Texas, I hardly knew ye

From: Clinton, OK
To: Santa Rosa Lake State Park, NM
Mileage: About 637kms

Note - I just realized there's a spell checker.  I haven't been using it yet, nor have I been proofreading my posts.  Things should improve now!

I woke up in the disgusting "Relax Inn" after sleeping about 5 minutes the whole night.  That was probably the worst night sleep I've had yet (and this includes camping where I sleep on a pillow made of motorcycle gloves, pants, shirts, and a smelly bandana pillow case.  I stole breakfast from the neighbouring Super 8 and Days Inn (a bagel and juice from Super 8, and coffee from Days Inn).  The trick is to make them think you just stayed there the night before.  I went with "that was pretty good, are there other [motel chain] locations near [city in direction of travel]?".

I cleaned all the dust from the windstorm off the bike and set off for Amarillo, Texas.  I stopped at Wal-Mart to buy replacement carabiner clips (I use them to secure my camp stove fuel bottle and water bottle) and clean water (I usually use tap water from the motels, but the Relax Inn water smelled worse than an outhouse, and tasted just as bad. Can't be healthy...)  I was approached by an older lady outside Wal-Mart who complimented my bike.  She then offered to help me pour the water into my hydration bladder.  She told me some stories.  She has 28 grandchildren.


I entered Texas and noticed the sudden change in scenery.

Finally...

I finally reached Amarillo, Texas, and I stopped at the visitor's center.  I got some info, then went to the Big Texan (a steakhouse/roadside attraction).  I had planned on buying souvenirs, but I didn't find anything I wanted.  I then miraculously found my way over to the fudge counter where I had resolved not to buy.  The girl offered me a sample, and 2 minutes later I'd bought and eaten a whole square.  I snapped a few quick shots from my bike as I was leaving the parking lot. 

Being that I was in Texas, and it was lunchtime, I decided to have a Texan lunch.  That's either steak or BBQ.  I'd had a Tennessee BBQ pulled pork sandwich, so I opted for the steak.  I stopped at the Cattle Call restaurant at the suggestion of the lady at the visitor's center.  I was somewhat disappointed.  I'll spare you the critique - you can read about it in my food blog, which I should be writing instead.

I left Amarillo and pushed on toward New Mexico.  I pulled off every now and then to take the odd picture, or to follow the old Route 66.  Every time I follow 66, I see these interesting, old, abandoned places that must have been popular haunts back in the day. 

This truck was covered completely with little notes from passers-by

Kinda wish I had something I could use to leave a note...

The first mesa I saw

Before long, I was crossing the state line, and entering the Mountain Standard Time zone.  I'm now two hours behind Waterloo time. 

I stopped at the New Mexico visitor's center to grab a map and suggestions on places to camp.  While there, I met up with two other groups from Ontario, Canada.  I think the "groups" were really couples, but I can't be sure, so I'll say duos.  One duo was from Lindsay, Ontario and was headed for California.  The other duo was from Hamilton, Ontario, and was headed for the Grand Canyon.  I may have convinced them to continue on to the pacific coast, just cuz.

I noticed that there are a lot of abandoned, run-down kind of places when you're not in the New Mexico cities.  It's like that along Route 66 in general (and it is kind of sad - watch the movie Cars!)  But in [eastern] New Mexico, even the landscape is barren and desolate. 

I stopped in Santa Rosa, NM, bought a $0.40 cup of noodles (paid with credit, of course) and went to Santa Rosa Lake State Park.  I set up camp, in the desert, and made my dinner in the dark.  There was not a soul around, and I had the entire place to myself.  I remembered the truck driver from Kentucky suggesting I not camp in the dessert, so I was a little apprehensive.  I looked for my camp knife to make myself feel better, but  I discovered I'd left it in that disgusting motel.  Balls. Sometime after dark, a truck drove by my site slowly, and then left.  A little while later, the truck returned, and stopped right in front of my site, and turned off.  I thought about it, then made myself look as intimidating as I could (so not very...) and approached.  I figured I'd assume the best, and politely said "Hi".  Turned out it was a 69 year old man named Jim who had both his knees replaced.  He was just stopping for the night and sleeping in his truck bed camper.  He was a really nice guy.

I wrote down some stuff so I wouldn't forget to post it today, looked at the maps, and called it a night.  I'd have to take photos of my site in the morning.