Pronghorns, Winding Climb Outta ABQ, More Experience in Reverse

Without delay, we left our comfortable Best Western in Flagstaff and we’re on the road by 5:47AM today. We kept our eyes peeled for elk and deer, the only sign I saw of them was the dead elk from the day before. Rowdy spied pronghorn yesterday and he did again today. I’ve not looked around too much as I’ve kept vigilant over the road and handling the truck. Feeing left out, I kept an eye out and saw a herd of them today mingling with a small group of cattle.

I found the old lava flows along the highway so interesting, including an obvious cinder cone. The Iceland volcanic events really allowed me to imagine what this must have been like when it was active.

Crossing into New Mexico, the visitors center is a great place to stop for information and potties.

A large snack supply in passenger seat organizers keep us going. I’ve dipped into the sugar a few times, thanks to the fun candy stash that our now former neighbor and Carmax compadre Pam dropped by, while we were packing. Thank you Pam! While I am not amused in this photo, I am comforted by the Tootsie Pop!

The road was different today. Mixed with nice smooth patches of asphalt, with fresh huge potholes and what seemed to be the O.G. I40 pavement. More jouncing and pothole avoidance had me straddling the lanes when there was good visibility and plenty of room.

Semi’s wander their lanes a lot, and come right up to Rowdy’s car behind me. They seem to do this in gangs. It’s weird that way. And intimidating when you’re surrounded by them. Rowdy did the math, there were 600 plus trucks per hour heading westbound. We figure it was the same going east. Most of them passing us at our 55-ish.

We got through some busy traffic going through Albuquerque, with commuters and semi’s passing on the right and left. We held our our position and behaved most predictably for safety. Going uphill involves putting the hazard lights on and downshifting, and downhill means controlling the roll so that the trailer behind is always under control. Judging by the RV trailers going by MUCH faster, I am not surprised that they crash often.

Meanwhile, check out Rowdy’s car peeking out behind me and how much of the car carrier you can see while driving straight. The blue bits are where the carrier tires are.

Our goal was making it to Tucumcari, NM tonight. We are here at a Super8 by Wyndham. We are in for the night after 9.5 hours driving. Its a bit sketchy but we should be fine. I’m not sure the place meets Wyndham standards, but it fits right in to the notion of decaying Route 66 towns. The lobby smells strongly of pot, not my favorite. The window screen to the room next door is bent and lying-in-state where it fell off, our pet friendly room smells like many dogs, the white facecloths are not, and the shower curtain is just barely hanging in. And there’s litter all over outside. Meanwhile, I managed to back-up the truck and trailer on my own, into the approved spot for the night.

Key Learnings:

1. Pay for gas inside with a credit card, not debit, and get receipts, so that when you get an alert for a $500 spend on diesel… you don’t panic

2. Always make sure you enter your truck into the truck entrance or you may be doing an unexpected tour of the neighboring casino parking lot and drive, which is replete with decorative islands to manuever the truck and trailer around

3. Choose the EAST-bound exit from the traffic circle, more obstacle avoidance skills, not the westbound exit – or you might be backtracking, or enjoying even more traffic circles like I did