Arrived in Santa Fe in the Land of Enchantment

Carol and I drove Highway 40 across the Texas panhandle and into New Mexico. We stopped on the side of the road to take a photo of us with the “Welcome to New Mexico – Land of Enchantment” sign. The temps there were in the 50s.

We also took a little detour in Tucumcari to drive along a 4 mile stretch of old Route 66 – and of course take some photos. There are some remnants of the old Route 66 businesses still there. They are lonely and a little derelict, but you can see that the town elders have taken some effort to keep them looking like they are frozen in the 1950s. This mostly consists of stationing 1950s era cars in the front and painting a big “66” or “Route 66” on the building. Other than that, the whole stretch has mostly been demolished and is now scrub trees and tumbleweed. Most of Highway 40 there lies right next to Route 66, which is preserved as a frontage road.


My little Subaru did well climbing up to Santa Fe level during the drive on Highway 40. There were times when she dropped down to 40 mph, but not many. We took Highway 25 into Santa Fe and, besides being an absolutely gorgeous stretch of road, there was not much of an ascent at all on that road. We did start seeing snow for the first time since we left Iowa. Temps in the mid-40s.

We arrived about 4 pm and went to Carol’s nephew Jordan’s house. We are storing the camper there at his apartment complex for the next 5 days. We chatted, got a tour of his apartment and especially his artwork, and took a photo. Jordan drove us over to the art gallery where he works and gave us a tour. He also gave me a hunting knife to give to Brent when I get to Louisiana. Then Carol, me, Jordan, his girlfriend Lisa, and Carol’s friend Gail all went out to dinner at Atrisco Cafe, that proffers a cuisine they call “new Mexican.” They are all a lot of fun and the dinner conversation was lively!