1982 New Mexico (8/23-24/1982)

Monday, August 23, 1982 (continued)

Entered New Mexico, and drove and drove. Stopped at a very nice rest stop with clean restrooms and nice landscaping with cacti and yucca plants, and helpful signs (such as a listing of gas stations in Las Vegas, NM)!

We knew our route was following along the old Santa Fe Trail, but we didn’t see any wagon ruts. We turned north on New Mexico State Route 63 through the sparsely treed Santa Fe National Forest and Pecos National Monument. Our goal was to see wildlife and we saw a Wile E Coyote loping across the road ahead. Later Kathy saw a Eremophila alpestris/Horned Lark.

I-25 had turned into US 84/85 and we were joined by US 285. We stayed with US 85 West at Santa Fe to find the AAA Thunderbird Inn.

Thunderbird Inn

Most of the buildings in the area were adobe-like architecture, and all the buildings were no more than 2 stories. It was neat to see medical centers, condominiums and hotels looking like a pueblo! We got a room for about $35. We were about to drive out when a young kid called out “hello!” He was from New York, too!

We went to Pizza Hut and ordered a traditional pizza with pepperoni, sausage, and mushrooms. When it finally arrived, the crust was so thin and crispy, it was like eating a matzo cracker. A Mexican style tortilla pizza? It was different, though tasty. Our waitress was too busty with a mixed up pizza order to bring us the bill, so she sent us the cashier. We had to hand her the tip, because someone immediately took our table.

We went to a drive-thru liquor store to buy a newspaper. Kathy went in, and when she came out she realized she got an Albuquerque paper. So I went in and came out with a weekly paper. The end result was that we didn’t find any good movies to go see. Went to a mall to get a few sundries, then back to the motel. We are way behind in our journals!

Tuesday, August 24, 1982

Slept in until 9:00! We drove back along US 85 into downtown Santa Fe and parked on the main street, paying for an hour in the parking meter.

E San Francisco St at Old Santa Fe Trail

We went into several shops to see beautiful, but expensive Indian rugs and pottery. Kathy saw a rug she liked and it was the size of a welcome mat, for $1200! We arrived at the Santa Fe Plaza, a large square surrounded by the low adobe buildings. The square is the end of the Santa Fe Trail.

We continued to the St Francis Cathedral, which looked like a typical Spanish church.

St Francis Cathedral

Across from it was an interesting adobe Federal Building!

Federal Building

We returned to the Plaza, to the arcade of the Palace of the Governors. In the shade, many Indians had set out their wares for sale; jewelry, pottery, sand paintings, etc.

Indian Market

A few tables were set up in the central park.

We returned to the store of the $1200 rug, where Kathy got permission to take photographs (of “her” rug). I didn’t realize my backpack had been left open, and when I swung around the pack to get my flash, my camera fell out. That was it for my camera! The already finicky camera didn’t work again for the rest of the trip. But Kathy got her pictures, and when the store clerk recommended a certain rug, Kathy just flashed at it!

When we got back to the car, time had expired by only a couple minutes.

We got back on I 25 and headed for Albuquerque, NM. Shortly before the city, we turned off on Tramway Road to enter the Sandia Indian Reservation. The only thing in sight was our goal, the Bien Mur Indian Market, which had a large modern structure for selling the crafts made by local Indians. There was an impressive collection of jewelry, rugs, pottery, moccasins, etc. All very expensive; and there was a Calvin Klein jeans sale! Kathy asked about a fork for weaving, but they didn’t know anything about it. They gave Kathy the address of a crafts shop in Albuquerque. So we headed to the Coronado Shopping Center in town. The mall was huge. When we found the craft shop, they didn’t have these forks. The lady recommended a weaving shop. We wandered a bit in the mall and got turkey subs for lunch.

We drove out to the Village Wools shop, which was at a new address that the craft lady gave us. If we had used the telephone book we would have gone to the old address. Kathy found her fork, plus some wool yarn skeins to buy.

W headed east on Interstate 40, out in sandy scrubby countryside that lasted forever! Stopped at a Stuckey’s for a pit stop and gas. I took over driving and saw a car ahead of me pull off onto the shoulder, then pull back onto the road. We passed a dead cat that we thought was the cause of this maneuver, but then he weaved over the center line, then onto the shoulder again. He was really weaving all over the road, and it took a while before I thought it was safe to pass him. Kathy took down his license plate number. She suggested we take the next exit to find a phone to call the police. But as we neared an exit, we saw a police car that had pulled someone over, and was just pulling back out into the left lane. The car he had pulled over was just starting to pull onto the road when I zoomed up flashing my lights. The car on the shoulder slowed to let me pass, but I kept flashing my lights, trying to get the attention of the cop. I had to speed up to 65 mph, or more! Finally, I caught up to the police car and Kathy and I waved frantically at him. He turned to see us speeding and passing on the right, and gave a friendly wave back! Kathy and I looked at each other! Kathy waved as if to motion pulling over onto the shoulder, and I sped ahead and pulled onto the shoulder. So the cop turned on his lights and pulled in behind us. Kathy jumped out to tell him about the weaving driver and give him the license plate number. The cop thanked us, hopped into his car, drove across the grassy gully-like median strip and sped off. And so it was that we pulled over a police car!

We hoped we hadn’t turned in someone like the governor of New Mexico and got across the border into Texas before the cop could come back after us!

Apparently in New Mexico we were keeping an eye out for good-looking men. We only saw good-looking cars. In Texas we saw plenty of both! Before passing Amarillo, TX, we saw ten Cadillacs standing on end neatly in a row in a field; some millionaire’s idea of PopArt!

We entered Oklahoma and near Elk City we found a AAA Best Western Motel, the Flamingo, and got the last room for $32. We had to drive around the block to get to our room, and made a detour to Hardees to pick up roast beef sandwiches for dinner. Ate as we watched a John Wayne-Sophia Loren movie, Legend of the Lost.

Next: Oklahoma.