(Non-LT2) Detour

Our longest day yet! Dallas, TX --> Gallup, NM: ~850 miles, 14.5 hours of travel

Took off from Dallas real early this morning, leaving before it really got light around 6:30am. Our hosts (canine and sapien alike) woke up to send us off. Upon leaving, The Old Prospector took the helm as the rest of the three of us promptly passed out.

Even after the three of us woke up for our first gas stop of the day outside Wichita Falls, we didn't turn on music, podcasts, or books-on-tape as we solely chatted and were amazed with the flatness of Western Texas.

Our second stop was a purely improvised one on the side of the road to investigate and explore some of the country we saw passing us by out the windows of the car. As The Old Prospector took some artsy photos of a grasshopper and the train tracks, The Ocho had an equally exciting, albeit less pleasant, experience with an abandoned cooler (see photos).

Cadillac Ranch, TX (just west of Amarillo) provided us our third stop. An impromptu detour suggested by our epic hosts in Dallas, Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation of ~10 old cadillac cars that have been painted and buried in the ground. They stick up at an angle corresponding to the angle of the Pyramid of Giza, Egypt. We had fun climbing and posing with them.

Despite the seemingly very long day of driving, we were following the historic Route 66 and had an illuminating trek through West Texas, which was marvelously flat. As The Captain took the wheel, we barely noticed the duration or amount of miles we trekked. Once we approached the Texas/New Mexico border, however, the terrain changed completely. We were absolutely in awe as flat-top mountains and red bluffs emerged from the landscape. In addition, we were approaching a thunder storm that turned the sky into a dramatic scene of its own, complete with rain columns and a lightning exhibition.

Unfortunately, the T-storm also drowned out our plans of camping in Santa Fe, as none of us could stomach the thought of camping at the Grand Canyon for two nights following a night of camping when all our gear was already soaked. So as we arrived in Santa Fe the amigos quickly reassessed and decided to mush on towards Albuquerque so we could have more hours to use for recreation tomorrow as long as we weren't camping. So here we rest at a hotel in Gallup, NM for the night.

We picked up three local brew varieties, Isotopes Slammin'Amber (Carrizozo, NM; inspired by the Neil DeGrassi Tyson podcast we heard in the car), Rio Grande IPA (Moriarty, NM), and Santa Fe Brewing Co. Happy Camper IPA (Santa Fe, NM; which we think will be especially fitting for tomorrow night!) to accompany the sandwiches we made for dinner from our AMAZING Dallas hosts' BBQ they sent with us. Can you imagine a better end to a long day in the car?!?! We sampled each and liked the Happy Camper best. We will likely each celebrate our newly set-up camp site with one of those tomorrow night when we are actually campers.

Spending the night here tonight gives us the luxury of stopping in Sedona, NM as well as the petrified forest tomorrow, two destinations on our #roadtripbucketlist that we probably would not have been able to see otherwise.

Sorry if you don't hear from us the next two days or so. Electrical plugs and free wifi are relatively harder to come by when camping. Rest assured we will be camping, hiking, and exploring to our hearts' content in the interim.

Love from the road,
The Four Lokos