Happy 3rd Birthday to Dylan and Clayton, a.k.a. The
Twinsies. And along with their little sister Shelby, they are the crew known as
the Kentucky WonderKids.
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Put about 550 miles
behind us yesterday (Sunday)…got a room in Shamrock, TX, at about 9:30 p.m.,
where I could not get online to do the blog thing. Oh, well, no problem…I’ll just
use the Mobile Command Center tomorrow. 😊
And because we wanted
to get on the road earlier than we typically do, we went to bed earlier than we
typically do. Woke before the sun was
up…got showering, shaving and primping done…walked out the hotel door at about
7:45 a.m. to find a puddle under the truck.
We had pulled in after dark so Kim wasn’t even sure it was from us. But a drip was discovered and Kim
investigated but couldn’t really determine the cause. It didn’t appear to be brake fluid, so we
decided to start out, keep an eye on the gauges and find the nearest Ford
dealership on our westward route. A
quick Google search revealed that the nearest Ford dealer is in Amarillo, about
70 miles away. Jump in the truck with a
plan to stop in Amarillo but we didn’t get 10 miles down the road before Kim
figured out what the fluid was because there was cold air coming out of the
heater. Coolant was the mystery
fluid. Stopped to refill the coolant and
voila! there was heat in the truck. My
feet were very appreciative. So we’re still heading to a dealership to
find out why we left a puddle of coolant back at the hotel.
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 |
| Revisiting the Cadillac Ranch |
Revisited the Cadillac Ranch west of Amarillo. It wasn’t on Kim’s list of things to do but
he agreed hoping it would cut down on the number of future stops for such
things. Hmmm…don’t know about that. Anyway, didn’t have any paint with us but
previous ‘graffiti artists’ had left their paint behind and we knew the routine: Paint our KB2 and a smiley face…selfie stick time…on
our way. It was a quick but appreciated stop.
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We’ve only been this way twice before, once in a vehicle and
once on the bikes, several years apart...and we’re finding there are places and sights along the way
that strike memories. It's kind of surreal to be driving along 1,500 miles away from home, see a particular sight and ask, "Do I know this place...?"
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We didn’t make a stop in Amarillo at the Ford dealership as
planned. We made a stop to stock up on
coolant and Kim just kept an eye on the fluid level. The leak was very slow, so he just added
coolant as necessary. Truck ran fine and
temperature gauge stayed in the right zone.
Still need to get it checked out but aiming for Quartzsite, AZ,
now.
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| Giant Red Arrow photo op |
We did make a couple of stops in Albuquerque, NM. I had a specific destination in mind and as
we took our exit I saw another interesting bicycle sculpture that was calling
to me. So first we had to find the Giant
Red Arrow and then we came back to the bike sculpture. Neither the arrow or the sculpture was far
off the highway but I directed us the wrong way at first, so it turned into a
bit more city driving than anticipated.
The Giant Red Arrow was fun for the photo op it presented, but other
than that it wasn’t much. And while the
bicycle sculpture was intriguing, it didn’t have a sign to identify the artist
or explain the concept. But there was a
huge black ball, which turned out to resemble a time bomb, that had pictures of
people scattered on it with #MakeEmBoom
on one side of it. I don’t tweet but my
curiosity was satisfied by a quick search or two on Google. #MakeEmBoom is an annual charity campaign brought to you by
boomtime. Each year, we team up with local businesses to raise money for worthy
non-profits and charities. This particular time bomb was located at the
Green Jeans Farmery location. And the Green Jeans Farmery is
a one-stop multiple-option destination of eateries, confectionaries, adult drinkeries,
shops, plazas and places to hang out, constructed entirely with shipping
containers as building blocks. Green Jeans is an indoor/outdoor gathering
place that builds on ingenuity, fun and localist choices with a message of
community, healthy living and fun. Thank you, Google! Not sure ‘drinkeries’ and
‘localist’ are actual Webster dictionary words, but I copied right from the
website so I’m sticking with it. Besides
I’m too tired to care beyond this point.
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Sunshine all day
long! Saw a high of 64o and at
times it was downright hot in the cab of the truck. Took my shoes and socks off in favor of my
summer footwear…Keen sandals. There was a good breeze, though, so being outside
of the truck was a bit of a cool down. Good thing time spent outside the truck was at
a minimum. Later in the afternoon, approaching
Gallup, New Mexico, we realized there was snow in among the bushes and along
the side of the highway…mostly in the shadow areas. With the elevation being over 6,000 ft., the
temperature had cooled down significantly also. I found some snow in the shadow of the hotel and
took a foot picture, still wearing my sandals.
I’m splitting the difference tomorrow…socks with sandals. 👍
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We
cruised into Mountain Time sometime today, which I didn’t realize until I noticed the sun was too high for 7 p.m. which is what the truck was reading. Checked my phone then and saw it was reading 5 p.m. Ahh...that's right...the truck clock is still on Eastern/Michigan time and doesn't automatically change like my phone does. My phone is two hours behind our normal time so that means Mountain Time. This time change is playing games with me...having gotten up early today to get on the
road, I was tired and ready to crawl into bed at 7:30. No way!
I’d be awake at 3 in the morning with nothing to do but wait. Decided to fine tune the journal and check
out the pictures I took today…all in an effort to last until 9 o’clock. We’re planning on getting up early again
because Quartzsite is within striking distance now. I think we’re under 8 hours at this point.
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Observations from
the road:
*Texas cotton fields…piles of cotton bolls scattered around the
fields are reminiscent of the last remnants of snow.
*If the wind is right, you can smell the massive stockyards long
before you can see them.
*The current material used for billboards doesn’t stand a chance
against the winds blowing across the Great Plains.
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