Day 5: New Mexico

Welcome...

...to...

...New Mexico!

Convoy!

The sun sets on day 5.




We set up camp at a KOA in Tucumcari, and then head into town on Route 66 to see some old motels at night for a change, and to grab some food at Sonic.

Day 6: July 3, 2005

Here's the KOA we stayed at, and where we heard coyotes all friggin' night. See that big butte thing in the background?

Here it is again. This thing's like the official mascot of Tucumcari.

There's a big mural of it on the side of this old building...

...and it's in the background of this newer Route 66 mural.

Anyway, we drove back into town to get pictures of the myriad old motels in daylight. This one even has color TV!


Thanks for the what? The world may never know. I like to think it said "syphilis".

The Apache. Good to know there's still vacancy.

A major Route 66 landmark for some reason, other than the fact that it's name is the Swallow.

Well it is the desert, why not?

Still open, fellas!

See, at night I thought that said "Pony Sold". You ca see how I got confused.

Getting towards the other side of town, here's the Buckaroo.

The Ranch House Cafe is in slightly worse condition than the other places.

Here's the cool-ass sculpture you saw in that one mural earlier.

Heading south now, you can pretty much see Roswell from here.

Some views from highway 84.

Rolling into Fort Sumner...

Home of Billy the Kid.

The museum has a collection of shit to rival the AMNH.

Billy's grave site.

This looks like a job for George Cloony and his merry band of thieves!

The road continues on into the distance, and now we were joined by hoards of grasshoppers.

Here's one of the little guys now! Hello, little grasshopper! You can see some of is friends higher up on the windshield.

Crossing the Pecos river.

In Roswell, everything sweats the alien thing, even Wal-Mart.

Finally, Arby's is allowing Mexicans into its restaurant.

The street lamps ogle all passers by.

Proof that aliens are among us.

It's good to know SOMEBODY is defending the planet one tasty beverage at a time.

The UFO museum, where--OH SHIT, SON! Look at the top center of this picture!

It appears to some kind of round, shiny object...

...with wings.... Let me zoom that guy in a little more...

Aw... a little Spielberg action.

Nops is one of THEM.

We start heading west on a road that sometimes resembles Kingda Ka.

Some views of the Capitan Mountains.

Marker in the town of Capitan.

Capitan's claim to fame: the bear who tells you how likely you are to die in a hellish inferno on any given day.

I'd like to teach the world to chill with a Wild Cherry Pepsi.

Road into the mountains.

We take a pit stop at the Valley of Fires.

Interesting plant life on an ancient lava field.

I take a picture!

This isn't it, but it's better than the one I took cause you can see like, lava ripples.

Some bluffs.

Rather than take 380 to I-25 back north, we took this scenic detour up a dirt road through the desert.

That's a lota cows.

^ a montage of Quebradas scenery ^

Our dusty road. Check out the paint job!

More photographic documtentaring.

And now, A DEEP THOUGHT by Jack Handy:
"Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful sunset? And he's carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he's carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet. And also, you're drunk."

The road out.

Rio Grande!

Finally back in civilization, we check into this motel in Albuquerque.

Day 7: July 4, 2005

The next morning, we take a picture of the room and jet to see the town.

First stop: The New Mexico Museum. Lots of statues outside, like this one...

...these cow polks...

...and these bold conquistadores.

Across the street, the Atomic Museum.

Martinek chills out in Old Town.

The old church through an adobe wall.

Entrance to the historic downtown area.

On I-40 through Albuquerque, we stop for authentic Native souvenirs at Skip's.

In case you hadn't anticipated this, the main drag is also... that's right folks, Route 66!

The shadow of 66.

A 66 arch leaving the downtown area.

More construction outside the city.

Somewhat of a Rt. 66 landmark, the Rio Puerco bridge.

Right outside Albuquerque lies Petroglyph National Monument.

Like, RIGHT outside. The condos extend right to the base of the freaking hill.

More petroglyphs.

More scenery near Santa Fe.

Woohoo!

Buttes near Santa Fe.

For point of reference, a little East of Los Alamos.

A mountain. Note the sign--crossing the Rio Grande again.

Ruins of Puye dwellings in Bandelier National Monument.

View of the ground dwellings from the cliff.

I see you!

Nops peers out from his new home.

Shocking.

Out that little hole above Nops' head. Nice and cool inside!

A view of the cliff dwellings from the ground.

Ruins and cacti.

A hole full of bats.

Look at the lizard!

T-neck scales one of the shorter ladders up towards Ceremonial Cave.

Here's one of the longer ones.

Views from the canyon face.

Ladder down into the big kiva in the cave.

Martinek climbs down...

...and finds Uncle hops already living down there.

Another view out of the cave.

They should not give us ideas.

A long way down.

We were in mortal danger at every step.

Driving out of the canyon.

Some scenery as we leave New Mexico.

Next: Colorado