But of course, part of the destination is the journey. Our journey began early with hopes of
reaching Oklahoma City prior to the winter storm” Q”. About four hours outside of OKC we started
getting a little freezing precipitation, but not bad. Luckily, we hit town about 3:30 and we even
got to visit the Cattlemen’s Steakhouse for a late late breakfast before the
storm hit.
Next morning we woke up to the sound of strong winds and ice
pellets crashing against our window. We
had breakfast downstairs and debated as to what route to take and when to take
it. Ultimately we stayed with our
original plans…I40 to Albuquerque; however, we delayed our start time by an
hour until 8:00.
We hit the roads and almost immediately began to doubt our
decision. Lots of cars off the
roads. We were counting them, but quickly
lost track as we wanted to expend most of our concentration on the icy
road. Ice, snow, rain, sleet….all kept
coming at us. Sometimes we could drive
60. Other times 30 seemed way too fast!
About 30 miles east of Amarillo, Texas we saw several state
trooper vehicles flagging down traffic.
They rerouted us to a little road alongside the highway. We soon saw miles and miles of stopped
vehicles. Ahead of them was a huge
accident…we counted twelve semis that were jackknifed or crashed and there were
cars all over. So glad we had decided on
our delay! (No serious injuries were
reported from this accident!)
Once we hit Amarillo we were in the clear. Cranked Red up to 75 and soared! Soon we started seeing mesas and the beautiful
scenery of New Mexico.
 |
| Bronzed T Rex |
Last year I wanted to stop at one of the many dinosaur
museums that are scattered through the west.
This trip we decided to stop…at Mesalands Community College's Dinosaur
Museum. Mesaland’s Community College
specializes in two things: paleontology and bronze works. They’ve combined those two skillsets to
create the largest collection of bronzed dinosaur bones and skeletons in the
world. Truly amazing….and so much
more! They have artifacts from all over
the world and they do a great job of giving the history of the dinosaurs while
at the same time, letting you have fun.
You even get to touch some of the bones.
Where else have you done that!!??
Finally hit our destination for the night: Albuquerque.
Mona was driving and I was navigating…a perfect combination to fulfill a
life-long dream. “Turn left,” I
said. Mona obliged. “Damn, “ I said, “We should have turned
right.” “Do you know what we just did?....we
made a wrong turn in Albuquerque!” I was
thrilled…..Mona was….well, not.
Stayed in a little hotel just a few blocks from Old
Town. Walked there, did a little
geocaching, had a New Mexican dinner and we were ready to call it a night! Time to rest up for tomorrow!
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