I was soo ready to leave Sonnystone last Wednesday morning…we were up and out of the driveway at 7:27am.  470 miles and 8 hours later, we pulled into the Joplin KOA.  We’ve found that 450 miles/day is just about right.  Missouri was so humid that my hair turned into a bleached-blonde-brillo-pad, so I was happy to stop.  So was Wink…

We weren’t quite so spry the next morning, but still pulled out for the Amarillo KOA – another 460 miles – at about 8am.  Now, Amarillo stinks…I mean, smells bad, like cowshit or just plain cows.  Last time we were there I almost became a vegetarian, thanks to that smell and seeing the poor cows all herded up together…>shudder<  Our KOA was far enough away from the stockyards, though, and it was a dandy.  The humidity was still high and the pool was cool.  They had a lot of artsy metal sculptures around…our site was facing a field of wildflowers and there was a little pony grazing on the other side…

There were some long trains running just over the ridge, but close enough for me to count cars in the evening, and its mournful whistle was my morning alarm at 6:38am.  We didn’t leave until 9am or so…onlsy had 279 miles to drive, after all.

We stopped at Cline’s Corners Truck Stop, Travel Center, or however you want to describe the kitschy quirky place.  I love that place… you could make it an afternoon of wandering around inside.  Unfortunately, I didn’t carry my camera in, so you’ll have to visit someday.

There are lines of billboards heralding their history as you approach and you simply must sing these lyrics from the  Lyle Lovett song “Nothing but a Good Ride” over and over when you see each one…the driver loves it…

Cline’s Corners Truck Stop…Waitress with a wet mop…

Telling him to don’t walk…He tips his hat and don’t talk 

45 minutes up 285 from there was our first destination, the Santa Fe KOA Journey.  It’s okay.  I truly love where it is located, 12 miles south of the Plaza on a road that turns right into the Santa Fe Trail.  There are juniper trees dividing the sites that give you some privacy, but they really got in the way when we were trying to level our rig.  There is no cell phone service, but the wi-fi is strong.  (there is a cellular hotspot on the patio in front of the office) I’m used to just the opposite–plenty of cell, poor wi-fi–and I like this better.

We’ve been on the go ever since we arrived… First stop was the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, a small place.  They do have a small exhibit of Ken Price that “matched” well with O’Keefe’s style, but it is primarily Georgia’s art.  There is a cool documentary running throughout the day that gives you a view into who the Artist really was…  I read the biography, Georgia O’Keefe, A Life, recently and have mixed feelings about her.  That’s a discussion for another day. I know that I like nearly all of her work, my least favorite being her most-famous and my favorite is her last, The Beyond.

 

Santa Fe was having Fiesta!  Great, you say, you can soak up the local flavor…  I was/am kinda pissed.  The Plaza was surrounded by vendors with $7 lemonade and $10 burritos, mediocre music groups on a stage covering the beauty of the park.  It was grossly inferior to Eville’s Fall Festival and I couldn’t See the Plaza for all the people.

We went back to Burro Alley and ate at Maguey’s where there was a Mariachi band warming up for their afternoon performance down at the Plaza.  The food was great, margaritas a little limey, and we were stuffed when we waddled back to the car…

 

I loved the Pecos National Historical Park… from wikipedia:

The main unit of the park preserves the ruins of Pecos Pueblo, also known historically as Cicuye. The first Pecos pueblo was one of two dozen rock-and-mud villages built in the valley around AD 1100 in the prehistoric Pueblo II Era. Within 350 years the Pueblo IV Era Pecos village had grown to house more than 2,000 people in its five-storied complex.

The main unit also protects the remains of Mission Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles de Porciúncula de los Pecos, a Spanish mission near the pueblo built in the early 17th century. A 1.25-mile (2 km) self-guiding trail begins at the nearby visitor center and winds through the ruins of Pecos Pueblo and the mission church.

 

The long-awaited drive to Taos on the High Road was Lovely…

We stopped at El Santuario de Chimayó  along the road.  From wikipedia:

Each year some 300,000 people from all over the world make pilgrimages to the Santuario de Chimayó during Holy Week, especially on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, some seeking blessings and some in fulfillment of a vow.^[15] Walking is traditional; some pilgrims walk from as far away as Albuquerque, about 90 miles (150 km).

Many visitors to the church take a small amount of the “holy dirt”, often in hopes of a miraculous cure for themselves or someone who could not make the trip. Formerly, at least, they often ate the dirt.^[6] (Likewise pilgrims to the original shrine of Esquipulas eat the supposedly curative clay found there.)^[8] Now seekers of cures more commonly rub themselves with the dirt or simply keep it. The Church replaces the dirt in the pocito from the nearby hillsides, sometimes more than once a day, for a total of about 25 or 30 tons a year.

The Church takes no position on whether miracles have occurred at the Santuario.

 

We ate our lunch overlooking the Taos Plaza…

Only four miles down the Low Road from Taos is the Rancho de Taos and their impressive church…which is actually hemmed in by shops and is only impressive in the pictures, sadly…

There’s a whole other story about trying to get back to the Santa Fe Plaza and getting stuck in traffic because their Fiesta procession (parade) was going on when we tried to return on Sunday…Too Many People for these agoraphobes, so we made a last visit on Monday evening…

 

Today we are driving an hour down the road to Albuquerque. Check-out is 11am, so we’re taking our time getting out.  I’m glad to get you somewhat caught up on our adventures!  Hope you’re having your own kind of fun!

Peace