new mexico into texas

6 sep 2000

This morning we awoke in Thoreau, just outside of Gallup, New Mexico. The sun was up and we were still tired. It didn't help that we'd missed that we crossed a time zone at Hoover Dam and lost and hour. It also didn't help that Jeanne and Shay were up until 2:30am (adjusted time) reorganizing their van. Nevertheless, the campground office was open and showers were available. Post-shower, we were somewhat more awake and definitely more presentable.

We packed up and headed out, slightly earlier than yesterday but still not break-of-dawn. (For the record, we hit the road at about 10am, adjusted time. We were still adjusting. My watch, the clock on the dash, the GPS, the laptop, the palm pilot. Lots of things have clocks!)

Today's drive was only made interesting by the geological changes. Western New Mexico's redrock bluffs yielded to pine forests, which yielded (briefly) to some pretty spectacular (and geologically recent) lava flows, and then to rolling scrubland. Finally we dropped out of New Mexico into the flat and dry plains of west Texas, crossing into Central Time in the process. When passing through Albuquerque, I remarked on the CB (I think we've settled on Ch.22) that I hadn't seen any Vanagons! Finally, when we stopped for gas on the east side of town, I saw two, neither Westfalia campers. It wasn't until far eastern New Mexico when I finally spotted a Westfalia at a rest area.

Tonight we're staying in Amarillo at the Overnite RV Park. We went out to do email at the local Kinko's, but they didn't have Ethernet connections. In fact, they didn't even recognize my Ethernet cable. They even looked befuddled when I asked if there was an internet cafe around. We'll try again in Louisiana. We have our longest day of driving tomorrow, southeast entirely across Texas to Houston. This will be broken up by a stop at the IHop in Wichita Falls, where we'll have lunch with Myron Hill and the Texoma Volks Folks. In order to make Wichita Falls by lunch, we need to be on the road by 8am, which will be our earliest day yet.

Ron