Family Reunion Trip, Day 67

Left camp this morning to do some exploring. Before we left I got a few more pics of the campsite

Then we took a drive through the State Park. Here's few pics.

The hills are beautiful.

The entire park is in a canyon.

Next we drove over to Cadillac Ranch, just east of Amarillo. A must see on RT 66.

Here's a few pics.

All the trash you see is actually spray cans of paint.

Almost everyone at the place brings paint to spray on the caddies.

Just up the road is the Cadillac Ranch tourist trap.

They had nice clean facilities.

And this tall cowboy to guard the place.

Next we drove through old Amarillo on RT 66.

We then drove 60 miles north of town to Lake Meredith.

Yep, we got a stamp!

Here's a panorama of the dam.

Back at camp we took this pic of the campground from the visitor center on the canyon rim.If you zoom in you can see our camper just to the right of the building (bath house) in the center of the pic.

Last but not least got this pic of a road runner in the campground, but no Wiley Coyote.

Meet some nice folks in the campground that had a 34 ft Airstream. They gave us a tour of their camper, very nice. Hamburgers and onions rings for dinner from the outpost store near the campground, then early to bed.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 66

Day 66 on RT 66!

We left Santa Rosa, NM and headed east to our next stop, Palo Duro Canyon State Park, TX. Just south of Amarillo, TX.

On the way we saw this in Tucumcari, NM. We thought it was interesting so here's a pic.

Downtown Tucumcari we found this.

Farther down RT 66 we stopped at the Midway Cafe in Adrian, NM. This is the official halfway point on RT 66.

We had a nice lunch at the cafe. Cath had a BLT, but I opted for a fried bologna sandwich, with all the trimmings! I haven't had one of those since I was a kid!

We saw this restored old gas station In San Jon, NM.

 ,Another view.

Went through a time zone at the Texas border and arrived at our new campground around 1500. Here's a pic of the new campsite. The canyon is beautiful, I'll post pics tomorrow.

We do not have cell or WiFi at the campsite, and have to drive a few miles to get it. I'll catch up on the blog when I can. All is good with the Boss camp.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 65

I ran into town this morning and filled up the truck, got some ice, and washed the truck. I'm actually looking forward to getting home in a few weeks so I can detail the truck.
For the most part we had another "down day" as temps quickly got into the high 90s. We watched a bunch of Clint Eastwood "spaghetti westerns", and just relaxed.
When the sun started to go down, we got the outside stuff packed up as we are traveling tomorrow. There is more of RT 66 to see!
Sorry no pics today, but we are sure there will be a bunch from the drive tomorrow.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 64

We decided yesterday that today was going to be a "down day". Actually this was forced on us as there is nothing to see for 100 miles around us.
We drove around Santa Rosa Lake State Park and got a few pics.
Here's one of the lake looking from the boat ramp.

Another view of the lake.

Look close at this one and you can see the campground.

One last view of the lake.

We drove the 7 miles to Santa Rosa, NM. There is not much to see here and it doesn't take long to see the whole town.
Here's the old court house.

We see RT 66 signs all the time, but this one has the dates on it.

This is the one we normally see, I like the truck next to it!

Did a quick stop at the RT 66 car museum. Took this pic in the parking lot. Yes, it's a FORD!

Here's a hotrod on a pole behind a good looking Ford F250. This is the most famous thing in Santa Rosa, the hotrod, not the Ford.😈

Temps at the campground are in the high 90s in the afternoon, but were in the low 60s when I got up this morning. As soon as the sun comes up there are these little gnats to deal with. If it is windy they are not too bad, but still annoying. We set the satellite up for only the second time on this whole trip and spent the afternoon watching some TV. I'm sure we will be watching some TV tomorrow along with a little camper maintenance.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 63

We left Bluewater Lake State park this morning around 0830. We followed RT 66 as best we could, but a lot of the road is gone and we were forced to do some interstate driving on I40. We took a detour south of Albuquerque, NM and then blew through the city. It has gotten really big and the traffic sucked. We stopped at  Lisa's Truck Center just east of Moriarty, NM. We got gas and had a really good mexican takeout from the diner there. We new it would be good as the joint was loaded with truckers.
Next stop was Clines Corners Travel Center, Yacht Club Drive, Clines Corners, NM. Yacht Club Drive is an old joke. This place is in the middle of the desert. It is reputed to have the largest gift shop in the area. I didn't go in, but Cath said it was nothing special.
Down the road a little farther we stopped at Bowlin's Flying C Ranch Moriarty, NM. Just another tourist joint and gas station, but we got this pic there. It's amazing what you see on RT 66.

Arrived at our campground, Santa Rosa Lake State Park, just north of Santa Rosa. CTC count today was 118, we thought we'd see more. It was hot, 95 deg, but we have 50 amp service here so we can run both ACs. It cooled the camper down quick. No fires or charcoal grills are allowed as the fire danger here is HIGH.
Here's a pic of the campsite.

Here's the view of the lake from the camper.

We will do some exploring tomorrow. Right now it's toddy time.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 62

We thought yesterday's ride was really nice, but today we topped it!
Drove a little east to El Malpais National Conservation Area. Checked in at the visitor center then did the 40 mile drive down RT 117 just southeast of Grants, NM.

As usual the pics don't do it justice.

This is the biggest natural arch (bridge) in New Mexico.

Click on this panorama to see the whole thing!

A couple from Phoenix took this pic for us. We were the only couple there. 

Again click on the pic to see the panorama. You are actually looking at a 4000 year old lava field.

Tomorrow is moving day so we hit the Walmart in Grants for some supplies.
Cath made schnitzel for dinner with all the trimmings. We will sleep good tonight. Had a little rain this afternoon, but it cooled everything down. The weather has been great, hope it stays that way.
RT 66, here we come again tomorrow, destination Santa Rosa, NM.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 61

We slept in a little this morning, had some breakfast, and were on the road by 1030.
Here's a view of the campground from the lake.

And here is Bluewater Lake. Check out the campers right on the lake!

We headed to Grant, NM and picked up RT 53 heading west. Saw this sign along the way.

Stopped at El Morro National Monument.

There are thousands of messages carved into this sandstone mountain. Many are from the early settlers, but some date back over 600 years. It was a favorite stopping place as there is water at the base of the mountain.

From El Morro we headed north on RT 603 to Gallup, NM. We picked up RT 66 and drove through Gallup. We stayed on RT 66 all the way to camp.
Saw this sign along the way at an Indian Trading Post.

We made one more stop before heading back to camp. This is Red Rock State Park just northeast of Gallup, NM. We stayed at this campground on our southwest trip (1986 or 87) from Ft Lewis, WA to El Paso, TX to visit friends (Tom & Sue Kennedy). The boys might remember that the Indians were having a pow-wow at this campground. It was very noisy, lots of drinkin' and fireworks.

Back at camp had a nice late afternoon as the temps are in the 80s with a light breeze. Did a little camp maintenance and just enjoyed the evening.