for this girl but Andy Man held his own beautifully! Check out the flower in the parking area of the Comet!!! Is this an aloe? Lit by ...

... tested positive for the Bubonic Plague. With images of the Black Death wiping out millions of people in Europe we did not have to be coaxed any further. We packed up quickly and armed with our list of symptoms to watch out for, we headed for the nearest town, Blanding Utah. We enjoyed the hot shower and clean sheets but we were back on the road early the next day and heading west towards Bryce Canyon. I'll save that for the next entry. Later