Monday, July 29
We ate a breakfast at hotel in Winslow and hit the road rather early. We had a long day ahead of us. We started with 3/4 of a tank of gas which we thought should be sufficient to get us to our first planned stop in Albuquerque. Traffic was light and we zipped along Route 40 East without difficulty.
As we went I monitored our gas. Nearing Albuquerque the gauge was well below 1/4 of a tank but according to the trip computer we expected to make town without any problem. About 30 miles out we got a low fuel warning so we made a precautionary stop at a truck stop for gas. The car took 12.5 gallons. This was surprising because we thought the car had a 12 gallon tank. 😀 The owner’s manual said it has a 14 gallon capacity which meant we would have easily made it to Albuquerque – but, better safe than sorry.
Yesterday was Bugs Bunny’s 79th birthday so in his honor, “we made a wrong turn at Albuquerque”. If you don’t get the reference then you didn’t spend enough time in your childhood watching Saturday morning cartoons!
(We Made a Wrong Turn at Albuquerque!)
We drove down to the historical, old town for a little bite to eat. We’d been sitting in the car for four hours and really wanted to stretch our legs. That part of town is just a large square but it has lots of interesting shops selling Native American and Southwestern goods. We checked out a sandwich shop but declined to pay tourist prices. We did find a charming Catholic church named for San Felipe de Neri. Dating from 1706 it’s the oldest church in New Mexico and has served the community without interruption since its inception. The interior was not ornate but was very pretty.
(Church of San Felipe de Neri)
Back on the road we stopped at a Dairy Queen for lunch. The burgers were nothing special but the heath bar blizzard was really quite good. We now felt fortified for the next four hours of our journey.
About two hours outside of Armarillo Deborah said that the air conditioner was making a loud sound. It was only noticeable when we slowed down and it didn’t seem significant so we continued on our way. About half an hour later I remarked that we must be driving into a strong headwind because our gas mileage really seemed to be suffering.
When we got off the highway in Amarillo we heard an awful sound – something was dragging underneath the car. We pulled over to a nearby filling station and a quick look found that the plastic undercarriage had come loose, bent and was dragging under the car. We had probably been driving like that for 90 miles. We called the nearest Ford dealer. They said that they we closing in 20 minutes but if we brought the car right over that they would take a look at it. Fortunately we were only 10 minutes away.
The dealership took us right away, hoisted the car and had a look. They said that they probably needed to replace the plastic undercarriage and that they didn’t have one in stock. Eventually they were able to bend it back to its original position and secure it in place. Would it take the stress of a trip to Florida and back? They said it would and added that it should be a long term fix but advised us to have it looked at when we finally got back to Nevada just to be sure. We dodged a BIG bullet!
After checking into our hotel we decided that we’d had enough driving for one day and walked to a nearby Waffle House for dinner. Waffle House never disappoints. The food may not be classy but it is tasty. We had intended to eat at a famous steak restaurant in the area but when we found that dinner would cost us about $70.00 we opted for a simpler choice.
When we left the Waffle House I had quite a shock. My car was missing! I was a little panicked until I realized that we had walked. The car was just where we left it. It really had been a long day.
After dinner we drove out to the Cadillac Ranch to see a somewhat unique art installation. Someone half buried a bunch of old Cadillacs in the ground and invited the public to spray paint them. The installation is in the middle of an active farm just off Route 40. It was quite amusing to see how many layers of paint have accumulated on these cars. In some places there was a good four inches as visitors continue to paint them over and over again across many years. Admission is free. It was a nice end to a rather long and stressful day.
(Cadillac Ranch Art Installation)
Always an adventure!!
With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright infringement? My website has a lot of unique content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my agreement. Do you know any solutions to help reduce content from being ripped off? I’d truly appreciate it.
It’s really not an issue for us so I’m not sure I can help you.